AN IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS POR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustavus Adolphus Somerby and Charles William
Fogg, of the State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS POR RAILWAY
CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 19th December 1854, and dated the 24th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustavus Adolphus
Somerby and Charles William Fogg at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 24th October 1854.
We, GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS SOMERBY and CHARLES WILLIAM FOGG, of the
State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY
CARRIAGES" to be as follows:-
In regard to the nature of our Invention, we would remark that it does not
consist in the application of a brake to the wheel of a carriage, in such manner
that while the wheel is stationary in other respects than being made to revolve,
the brake shall be moveable either towards or away from the wheel; but it
does consist in applying the wheel to a brake, in such manner that the former
may be moved either towards or away from the latter, and by the momentum
of the car or carriage when in movement.
The nature of our Invention further consists in combining with a brake

page_text: mechanism and a wheel, made to move or made capable of being moved against
and away from its rubber, another brake mechanism so applied to the first
brake mechanism and the wheel, or to another wheel, as to be simultaneously
set in action on its wheel, with and by the other brake mechanism, the wheel
thereof, and the momentum of the carriage of said wheel, while such carriage
is in movement on its road or railway.
The nature of our Invention further consists in a manner in which we have
applied the working brake to its wheel, and the lever of the brake worked by
it, viz., by a hinged lever and a spring, or the equivalent therefor; the same
admitting of the adaptation of the brake to the irregularities of the periphery
of the wheel, and imparting to the brake mechanism a very advantageous
elasticity of action.
Our Invention further consists in combining with wheels made to move
towards and away from the brake rubbers or brake, a mechanism, which by
means of the power that produces draft of the carriage, or puts it in motion,
shall move such wheels away from their brakes, so as to relieve the said brakes
from being moved or pressed by their respective wheels.
Our Invention further consists in so combining the working and main brake
mechanisms of the two sets of wheels, that whenever the working brakes of
either set are put in operation by their wheels, the main brakes of all four of
the wheels, or those of both sets, shall be simultaneously put in operation on
their wheels.
Our Invention further consists in combining with a working rod or shaft,
and its turning lever of the working brakes, a clutch dog or equivalent con-
nection, of such nature as to so connect with a similar contrivance applied to
the working rod or shaft of another carriage, as to cause both rods to be moved
or rotated whenever either is put in rotation by its lever, the same enabling all
the brakes of the train of cars to be simultaneously put in action by the move-
ment of any lever and its shaft of their working shafts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Gustavus Adolphus Somerby and Charles William Fogg in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GUSTAVUS
ADOLPHUS SOMERBY and CHARLES WILLIAM FOGG, of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United of America, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Gustavus Adolphus Somerby and Charles William Fogg, Her
special license that we, the said Gustavus Adolphus Somerby and Charles
William Fogg, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the Gustavus Adolphus Somerby and Charles W. Fogg, our exe-
cutors, 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 of "AN IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS
FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition [amongst others] that we, the
said Gustavus Adolphus Somerby and Charles William Fogg, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain 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, or Office of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Patents, within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Gustavus Adolphus Somerby and
Charles William Fogg, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention
to be fully described and ascertained in and by the following Specification
and the accompanying Drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof :-
Of the said Drawings, Figure 1 exhibits a top view of a railway carriage
truck frame, having our improvement applied to it; Figure 2 is a side elevation
of the same; Figure 3 is a vertical, central, and longitudinal section of the
same; Figure 4 is a front end elevation of the same.
In the said Drawings, A deuotes the truck frame, supported by four wheels
B, C, D, E, whose axles are seen at F and G. The journals a, a, of these
axles are supported in sliding or pendulous bars or bearings b, b, so applied to
the truck frame as to enable the wheel axles to be moved towards one another
a very short distance, or such as will be amply sufficient to carry the wheels
into contact with the rubbers of their working brakes, and put such brakes in
operation, as will be herein-after described.
To each wheel there is applied a working brake or rubber H, which is
arranged with respect to the wheel, as seen in Figures 2 and 3. Each of
these working brakes is hinged or jointed to one of four levers I, I, I, I, such
working brake or rubber being connected or hinged to one end of the lever,

