IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RETARDING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RETARDING RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
-A communication from abroad by Augustin Castellvi, of Saragossa, in
the Kingdom of Spain.
Sealed the 26th June 1860, and dated the 1st February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st February 1860.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RETARDING RAILWAY CAR-
RIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improved apparatus for retarding railway carriages
consists in arranging and working the breaks of railway carriages, so that they
may be made to act on the wheels of all the carriages of a train instead of on only
one or two carriages, as is now the case. In the improved system the breaks

page_text: of all the carriages are connected together by rods, so that the guard may by
means of the gearing in the break van be enabled to act on all the breaks
simultaneously, or nearly so, and thereby bring the train to a stand still in
much less time than usual.
The efficiency of the action of the improved system and arrangement of
retarding apparatus is rendered more certain and complete by the application
of a mechanical contrivance for regulating and determining the distance
between the breaks, so that the action of one break may not interfere with the
action of another one. The gearing for bringing the breaks into action is
actuated by means of a hand wheel through the intervention of a pair of
cones, one of which is on the axle of the running wheels, and the other on the
lower end of a vertical shaft. By bringing these two cones into contact
the gearing of the retarding apparatus is brought into action and the breaks
are forced against the running wheels throughout the train.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RETARDING RAILWAY CARRIAGES,"
being a communication from abroad by Augustin Castellvi, of Saragossa, in
the Kingdom of Spain, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 Drawing hereunto annexed;
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention of improved apparatus for retarding railway carriages consists
in so arranging and working the breaks of railway carriages that they may be
made to act on the wheels of all the carriages of a train instead of on those
only of one or two carriages, as is now the case. In the improved system the
breaks of all the carriages are connected together by rods, so that the guard
may by means of the gearing in the break van be enabled to act on all the
breaks simultaneously, or nearly so, and thereby bring the train to a stand still
in much less time than usual.
The efficacy of the action of the improved system and arrangement of
retarding apparatus is rendered more certain and complete by the application
of a mechanical contrivance for regulating and determining the distance
between the breaks; so that the action of one break may not interfere with the
action of another one. The gearing for bringing the breaks into action is
actuated by means of a hand wheel through the intervention of a pair of
cones, one of which is on the axle of the running wheels, and the other on the
lower end of a vertical shaft. By bringing these two cones into contact the
gearing of the retarding apparatus is brought into action, and the breaks are
forced against the running wheels throughout the train.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a transverse section of a break van
taken in the line A, B, of Fig. 3, which is a plan view of the under framing
of a railway carriage with the present Invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a
longitudinal section taken in the line C, D, of the same Figure; Fig. 4 is a
transverse section taken in the line E, F, of Fig. 3.
Upon the axle A (Fig. 1) of the carriage is fixed a friction cone Z in
contact with a similar cone Z', which communicates motion to the vertical
shaft Y, by means of the lever C, which rocks on the point c, and is raised or
lowered at pleasure by the hand wheel on the screwed rod e. The shaft Y
rests at its lower end in a step in the bracket y, which holds it in a
vertical position, and is fixed in the upper part of the bridge-piece- y³,

page_text: and at the middle by the lower part of the bridge-piece. The socket B,
keyed upon the shaft Y, may be moved vertically by the action of the lever r,
which rocks on its fulcrum at C¹, and which is raised or lowered at pleasure
by the hand wheel on the screw rod s. The screw rods s and e are supported
by the bracket or standard V. The socket B carries two similar bevil wheels
D, D', (Figures 1 and 2), which follow the rotary and vertical movements of
the socket. These wheels D, D', gear one or the other of them with a similar
bevil wheel E, which communicates motion to its shaft o, and consequently
through the pinion X to the spur wheel G, mounted upon the shaft i, the
bearings of which are fixed on the plates P. The bearings of the shaft o,
and also the bridge-piece y¹ and bracket pillar or standard V, are fixed upon
the plate N (Fig. 3). The shaft i is prolonged and forms the screwed bar H,
which passes through the end framing of the carriage, and is intended to
put the breaks in or out of action. According to whether the wheel D or D¹
takes into the wheel E, the movement of the wheel G and its shaft will take
place in one or the other direction, and consequently the bar H will bring the
breaks into or out of action on the wheels. The shaft o carries a spur wheel
X', that gears into and drives a pinion a mounted on an axle o¹, at the extre-
mity of which is a hand wheel u within reach of the guard or breaksman, and
by which the breaks may be instantaneously unscrewed out of action. The
shaft carries the jointed rod m, which serves to shew exactly to the guard on
a graduated line the distance which exists between the breaks and the wheels,
as by following the movement of the above-described mechanism it will
advance or recede the same distance as the breaks. In order to ensure contact
between the cones Z and Z', which might easily be interrupted momentarily
by reason of the transverse motion of the axle A, and the independent oscilla-
tions of the carriage caused thereby, the bridle pieces 9 are applied to the
axle A to force the vertical shaft Y to maintain its relative and invariable
distance, and serving also as a guide regulate the distance. In order to
facilitate the working of the bar H, four friction rollers, are applied, suspended
to four fixed pieces fixed to the framing of the carriage. The carriages must
be at an equal distance from each other, for which purpose the coupling n, n',
(Fig. 3), is provided. The break apparatus being thus arranged, it will be
understood that it is simple and easy to work, as the only thing to be done is
to bring the cones Z, Z³, into contact by means of the hand wheel e.
Having now described this Invention of improved apparatus for retarding
railway carriages, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim, as the

page_text: Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the improved appa-
ratus herein set forth for retarding railway carriages by bringing all the breaks
into simultaneous action, or nearly so, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFatt,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)