IMPROVE- MENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edward. M'Connell, of Wolverton, in the
County of Buckingham, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS."
Scaled the 1st May 1857, and dated the 28th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edward McConnell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
28th February 1857.
I, JAMES EDWARD MCCONNELL, of Wolverton, in the County of Buckingham,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction of and mode of working
railway breaks- by the application of steam power for that purpose, whereby
an effective break or retarding action is obtained simultaneously upon the
periphery of the wheel and upon the surface of the rail."
The improvements consist in attaching a horizontal cylinder to the loco-
motive engine or tender, and to any one or more of the carriages in the train,
such cylinder being fitted with covers and stuffing boxes at each end; and
having a single piston working therein, the piston rod passing through both
ends of the cylinder, and being jointed to a pair of knee or toggle joints... :
The lower ends of these joints are connected to the break block, which häs
a long bearing surface to slide upon the rail when in action; whilst at the
same time one of its extremities is curved to fit the periphery of the wheel to
be breaked.
i
A radius rod jointed' to one end of the block serves to draw it into close

page_text: contact with the wheel when it is being forced down on to the rail. These
blocks are connected in pairs by transverse tie bars, so that the blocks on
opposite rails shall work conjointly.
The cylinders on the carriages are connected by suitable pipes or flexible
tubes, so that steam or fluid may be forced into the whole of them throughout
the train when requisite.
The action of the break is as follows:-When steam or fluid is admitted
on to one side of the pistons, it causes the toggle joints to straighten or
partially straighten, and this has the effect of pressing down the blocks on to
the rails, whilst the radius rods servo to draw them simultaneously against the
peripheries of the wheels.
By admitting steam on to the opposite side of the pistons the contrary
effect will be produced, and the breaks will be taken off. Suitable valves
are of course employed for regulating the admission of steam or fluid to either
side of the pistons as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Edward McConnell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDWARD MCCONNELL, of Wolverton, in the County of Buckingham, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Edward McConnell, Her special license that, I, the said
James Edward McConnell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Edward McConnell, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and uo 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, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Edward McConnell, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was

page_text: 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 James Edward McConnell, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction of and mode of
working railway breaks by the application of steam power for that purpose,
whereby an effective break or retarding action is obtained simultaneously
upon the periphery of the wheel and upon the surface of the rail.
The improvements consist in attaching one or more horizontal or vertical
cylinders to the locomotive engine or tender, and to any one or more of the
carriages in the train, such cylinder or cylinders being fitted with covers and
stuffing boxes at each end, and having a single or double piston working
therein, the piston rod passing through one or both ends of the cylinder, and
being jointed to a pair of knec or togglo joints.
The lower ends of these joints are connected with the skid or break, which
has a long bearing surface to slide upon the rail when in action; whilst at the
same time one of its extremities is curved to fit the periphery of the wheel to
be breaked.
A radius rod jointed to the skid or break serves to draw it into a proper
position with the wheel when it is being forced down on to the rail, and also
to raise it to its proper place when not applied. These skids are connected
in pairs by transverse tie bars, so that the skids on opposite rails shall work
conjointly.
The cylinders on the carriages are connected by suitable pipes or flexible
tubes, so that steam or fluid may be forced into the whole of them throughout
the train when requisite.
The action of the break is as follows:-When steam or fluid is admitted
on to one side of the pistons, it causes the toggle joints to straighten or
partially straighten, and this has the effect of pressing down the skids on to
the rails, whilst the radius rods serve to preserve their proper distance from
the peripheries of the wheels.
By admitting steam on to the opposite side of the pistons the contrary
effect will be produced, and the breaks will be taken off. Suitable valves are
of course employed for regulating the admission of steam or fluid to either
side of the pistons as required.