page_text: while the fulcrum c of the lever is at its opposite end, the lever being there
jointed to the framework, so as to admit of free play of it in vertical direc-
tions. Between its fulcrum and brake rubber each lever bears against the
lower end of a spring d, such spring being made to envelope the rod e, pro-
jecting downward from the lever K of a second brake or rubber L, which is
applied to the upper part of the periphery of cach wheel, and above its working
brake, as seen in Figure 3. Each of the brake levers K has its fulcrum f
arranged between its two extremities, and connected with the truck frame, in
such manner as to allow the lever to play freely in a vertical plane, or of being
moved so as to move its brake or rubber either into contact with or away from
the tread or periphery of its wheel.
The two brake levers K, K, of each two wheels on either side of the truck
frame should be so connected, joined, or made to overlap one another at their
inner ends, that an upward or downward movement of either lever may pro-
duce a corresponding movement of the other lever, the same being for the
purpose of enabling the upper brakes of both wheels to be simultaneously put
in operation by either of their working brakes, whether the carriage may be
in the act of running forward or backward on the railway track. We will
now suppose the carriage to be in motion forwards on its track, and that
while it is so in motion, we suffer the forward wheels of the truck frame to
move back against their working brake rubbers, such back movement being
produced by the momentum of the carriage. When the treads of the wheels
come in contact with the working brakes, they will at once force said working
brakes upward, and cause them to put in action the upper brakes or brake
mechanism of the wheels; and thus the working brakes or brake mechanism
not only by its friction against the wheel will aid in arresting the forward
motion of the carriage, but it will put in operation the upper brake mechanism,
and cause its rubber to be forced with great power downwards upon the wheel,
bringing the weight and momentum of the carriage into action, to arrest the
progress of said carriage upon the track.
From the above description of the manner in which each working brake is
applied to its wheel and the lever of the upper brake mechanism or appa-
ratus, viz., by a hinged lever I, and a spring d (or the equivalent or equivalents
therefor), it will be seen that this method admits of the ready adoptation of
the brake to the irregularities in the periphery of the wheel, and also causes
it to fit in close contact with the wheel under any elevation or upward move-
ment of said rubber. And besides this, such mode imparts to the brake
mechanism a very advantageous elasticity of action, as the upper end of the
spring d is made to work against a shoulder or its equivalent formed on the

page_text: rod e.
In connection with wheels made to move toward and away from their
brake rubbers or working brakes as specified, we employ a mechanism, which
by means of the power that produces draft of the carriage, or puts it in motion
on its track, shall move said wheels away from their brakes, so as to relieve
said brakes from being moved or pressed by their respective wheels. This
mechanism, or such as we have devised, may be described as follows:-
Each of the hanging bearings b of the wheel journal is provided with a
horizontal friction roller g, against which a a cam h (see Figure 5, which is a
top view of the cam and roller, and the lower arm of the lever on which said
cam is formed,) is made to operate. The said cam is constructed upon the end
of an arm i, that projects horizontally from a vertical shaft (see Figure 2),
supported in suitable bearings, so as to be capable of a horizontal rotation
on its axis. From this shaft an arm extends inwards towards the middle of
the truck frame; each wheel having its shaft provided with two arms, as
seen at and 1. Figure 6 is a vertical and transverse of the truck frame,
the same being taken through two adjacent arms 1, 1, when they are in a linė
with, or about in line with, one another. One of said arms has a vertical
pin m extended through and fastened to it, and made to rest on a cam n,
the said pin being provided upon its upper end with a catch o, as seen in
Figure 3. The said cam n is raised on a cylinder or barrel p, as seen in
Figures 7 and 8, which respectively are end and side views of said cylinder.
There are two of such barrels p, which are arranged and fixed upon the long
shaft 9, as seen in Figure 3. The object of the cam of each barrel is to
elevate the catch o of the arm 1, 1, into the path of a tripping catch r, which
is arranged above the catch o, and affixed to a sliding buffer shaft s. There
are two of these buffer shafts, arranged as seen in Figures 1 and 3, each being
provided with a draw spring by which it is forced backwards. A hand lever
u extends upwards from the long shaft q. This hand lever serves to enable
the shaft g to be turned transversely in its bearings. The cam m on one of
the barrels. P' should be so arranged that while the lever is being moved
upward into a vertical position, such cam shall elevate the catch o into the
path of the tripping catch. The other cam of the other barrel p should also
be so arranged as to cause the catch o over said barrel to be elevated to its
highest position when the said lever u is in a vertical position, and also, so that
while said lever is being depressed from a vertical into an inclined position, on
the opposite side of the shaft s, such cam shall admit of the fall or descent of
its catch o, below the path of movement of the tripping catch directly over it.
The arms 1, 1, are severally made capable of being sprung or moved either
upwards or downwards, those directly over each cam barrel p being · so

