IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Julien Brière, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
BREAKS."
Sealed the 2nd March 1860, and dated the 15th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Julien Brière at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
September 1859.
I, JULIEN BRIÈRE, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mechanic, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY BREAKS," to be as follows:-
The object of the improvements is to cause the power of the axles of the
running wheels to be exerted in operating the breaks.
For this purpose, upon one of the carriage axles is formed or affixed a
screw thread, which is capable of taking into the teeth of a corresponding
wheel on a shifting axle, upon which is formed or affixed another screw
thread, taking into the teeth of a segment, giving motion by connections and
leverage to the breaks. The shifting axle is moveable, so as to bring its
toothed wheel into action with the screw thread on the carriage axle by an
eccentric or tappet, or other suitable agent, acted upon by a handle, placed
conveniently for the guard or other person in charge of the train, and if.

page_text: desired, any number of carriages of a train may be similarly provided, and
the parts connected, so as to be simultaneously operated by the action upon
one of them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Julien Brière, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIEN
BRIÈRE, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Julien Brière, Her special licence that I, the said Julien Brière, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Julien
Brière, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
BREAKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Julien Brière,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Julien Brière, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of the improvements is to cause the power of the axles of the
running wheels to be exerted in operating the breaks.
For this purpose, upon one of the carriage axles is formed or affixed a screw
thread, which is capable of taking into the teeth of a corresponding wheel on a
shifting axle, upon which is formed or affixed another screw thread taking into

page_text: the teeth of a segment, giving motion by connections and leverage to the
breaks. The shifting axle is moveable, so as to bring its toothed wheel into
action with the screw thread on the carriage axle by an eccentric or tappet, or
other suitable agent, acted upon by a handle, placed conveniently for the
guard or other person in charge of the train; and if desired, any number of
carriages of a train may be similarly provided, and the parts connected so as
to be simultaneously operated by the action upon one of them.
But that the nature of these improvements and the means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect may be better understood, I will proceed more
fully to describe the same, aided by the accompanying Drawing; in the
various Figures of which the same letters are employed to indicate corre-
sponding parts wherever they-occur.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a section of a tender with my improvements applied to it; the
principal mechanism is contained within two malleable iron plates u, u, (see
also section P', Q',) being the standards or bearings of the whole. They are
bolted at their upper parts against the under side of the carriage, and strength-
ened by an iron piece bolted in the samo manner. These iron sheets are
shown also in section A', B', in Figure 1. The section C', D', shows the
manner in which the Plates u, u, are bolted against the iron pieces x, x,.shown
in Figure 1 and section P¹, Q'. The pieces x, x, are bolted as shown, against
the carriage, and keep the whole steady. The iron plate k, shown in
Figure 1, encloses the hinder part of the plates u, u. This plate is
moveable, and forms the bearing of the wrought-iron axis m described here:
after, by means of the bearings 1, 1, and i in the upper part, and y in the lower
part of the axis m. The plate is kept by strong bolts, shown in the
Drawing.
The above being the description of the skeleton of the mechanism, I will
describe now the mechanism itself, and first of all, the cast-iron endless screw e,
Figure 1, and section A', B¹.. This endless screw is keyed on the axle of one
of the pair of bearing wheels, and is continually in motion with the carriage.
It is the power employed to produce the force which is required to stop the
wheels by the break blocks. Break blocks such as are ordinarily used on railway
carriages may be employed, the Drawing showing only such form of blocks
which I have thought the. most convenient. The endless cast-iron screw e,
turning with the wheels and axle will, of course, turn in the same velocity as
the axle and wheels themselves, and possesses the same power as the equivalent

