IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Eastwood at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th May
1855.
I, EDWARD EASTWOOD, of Long Eaton, in the County of Derby, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CERTAIN PARTS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved construction and arrangement of the
axle boxes, buffer and draw springs, and danger breaks of railway carriages.
That portion of the Invention which relates to axle boxes consists in the so
constructing and arranging of the axle boxes of the rolling stock of railways
so as to permit of the adjustment of the axles when passing over curves to the
extent necessary for the proper and more effective action of the wheels on
the rails, whereby the wear and tear on the flanges and tyres is greatly reduced,
and the unpleasant shocks and vibrations, arising from the friction of the flanges
against the rails, are obviated. This is accomplished by making the axle box
perfectly free from the bearing springs, such springs being secured to a saddle
or chair, which rests upon the top of the axle box in a suitable recess formed
therein. This chair is in nowise attached to the axle box, and permits of it
having a slight lateral play underneath when passing over curves.
The axle

page_text: box is, moreover, perfectly detached from the guard irons, a space of about
of an inch, more or less, being left between the sides of the axle box and
the guards. The saddle to which the bearing springs are attached works
vertically only between the guards, a groove being formed on each side of it
for that purpose.
The improvements relating to the buffer and draw springs of railway car-
riages generally consist of a peculiar arrangement and mode of working the
ordinary C springs, whereby their weight and first cost is very considerably
reduced, and the expense arising from the breaking of the spring plates is
entirely avoided. The springs, which are not more than half the length of
the ordinary C springs employed for this purpose, are fitted between suitable
guide stays, and a block of wood or other material may be inserted between the
guide stays to keep the springs at the required distance apart, according to
the size of the central compartment in the framing. The ends of the springs,
in place of bearing against the ends of the buffer rods, and consequently
having the same stroke as those rods, bear against shoes rivetted on to two
horizontal lever bars, which have their fulcra in the central socket of the
framing, whilst their free ends bear against the ordinary shoes on the ends of
the buffer bars.
By this arrangement it will be obvious that the stroke of the buffer springs
will not require to be more than one-half of that of the buffers; and as the
power of the springs increases by the strain upon them, their ends recede farther
from the fulcra of the levers, and thereby reduce the power of those levers,
and offer still greater resistance the more they are acted upon. The draw bars
are attached in the ordinary manner to the centres of the buffer springs.
This arrangement of buffer and draw springs may be applied to other parts of
the framework, as will be found requisite in adapting them to self-discharging
waggons. The improved danger break, which is intended to be brought into
action by the guard and driver in cases of imminent peril, consists of a set of
break blocks, attached to the ends of strong springs, which are themselves
secured in any convenient manner to the carriage framing. These breaks are
held out of contact with the wheels by connecting rods, attached to short lever
arms on a transverse rocking shaft, which works in brackets bolted to the
framework. This shaft carries also a lever, to the free end of which is attached
a vertical rod, which passes up through the carriage and out at the roof. The
upper end of this rod has a catch or projection formed thereon, which is
hooked over one end of a horizontal lever, working on a fixed centre on the top
of the carriage. This lever is connected at its free end with a cord passing
over the carriages the entire length of the train, so that when this cord is

page_text: pulled in either direction the lever is displaced, and thereby releases the catch
of the vertical rod, which is instantly drawn down by the action of the break
springs, which are now permitted to act upon the wheels of the carriage. The
re-adjustment of the apparatus is effected by a small pulley, worked by a lever
handle, and connected by a short chain to the end of the vertical catch rod,
by which means it is hauled up again to its original position, and the end of
the horizontal lever is brought under the catch.