AN IMPROVED BREAK FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nicolas Saintard, of Paris, in the French Empire,
Doctor, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BREAK FOR RAILWAY AND
OTHER CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 15th January 1858, and dated the 27th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nicolas Saintard at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th July 1857.
I, NICOLAS SAINTARD, of Paris, in the French Empire, Doctor, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED BREAK FOR
RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES," to be as follows :-
My Invention consists in mounting wheels or rollers on fixed axes behind
or in front of the ordinary carriage wheels, and in arresting the rotation of
these wheels by bringing between the additional wheel a roller and the
carriage wheels a wedge or a cam fixed upon the additional wheel. 1 propose
to have my breaks fitted on both sides of the carriages, and recommend their
being applied on railways to every carriage in the train, so that when the
train is made up a connection may be carried from the guard's van to every
break. As carriages on railways have to travel sometimes one end forward
and sometimes the other, I fit two cams to cach supplementary wheel, one to
act and cause a jam by being pulled up when the carriage is progressing in
one direction, and the other to cause a jam by being pulled down when tho
carriage is moving in the contrary direction. I sometimes interpose springs
between the cams and the wheels to which they are connected in order more
gradually to arrest the rotation of the running carriage wheels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nicolas Saintard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICOLAS
SAINTARD, of Paris, in the French Empire, Doctor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Ier
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Nicolas Saintard, Her special licence that I, the said Nicolas
Saintard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Nicolas Saintard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVED BREAK FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Nicolas Saintard, my exccutors or admi-
nistrators, 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 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 Nicolas Saintard, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
My Invention consists in mounting wheels or rollers on fixed axes behind
or in front of the ordinary carriage wheels, and in arresting the rotation of
these wheels by bringing between the additional wheel or roller and tho
carriage wheels a wedge or a cam fixed upon the additional wheel. I propose
to have my breaks fitted on both sides of the carriages, and recommend their
being applied on railways to every carriage in the train, so that when the
train is made up a connection may be carried from the guard's van to every
break. As carriages on railways have to travel sometimes one end forward
and sometimes the other, I fit two cams to each supplementary wheel, one to

page_text: act and cause a jam by being pulled up when the carriage is progressing in
one direction, and the other to cause a jam by being pulled down when the
carriage is moving in the contrary direction. I sometimes interpose springs
between the cams and the wheels to which they are connected in order more
gradually to arrest the rotation of the running carriago wheels.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have represented the best method
with which I am acquainted of carrying my Invention into effect. Figure 1
is a side elevation of a tender and a truck to which my improved break is
fitted. A, A, are the ordinary wheels; and B, B, are wheels which are
fitted upon suitable transverse axles supported in bearings attached to the
framework of the tender and truck. There are two of these wheels upon
cach axle, one at each end, and to them are attached the cams or break blocks
C, C, as shewn. The distance between the peripheries of the wheels A, A,
and B, B, is rendered invariable by means of strong metallic bars L, L',
attached by their extremities to the respective axles. From the rim of
the wheel B are led two small cords or chains K, K, which pass over pulleys
in opposite directions and are attached to a common cord, rope, or chain F,
in the case Y, under the framework of the carriages. The cords K, K, are
kept equally extended by means of the springs I, I, which hold them in
proper positions when out of action. The cords, ropes, or chains I, II, of
the several carriages are connected by suitable eyes or loops i and hooks j.
The tender is furnished with a shaft T, shewn separately in transverse view
in Figure 2. This shaft T carries at each of its extremities a grooved pulley
round which are fixed the ends of the cord, rope, or chain H, and is made to
rotate by means of a bevil wheel, and a pinion on the lower end of the
vertical shaft moved by the crank handle V; near the middle of the shaft T
is fixed an intermediate grooved pulley G', round which are taken two or three
turns of a cord G, which has at its extremity a loop or eye by which it is
connected to the bent rod or lever F. The safety wheel D and its appendages
are intended to prevent the carriages from leaving the rails when tho
locomotive has done so from any cause by putting the breaks in action.
At the tender end of the first carriage or truck is fitted a transverse shaft a,
shown in Figures 1 and 4, which shaft carries at each end a doubly grooved
pulley 6 which receives the cord H in one groove on cach side, and the cord O
in the other. At the centre of this shaft which is carried by the supports
Y, Y', is a third grooved pulley, round which is passed the cord 6' terminating
with a loop or eye N. The auxiliary wheels of the carriages carry each two
cams or break blocks C, C, disposed in contrary directions in order that the
same wheels shall apply the breaks in whichever direction the carriage is

page_text: moving. As the locomotive and tender travel always in one direction, being
turned round upon turntables when necessary, the cams on their auxiliary
wheels are not disposed in contrary directions. I place two cams, however,
on each auxiliary wheel B of the tender also, one above and the other below,
in order that I may apply breaks simultaneously to all four of the wheels
A, A, which are brought sufficiently near together for the purpose. To
prevent the tender approaching the first carriage when it is necessary to
back the train I place behind the tender a couple of T bars or plates, shewn
in Figure 3, fixed upon centres, and having attached to them a cord or cords
R, R, passing to the front of the tender; springs s, s, are placed behind these
bars or plates, in order that when the cord R is slackened at the front of the
tender they may be forced outward and fall into a horizontal position between
the tender and the carriage and transmit the backward pressure of the tender
to the carriago. One of these bars or plates only will in some cases bo

page_text: supporting frames, and so connect them thereto that the one may be capable
of moving within certain limits upon or along the other, and to furnish both
the bodies and the frames with buffers. The action of the buffers on the
bodies is resisted by shoulders fixed at the extremities of the frames. Beneath
each carriage body I fix four steel springs to which are opposed as many
inclined planes; on the sides of each body I apply two curved springs, the
lower extremities of which are fixed at the bottom of a groove in the frame.
The bodies are maintained on their frames by means of square metallic bars
or plates. With this arrangement the shock produced by the stoppage of the
locomotive is transmitted first to the frames of the carriages only, and is
thence transmitted to the bodies of the carriages in which the passengers, &c.,
are, through springs, of which there are six to each carriage. The carriage
bodies are afterwards restored to their positions by means of a lever which
has a fulcrum upon the frame.
The Invention may manifestly be applied to ordinary road or other
carriages if suitably modified for the purpose.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the construction of an improved break for railway and other carriages
by affixing to, or combining with, a rotating auxiliary wheel, a wedge, cam,
or other form of break, in the manner and for the purpose herein-before
described.
Second, the particular construction, arrangement, and method of working
the improved break, as herein-before described and represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness thereof, I, the said Nicolas Saintard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
0 Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD,
Ing' Civil,
23, Boulev' de Strasbourg,
à Paris.
N. SAINTARD (L.S.)