IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES APPLICABLE TO CARRIAGES, WAGONS, OR OTHER VEHICLES WHICH ARE USED ON RAILWAYS, TRAMWAYS, OR COMMON
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Marjoribanks Lightbody, of Edinburgh,
in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention
of “IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES APPLICABLE TO CARRIAGES, WAGONS, OR
OTHER VEHICLES WHICH ARE USED ON RAILWAYS, TRAMWAYS, OR COMMON
Sealed the 22nd August 1873, and dated tho 25th February 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Marjoribanks
Lightbody at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th February 1873.
I, WILLIAM MARJORIBANKS LIGHTBODY, of Edinburgh, in the County
of Mid Lothian, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of tho said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES, APPLICABLE TO CARRIAGES, WAGONS
OR OTHER VEHICLES WHICH ARE USED ON RAILWAYS, TRAMWAYS, OR COMMON ROAD-
WAYS, THE SAME BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows,
that is to say:—
This Invention which relates to improvements in the arrangement or
construction of brakes used or to be used for retarding or stopping

page_text: carriages, wagons, cars, or other vehicles employed on railways, tram-
ways, or on common roadways consists essentially in the employment of
inclined surfaces or wedges for actuating or pressing the brake blocks
against the wheels. The inclined or wedge surfaces are connected to tho
brake blocks by means of a dovetailed feather and a groove which are |
fitted so as to slide freely in or on cach other. The inclined or wedge
surfaces arc operated so as to force the brake block or blocks against or
to withdraw them from the wheels, and are acted upon by a lever or
screw or by both levers and screws. By pressing the lever in one
direction the inclined surface moves the brake block or blocks against 1
the wheel or wheels, and by pressing it in the opposite direction the block
or blocks are withdrawn from the wheels, this effect is also obtained
where a screw is employed either combined or not combined with a lever
by reversing the direction in which the screw is rotated.
Besides being adapted for retarding or stopping vehicles which travel 1
on railways, tramways, or common roads, the improved brake or drag
herein-before described may also be employed as an engine brake, and
for retarding or stopping revolving bodies generally.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patont,
filed by the said William Marjoribanks Lightbody in the Great 2
Seal Patent Office on the 25th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MARJORIBANKS LIGHTBODY, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 2
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors give
and grant unto me, tho said William Marjoribanks Lightbody, Her
special license that I, the said William Marjoribanks Lightbody, 8
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Marjoribanks Lightbody, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,

page_text: 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 BRAKES APPLICABLE TO
CARRIAGES, WAGONS, OR OTHER VEHICLES WHICH ARE USED ON RAILWAYS, TRAN-
5 WAYS, OR COMMON ROADWAYS, THE SAME BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Marjoribank Lightbody, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and scal, 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 William Marjoribanks Lightbody,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
5 the same is to bo performed, to bo particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, referenco being had to tho
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked theroon,
that is to say—
My said Invention which relates to improvements in the arrangement
) or construction of brakes used or to be used for retarding or stopping
carriages, wagons, cars, or other vehicles employed on railways, tram-
ways, or on common roadways, consists essentially in the employment of
inclined surfaces or wedges for actuating or pressing the blake blocks
against the wheels. The inclined or wedge surfaces are connected to the
brake blocks by means of a dovetailed feather, and a groove which are
fitted so as to slide freely in or on each other, and the said inclined or
wedge surfaces are operated, so as to force the brake blocks against or to
withdraw them from the wheels by a lover or screw, or by both lovers
and screws.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or carried out in practice,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended Figure 1 is a longi-
tudinal section of a railway guard's van, and illustrates the improved
brakes as constructed in accordance with my said Invention applied:

