AN IMPROVED BREAK FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELED CARRIAGES."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Brightmore Mitchell, of Bakewell, in the
County of Derby, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BREAK FOR RAILWAY
AND OTHER WHEELED CARRIAGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Brightmore Mitchell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th July 1865.
I, ROBERT BRIGHTMORE MITCHELL, of Bakewell, in the County of Derby,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED BREAK
FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELED CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct a self-acting break in such a
manner that it shall act automatically upon the wheels, whenever a check is
given to the speed of the engine, horse, or other tractive power employed,
and thus greatly assist in stopping the train or carriage, and that it shall act
with a force increasing with the momentum of the train or carriage, so that
the greater the speed or momentum of the train or carriage, the greater will
be the force with which the break is applied..
The Invention consists principally in providing the carriages with a fixed
break in front of the wheels attached by brackets or otherwise to the under
part of the body of the carriage, and mounting the axles (or the axle boxes)
in horizontal slides, so that when a check is given to the speed of the engine,
horse, or other tractive power, and hence to the body of the carriage, the

page_text: momentum will carry the wheels and axles forward, and force the rims of the
former tightly against the fixed breaks, and thus stop their revolution and
cause them to "skid" or drag. The saine effect will be produced in descending
an incline whenever there is a tendency of the train or carriage to overrun
the engine, horse, or other tractive power. In some cases the under works of
the carriage will have to slide with the wheels and axle.
In applying this Invention to carriages to be used upon railways, I propose
to place breaks both before and behind the wheels, so that they will act in
whichever direction the carriage may be drawn. If found requisite, springs
may be applied to the slides, so as to assist in throwing the breaks off as soon
as the engine commences to draw, and if these springs are made of the proper
strength they will also prevent the breaks from being applied when the engine
is backed. These springs may also be applied to the axle slides of other
wheeled carriages, the object being to admit of their being backed without
putting on the breaks, but at the same time to allow the latter to act
automatically as soon as a check is given to the momentum of the body of the
carriage. Instead of these springs (or in combination with them) a lever or
other simple arrangement may be employed to put the breaks out of action
when it is desired to back the carriage or train.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Brightmore Mitchell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BRIGHTMORE MITCHELL, of Bakewell, in the County of Derby, send
greeting.
..WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen. Victoria, by Her Letters:
Patent, bearing date.the Twenty-eighth day of July, 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 me,
the said Robert Brightmore Mitchell, Her special licence that I, the said
Robert Brightmore Mitchell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Robert Brightmore Mitchell, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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,

page_text: and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED BREAK FOR RAILWAY AND
OTHER WHEELED CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Robert Brightmore Mitchell, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under niy, 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 Robert Brightmore Mitchell, 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 in writing; and on reference to the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to render the common breaks now in use
self-acting, and thus to dispense with the continual superintendence of the
driver or drivers, or persons in charge of such carriage or carriages to which
such breaks are attached, or in other words to construct a self-acting break in
such a manner that it shall act automatically upon the wheels whenever a
check is given to the engine, horse, or other tractive power employed. The
power used is the natural tendency of any moving body to continue in motion,
and the increasing momentum of any wheeled carriage in descending inclines,
and the same in case of reductions of speed and sudden stoppages. In
attaching my improved break to a carriage for common roads with more than
two wheels, I divide the carriage from the bed or beds (that is above the
turntable or transit plates), and affix between and thereto one, two, or more
slides or rollers made of suitable strength, materials, and formation, as the
weight, size, and structure of such vehicle or carriage may require. The one
portion of such slide or roller I bolt, screw, or nail to the body or upper part
of such carriage, and the other part. I fasten to the bed or beds as aforesaid so
that the one part may have a sliding or rolling motion upon the other; if a
tubular slide is used I make the rod longer than the hollow part, and in the
case of rollers in frames I make the frame of the roller longer than the usual
traverse of such rollers. In applying my improved break on' such slides or
rollers being fixed, I attach or hinge the end of the common break ironwork
to the under part of such slides or rollers, or to the bed, instead of the manner
now in practice of fixing them to be worked by the hand or foot, and therefore,
instead of the carriage pressing upon the motive power; the body contents and
the hinder wheels slip or roll forward upon the slides or rollers and therefore
put-on the breaks as in case of hand or foot power. The body and hinder

