IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS AND IN INCREASING ADHESION OF THE RUNNING AND DRIVING WHEELS WITH THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Nathaniel Shore, of Lyme Regis, in
the County of Dorset, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY BREAKS AND IN INCREASING ADHESION OF THE RUNNING AND
DRIVING WHEELS WITH THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS,"
Sealed the 26th January 1869, and dated the 1st August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Nathanie
Shore at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st August 1868.
I, GEORGE NATHANIEL SHORE, of Lyme Regis, in the County of
Dorset, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM.
PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS AND IN INCREASING ADHESION OF THE RUNNING
AND DRIVING WHEELS WITH THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
In constructing railway breaks I employ the ordinary wooden block
which when the break is to be applied is forced against the periphery
of one or more of the wheels; and in order to increase the hold of
the break block upon the wheel and also of the wheel upon the rail,
and also to prolong the time during which a break block will last, I
[Price 8d.]

page_text: place in the face of the wooden break block nails, screws, or pins, by
preference of chill cast iron or steel. When the heads or tops of these
nails, screws, or pins which are driven into the wooden block are
brought into contact with the tyre of the wheel they give to it a slightly
roughened surface, thereby increasing the hold of the break block upon
the wheel and also of the wheel upon the rail. A block thus studded
with screws, nails, or pins might be employed simply for roughening the
surface of the tyres of the wheels when increased adhesion or holding
of the wheels upon the rails is required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Nathaniel Shore in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
NATHANIEL SHORE, of Lyme Regis, in the County of Dorset, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Nathaniel Shore, Her special
licence that I, the said George Nathaniel Shore, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Nathaniel Shore, 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 RAILWAY BREAKS AND IN INCREASING ADHESION OF THE
RUNNING AND DRIVING WHEELS WITH THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Nathaniel Shore,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Nathaniel Shore, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
Iu constructing railway breaks I employ the ordinary wooden block
which when the break is to be applied is forced against the periphery of
the wheel; and in order to increase the hold of the break block upon
the wheel and also of the wheel upon the rail, and also to prolong the
time during which a break block will last, I place in the face of the
wooden break block nails, screws, pins, bolts, or pieces of metal, by
preference of chilled cast iron or steel. When the heads, ends, or tops
of these nails, screws, pins, bolts, or pieces of metal, which are driven,
screwed, or otherwise fixed into the wooden block, are brought into
contact with the tyre of the wheel they give to it a slightly roughened
Burface, thereby increasing the hold of the break block upon the wheel
and also of the wheel upon the rail. A block thus studded with screws,
nails, pins, bolts, or pieces of metal might be employed simply for
roughening the surface of the tyres of the wheels when increased adhesion
or holding of the wheels upon the rails is required.
In carrying my Invention into practice I prefer to proceed as follows:
-I employ ordinary break blocks of wood, and into the rubbing surface
of the block at distances of about half an inch, more or less, the one
from the other I drive pins of cast iron or steel so that the whole rubbing
surface is thus studded. The pins I employ by preference are either of
chilled cast iron or of hardened bar steel three-sixteenths of an inch
square in section and two-and-a-half inches long and pointed at the inner
end. Holes somewhat smaller than the pins should be bored in the
block to facilitate the driving. The pins should be inserted into the
block so that their outer ends are just flush with the rubbing face of the
block.
Such break blocks are much more durable and efficient than ordinary
break blocks, and the pins prevent the tyre of the wheel from acquiring
the highly polished face which results from the use of an ordinary break
block.
When the improved break block is applied to a driving wheel it will
be found that it keeps the tyre in a good condition to hold firmly to the
rail, and so greatly reduces the tendency to slip, and break blocks may
if desired be applied mainly or entirely with this object; in this case

page_text: 0
the block may take a cylindrical or other suitable form and be mounted
on an axis or otherwise so that it may be pressed firmly against the wheel
without offering much resistance to its rotation. I prefer, however, in
this case to use a block like an ordinary brake block, but studded with
nails, screws, pins, bolts, or pieces of metal as already described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Nathaniel Shore, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine
G. N. SHORE. (Ls.)