IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Maitland Yeomans, of Queen Victoria Street, in
the City of London, and Sydney Stone, of Wyvil Road, Lambeth, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES."
Sealed the 4th June 1880, and dated the 9th December 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Maitland Yeomans
and Sydney Stone at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th
December 1879.
DAVID MAITLAND YEOMANS, of Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London,
and SYDNEY STONE, of Wyvil Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey.
IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES."
Our Invention relates to brakes for railway vehicles, road locomotive engines,
train cars, and other like purposes, and has reference to the method of suspending
the brake blocks and to the gear for actuating the said blocks.
The brake blocks are each placed between two plates or bars to which the block
is connected by means of a screw bolt, the tightness of which is so adjusted that
the block will be maintained sufficiently rigid when off the wheels without the use
of stops, springs, and other devices, whilst at the same time it will readily yield to
the motive force in applying the brakes. By this arrangement of the brake blocks
the action of the bearing springs is left unimpeded instead of its being restrained as
is the case when stops are employed.
The brake gear for applying the brakes is arranged so as to enable two sets of
blocks to be applied with equal force simultaneously, say, for example, to the
opposite sides of a pair of wheels and so as to equally divide the pressure upon the
four blocks. For this purpose each set of brake blocks for one side of a pair of
wheels is carried by a cross bar which is suspended from the frame of the vehicle in
the usual manner, and to one of these cross bars is pivotted a double armed lever,
one arm of which is connected by a rod to a lever operated by hand or power,
whilst the other arm is connected by another rod to the cross bar of the brake
blocks for the opposite side of the pair of wheels. By this arrangement when the
power is communicated to the cross bar to which the double armed lever is pivotted
the brake blocks which the said cross bar carries are applied to the wheels, and by
the motion of the double armed lever the movement is transmitted to the other
cross bar, the brake blocks of which are simultaneously applied with equal force,
the pressure being equally divided upon the four blocks. A similar arrangement
is applied to the other pair or pairs of wheels, the whole however being worked
simultaneously from the actuating lever in the usual manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said David Maitland Yeomans and Sydney Stone in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 4th June 1880.
DAVID MAITLAND YEOMANS, of Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London,
and SYDNEY STONE, of Wyvil Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAKES."
Our said Invention relates to brakes for railway vehicles, road locomotive engines,
tram cars, and other like purposes, and has reference to improvements in the
method of suspending the brake blocks and to improvements in the gear for
actuating the said blocks.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed two Sheets of Drawings, the same letters of
reference indicating corresponding parts in all the corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 (on Sheet 1) represents a diagram side elevation of the under framing
of a four wheeled vehicle having our said Invention applied thereto, and Figure 2
is a diagram sectional plan of the same corresponding to Figure 1; Figures 3 and 4
(on Sheet 2) are similar views to Figures 1 and 2 (Sheet 1), but illustrating the
application of our said Invention to a six wheeled vehicle.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 (Sheet 1), A, A¹, are the brake blocks, which are
each placed between two plates or bars a, a, forming hangers to which the block is
connected by means of a screw bolt b, the tightness of which is so adjusted that
the block will be maintained sufficiently rigid when off the wheels B without the
use of stops, springs, and other devices, whilst at the same time it will readily yield
to the motive force in applying the brakes.
By this arrangement of the brake blocks the action of the bearing springs is
left unimpeded instead of its being restrained, as is the case when stops are
employed.
The brake gear for applying the brakes is arranged so as to enable all the sets of
blocks to be applied with equal force simultaneously, that is to say, that the pressure
shall be equally divided over the whole.
The two sets of brake blocks A, A', (Figures 1 and 2) for the opposite sides of a
pair of wheels B are carried respectively by cross bars C, C¹, which are suspended
by hangers a from the frame D of the vehicle. To one of these cross bars, videlicet,
the cross bar C, is pivotted at d a double armed lever E, one arm e of which is
connected by a rod f to a lever F operated in the usual manner through the inter-
vention of other connections f¹ by hand or power, whilst the other arm e¹ of the
said lever E is connected by another rod to the cross bar C' of the brake
blocks A' for the opposite side of the pair of wheels. By this arrangement when
the power is communicated to the cross bar C the brake blocks A which the said
cross bar carries are applied to the wheels B, and by the motion of the double
armed lever E the movement is transmitted to the cross bar C¹, the brake blocks A¹
of which (since the arms e, e¹, of the double armed lever E are equal) are
simultaneously applied with equal force, the pressure being equally divided between
the two pairs of blocks. A similar arrangement is applied to the other pair of
wheels at the opposite end of the vehicle, as shewn, the whole being however
worked simultaneously from the lever F in the usual manner. Figures 3 and 4
(Sheet 2) illustrate the application of the brake gear to six wheeled vehicles. In
these Figures A, A1, A2, represent respectively the three sets of brake blocks
arranged in connection with the wheels B, B', B. These blocks are carried
respectively by cross bars C, C1, C2, which are suspended by hangers a from the
frame D of the vehicle. To the cross bar C is pivotted at d¹ a lever E¹ which is
divided into two sections at d by a connection with the rod f of the actuating

page_text: lever F, the distance between the point d and the centre d¹ being twice the
distance between the point d² and a point d³ at the outer end of the lever E.
From the point d³ extends a rod g' to a central point e² in a lovor E which is
pivotted at e to the cross bar C¹ carrying the brake blocks A¹, whilst from the
point e' at the extremity of the lever E extends another rod g³ to the cross bar C³
carrying the brake blocks A².
A similar action is thus obtained to that produced when the Invention is applied
to four wheeled vehicles, the arrangement of the leverage, as hereinbefore described,
being such that all the brake blocks are simultaneously applied with equal force,
the pressure being equally divided over the several pairs of blocks.
It is obvious that brake blocks may be applied on both sides of the wheels in
the case of six wheeled vehicles in the manner hereinbefore described with reference
to four wheeled vehicles.
In these Figures the method of suspending the brake blocks, as hereinbefore
described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 (Sheet 1), is also shewn, and the
corresponding parts of this device are indicated by the same letters of reference.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the hereinbefore
in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The method of suspending the brake blocks, substantially as and for the
purpose hereinbefore described.
Second. The employment for actuating the brake blocks of brake gear consisting
of cross bars, levers, and connections, arranged so as to operate substantially in the
manner and for the purpose hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, we, the said David Maitland Yeomans and Sydney Stone,
have to this our Specification set our hands and seals, the Twenty ninth
day of May, One thousand eight hundred and eighty.