IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKE APPARATUS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by David Hoult and George Hoult
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 25th March 1875.
We, DAVID HOULT and GEORGE HOULT, both of Worksop, in the
County of Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKE APPARATUS," to be as
follows:-
In accordance with this Invention this improved brake is worked by a
steam cylinder placed under the foot plate of the engine, which will rest
on two bearing plates firmly screwed to each side of the engine frame,
the bearing plates being so shaped that the cylinder fits into them, and
is firmly screwed down by brackets which are cast on the cylinder for
that
purpose.
The cylinder can either be worked by a lever or by screw taps being
supplied with steam from the boiler, which can be forced into the
cylinder at either side of the piston as required. The end of the piston
rod will be connected to the tender by a link fastened by a bolt to the
piston rod, with links at the end according to the distance required, so
as to allow for the play and vibration betwixt the engine and tender.
-

page_text: On the shaft of the tender a lever is arranged with a balance weight,
through which the connecting rod passes fastened with a bolt at the top
end of the lever a short distance from the hook; this hook is fastened
to the end of the links at the end of the piston rod. The connecting rod
passes under the whole length of the tender and will rest in a stay. plate,
one being in the centre and another at the end of the tender, which is
screwed to the inside end of the buffer plank with bolts. At the other
end of the connecting rod a hook is arranged with a short coupling
which connects one carriage with the other, and can be easily fastened
and unfastened when a carriage is either required to be taken out or
put in.
The hooks at the end of the connecting rods are so arranged as to pass
underneath the buffer plank to the bearing plate when the. brakes are
applied, and when the draw bars of the carriage couplings draw out at
any distance it will not put on the brakes. There is a connecting rod
running the entire length of each carriage, which passes through the top
end of the centre lever where it is fastened by a bolt, and each end of the
connecting rods will have a hook with a coupling.
The centre levers each have a balance weight, which when the brakes
are being applied will bring them back clear from the wheels and will
always tend to keep them in their proper place. The centre levers are
keyed on the rocking shaft which works the double-ended side, or brake
levers arranged at each side of the carriage, the ends of which work into
the side bearing bars, as also do the two ends of both the brake stays
which are connected with the brake plates. A brake rod is connected to
each end of the brake plate, and when the brakes are applied the top end
of the brake is pressing on one wheel, while at the same time the
bottom end or the bottom half of the opposite brake is bearing on the
other wheel of each side of the carriage. The brake blocks are made
very long on account of only one-half of each brake block being on the
wheel at once.
This improved brake apparatus can be worked either way by a pull.
At the part where the brake rods are connected to the block plates there
is a spring jib to regulate the wearing of the blocks, and in each brake
rod a screw is used in changing and regulating the brake block. The
connecting rods are continued to the guard's van, being so arranged that
if any accident should happen to any of the rods or couplings or cylinder,

page_text: the guard will be able to apply his own brake as it is used at the present
time, and the stoker in the same way with his own brake as is at
present used.
The brakes are also applied to all the engine wheels by this improved
brake apparatus in the same way as they are applied to the tender
wheels, by double-ended side levers which are worked by the centre
lever of the tender, there being no rocking shaft required for the engine
as the one on the tender works both.
This improved brake apparatus is very powerful and is under the
immediate and instant control of the engine driver, and may be applied
gradually, or in case of a collision it may be so applied that every wheel
in a train is instantly locked. The engine driver will have great control
over his train, and the engine and tender will not drag the train when
the brakes are on, as the engine driver will be able to bring his train to
a very sudden standstill.