AN IMPROVED RAILWAY BRAKE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Désiré Parfait Lefèvre, of Paris, in the Empire of
France, and of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London, for the Inven
DAD"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Désiré Parfait Lefèvre
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th March 1854.
I, DÉSIRÉ PARFAIT LEFEVRE, of Paris, in the Empire of France, and of
16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED RAILWAY BRAKE" to be as follows,
and consists of a contrivance for stopping railway trains by the interference
of the engine driver only, by applying simultaneously brakes to all or several
of the carriages, and stopping or breaking the engine and tender in front of
the train by the usual means, the breaks of each carriage being forced up
against the wheels by the impact and pressure of the front buffers of each
carriage against the back buffers of the following carriage. To effect this, I
throw the front draw spring out of gear with the under frame of the carriage,
so that the buffer rods, which are most generally acted upon by the ends of the
draw spring, are thus set free to be pushed back, & push back the spring.
Each preceding carriage having slackened speed from the tender backwards

page_text: will thus no longer draw the spring, but push it back by means of buffer rods,
& a rod or rods suitably linked to the spring or to the draw bar head are
set to act upon a brake shaft applied in usual manner. Irlock the head of
the draw bar with the middle longitudinal bar of the railway under frame by
means of a vertical drop bolt let in the draw bar head. This bolt can be
lifted, so as to move backwards and forwards in a slot in the middle length bar
of the carriage under frame; the bolt being weighted, drops into its place again
as soon as the draw bar pulls again, & then the draw spring acts again as
buffer spring. The vertical_bolt is thrown out of & let fall into gear with
the under frame by means of a rod, communicating by suitable arrangement
of levers and other mechanical appliances between each carriage and the next
with the weighted vertical bolt hanging from a bracket fixed on the draw bar
head.
•
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Désiré Parfait Lefèvre in the Great Seal Patent; Office on
the 30th August 1854
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DESIRÉ
PARFAIT LEFEVRE, of Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 16, Castle Street,
Holborn (City), London, send greeting.
LI
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty: Queen Victoria, by Her-Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of, Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Désiré Parfait Lefèvre, Her special, licence that, I, the said Désiré
Parfait Lefèvre, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Désiré Parfait Lefèvre, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no 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
"AN IMPROVED RAILWAY BRAKE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Désiré Parfait Lefèvre, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, and in what imanner 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE; that I, the said Désiré Parfait Lefèvre, 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 (that is to say) ::
My Invention consists of a contrivance for stopping railway trains by the
interference of the engine driver only, and in such manner, that the vis:viva
acquired by the train is made use of for bringing it to a stand still in a shorter
time than by the brakes now in use. The wày.and means to effect .this is by
applying simultaneously brakes to all or most of the. carriages of the whole
train, and stopping or breaking the engine and tender in front of the train' by
the usual means; the brakes of each carriage being forced up" against the
wheels by the impact and pressure of the front buffers of each carriage against
the buffers of the following carriage. To make this impact more efficient 'for
the purpose of breaking, I throw the front draw spring out of gear with 'the
under frame of the carriage, so that the buffer rods, which are most generally
acted upon by the ends of the draw spring, are thus set free to be pushed back,
and to push back the spring. Each preceding carriage having slackened its
speed from the tender backwards, will thus no longer draw the spring, but
push it back by means of the buffer rods; and a rod or rods being suitably
linked to the spring or to the draw bar head, are set to act upon-a brake shaft in
the usual manner. I lock the head of the draw bar with the middle longitudinal
beam of the railway under frame, by means of a vertical drop bolt let in the
draw bar head. This bolt can be lifted, so as to move backwards and forwards
in a slot in the middle beam of the carriage under frame. This bolt being
weighted, drops into its place again as soon as the draw bar is pulled forwards,
and then the draw spring acts again as buffer spring. The vertical bolt is
thrown out of and let fall into gear with the under frame by means of the
following disengaging apparatus:-On the tender and within the reach of
the engine driver is attached a rod; this rod communicates by means of
levers, connecting rods, quadrants, and connecting chains between each car-
riage and the next with the weighted vertical bolt hanging from a bracket
fixed on the draw bar head. By drawing the disconnecting rod on the tender,
the draw spring is thrown out of gear, and the buffers are thus free. to* recede
upon any impact, as before described. To the framé carrying. the buffer rods
are linked rods at each side of the carriage, by means of which, and a cross
shaft centered in the middle of the carriage, the brake 'blocks are put to as
usual. The annexed Sheet is intended to illustrate one of the ways in which
the principles above stated are or may be carried into effect.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a tender and carriage with the improved

