A NEW AND IMPROVED RAILWAY BRAKE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France,
and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED RAILWAY
BRAKE."A communication from Leleux Bernard, residing at St. Ghislain,
in the Kingdom of Belgium.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th September 1867.
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester
Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED RAILWAY
BRAKE," a communication from Leleux Bernard, a person resident at Saint
Ghislain, in the Kingdom of Belgium, to be as follows:-
This improved brake consists in interposing the bent back lower ends of
the iron blocks between the wheels and the rails. The blocks of each
carriage are secured by connecting rods, and the whole is suspended on rollers
placed at the upper ends of the blocks and rolling on an iron bar placed in an
inclined plane, and forming part of a frame fixed under the carriage. Each
apparatus is connected with the following and the preceeding one by means of

page_text: iron bars and keys, which may be taken off at will to set the carriages free
from each other when desired. The apparatus of the first carriage is con-
nected with a piston rod working in a special cylinder of the steam engine.
By actuating this piston all the blocks are repelled backward, and at the
same time lowered to a level with the rails, the rollers run along the inclined
planes from the front towards the rear, each wheel then mounts on its corre-
sponding block and slides with friction on the rail, thus operating the stoppage
of the train.
The accompanying Drawing represents an application of this kind of brake.
A, A, are the blocks; B, B, the connecting rods; C, C, the fixed frames
under the carriages; D, D, the rollers; E, E, the apparatus connecting bars;
F, F, the moveable keys.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th March 1868.
ΤΟ
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,, 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I, the said Henri
Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, 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 "A NEW AND IMPROVED RAILWAY BRAKE," a communication from
Leleux Bernard, a person resident at St. Ghislain, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henri Adrien
Bonneville, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said. Invention, and in what manner

page_text: 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 Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This improved brake consists in interposing the bent back lower ends of
the iron blocks between the wheels and the rails. The blocks of each.
carriage are secured by connecting rods, and the whole is suspended on rollers
at the upper ends of the blocks, and rolling on an iron bar placed in an
inclined plane, and forming part of a frame fixed under the carriage. Each
apparatus is connected with the following and the preceding one by means of
iron bars and keys, which may be taken off at will to set the carriages free
from each other when desired. The apparatus of the first carriage is con-
nected with a piston rod working in a special cylinder of the steam engine.
By actuating this piston all the blocks are repelled backward, and at the same
time lowered to a level with the rails; the rollers run along the inclined
planes from the front. towards the rear, each wheel then mounts on its corre-
sponding block and slides with friction on the rail, thus operating the stoppage
of the train.
Having thus summarily stated the principle of the said Invention, the same
will now be more fully explained and better understood by the following
detailed description, and by reference to the accompanying Drawings.
As shown in the said Drawings this Invention merely consists in inter-
posing when required the blocks or brakes a, z, and a¹, 2, Fig. 1 of the
accompanying Drawings, which is a longitudinal view of this Invention,
underneath the wheels k and k¹, which interposition has for first effect to stop
the wheels, for second effect to slide by rough friction on the rails, and as the
said blocks or brakes bevel off in an inclined plane to their extremity, the
wheels have, for third effect, a tendency to retrograde or fall back. These
combined effects are calculated to stop a train in a shorter space of time than
any apparatus hitherto known. The two blocks or brakes a, m, n, a, z, and
a¹, m, n, a¹, ¹, are firmly fixed to the two iron bars m, f, and n, d. In front
of the block or brake a, m, n, a, z, is soldered an iron rod e, x, at the end of
which is a tenon and a key x. At the back of the apparatus is another
rod e, x, furnished with a horizontal hole pierced at 1, and intended to
receive an end similar to x. The whole apparatus is sustained by, the rollers
o, o, which may travel on the broken. frame g, u, g; and g¹, u¹, g¹, firmly

page_text: attached to the waggon. When all the carriages of a train are provided with
a like apparatus, and when they are all connected together by keys x and x¹,
that the locomotive engine is provided with one also, the apparatus of the
locomotive engine is connected with a lever, the end of the lever to the end of
a piston which is itself placed in a special cylinder of the locomotive engine,
the engineer, foreseeing danger, turns on the cock of the said special cylinder,
the piston is driven forward, carrying away the end of the lever which imparts
its movement to the brake of the locomotive engine, and as all the brakes are
connected together they all necessarily play together, and all the wheels stop
at the same time. The back wheels of each vehicle are arrested prior to the
front wheels by reason of the block or brake being longer at 2 than at z.
When the train is stopped, the wheels, which are then disengaged, fall off
backwards from the brakes, and a movement from the engineer replaces them
all in their normal position. For the ordinary service of the train the tender
and the last carriage may be suffered to retain their ordinary brakes, the
actual brake being called into requisition only in great cases where accidents
of an unusual character are apprehended..
But the apparatus might be more simply disposed, as represented in the
Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying Drawings, which are longitudinal,
transversal, and plane underneath views of the said apparatus simplified, and
of the brake seen by itself. The rod x, x¹, is suspended in the middle of the
under part of the carriage. The blocks or brakes e, i, z, and e, i, 2¹, are
suspended under the carriage in front of the wheels, that is above the rails,
by the articulation e, G, and e', G¹, and they are connected with the rod x, x,
by the iron bars OK, K¹ O', i J, J. A pressure coming from x to
necessarily impels the apparatus, which on receding lowers the blocks or
brakes to a level with and rest. upon the rails. These blocks or brakes are
composed of two parts, e a, a z, and e¹ a',. a 2. The extremities az,
and a¹¹, are made of very resisting cast steel, connected with the blocks or
brakes by two screws; when worn out they are replaced without having to
undo the brake. The apparatus of all the carriages being connected together
by the hooks x and x¹, as in the first system, they all play simultaneously.
The arrested train slides backwards down from the blocks or brakes, and
thus frees the brake from the wheel; a movement imparted by the engineer
or by a spring fixed on each carriage replaces the apparatus in their wonted
position.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it
understood that I do not confine myself to the exact details above enumerated,

page_text: as these may obviously be modified without departing from the principle of the
Invention; but what I claim is, the interposition between the wheel and the
rail of a block or brake constructed and disposed substantially as herein-before
particularly set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)