page_text: connected that a simultaneous movement of them may always take place
when either is moved either vertically or horizontally. The said arms are
connected by a spring v interposed between them, as seen in Figure 1, such
spring serving to retract them whenever necessary. In case we should desire
to relieve the wheels from the action of the brakes, the hand lever u is moved
so as to cause the forward catch o to be raised upward. As soon as this takes
place, the forward draft upon the front draw bar will so carry the tripping
catch of said draw bar into action with the catch o directly beneath it, as to
move the lever arms of said catch forwards, and thereby cause the cams / of
the forward arms i, i, to press upon their friction rollers g, so as to cause the
wheels to be moved away from their working brakes.
In case the carriage is moving backward on a railway, the wheels are
relieved from the brakes in a similar manner, and by the action of the rear
draft bar and its tripping catch upon the rear catch o. The front end of the
long shaft q is provided with a clutch dog M, as seen in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
This clutch dog consists of a cross bar a affixed to the shaft, and not only
having a pin y projecting from one arm of it, but a slot or hole formed
through the other arm of it. Now, when two carriages are brought together,
end to end, the pins y of their clutch dogs are made to pass into their respective
slots, and so that a person when moving either lever u of any carriage shall
simultaneously put in motion all the shafts g of the carriages of the train, and
so as to enable him either to throw all the brakes of the train into or out of
action upon their wheels; thus giving one man on any carriage of the train full
command of all the brakes of the train, so that in case of accident or any
necessity of a sudden stoppage of the train, he can readily arrest the motion
of it.
A windlass R, and chain or rope T, may be arranged on the carriage, as seen
in the Drawings, the rope or chain being attached both to the windlass and
the arms, as seen in Figure 1. By such windlass and chain, the wheels may
be moved away from the working brakes at any time whenever the carriage is
not in a train, but is running by power that may have been suddenly removed
from it.
We do not claim the application of a brake to the wheel of a carriage in
such manner that while the wheel is stationary in other respects than being
made to revolve, the brake shall be moveable either towards or away from the
wheel; but what we do claim is, applying the wheel to the brake in such
manner that the former may be moved either towards or away from the latter,
and by the momentum or by the weight of the car or carriage when in move-
ment, as specified.

page_text: We claim, in combination with a brake mechanism and a wheel, made to
move or made capable of being moved against and away from its rubber, as
described, another brake mechanism so applied to the first brake mechanism
and the wheel, or to another wheel, as to be simultaneously set in action on
its wheel, with and by the other brake mechanism, the wheel thereof, and the
momentum of the carriage of said wheel, while such carriage is in movement
on its road or railway.
We also claim, the manner in which we have applied the working brake to
its wheel and the lever of the brake worked by it, viz., by a hinged lever and a
spring, or the equivalent therefor, as specified, the same admitting of the
adaptation of the brake to the irregularity of the periphery of the wheel, and
imparting to the brake mechanism a very advantageous elasticity of action.
We also claim, in combination with the wheels made to move towards and
away from their brake rubbers or brakes, as specified, a mechanism, which by
means of the power that produces draft of the carriage or puts it in motion, as
described, shall move such wheels away from their brakes, so as to release the
said brakes from being moved or pressed by their respective wheels.
We also claim, so combining the working and main brake mechanisms of
the two sets of wheels, that whenever the working brakes of either set are put
in operation by their wheels, the main brakes of all four of the wheels, or
those of both sets, shall simultaneously be put in operation on their wheels.
We also claim, in combination with the working rod of the working brakes,
a shaft and its turning lever (or its equivalent), a clutch dog, or equivalent
connection, of such nature as to so connect with a similar contrivance applied
to the working rod or shaft of another carriage, as to cause both rods to be
moved or rotated whenever either is put in rotation by its lever, the same
enabling all the brakes of the train of cars to be simultaneously put in action
by the movement of any lever and its shaft of their working shafts.
In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, the
Sixteenth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS SOMERBY. (L.S.)
CHARLES WILLIAM FOGG.
(L.S.)