IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS, AND IN APPARATUSES FOR CONNECTING SHAFTS OR RODS FOR WORKING BREAKS AND
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Tatlow, of Wirksworth, in the County of
Derby, Manufacturer, and Henry Hodgkinson, of the same Place,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS, AND
IN APPARATUSES FOR CONNECTING SHAFTS OR RODS FOR WORKING BREAKS AND
Sealed the 15th June 1858, and dated the 21st December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Tatlow and Henry
Hodgkinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 21st December 1857.
We, JAMES TATLOW, of Wirksworth, in the County of Derby, Manufacturer,
and HENRY HODGKINSON, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS, AND IN
APPARATUSES FOR CONNECTING SHAFTS OR RODS FOR WORKING BREAKS AND SIGNALS,"
to be as follows:-
Our improvements in railway breaks consist in constructing and arranging
such breaks in the following manner:-Beneath the locomotive tender, van,
or other carriage to which breaks are to be applied, we place a transverse
shaft, working in suitable bearings and carrying a pinion upon each end, and
a worm wheel at or near the middle. The teeth of each of the pinions take
into corresponding teeth on the edge of a vertical bar of iron, which is capable
of rising and falling in a suitable socket or support attached to the frame of
the carriage. At the lower end of this bar is attached by a pin or bolt a break-
block, shoe, or skid, which, as the vertical bar is depressed, comes upon the

page_text: rail on which the carriage is running, and receives a portion of the weight of
the train, the amount of which depends upon the amount of downward pressuro
exerted upon the vertical bar; the break-block has also jointed to it the lower
end of an inclined rod, the upper end of which is jointed to a lug or lugs
beneath the carriage at some distance from the transverse shaft. Each break-
block is formed with a plain or toothed flanged sole, which may be either in
one with or screwed or bolted to the block itself. Provision may also be
made for passing sand or grit through or under the sole of the break-block
when in action, the break-blocks being situated at the two ends of the trans-
verse shaft, and similarly fitted, will act in the same manner on each side of
tho carriage. They are supported laterally by transverse bars or rods, which
cross each other. The worm wheel by which the bars carrying the break-
blocks are raised and lowered is driven by a worm upon a longitudinal shaft
or rod supported in bearings beneath the carriage, of which bearings a portion
is jointed, to give freedom of motion to the shaft.
Our improvements in apparatuses for connecting shafts or rods, relate to
shafts or rods similar to the longitudinal shaft or rod just described, whether
used for breaks or signals, and consist in apparatus constructed and arranged
in the following manner:A central connecting piece of metal is grooved
and slotted to receive two sliding pieces, which are capable of being with-
drawn to a certain extent from the central piece, one at each end, and are
provided with stops to prevent their entire withdrawal, and elastic springs to
return them to their positions within the central piece, when the extending
action ceases. These sliding pieces are rectangular in section, in order that
when one of them is turned round its longitudinal axis, the other shall be
compelled to do the same. Each sliding piece is fitted with a spring hook, or
with a morticed socket, to receive a spring hook, and the end of each of the
longitudinal shafts or rods beneath any number of carriages is fitted with a
corresponding socket or spring hook, in such manner that when either end
of any carriage is brought to either end of any other carriage, a socket shall
be ready to receive a spring hook, in order to complete the connection of the
shafts or rods throughout the train; one of the sliding pieces carries at its end
a universal joint, beyond which the hook or socket is fitted. By the use of
the apparatuses just described, the break or signal shafts or rods of any number
of carringes may be so connected, that while freo play is given to the parts
laterally, vertically, and longitudinally, rotary motion imparted by bevil wheels
or otherwise to one shaft or rod will be transmitted with certainty to the
whole of the shafts or rods.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Tatlow and Henry Hodgkinson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
TATLOW, of Wirksworth, in the County of Derby, Manufacturer, and HENRY
HODGKINSON, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Tatlow and Henry Hodgkinson, Her-special licence that we,
the said James Tatlow and Henry Hodgkinson, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Tatlow and Henry Hodg-
kinson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during tho
term therein expressed, 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 RAILWAY BREAKS,
AND IN APPARATUSES FOR CONNECTING SHAFTS OR RODS FOR WORKING BREAKS AND
SIGNALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James
Tatlow and Henry Hodgkinson, or one of us, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or 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 we, the said James Tatlow and Henry Hodgkinson,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
annexed, that is to say :-
Our improvements in railway breaks consist in constructing and arranging
such breaks in the following manner :-
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a side view of as much of the side of a
carriage as is required to illustrate the improvements. Beneath the loco-
motive tender, van, or other carriage to which breaks are to be applied, we
place a transverse shaft a, working in suitable bearings, and carrying a pinion
upon each end, and a worm wheel at or near the middle. The teeth of each