page_text: thereto; Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same on the line a, b,
Figure 1; whilst Figure 3 is a plan of the carriage framing, and of the
mechanism constituting the brakes.
Figures 4 and 5 are respectively detailed views of parts of the apparatus
and are herein-after more particularly referred to.
The brakes as shewn by these Figures are arranged to be operated
from the interior of the carriage or van by a screw A, to the lower
extremity of which a cross bar B is attached, and to each end of the
bar B one extremity of a lever C is fixed as more particularly seen at
Figure 3. The levers C are centred upon studs D projecting from
brackets attached to the side frames of the carriage or van, and they are
attached at their extremities opposite to the bar B to the upper ends of
links E, the lower extremities of which are secured to inclined planes or
wedges F by a bar G, which passes across the carriage or van from one
inclined plane or wedge F to the other as shewn at Figures 2 and 3.
Dovetailed projections or feathers II are formed on or attached to the
edges of the inclined planes or wedges F, as more particularly seen by
the detailed view at Figure 4 of the Drawings, and which feathers or
projections fit into corresponding grooves formed in framings I attached
to and projecting from the back of cach brake block J, as more clearly
seen at Figure 1. Similar projections or feathers K are attached to or
formed on the upper side of cach brake block J, as more particularly
seen at Figure 5 of the Drawings, which fit into grooves formed on or
attached to the under sides of the brackets L, by which the brako blocks
are hung from the framing of the carriage or van. By means of the
arrangement of mechanism herein-before set forth when the screw A is
operated so as to raise the extremities M of the levers C, the opposite
ends of the said levers are depressed and the wedges or inclined planes F
forced downwards between the framings I which has the effect of causing
the said framings together with the brake blocks to move towards and
press against the peripheries of the wheels, whereby the rotation of the said
wheels is retarded or entirely stopped, as desired, and vice versa. By so
operating the screw A as to depress the extremities M of the levers C,
and raise the inclined planes or wedges F, the framings I and brake
blocks J, are drawn out of contact with the peripheries of the wheels.
The inclined planes or wedges F are guided in moving upwards and
downwards in a vertical plane by the dovetailed feathers or projections H
and by guides N attached to the side frames of the carriage or van, and

page_text: through which the rod G passes. The brako blocks J are guided in
moving horizontally by the dovetailed feathers or projections K sliding
in the grooves on the brackets L.'
Under another arrangement of operating the brakes embraced by this
Invention illustrated in longitudinal section at Figuro 6, in transverso
section on the lino c, d, Figuro 6, at Figure 7, and in plan at Figure 8 of
the Drawings, the scrow A in lieu of being attached to a cross bar at its
lower extremity is secured direct to a lever B, one such lever only being.
employed. Under this arrangement the extremity of the lover B
opposite to the screw A is attached to the upper end of a double link O,
by which it is secured to a bar D extending across the framing of the
carriage or van, and attached at its extremities to inclined planes or
wedges E, which are provided with dovetailed feathers or projections and
operate the brake blocks in manner similar to the inclined planes or
wedges J herein-before described in reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Under the arrangement shown at Figures 6, 7, and 8, the brake
blocks F in lieu of being hung from brackets are supported by
longitudinal beams G which have grooves formed near the lower sides
thereof, into which projections formed on or fixed to the upper sides of
tho blocks F enter as more particularly seen by the detailed transverso
section at Figure 9 of the Drawings, but it is to be understood that I do.
not confine myself to employ such an arrangement in conjunction with
the system last described of operating the brakes, as the arrangement
herein-before set forth may be with facility adopted in lieu thereof.
It is also to be understood that in cases where the wheel base of the
vehicle admits of such an arrangement, the frames placed between
the inclined planes or wedges and the brake blocks are dispensed with,
the inclined planes being caused to act directly against the backs of the
said blocks.
It is further to be understood that although I have on the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings illustrated the improvements in
brakes constituting my said Invention in conjunction with the guard's
van of a railway train, the said brakes are equally applicable to
locomotive engines, carriages, and other vehicles travelling on railways
or on tramways or common roadways, and the brakes may also be
employed for retarding or stopping revolving bodies generally.
The improved brakes herein-before described and illustrated on the

page_text: WILLIAM MARJORIBANKS LIGHTBODY. (L.S.)