page_text: And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
procced more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I. shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of my Drawings, represents a sido elevation of the
fire box end of a locomotive engine, fitted with an arrangement of my
improved break, the break actuating cylinder being horizontal; Figure 2, on
Sheet 2, is a similar view of a portion of a locomotive engine, having the
break actuating cylinder in a vertical position; and Figuro 3, ön Sheet 3,
is a back end elevation of a locomotive engine, shewing the vertical and
horizontal arrangement of the break actunting cylinders.
A is the break actuating cylinder, which in Figure 1 is placed horizontally,
and is bolted to the lower portion of the side of the fire box, a flange or
bearing plate B (Figures 1 and 3) being cast on the side of the cylinder for
that purpose. Inside this cylinder works the piston C, which is fitted or
formed on the piston rod D, such rod passing through stuffing boxes E, E, in
both ends of the cylinder. To each outer extremity of the piston rod is
jointed a link F, which serves to connect it to the centres G, G, of the knee
or toggle joint levers H, H. The upper ends of these levers work on fixed
stud centres I in the bearing plate B, whilst their lower extremities are
jointed at J, J, to the skid break K. This break may be composed of metal
as shewn in the Drawing, or of wood or other suitable material, and when
not in action as shewn it is held suspended by the levers H about two inches
immediately above the rail. The back end of this skid break is curved as
shewn at K¹, for the purpose of fitting the periphery of the trailing or other
wheel of the engine; L is a radius bar, which is slotted at the end attached
to the break, and works on a fixed centre beneath the axle box at M, the
object of this radius bar being to regulate the skid or break when it is being
lowered on to the rail, and to hold it in its proper position to the periphery
of the trailing wheel. The steam pipes N, N', for admitting steam to either
end of the cylinder A are shewn broken away or disconnected from the
cylinder. They both open into a small valve chest 0 on the top of the boiler,
or in any other convenient situation. An ordinary slido or other suitable
valve is employed for admitting the steam (which enters from the boiler by
the pipe P into the valve chest) into one or other of the pipes N, N', accord-
ing as the break is required to be put on or taken off, the two pipes N, N¹,
opening respectively into opposite ends of the cylinder. The slide in the
valve chest O is actuated by the sliding rod Q, which is attached to one end

page_text: of the curved lever R, working on a fixed centre attached to the top of the
boiler, the opposite end of this lover being inserted in a slot in the valve
spindle S. As it is desirable that the piston rods in the cylinders A should
be directly over the rails, it will be requisito in some cases, for example,
where the cylinders are of a large diameter, or when the engine is wide, to
form or connect the piston rods eccentrically upon or to the pistons, as shewn
in Figure 3, or to use two cylinders and separate pistons for each joint of
break as may be considered desirable.
.
Breaks and actuating cylinders and levers, all of similar construction, aro.
fitted on to each side of the engine tender or some of the carriages, cach pair
of breaks being coupled by transverse tie rods T, as shewn in Figure 3. Ono
valve may be used to supply steam to the actuating cylinders throughout the
trains. When it is desired to put on the breaks, the engineer brings the slide
in the valve chest O into such a position as to admit the steam in front of the
pistons C, whereupon they will be caused to travel to the back or opposito
end of their cylinders, and will thereby tend to straighten the toggle
joints H.
This will have the effect of lowering and forcibly pressing the breaks K
upon the rails. The friction, thus produced in conjunction with the action of
the radius bar L and the motion of the train, will cause the back portion of
the breaks at K' to be pressed against the peripheries of the wheels imme-
diately behind them, but still not to such an extent as to prevent them
rotating until the speed of the train has been considerably reduced. The main
object of carrying up the end of the skids is to prevent the wheels from
running upon or mounting the skids.
By another motion of the valve at O, the stream may be made to enter tho
opposite ends of the cylinders A, and the breaks will bo raised from the rails
again, and the skidding action will of course cease.
In Figure 2 (Sheet 2) I have represented the same construction of break,
but instead of placing the, actuating cylinder A horizontally, I have placed it
vertically, and have shewn it bolted to the side framing of the engine, in place
of to the fire box. In this arrangement the piston rod need not pass through
with ends of the cylinder, but its protruding end is guided vertically by the
guiding bracket D'. A cross head H' is fitted to the piston rod, and to this
cross head are jointed the links H, HI, which are jointed at their lower ends
to the skid K. One or other of these links is slotted, as shewn at I, for tho
purpose of allowing for the diminution of the distance between the stud at I
in the skid, and the upper end of the link, when the latter assumes a vertical
position by the longitudinal notion of the skid towards the peripheries of the

page_text: wheels. Immediately behind the skid a valve of similar arrangement to
that already described may be used, the putting on or taking off of the
break depending entirely upon the side of the piston to which the steam is
admitted.
Figure 3 (Sheet 3) represents merely in end view the horizontal and
vertical arrangements of cylinders herein-before fully described.
I may here observe, that I do not confine or restrict myself to the use of
one cylinder to each skid or break, as in some cases it may be found desirable
.to employ a pair of cylinders, that is, one for each knee or toggle joint in the
horizontal cylinder arrangement, or two vertical cylinders may be used in
the second modification I have described, when it would be inconvenient to
have one cylinder of large diameter; and although I have more particularly
referred to steam as the agent for actuating my break mechanism, it is
obvious that fluid or compressed air might be used with the same results.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my said Invention; nor do I claim
any of the mechanical elements of which the said apparatus and parts of
apparatus are respectively composed, as being separately or apart from the
use or application of such elements, to form the combinations constituting the
apparatus and parts of apparatus respectively, as being any part of my said
Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim
as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is, the peculiar constructions, arrangements, and combinations of
break mechanism, as herein-before described, and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Edward McConnell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.