page_text: wheels therefore have a backward and forward motion of the distance required
to work the breaks, but are not allowed to slide or roll to the full extent of
such slides or rollers, as in that case the power thereby obtained would be
Jost. The body and underworks of such carriage being fully attached to each
other as regards the bearing of burthen. The slides or rollers may be sunk
into the wood of such carriage, or otherwise placed out of sight or damage, when
the structure of the carriage will allow of such being done. The slides may
be either round, oval, flat, square, or of any other suitable form, and such
slides or rollers may be fixed on other parts of any carriage when the formation
may make it impracticable to fix them in the position aforesaid, but for the
better requirements of carrying passengers and burthen and greater safety, I
would not put them under the top transit plate or top half of the turntable.
In case of a two-wheeled carriage I fix the break in a similar form, allowing
the body to slide or roll upon the underworks, as in case of a carriage with
more wheels, and thereby so connect the body with such breaks as to produce
the same effects as aforesaid. In order to counteract the present effect of the
hand or foot breaks in a two-wheeled carriage; that is to say, not to place
upon the animal drawing the extra weight caused by the breaks being applied
to the wheels (such weight being caused by the break blocks having a
tendency to be drawn round the wheels, and thereby lift or pull the weight of
the carriage upon the animals back), I place a hand or foot break-work which
shall move the body of the carriage back a short distance (as far as it shall be
needed) before applying the break, and thereby make the weight upon the
animals, back the same as before the break was applied. In case of a railway
carriage I allow the body or upper portion of such carriage to slide or roll
upon the under portion, having slides or rollers on the whole or part of the
length of the carriage, and the usual railway carriage breaks attached thereto
as in a road carriage. If found requisite, springs may be applied to the slides
so as to assist in throwing the breaks off as soon as the engine commences to
draw, and if these springs are made of the proper strength they will also
prevent the breaks from being applied when the engine is backed. In backing
any carriage if it should be required a handle or foot treadle is applied, and
so connected with the break as to work in a similar mauner to the cominon
break handle or treadle, to put the break on and off in cases of horses running
away or other derangement of the usual speed of the motive power, and also
such connection or handle can be fixed and applied, so that the break can be
reversed in its action, and therefore in a railway carriage that shall be pro-
ceeding the one way the break shall be in a state ready for action when
required, if it is moved in an opposite or backwards direction the same effect

page_text: may be obtained in railway carriages by a buffer or buffers, or similar
arrangement in connection with the engine driver or guard.
The great advantage of this Invention is that the break cannot be in, action
when the motive power is drawing or proceeding. at the same speed as the
component parts of the carriage to which the break is attached, the force of
such break being regulated by the requirements of the motive power, the
momentum of the carriage, and other natural causes.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "An Improved
Break for Railway and other Wheeled Carriages," I will now proceed to
describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect; and in order that the same may be
distinctly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative
thereof, and have marked the same with figures and letters of reference corre-
sponding with these in the following explanation thereof, that is to say:-
In the annexed Drawing Figure 1 is an elevation showing the application
of my Invention to a carriage or vehicle for common roads, and Figure 2 is
a plan view of the same.
a, a is the body of the vehicle, and 6, 6, are the underworks, which are of
the usual construction. Instead of fixing the upper block * of the under-
works directly to the bottom of the vehicle by means of bolts as usual I
connect it thereto in the following manner-Upon the upper side of this
block I bolt or otherwise firmly fix two tubular slides c, c, and to the under
side of the body of the vehicle I likewise firmly fix (by bolts d, d, or otherwise)
two rods e, e, passing through the said slides, the latter being shorter than the
rods so as to be capable of a sliding motion longitudinally thereon. The block
* is connected by a link f, f, to the break lever g, g, which is keyed or other-
wise fixed at or near the centre of the shaft h, h. This shaft h, h, is supported
in bearings or brackets fixed to the vehicle in such a position that the rocking
of this shaft in a small arc of a circle shall apply or remove the breaks i, i, to
or from the peripheries or tires of the wheels of the vehicle, as shown in dotted
lines in Figure 1; and it will be evident that this rocking motion of the break
shaft may be produced either by the sliding forward of the body of the vehicle
over the underworks, or by the sliding backward of the latter under the body
of the vehicle, as shewn by the dotted lines. I may here remark that (if pre-
ferred) the slides may be attached to the body of the vehicle, and the rods
fixed to the underworks. The modification hereafter described may also
evidently be reversed in the same manner.
Figure 3 shews a modification of the above, wherein slotted slides or guides
c, c, are substituted for the tubular guides before named, and flanged rollers

page_text: e, e, for the sliding rods, in this case a rolling movement is obtained instead
of a sliding motion, but in other respects the action is the same.
In the Drawing referred to I have for the sake of simplicity shewn the
break lever connected to the underworks by a simple link f, f, only as would
be the case where the the bottom of the vehicle is flat, or nearly so, but it will
be evident that for other vehicles where the bottom is of a curved or irregular
form (as a brougham for instance) the movement will have to be transmitted
by means of two or more links jointed together and so formed as to suit the
shape of the bottom of the vehicle to which the break is to be applied.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for "An
Improved Break for Railway and other Wheeled Carriages," together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed and carried into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention
the-improved break herein-before described and shown in the Drawings,
wherein slides or rollers are placed between the body of the carriage, and the
turntable or underworks, so that the former shall have a sliding or rolling
motion over the latter, and thus act upon fixed breaks attached to the body
of the carriage, and force them against the rims of the wheels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Brightmore Mitchell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
K. B. MITCHELL. (L.S.)