Improvements in the Arrangement and Construction of Railway Wagon Brakes.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements in the Arrangement and Construction of Railway
Wagon Brakes.
RUFUS MORTON, 49 Dean Lane Newton Heath, Manchester, (Foreman) do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGE-
MENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY WAGON BRAKES, to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to ordinary Railway Wagons, and is applicable to existing
single or double brakes; the object being to obviate the dangerous practise of the
operator having to pass from one side of the Wagon to the other, in order to apply
the brake, In carrying out my Invention, I continue the ordinary shaft across the
underside of Wagon, and at either extremity of this shaft, I fix one half of a
clutch, the other half being formed on one end of each of the hand levers, which
work loosely on the ends of the shaft. By these means the operator can apply the
brake on either side of the Wagon, by the aid of one of the hand levers, the one
on the opposite side remaining at rest.
Dated this Twanto fifth dan
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page_text: of the operator having to pass from one side of the Wagon to the other, in order to
apply the Brake, As will be seen by reference to the accompanying drawings, my
Invention admits of the pressure being brought to bear upon One, Two, Three, or
Four Brake Blocks simultaneously, and I will now proceed to describe the manner
in which, this, my said Invention may be carried out.
DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation, Fig. 2, a plan, Fig. 3, an enlarged view of the
ends of Shaft "A," Figs. 4 & 5 enlarged views of the ends of Hand Levers "C."
Figs. 6 & 7 enlarged views of the other half of the clutch "D." The same letters
of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the Drawings.
"A," is the brake shaft with ordinary Levers "B," fixed thereon. The shaft "A,"
is mounted transversely across the underside of the Wagon, and having at each
extremity an actuating Hand Lever "C" working loosely on the said shaft.
On one end of the Hand Lever "C," I form one half of a clutch, which engages
with another half of a clutch "D," which is firmly secured to the said shaft "A,"
thereby enabling either of the Hand Levers "C," to be worked independently of the
other, from either side of the Wagon, which by so doing actuates the shaft "A,"
and the ordinary levers "B," so as to transmit the pressure to the Brake Block or
Blocks "E" by means of the ordinary Push Rods "F." By this arrangement of
mechanism the attendant during shunting operations or otherwise, has the facility
of applying the brake from either side of the Wagon, and of having full control
over his brake power, without the danger of passing from one side to the other, as
is frequently the case where the Hand Lever is on one side of the Wagon only.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, I declare that what I claim is :-
(1.) The arrangement and construction of a Hand Brake, having the Hand Lever
on each side of the Wagon connected by means of a through shaft, thereby
enabling the operator to apply the actuating pressure to one or more Brake Blocks
simultaneously, by means of the Hand Lever on either side, at the same time
whichever Hand Lever is operated upon, the one on the opposite side shall remain
at rest.