IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND RAILWAY BREAKS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis William Webb, of Crewe, in the County
of Chester, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND RAILWAY BREAKS."
Sealed the 19th April 1872, and dated the 27th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis William Webb
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th October 1871.
I, FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBB, of Crewe, in the County of Chester,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND RAILWAY BREAKS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists, first, in the arrangement of the feed pipes of
locomotive engines, the feed pipe which is ordinarily placed outside the
engine and connected to a clack box, fixed either on the boiler barrel
or the side of the fire-box I now place inside the boiler, fixing one
cnd in the back plate of the fire-box, and the other end is carried
forward and deflected towards the front end of the boiler, the object

page_text: being to assimilate, as much as possible the heat of the water in the
pipe to that in the boiler before it is diffused. The clack box or con-
necting pipe from the injector or pump is placed on the back plate over
the end of the feed pipe. The water from the boiler is taken to one
end of a cylinder, in which is a piston with a trunk or large piston rod,
connected by rods or chains to the break lever or levers. The back end
of the cylinder is connected to the steam space of the boiler. When
the water is turned into the cylinder it forces back the piston to apply
the breaks, and the piston can be kept in any desired position by closing
or throttling the valve in the pipe connecting the water in the boiler to
the cylinder. In taking off the break the steam is admitted to the
back of the cylinder, the area of which is larger than the front in pro-
portion to the diameter of the trunk or piston rod, thereby on opening
the valve forcing back the water into the boiler; or it may be forced
back by a lever or screw in contact with the piston or rod. At the back
end of the cylinder a small orifice is left to discharge the water which
will collect through leakage or condensation. In order that the ordinary
hand break, which may be connected to the break levers in connection
with the hydraulic and steam cylinder, may be applied independently
of the hydraulic break, or vice versa, both rods are provided with slots
or chains in lieu of round holes for the connecting pins. When this
arrangement is. used to apply the breaks on more than one railway
vehicle it may be done in the usual manner or by a rack on the piston
rod gearing in a pinion on a break shaft running through the train,
thereby applying the breaks by the rotation of the shaft. Or the breaks
may be applied by the direct application of water forced through con-
necting pipes to a cylinder under each vehicle, by a main cylinder con-
nected to the boiler as above described. In this caso the water is shut
up in the connecting pipes so long as the breaks are required to be kept
on.
In this arrangement when the steam is shut off it will condense at
the back of the piston, and thus form a vacuum which will release
the breaks on the opening of the valve, or the piston may be forced
back by an arrangement of levers, or the piston rod may be acted upon
by the water in the boiler to pump back the water from the cylinders
under the vehicles into the main cylinder.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis William Webb in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
WILLIAM WEBB, of Crewe, in the County of Chester, Mechanical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Francis William Webb, Her special
licence that I, the said Francis William Webb, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis William
Webb, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND RAILWAY BREAKS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis William Webb, 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 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 Francis William Webb, 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 (that is to say):
―:
My Invention consists first in the arrangement of the feed pipes of
locomotive engines, the object of which is to assimilate as much as
possible the heat of the water in the pipe to that in the boiler before
it is diffused, also in placing the clack box or connecting pipe from the
injector or pump on the back plate over the end of the feed pipe, and
in such a position that the feed pipe can be carried forward into the
barrel of the boiler, and secondly in certain improvements in the mode
of applying railway breaks.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, and readily
carried into operation I will proceed to describe the accompanying two
Sheets of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
On Sheet 1, Fig. 1, is a side view of part of the boiler of a locomotive
engine to which my improvements are applied, and Fig. 2 is an end
view of the same, a is the end plate of the fire-box of the boiler, and
b, b, are the feed pipes which are ordinarily placed outside the engine
and connected to a clack box fixed either on the boiler barrel, or on
the side of the fire box. These feed pipes I now place inside the boiler
fixing one end in the end plate a, and the other end which is carried
forward towards the smoke box may be deflected downwards at the
front end of the boiler as shewn, or otherwise, by this means the heat
of the water in the feed pipes 6 is assimilated as much as possible to
that in the boiler before it is diffused. The clack boxes c, c, are placed
over the ends of the feed pipes b, b, and these clack boxes are connected
by the pipes d, d, to the injectors e, e, or the injectors may be screwed to
the clack boxes or the pipes d are continued to the force pumps. I wish
to remark that in some cases only one feed pipe and injector or force
pump is employed. The pipes g convey the steam from the stand pipo
h to the injectors e, but they are not required when force pumps are
used.
On Sheet 2, Fig. 3 is an elevation partly in section of part of a
locomotive engine and tender to which one of my improved apparatus
for applying railway breaks is applied; a is the fire-box of the engine,
and a¹, the foot plate beneath which, or in any other convenient position
is placed the hydraulic and steam cylinder i in which is the piston j, this
piston is provided with a trunk or largo piston rod in which may be
screwed the screw for adjusting the break blocks, but the adjustment
may be made by a series of holes in the break rod or otherwise one end
of the cylinder is connected by the pipe to the steam space of the
boiler and the pipe forms the communication between the water space
of the boiler and the other end of the cylinder i. The pipes and are
provided with stop-cocks or valves and handles as shewn in the Drawing.
To the end of the screw is jointed the cross head to which is jointed
one end of the rod, the other end of which is furnished with a slot and
fits on a stud in the break lever which is connected to the break m by
the links. The hand wheel n and rod o are for applying the breaks in