page_text: of the train, running at the speed and force of impulse driven by the engine.
and the load of the train. To employ this power to counterbalance the
stoppage of the wheels I employ the axle or shaft m, having at its lower end a
tooth wheelf, the full size of the teeth being shown on the Drawing in f. In
the middle part of the axis m is an endless screw t formed thereon. The
axis m can be brought backward and forward, its centre point being at the
bearing in the upper part of the axis m; as the axis m moves backward and
forward the tooth wheel f and screw t move with it. The action of bringing
the axis m backward and forward is accomplished by the means of an axis g³,
having at its upper part a handle s, and at its lower part an enlargement g,
capable of an eccentric movement in a slot hole h of a wrought-iron piece,
shewn separately on the Drawing, and connected to the plate k. If with the
handle s one quarter of a circle's movement is made, such movement of one
quarter of a circle will bring the iron piece backward, and a like movement in
the opposite direction will move it forward. The axle m is in part supported
at the lower part by the wrought-iron piece at y' (section P¹, Q¹).
Supposing a train is moving in the direction of (<B), and by means of
the handles the enlargement 9 is caused to bring the shaft m in the position
shewn on the Drawing, the break will then be instantaneously in motion,
because the tooth wheelf at the lower part of the axis m will be engaged in
the endless screw e of the axle, and will cause the wheelf and its axis to turn.
In the meantime the screw t, formed on the shaft m, will bring into movement
These rods, 2,
the segment of teeth o, to which are attached the rods z, z.
are connected with the lever y acting on the blocks, and will stop the wheels
in a certain number of revolutions of them, which will depend, of course, upon
the distance at which the blocks are placed from the wheels; but it is to be
observed, that as long as the eccentric keeps the bar m in connection with the
endless screwe; the action will not cease till the wheels are entirely stopped in
their movement, and this effect will be produced without the least shock or
danger, and the length of the run of the wheels may be exactly calculated.
C
It is observed, that if the train should move in the direction of (
Figure 2, the action of putting the break will be the same, the revolutions
of the wheels reverse the movement of screw e, and of the tooth wheel f, and
the screw t, but the eccentric of the wheel o will elevate the connecting bars z
and draw on the blocks by the means of the levers y, exactly with the same
power, but in the reverse manner. The second pair of wheels will be stopped
in the same manner by means of the levers and break blocks already existing
to the carriages.

page_text: In order to stop all the wheels of carriages of a whole train, the Drawing
shows how to connect the blocks of a series of carriages with the mechanism
already described. Supposing the train is moving in the direction of
(C), Figure 1 will be an ordinary carriage and the last of the train;
the lever D will not be required, but a hook or loop J, and the chain con-
nected with the hook at the chain of Figure 2 at I; Figure 1 will hold
Figure 2 and the bar H will act by means of the lever F on the levers of the
blocks and stop the wheels. In the reverse manner the chains may be
attached at the point J, of Figure 2; in order not to turn round the carriages
the hooks are only placed in the other direction, and the bar G will act on the
blocks.
The blocks of Figure 2 are of a peculiar disposition, being with double
hinges, and a spring plate jointed at the back so as to suit always the
periphery of the wheels where the play of the bearing springs is great, and
whether the carriage is more or less loaded.
Figure 3. In order to obviate the difficulty which would be met in placing
the mechanism of the break on a carriage having bearing springs of a high
compass, the Figure 3 shews the manner in which the bearings u, u, are sup-
ported by the grease or oil box of the axle, or by the bar n, connecting the two
axles, which system is already in use in some railway lines.
In employing
this method the whole system has nothing to interfere with the frame of the
waggon; the system is the same; the eccentric g works in the same manner;
the bar draws on the lever y, connected with the break blocks by means of
the eccentric t. The screw e is the same, and the bar m works in the same
manner on the pinions 7, l, as it is shewn in section A, B, of this Figure 3.
Figure 4. In this Drawing is represented the same system, but it is placed
horizontally; the axis m is worked by a strap e¹, running over the pulley e, on
the axle of a pair of the bearing wheels. The pulley c has flanges to maintain
the strap in its position thereon, aided by an iron piece B, and draw bars d, d.
In turning the handle of eccentric S, commanding the axis m (section A¹, B¹,)
the endless screw t is disengaged of the tooth wheel o, and the eccentric
ceases its action on the bars connected with the blocks. The bar r removes
the strap from the surface of the pulley e, by means of the piece d. It is to
be observed that the strap is broader than the pulley e, and by this disposition
the strap is readily removed therefrom by the piece d.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
which I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details shewn, so long as the

page_text: peculiar character of the arrangements, adaptations, and combinations of
parts for operating railway break apparatus are retained substantially as
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julien Brière, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. P. FOURNEL,
Brussels, le 10 Mars 1860.
JULIEN BRIERE. (L.S.)