page_text: brake. Fig. 2 shew's a longitudinal section of the under frames of the tender
and carriages, this section being made before the middle longitudinal beam
which unites the back and front cross beams of the under frame. Fig. 3
The
represents this longitudinal beam in plan on a larger scale than Fig. 2.
remaining Fig. 4 to 12 represent detached views of different pieces on the
same scale as Fig. 8.
A is a rod fixed in proper bearings on the side of the tender. This rod is
linked at one end to the lever A¹, and at the other to the lever C. A', lever
with a handle, by which the engine driver draws the rod A; A¹¹ is a notched
disc, for confining the lever A¹ in the position that has been given to it;
B represents a cross shaft for turning the quadrant D by the rod A (see the
detached view, Fig. 5); C, lever arm, fixed on the axle B and connected with
the rod A; D is a quadrant, which is keyed on or near the middle portion of
the shaft B, and round which wraps the plate or band chain E; E' is a
coupling chain, hooked to the rod F, and connected with the chain E by a ball
and screw, coupling as at present used for coupling carriages together; the two
chains E&E, are thus used for transmitting the disengaging motion from
carriage to carriage. F is a rod, which is connected with the chain E and the
horizontal rod G; F, F, suspension brackets for the chain E and the rod F;
G is the disengaging rod, which also acts as a coupling rod for the successive
carriages; G is a spring coupling box, allowing the rods G to lengthen out
when the train is started; H, weighted elbow lever for disengaging and
re-engaging the bolt. This lever is connected at its elbow to the bolt
piece and turns about a fixed centre on the bracket K.
of a square head, a square body, part less in diameter than the head, and a
flat or rectangular part fitting into the forked elbow of the lever H. J are
the draw-bar heads, with horizontal mortices or slots for the draw springs, and
with vertical slots, into which drops the square part of the bolt. J¹, J¹, draw
springs, whose extremities bear against the buffer rods; K, K, represent
brackets, which are firmly fixed to the draw bar head; L is the front braking
bar, hinged at one end to the bracket K, being connected with its forked and
slotted end to a pin on the lever P; L', braking bar, to act from the back of
the carriage; M, slotted and forked link piece, connecting the lever P and the
double-armed lever P¹; N, suspension bracket for the lever shaft P¹; O is a
cross shaft, having levers; the block rods Q are connected; this shaft receives
its angular motion through the lever P. O', Fig. 2, is the centre of motion
of the lever P', which is used for forcing up the brakes when the draw springs
at the opposite ends of the carriages are thrown out of gear; R are the
wooden brake blocks; S, length rail, fixed on the axle guards for the purpose
The bolt I consists

page_text: of carrying the cross shaft O; S¹, cross beams at the ends of the carriage
under frames; T, middle longitudinal beam of the under frame, which acts as
a seat to the draw-bar head. This beam has a wide vertical slot towards the
end of the beam; a narrow slot continues the wider one towards the inside of
the carriage on the same centre line as the wide slot. T¹, are the draw bars;
U is intended to represent the back end of a locomotive engine; V, the tender
from which the disengaging motion is effected; W, waggon.
Fig. 4 represents the coupling rod G in elevation and plan; g, g', are pro-
jections for pushing the weighted levers H; f is a slot which allows the lever P
to pass. Fig. 5 is a plan of the shaft B; Fig. 6 is an elevation and plan of
the front braking bar L; Fig. 7 shews the same views of the bar which is
linked to the back spring; Fig. 8 is a side and an end view of the bolt; Fig. 9
shews a side and an end view of the lever H; h is a hole for the rod G to
pass through; p is the weight. Fig. 10 represents an elevation and a plan of
the draw-bar head J, the spring J¹ being shewn in cross section; i is the slot
for the bolt; is a slot for inserting the bracket K. Fig. 11 represents a side
and an end view of the bracket K. Fig. 12 is a plan and clevation of the
link piece M.
For the better comprehension of the Drawings, I shall now enter upon
describing the way in which the bolt I is made to act. Supposing it to be in
the gearing position, then its square part next to the head passes through the
square mortice or slot i of the draw bar head, on which it is retained by
the projecting head; this square part also enters the wide slot on the longi-
tudinal beam T, under the draw bar head. In this position the horizontal
travel of the bolt, and hence of the draw spring, will always be limited,
especially towards the inside of the carriage, by the length of the wide slot in
the beam. Let the draw bar be supposed to exert a working traction on the
spring, and the bolt to be, at any point of its horizontal travel, in contact with
the two longitudinal sides only of the slot in the beam, the bolt being in that
position when it is required to stop the train, it will be easy, by means of the
lisengaging apparatus above described, to lift it so as to bring its flat or
rectangular part on a level with the narrow slot in the middle beam, whilst
the square part is still in the draw bar head. The thickness of the flat part,
and of the bracket K, corresponding to the width of the narrow slot, and the
preceding carriages and tender having already their brakes put to, either by
hand or by the self-acting operation which I am describing, will thus no
longer draw the front draw spring, which is thus capable of receding through
a distance corresponding to the force of impact and pressure residing in the
previous carriages. The same takes place almost simultaneously in the follow-

page_text: ing carriages, and thus the brakes will be forced up almost simultaneously
throughout the train, as soon as the engine driver pulls to the lever A¹ and
brakes the tender. When it is required to start again, the engine driver
pushes the lever A¹ back into the gearing position; the draught of the locomo-
tive will cause the draw springs to advance into their working position, and as
soon as the bolt gets over the wide slot, it will drop into its original position by
its own weight and that of the ball p. The coupling rod G is so arranged
as to act both ways, according as the carriages are drawn one way or the
other; this is effected by placing on the coupling rod a stop g' symetrically
with respect to g. For the same purpose, the back braking bar L' is con-
nected with the brake shaft lever P by means of the double-armed lever P',
so as to force the brakes to whichever end of the carriage the impact and
pressure may come from, at the same time the slots at the forked ends of the
bar L and link piece M. allow each draw spring to act independently of the
other.
I claim the mechanical arrangements, above described, for the purpose of
throwing out of gear simultaneously the draw springs of the carriages from the
tender, thus causing the impulsive force of the train to force the brakes up by
the impact and pressure of the successive carriages against the tender or
preceding carriages which have been braked previously.
In witness whereof, I, the said Désiré Parfait Lefèvre, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our
Lord 1854.
D. P. LEFEVRE. (L.S.)