An Improved Brake for Railway Rolling Stock and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: An Improved Brake for Railway Rolling Stock and the like.
I, JOHN WHITTLE, of the Union Railway Wagon Works, Chorley, in the
County of Lancaster, Railway Wagon Builder, do hereby declare the nature of
this, invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved brake for railway wagons, trucks, vans,
trolleys and other ailway rolling stock or vehicles of a similar desciption, the
object being to provide brake mechanism that can be readily applied or released
from the wheels at either side of the wagon and which is, self-retaining either
in the operative or non-operative positions
My invention consists essentially in the application to or combination with
the ordinary brake mechanism, or with the lever by which such mechanism 19
operated, of an auxiliary lever or levers, shaft, weight and link or equivalent
mechanism that may be operated from either side of the vehicle either to apply
the brake to or release it from the wheels of the latter
In carrying out my invention as applied to a railway wagon I preferably dis-
pense with the pin or toothed rack used to guide the brake lever and to retain
it either in its operative or non-operative position, and couple the end of the
ordinary brake lever to a link, the arrangement being such that the relative
positions of the lever and link can be altered as desired. The lower end of the
link is secured to the brake lever by a lock pin whilst the upper end is coupled
to the short arm of a bellcrank lever, the longer arm of which forms a handle
with which to operate the mechanism This lever is secured to a shaft which
passes across the wagon from side to side, a somewhat similar level being fixed
to the other end of the shaft By turning either of these levers a certain dis;
tance about their centre the brake block or blocks may be instantly applied to
or released from the wheels and in either of their extreme positions the mechanism
is self-retaining To ensure the absolute retention of the parts under all cir-
cumstances of working I may employ a weight or weights, springs or the like
so pivoted as to act upon one or both operating levers or otherwise us may be
found most convenient.
The mechanism 18 so arranged as to be easily adjustable and quickly applied
from either side of a vehicle and may be used in conjunction with old or new
brake mechanism of the ordinary type, in the former case with little or no
alteration of the old mechanism With this arrangement of brake the operation
of shunting vehicles is expedited whilst there is less danger to the lives and
limbs of the operators than with the mechanism now in uso
The mechanism may be used on all classes of rolling stock where ordinary
brakes are now used and on other vehicles requiring an efficient, and quickly
applied brake.

page_text: An Improved Brake for Railway Rolling Stock and the like.
I, JOHN WHITTLE, of the Union Railway Wagon Works, Chorley, in the
County of Lancaster, Railway Wagon Builder, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to an improved brake for railway wagons, trucks, vans,
trolleys and other railway rolling stock or vehicles of a similar description, the
object being to provide brake mechanism that can be readily applied or released
from the wheels at either side of the wagon and which is self-retaining either
in the operative or non-operative positions.
My invention consists essentially in the application to or combination with
the ordinary brake mechanism, or with the lever by which such mechanism is
operated, of an auxiliary lever o1 levers, shaft, weight and link or equivalent
mechanism that may be operated from either side of the vehicle either to apply
the brake to or release it from the wheels of the latter
The invention will be fully described with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which
Fig. 1 shows the improvements applied to a railway wagon, the parts being
in the "off" position,
Fig. 2 a similar view with the parts in the "hard on " position,
Fig. 3 a view of the parts on the opposite side of the wagon with the mechanism
in the hard on position,
"
"
Fig. 4 a similar view to Fig 3 with the parts in the "off" position, and
Fig 5a view from the end of the wagon.
Fig 6 shows pin e, afterwards referred to.
In carrying out my invention as applied to a railway wagon I preferably dis-
pense with the pin or toothed rack used to guide the brake lever and to retain
it either in its operative or non-operative position, and couple the end of the
ordinary brake lever A to a slotted link D the arrangement being such that the
relative positions of the lever and link can be altered as desired. The Imk D
as will be seen is provided with a number of holes d, one or more similar
holes a being formed in the long brake lever A. The lower end of the link D 19
secured to the brake lever by a lock pin e passed through holes a and d whilst
the upper end is coupled by a pin f to the short arm of a bell crank lever C the
longer arm of which forms a handle with which to operate the mechanism By
means of the holes a and d the position of the brake lever A may be altered as
desired within the limits of the slotted link D, whilst additional adjustment may
be had if required by forming one or more additional holes g in the bent over
end of the short arm of the lever C. These adjustments are quite additional to
and do not mterfere with the ordinary arrangements in use for adjusting the
position of the brake blocks with respect to the wagon wheels. The lever A is
kept in position laterally by being passed through the slot in the link D and
the latter is also held in place by its upper end working between the bent over
end of the lever C, which also gives a good long bearing to the pin f.
Lever C is firmly fixed to one end of a round or squared shaft B which passes
beneath the sole bars G of the wagon and is held in fixed relation thereto by
bearing brackets E bolted to them At the other end of shaft B is fixed a
somewhat similar lever C¹ in the same position relatively to the shaft as the
lever C This lever has an extended projecting end c which bears against the
bracket E at the extreme point of travel of the lever on either side of the
shaft B thus preventing further movement Immediately behind lever C¹ and
loosely mounted on shaft B is a weighted lover F the free or weighted end of

page_text: which is cut out so that the weight embraces the lever C¹ a metal strap h fixed
to the weight keeping the latter and lever C¹ together laterally. The object
of the weighted lever is to follow the movements of the levers C and C as they
are moved to the "off" or "hard on" positions and ensure the levels passing
over the dead centre and remaining in their proper positions By turning
either of these levers a certain distance about their centre the brake block or
blocks may be instantly applied to or released from the wheels and in either
of their extreme positions the mechanism is self-retaining. This is further
ensured by the manner in which the parts are arranged in relation to each other
for it will be observed that in both the "hard on "
and "off" positions the
centre of the pin f is beyond the centre of the shaft B Weighted levers such
as F may be applied to both levers C and C or spings may be employed to
serve the same purpose as may be found most convenient but I prefer the
arrangement described
The pine connecting the levers A and D together is preferably formed' as
shown in Fig. 6 with a bent end e¹ at one end and a small projection e" at the
other, the latter being so arranged that when the pin is passed through the holes d
-which are made to correspond with the pin and projection as shown the
end e drops down vertically and carries the projection e across the narrow part
of the holes d and so locks itself in position and prevents it from falling out.
The pin may be coupled to a light chain secured to link D as desired, so as to
prevent its becoming lost when pulled out
The operation of the brake will be readily understood without further descrip-
tion though I would point out that the arrangement is a most powerful one con-
sisting as it does of compound levers. It is easily adjustable and quickly
applied from either side of a vehicle and may be used in conjunction with old
or new brake mechanism of the ordinary type whether single or double, in the
former case with little or no alteration of the old mechanism. With this
arrangement of brake the operation of shunting vehicles is expedited whilst
there is less danger to the lives and limbs of the operators than with the
mechanism now in use. It may be used on all classes of rolling stock where
ordinary brakes are now used and on other vehicles requiring an efficient and
quickly applied brake.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim 18.
1. In brake mechanism for railway rolling stock the combination with brake
levers such as A of link D, levers C and C, shaft B and their supporting and
connecting means, with or without one or more weighted levers such as F sub-
stantially as described.
2. The improved brake mechanism for railway rolling stock and the like
constructed, arranged and operating substantially in the manner described and
as shown in the accompanying drawings
Dated this 11th day of tobom 1900
WILLIAM H. TAYLOR,
Swan Chambers, 69, Market Street, Manchester,
Agent for the Applicant