CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF APPLYING AND WORKING FRICTION BRAKES TO ENGINES AND CARRIAGES TO BE USED UPON RAILWAYS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HEATH, of Heathfield, near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirteenth day of January, in the eleventh year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert
Heath, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Robert Heath, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Robert Heath, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD
OF APPLYING AND WORKING FRICTION BRAKES TO ENGINES AND CARRIAGES TO BE USED
UPON RAILWAYS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that
I, the said Robert Heath, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Heath, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following expla-
nation thereof (that is to say) :-
My Improvements in the Method of Applying and Working Friction Brakes
to Engines and Carriages to be Used upon Railways, consist principally in the
application or use of a weighted lever (in connection with certain other appa-
ratus hereafter described) for the purpose of giving the requisite power or
pressure to such friction brakes when it is desired to lock the wheels of the
engine, tender, carriage, or train of carriages, in order to retard or slacken the
speed thereof, or to stop the same altogether. In order more fully to illus-
trate the practical application of my Invention, and to describe the same in
detail, I have attached to these Presents two Sheets of Drawings representing
(by way of illustration) the method of applying my Invention to a form or con-
struction of brakes now very generally used, and shewn as attached to a first-
class railway carriage.
The Drawings (with the exception of Figure 1, Sheet 2,) are made to a
scale of about one inch to a foot, and have figures and letters of reference
marked thereon corresponding with those in the following description thereof.
The brakes and other ordinary parts of the carriage are drawn in outline only;
the new parts, or those constituting my Invention, being shaded with color for
the sake of distinction.
In Sheet 1 of the Drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a railway carriage,
with the upper part or body removed, and shewing the application of my
improvements thereto, and Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the carriage complete, shewing more clearly
the method of working the brakes. a, a, represents the framework of the
carriage; b, b, are the wheels, and c, c, the friction brakes. These brakes are
capable of sliding upon the bar d, d, being wrought by means of rods e, e, con-
nected to short levers f, f, keyed upon the transverse shaft g, motion being
given to the said shaft by means of the lever h. The ordinary method of
working this lever is by manual labour, exerted through the agency of a screw,
and other gearing connected therewith, the pressure or friction upon the
wheels in a great measure depending upon the amount of muscular force
exerted by the guard or other person employed for that purpose.
My improved method of applying the brakes is as follows:-The upper end
of the lever h is connected by the link or shackle i to the lever k. This lever
k is keyed upon a transverse 7, upon which is also keyed the weighted lever m.

page_text: Hence it will be evident that the said lever m will, by means of other appa-
ratus connected therewith) cause the friction brakes c, c, to bear upon the
peripheries of the wheels b, b, in a ratio corresponding with the weight
employed and the leverage at which it is placed. The method of working the
brakes is as follows:-When it is desired to remove the pressure of the brakes
from the wheels, the winch handle n must be turned, which, by means of the
spur wheel and pinion o, will cause the upright shaft p to revolve. At the
lower end of this shaft is keyed a pinion q, working into a rack r, fixed to
the sliding bar s. This sliding bar works upon friction pulleys t, t, and is made
with an inclined plane or surface u, which, as the bar advances, passes under
the friction pulley and lifts the weighted lever m, thus withdrawing the
pressure or friction of the brakes from the wheels. The guard then slides the
vertical bar w downwards by applying his hand or foot to the lever x, and the
upper part of the said bar passing between the teeth of the wheel o will lock
the same, and, consequently, keep the brakes clear of the wheels. When
the brakes are to be applied, the guard has merely to lift the handle x, which,
by releasing the wheel o, will allow the weighted lever m by its own agency
to force the inclined bar backwards and apply the necessary pressure or friction
to the running wheels. It will only be necessary to apply the upright shaft p
and bar w to the tender or the first carriage in each train, and connect the
sliding bars of each carriage together by a chain or shackle, as shewn in
Figure 1, Sheet 2.
Another method of applying the brakes, without the intervention of the
guard or any other person on the train, is shewn in Figure 3, Sheet 1, and
which may be used to stop a train in cases where the guard could not be con-
veniently signalled or communicated with. At a short distance from each
station, and at other places where it may be considered requisite, an inclined
rail y is placed about midway between the ordinary rails. When it is desired
to stop an engine, carriage, or train, the pointsman or other person must
raise the rail y by means of the lever z, and as the engine or carriage passes
over it the inclined part of the rail acting against the friction roller at the
lower end of the bar w will raise the said bar and release the wheel o, thus
allowing the weighted lever m to exert its forco and "put on the brakes."
As the brake blocks wear away the shackle i must be screwed up so as to
keep the weighted lever m always about the same position.
A modification of the above is shewn in Figure 2, Sheet 2, the difference in
the arrangement consisting in placing the inclined plane n upon the weight
m, and the friction pulley v upon the sliding bar bar s.
Having now described the nature and object of my said improvements,

page_text: together with the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I would
remark that I claim as my Invention the novel and peculiar arrangements of
mechanism above described and shewn in the Drawings, or any modification
thereof, for applying and working friction brakes to engines and carriages to
be used upon railways.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Heath, have hereunto set my