IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Osborne and John
Cotton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 5th June 1871.
We, THOMAS OSBORNE, of Derby, in the County of Derby, Engineer,
and JOHN COTTON, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES,"
to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention relates to certain peculiar modes of applying brakes to
railway wagons, trucks, and carriages.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention it is proposed
to apply a more perfect brake to railway waggons and trucks, inasmuch
as it is not only simple but also self-acting on a train of wagons or
trucks on a running line, and instead of having to turn off the steam a
distance of eight hundred or a thousand yards previous to arriving at
a station or on a given signal to stop, the train can be brought to a
perfect stand in its own length even on an incline. In order to effect
this it is proposed to attach to each wagon or truck a chain running
under the bottom of the same over pulleys and affixed at each end of

page_text: the wagon or truck to the first link or shackle of the coupling chains,
working a lever on the end of which is a fixed ball or weight, which,
when the train is at a stand, always keeps the brakes on the wheels and
prevents any wagon or truck from being set in motion by accident,
negligence, or any other cause until the lever carrying the weight is
raised, and which it is proposed to do in two ways.
Firstly. When a train of wagons or trucks are coupled together in
the ordinary way ready for departure from any one place to another
the engine is set in motion and the tension or draft tightening the
first coupling chain raises the lever by means of the chain under the
wagon or truck, takes off the brake, and as each coupling chain is
tightened so on through the whole train the levers are raised and the
brakes taken off each wagon or truck in succession, and is there held
while the train is running, and on the stoppage of the train by the
application of the engine brake, and each wagon or truck closes up, the
brakes are applied to each wagon or truck by the slackening of each
coupling as before starting, and should any accident by breakage occur
to any one of the coupling chains there is no chance of any part of the
train running back, for as soon as the tension or draft is taken off
the couplings, so soon do the brakes come into action of their own
accord which prevents any chance of accident from runaway wagons or
trucks.
Secondly. When it is requisite to shunt into a siding, there is a lever
on each side of the wagons or trucks, and by raising which and dropping
the end of the same into a hook or catch which will be brought out of
the perpendicular whilst holding the end of the lever the brakes are
taken off the wheels and the process of shunting proceeds; the time
required for this depends upon the. number of wagons or trucks in the
train having this principle of brakage power applied to them, but in any
case whether the whole or part of the train only has these brakes the
time gained in the stopping of the train is sufficient for the raising of
the levers when it is necessary to shunt, and as these levers are on each
side of the wagons or trucks the necessity of going under or over the
train from one one side to the other is obviated, and the consequent
reduction of liability to accident to life or limb is done away with.
When the shunting is completed and the train is to proceed on its
journey, the guard or any other person may raise the levers from the
hooks which drop at once into the perpendicular clear of the loosened

page_text: lever and have no occasion to be handled, leaving the brakes to be
acted upon by the tension or draft from the engine as in the first
instance.
In applying this Invention to effect the more perfect and certain
stoppage of a train of railway passenger carriages either in coming to a
station or in case of breaking away or on the approach of danger it is
proposed to affix a thin iron rod or bar underneath each carriage, which
is in connection with a lever or levers fixed upon one or more of such
carriages and working on a centre and carrying a traversing ball or
weight. The brake power is applied from either end of the train by the
driver, stoker, or guard, and no matter whatever length the train may be
it is certain in its action and of very great simplicity. It can be applied
to one or any number of carriages in a train, and it is not necessary that
such carriages to which the levers and traversing weight are attached
should be annexed to each other; say, in a train of twenty or thirty
carriages there may be from six to eight of such carriages placed at
intervals of every third or fourth carriage, and which would give the
driver and guards complete command over the whole or any portion of
the train either in case of breaking away or in the ordinary stoppage at
each station. The mode of working will be with an ordinary upright
lever placed in the guards' vans or on the tender under command of the
driver and stoker, and by the simple action of depressing or elevating
such lever the brake power will be applied or removed as desired.