page_text: the ordinary manner.
When the water from the boiler is turned into
the cylinder i by opening the cock in the pipe the piston j is forced
towards the other end of the cylinder, thereby applying the breaks to
the wheels of the tender (or other carriage to which they are applied)
and the piston can be kept in any required position in the cylinder so
as to keep the breaks on for any length of time by closing or throttling
the valve in the pipe. In taking off the breaks the steam is admitted
through the pipe to the back of the piston the area of which is larger
than the front in proportion to the diameter of the trunk or piston rod
j, consequently the steam acting on the back of the piston forces the
water from the front part of the cylinder back into the boiler, or the
cylinder may be of two diameters with a corresponding piston block
as shewn in Fig. 4. After the water has been forced into the boiler
the breaks may be released by the spring acting on the lever 1, or by
balance weight or other equivalent. At the back end of the cylinder
a small orifice is left to discharge the water which will collect through
leakage or condensation, or a self-acting valve may be applied at ³ when
the pressure of steam from the boiler is taken off.
In order that the ordinary hand-break may be applied independently
of the break actuated by the hydraulic and steam cylinder i, and vice
versa, both the rods and o are provided with slots fitting on the studs
projecting from the break lever 1, or the rods may be connected to the
lever by chains. To increase the leverage on the breaks the rod / may
be connected to an intermediate lever by which the space traversed by
the piston j may be greater than that of the lever Z.
When this arrangement is used to apply the breaks on more than onc
railway vehicle it may be done by a rack on or connected to the piston
rod gearing in a pinion on a break shaft running through the train
thereby applying the breaks by the rotation of the shaft.
Fig. 5 is an elevation of an engine tender to which a modification of
my improvements in applying railway breaks is applied, and Fig. 6 is
a plan of part of the same, in this arrangement I employ a main steam
cylinder p which is provided with a piston p', and piston rod p³, the end
of this rod forms a rack gearing into the pinion on the upright shaft r².
One end of the cylinder p is connected by the pipe p³ to the steam space
of the engine boiler, and to the other end is connected the end of the
pipes which is carried under the tender and coupled to other similar
pipes under other carriages of the train, this pipe 8 conveys the water

page_text: from the main cylinder p to the cylinders i which are connected to the
break levers by links as described in reference to Fig. 3 the hand
wheel and link o are also connected to the break lever. When the
piston is at the end of the cylinder p near the pipe p³, the tap in the
pipe p' must be opened to admit water from the tender to the back of
the piston, and when the cylinder is full this tap must be closed. In
order to apply the breaks the steam from the engine boiler is turned on
to force the piston p' back, and in so doing the water in the cylinder p
is forced through the connected pipes & to the cylinders i the pistons
of which are thus moved so as to act on the break levers as before
described, the breaks being kept on so long as the water is shut up in
the connecting pipes 8, and when the steam is shut off from the cylinder
p it will condense at the back of the piston p', and thus form a vacuum
which will release the breaks on the opening of the valve, or the piston
may be forced back by an arrangement of levers, or by the pinion
and rack p³, or the piston rod may be acted upon by the water in the
boiler to pump or suck back the water from the cylinders i under the
vehicles into the main cylinder p, or by springs acting on the break
levers.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same I declare that I claim,-
First. Placing the feed pipes within the boilers of locomotive steam
engines, and connecting them to the injectors or force pumps in the
manner described.
Secondly. Borrowing a portion of the water from the boiler to apply:
the breaks, and returning the water back to the boiler by the pressure of
steam used for releasing the break blocks as described in reference to
Figs. 3 and 4.
Thirdly. The improved modes of applying the breaks to one or more
railway carriages or vehicles as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis William Webb, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April Ono.
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
F. W. WEBB. (L.S.)