page_text: of the pinions take into corresponding teeth on the edge of a vertical bar of
iron c, which is capable of rising and falling in a suitable socket or support d,
attached to the frame of the carriage e, c. At the lower end of this bar c is
attached by a pin or bolt a break block, shoe, or skid f, which as the vertical
bar c is depressed comes upon the rail g on which the carriage is running, and
receives a portion of the weight of the train, the amount of which depends
upon the amount of the downward pressure exerted upon the vertical bar c.
Tho break block f has also jointed to it the lower end of an inclined rod h, the
upper end of which is jointed to a lug or lugs i beneath the carriage, at some
distance from the transverse shaft a. Each break block is formed with a
plain or toothed flanged sole, which may bo either in one with or screwed or
bolted to the block itself. Provision may also be made for passing sand or
grit through or under the sole of the break block when in action. The break
blocks being situated at the two ends of the transverse shaft, and similarly
fitted, will act in the same manner on each side of the carriage. They are
supported laterally by transverse bars or rods, which cross each other. The
worm wheel, by which the bars carrying the break blocks are raised and
lowered, is driven by a worm upon a longitudinal shaft or rod, supported in
bearings, beneath the carriage of which bearings a portion is jointed to give
freedom of motion to the shaft. This longitudinal shaft or rod is connected
to the adjacent and similar rod on the next carriage, by means of the con-
nections herein-after described. The worms and worm wheels may be
replaced by nuts and screws, or the parts may be otherwise modified in any
manner, so long as the essential features of the apparatus are retained.
In Figure 2 we have shown a modification of the preceding arrangement to
be applied to the locomotive engine, and also to one or more of the carriages,
if desired. The break block, shoc, or skid in this instance is intended to
receive the shock in the ovent of the engine running into another, or into any
other object, and to transmit it to the rail instead of allowing the engine to
lash back upon the carriages. The action of this arrangement will be under-
stood on inspection. The driver, on seeing an object approaching or at rest
on the line, will, by turning the handle h', bring the break block, shoe, or skid
down tightly upon the rail, and we make the sole of it rough or serrated, in
order that when tho blow is received upon the engine, the rough or serrated
surface may produce sufficient friction to prevent the engine being driven
back.
Our improvements in apparatuses for connecting shafts or rods relate to
shafts or rods similar to the longitudinal shaft or rod before described,
whether used for breaks or signals, and consist in apparatuses constructed

page_text: and arranged in the manner shewn in Figures 3, 4, and 5. A central
connecting piece of metal A is grooved and slotted to receive two sliding
pieces B, B, which are capable of being withdrawn to a certain extent
from the central piece, one at each end, and are provided with stops C to pre-
vent their entire withdrawal, and elastic springs D, to return them to their
positions within the central piece when the extending action ceases. These
sliding pieces are rectangular in section, in order that when one of them is
turned round its longitudinal axis, the other shall be compelled to do the same.
Each sliding piece is fitted either with a spring hook E, or with a morticed
socket F, to receive a spring hook, and the end of each of the longitudinal
shafts or rods beneath any number of carriages is fitted with a corresponding
socket or spring hook, in such manner that when either end of any carriage
is brought to either end of any other carriage, a socket F shall be ready to
receive a spring hook E, in order to complete the connection of the shafts or
rods G throughout the train. One of the sliding pieces B carries at its end
a universal joint II, beyond which the hook or socket is fitted. By the use of
the apparatuses just described, the break, or signal shafts, or rods of any
number of carriages may be so connected that, while free play is given to the
parts laterally, vertically, and longitudinally, rotary motion imparted by bevil
wheels or otherwise to one shaft or rod will be transmitted with certainty to
the whole of the shafts or rods. These apparatuses may be applied to the
connection of longitudinal shafts or rods employed for giving motion to any
description of breaks or signals.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,-
First, the construction and arrangement of railway breaks, as herein-before
described and illustrated in the Drawings annexed.
Second, the construction and arrangement of apparatuses for connecting
shafts or rods for working breaks and signals, as herein-before described and
illustrated in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Hodgkinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
HENRY HODGKINSON. (L.S.)