IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OP AND APPARATUS FOR RETARDING THE VELOCITY OF THE WHEELS OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES WHEN IN MOTION
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Shaw, Printer, of 31, Lorrimore Square,
Walworth, Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
OP AND APPARATUS FOR RETARDING THE VELOCITY OF THE WHEELS OF
RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES WHEN IN MOTION."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Shaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
June 1865.
I, HENRY SHAW, Printer, of 31, Lorrimore Square, Walworth, Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR RETARDING THE VELOCITY OF THE WHEELS OF
RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES WHEN IN MOTION," to be as follows:-
In place of the ordinary break block I propose antifriction wheels of metal,
wood, or paper, or a proportion of each, and which may be buffed with
leather or caoutchouc, and which may be pressed against the running wheel,
the rail, or any part of the carriage, and upon the axle of the antifriction
wheel I place a fly or fan similar to that used in a clock or musical box, and

page_text: which fan may be encased in any suitable way. When the train is travelling
the antifriction wheels fall free of the running wheel, and the progress of the
train is not interfered with, but when the engine driver requires to stop he
shuts off steam and applies the engine and tender breaks, by which the
carriages behind may run up close, and their buffers get compressed. On the
buffer rods I affix a tooth which turns a cam, and by which a spring lever is
raised (to which spring lever is attached the framing on which the fan axle
has its bearing), and the antifriction wheel is thus pressed against the
periphery or other part of the wheel in motion or running wheel of the
carriage. The antifriction wheel may be toothed or plain. To secure a more
perfect impingement of the antifriction wheel I may use a continuous
rod or chain passed along the train to assist the closing up together of the
carriages, and which rod or chain may be wound up in the usual manner
on to the axle of the tender, or on a drum for the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Shaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
SHAW, Printer, of 31, Lorrimore Square, Walworth, Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
ine, the said Henry Shaw, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Shaw,
my exécutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Shaw, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR RETARDING THE VELOCITY OF THE
WHEELS OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES WHEN IN MOTION," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Shaw, 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 the same was to be performed, and cause the same to

page_text: L
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 Henry Shaw, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of the said Invention is the application of the retarding force or
inertia of the atmosphere to a revolving fan, which is applied to the running
wheels of railway carriages, and so to break the force with which the train is
travelling..
I now proceed to show how the said Invention may be carried into
execution. Under the body of a railway carriage I attach 2 fans in manner
herein-after mentioned between 2 pairs of wheels. A fan is formed of an
iron axle, from which one or more plane or curved vanes or sails radiate.
The size of a vane or sail may be in length as much as the fan axle, less the
part of the fan axle which will be required for other machinery herein-after
mentioned, and in breadth about 12 inches. The fan axles are journalled or
have their bearings in short slides, which fit and move on two horizontal
bars, whose ends are made fast to the axle boxes of the running wheels on
either side of the carriage in the same manner as the slide of the present
slide break moves, but in lieu of the break block which is used in the ordinary
slide break is under this Invention substituted a roller or circular block in
such a manner that the fan axle in reaching its said bearing passes through
the said roller or circular block. The said slide will allow the said roller
or circular block to move up to the running wheel of the carriage and press
on its periphery, and it is made to do so by means of a rod from the slide to
a short lever and cam shaft, which receives half a turn by means of a step
on the buffer rod, which belongs to that slide, so that the slide and the roller
or circular block moves to the running wheel when the buffer next to that slide
is pressed in and the fans revolve at a rate depending on the speed of the
train. A similar arrangement is made with each buffer, slide roller, or circular
block and running wheel. The buffers are driven into their respectivo
bearings by putting on the breaks of the engine and tender, which when the
train is going at a great speed brings the momentum of the carriages with
such force upon
the engine and tender that the buffers of the carriages will
be pressed in and the fans set to work, but to obviate the case of there being
insufficient compression of the buffers, or that the force may not be continuous
and keep them there, a chain, which I call chain No. 1 is passed from a
windlass on the engine or tender under all the carriages until it reaches the
'

page_text: end of the last carriage where it is hooked on to a hook firmly fastened into
the beam through which the last buffers work. The chain can be wound
up by the said windlass, and so all the buffers can be compressed, and the fans
set in motion.
Another mode applicable to carriages which are supplied with lever breaks,
whether with a simple lever at the sides of the carriages, the weight of which
levers produces the pressure of the break, as it does in the break in a luggage
van without buffers, or whether with levers under the carriages and connected
with each wheel, and raised or depressed by the action of the buffer, by
which the said rollers or circular blocks can be made to press on the running
wheels, is to place a chain which I call No. 2 along the train under pulleys
on the ends of the lever rods, and over pulleys on the carriage placed between
each of the pulleys on the lever ends, but situated higher, so that when the
chain is strained tight the levers are raised, and the rollers or circular blocks
do not press the running wheels, but when the chain is released the running
wheels are pressed. Fans can also be fixed outside the 2 pair of running
wheels, before and behind, and appropriate machinery work them in a
manner similar to that already described. I do not intend to fix the number
of fans to be applied to each carriage, it may be convenient to use more than
two fans, or only one. The fan axles may rest on the extremities of two
stout arms moved from the body of the carriage, and made to move to and
fro against the running wheels by an appropriate modification of the
machinery above described. To gain more power from the fan, or, in other
words, more resistance from the atmosphere, the fan may be covered with a
shield in such a manner as to protect that part of the fan on which an
accelerating influence is exercised by the force of the atmosphere meeting
the train, and consequently there is a lessening of the retarding force
of the fan; or a shield to concentrate the force of the air, as in a blower,
can be applied, and thus raise a greater obstacle to the rotation of the fan.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and mode of carrying
it into execution, I declare that what I claim is,
1st, the use of a fan as above described, or any mere modification
thereof, for retarding the velocity of the running wheels of a railway carriage.
2nd, the employment of the buffer to give. motion to the said fans by the
machinery above described, or by other appropriate machinery.
3rd, the use of the No. 1 chain mentioned above to cause the fans to
revolve by the machinery above described, or by other appropriate machinery.
4th, the use of the No. 2 chain mentioned above in causing the fans to
revolve by the. machinery above described, or by other appropriate machinery.

page_text: 5th, the use of the shield to protect the fan from the accelerating influence
of the atmosphere, as above described.
6th, the use of the shield to concentrate the force of the air, as in a blower.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Shaw, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
HENRY SHAW. (L.B.)