IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MEANS OF STOPPING CARRIAGES OR TRAINS TO PREVENT RAILWAY ACCIDENTS
Year: 1855

page_text: This Invention received Provisional Protection, mut notice to proceca
the
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert Henry Hancock at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
July 1855.
I, ROBERT HENRY HANCOCK, of 18, West Street, Smithfield, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MEANS OF STOPPING CARRIAGES OR TRAINS TO PREVENT RAILWAY
ACCIDENTS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved mode of actuating the brakes of rail-
way carriages, and is designed principally with the view of preventing accidents
on railways arising from collisions, but may also be used with advantage for
the ordinary arresting or checking of the progress of a train upon its arrival at
or near a station, or other desired part of a line of railway; and will be found
more simple in its construction and efficient in its action than the mechanical
arrangements heretofore generally employed for those purposes. The means
by which these improvements may be effected are as follows:-Upon one of
the axles of the wheels of one or more or all of the railway carriages composing
a train there is securely fixed a threaded worm, in connection with which is a
worm wheel, so arranged and disposed as to be capable of being thrown into
and out of gear therewith by the driver or guard from either end of the train,

page_text: or, if necessary, from one or both ends of every carriage, and if requisite by
the pointsman or any person on any part of the line of railway, though not
upon the train itself; the brakes of each carriage and mechanism for actuating
the same being connected together by the following means, that is to say, along
the under framing of each carriage and in the direction of the length thereof
a long rod extends, and is supported in suitable bearings. Upon this rod and
under every carriage to which the brake is to be applied, a slotted sector or
cam is securely fixed, and employed for imparting motion to a forked or other
lever, which lever passes through the slot of the aforesaid sector or cam, said
slot being formed with two inclined planes so as to actuate the forked lever in
whichever direction the rod may be turned. There is a worm securely fixed
upon the axle of one pair of running wheels, as also a casting or bearing
which supports one end of a long spindle upon which a worm wheel is placed,
and which wheel slides along the said spindle by the action of the before-
mentioned lever, which is connected to the said worm wheel; the other end
of the above-mentioned spindle is supported by a bracket or bearing fixed
to the under framing of the carriage, and there is a bevil wheel fixed upon
this end of the spindle, which gears into a corresponding bevil wheel fixed
upon another spindle placed at right angles, or nearly so, to the first-named
spindle; upon each end of this transverse spindle (which is supported by
suitable bearings) crank arms or excentrics are placed, and employed for
imparting motion to the brake blocks, which may either be of the ordinary
construction, or each pair of brakes may be connected together by jointed
levers, so that the action of the eccentrics on the spindle shall bring the
breaks into action. It will appear obvious that if the above arrangement
of mechanism occurs beneath each carriage, it is necessary to connect the
mechanism of each together, which may be effected by a coupling piece, of
suitable construction, placed between each carriage, and, if necessary, so con-
trived as to form a part of the ordinary coupling for connecting the carriages
together. It should also be observed, that upon the tender or engine, or
one or more or all of the carriages, a long lever or other motion is placed
for imparting motion to the long rod or rods upon which the several slotted
cams or sectors are fixed, and by which the several brakes may either be thrown
into or out of action, from either end, or from one or more, or all of the car-
riages of the train. I would here remark that an important feature in these
improvements consists in the action of the brakes not being dependent upon or
requiring the exertion of manual power for working them, beyond throwing the
mechanism in gear; the effect being produced, according to these improvements,

page_text: entirely by the rotation of the worm which is upon the axle of the wheels, in
conjunction with the worm wheel and other mechanism connected therewith,
so that according to the velocity of the train, in like manner the brake blocks
will be pressed with greater or less force against the peripheries of the wheels
of the carriages, and the brakes thereby rendered self-regulating. To throw
the brakes out of action, it is only necessary for the engine driver or the
guard to move the before-mentioned lever or other motion in an opposite
direction, by which the several worm wheels will be thrown out of
with
gear
the worms, and the axles relieved of all unnecessary friction. It must be
understood that it is not necessary that the worm wheel should be thrown out
of gear from the worm, but this is proposed to avoid friction. If desirable, the
worm wheel may be always in motion when the worm itself is in motion; in
which case the worm wheel would run loose upon its spindle, and the brakes
would be actuated by a clutch being made to traverse in and out of gear with
the worm wheel by the same description of sector and lever motion as hereto-
fore proposed for throwing the worm wheel in and out of gear. If desirable,
the whole of the bearings of this mechanism may be supported by the axles
themselves, so that the action of the springs of the carriage or carriages will
have no effect whatever upon any portion of the mechanism pertaining to
the breaks.
It must be further understood that I do not confine myself to the mechanism
proposed at the opposite end of the spindle to that upon which the screw wheel
is placed, as it is obvious that when the great decrease in the number of revo-
lutions of this spindle from the number of revolutions of the carriage axle is
produced by introducing upon the screw wheel any number of threads, that
this spindle may be used as a prime rotary motion, from which any description
of mechanical force may be brought to bear upon the breaks, either by a com-
bination of wheels, screws, cranks, levers, wedges, or by hydraulic or hydro-
static power, so that it will be clearly understood that my Invention consists in
placing a screw upon one axle of the engine tenders, or one or more or all
of the carriages of a train, and transmitting a decreased motion to a spindle
attached to the engine, &c., by means of a worm wheel working in gear with
the screw upon the axle, and by using the rotary motion given to the said
spindle to transmit power to the breaks by means of any attainable mechanical
power.
And it will be further understood that the principle of this Invention is to
make use of the power of the rotary motion of the axle or axles attained by the
momentum of the train, by transmitting it in the mode above named to the

page_text: circumference of the wheels; as it is evident that the greater the power attained
by the speed of the axle, the greater will be the friction of the breaks upon the
wheels, and that the longer the axle is in motion the greater force it will be
exerting upon the circumference of the wheels, by means of the mechanism
herein-before described, until the train must be brought to a stand.