AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR COUPLING, CONNECTING, AND REGULATING THE LAXITY OF RAILWAY TRAINS, PART OF WHICH APPARATUS ALSO ACTS AS A BRAKE
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Hunt at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th March
1875.
I, SAMUEL HUNT, of Southport, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
AND APPARATUS FOR COUPLING, CONNECTING, AND REGULATING THE LAXITY OF
RAILWAY TRAINS, PART OF WHICH APPARATUS ALSO ACTS AS A BRAKE," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists principally in the use or employment of a rope
of wire or other suitable strong and flexible material wound upon two
drums in the guard's van, or elewhere (one at each end of the train),
and threaded through wrought iron or other pipes or tubes, and over
rollers fixed longitudinally under the central part of the bodies of all the
carriages, vans, or other vehicles from one end of the train to the other;
and, secondly, in the use or employment of couplings of wire rope or
other suitable flexible material on the ends of the carriages. By means
of this arrangement by turning the drum at one end of the train the
wire rope is wound up, and the whole train of carriages is connected
together, all the laxity or slackness of the train is taken up, the buffer

page_text: springs compressed, and the whole train becomes as it were one long
flexible carriage, so that the train will run much steadier, and in the case
of a tire breaking or other accident occurring to one carriage it cannot
turn over or run off the rails.
The guard's van containing one of the drums may be placed at the
head of the train, immediately in rear of the engine or tender, so that
the guard and engine driver are in direct communication with each
other, or, if preferred, the front drum may be attached to the engine or
tender. The guard or engine driver can thus slacken the tension of the
train when passing round sharp curves, and then wind it up again as
rigid as he may find desirable when going along straight portions of the
line.
When I wish this apparatus to act also as a brake I fix to each
carriage at each end, inside the buffers, a pair of sliding brakes provided
at their inner ends with brake blocks for acting against the wheels, and
at their outer ends with buffer heads. These brakes are so arranged that
when the train is at its ordinary amount of tension the brake buffer
heads do not quite touch, but when the brakes are to be applied the
guard or engine driver winds up the cord, and thus drawing the carriages
up cach nearer to the other causes the brake buffer heads to come into
contact with each other, and thus force all the brakes against their
respective wheels, at the same that the rigidity of the train is greatly
increased in proportion, and the train becomes as it were one solid mass
from end to end.
In order to gain power or speed to put on the brakes very strongly or
quickly in case of an impending accident, either or both drums may be
provided with toothed or other gearing, by means of which it may when
desirable be put into communication with the axle of the running wheels,
so that the momentum and speed of the train will furnish the necessary
power for applying the brakes.