IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAK APPARATUS FOR THE ROLLING STOCK OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAK APPARATUS FOR THE ROLLING
STOCK OF RAILWAYS."-A communication from abroad by Paul
Klunzinger, of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria, Director of
Railways.
Scaled the 17th November 1874, and dated the 25th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
on the 25th September 1874.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAK APPARATUS FOR
The Rolling Stock OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows :-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her special
license, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton
Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there.
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAK APPARATUS FOR THE ROLLING STOCK OF
RAILWAYS," a communication to me from abroad by Paul Klunzinger,
of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria, Director of Railways, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner 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 Charles Denton Abel, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved construction of break apparatus
for the rolling stock of railways, wherein the putting on of the breaks is
effected by the weight of the vehicle, and the friction of the breaks is
thus proportioned to the load on the wheels. As the weight is always
ready to act, when it is left free to do so, breaks worked in the manner
which will be described become applied as soon as the levers which keep
them off are released, and thus in case of negligence on the part of the
breaksman, whose duty it is usually to keep the breaks off, the letting
go of the levers or connections by which he holds them off has the effect
of putting the breaks on.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings shews various arrangements for
carrying the said Invention into practice.
In Fig. 1 a pair of break blocks A are fixed to the truck frame B over
a pair of the wheels C, and a long lever D pivotted on the axle boxes Es
of those wheels has near its fulcrum a strut D¹ projecting upwards to
the body of the truck. When this lever is raised the body B of the
truck is also slightly raised, so as to take the break blocks A off the
wheels C; but when the lever is let down the truck body descends, and
presses the break blocks down on the wheels.
The break blocks, instead of being fixed to the truck, may be fixed to
a cross bar or bracket F on the lever D, as shown at Fig. 2, which being
pressed down by the weight of the truck causes the blocks to bear with
corresponding pressure on the wheels.
When the truck axle has outside bearings the lever is forked, so as to 3
work on pivots on two opposite axle boxes outside the wheels.
Break blocks mounted in the usual way to slide, or hung from the
body of the vehicle, and moved by connecting rods from arms on a
transverse rocking shaft may be acted on, according to this Invention,
as shewn at Figs. 3 and 4. At Fig. 3 the long lever D is fixed to the 3
break shaft G of the sliding break blocks A, A. At the point D' the

page_text: lever D is connected by a link to one end of a lever H, the other end of
which is pivotted on the axle box E, and to an intermediate point H¹ of
this lever is fixed the spring I supporting the body of the truck.
From
this arrangement it will be seen that if the lever D is held in the raised
position, shewn in the Drawing, the break shaft G will be turned, so as
to take off the breaks; but if the lever D is released, then the weight of
the truck in pressing down the lever H, which in its turn presses down
the lever D, will thus cause the break shaft G to be turned, so as to put
on the breaks.
In Fig. 4a similar arrangement is shewn applied to hanging breaks.
In this case the lever H is cranked, as shewn, and its free end is con-
nected by a rod K to a lever L on the break shaft G, so that when the
lever D is released from the raised position shewn, in which it holds the
break shaft so as to keep the blocks A off the wheels, the weight of the
truck in pressing down the lever H will cause the free end thereof to
move away from the break shaft, and this lever, in actuating the
lever L by means of the rod K, will consequently turn the break shaft G,
so as to cause the break blocks to be applied. Should there be only one
break wagon in the train, the lever D is raised or lowered by hand for
taking off and putting on the breaks, either.directly or by means of an
auxiliary lever, or rope or chain passing over a pulley; but if two or more
break wagons are in the train the levers D may all be connected to a
rope or chain passing over guide rollers to a winding apparatus under
control of the breaksman, the winding apparatus being, by preference,
so arranged that it will not lock, so that unless it is held by the breaks-
man it will unwind so as to cause the breaks to be applied, and the
breaksman is thus always obliged to give his attention to the breaks.
The power required to hold the winding apparatus being very trifling
the breaksman can easily stand the continuous work.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I claim,-
First. In break apparatus for the rolling stock of railways fixing the
break blocks to the body of the vehicle, and supporting the body by a
lever, so arranged that on lowering the lever the weight of the body
causes the break blocks to be applied to the wheels, substantially as
herein described with reference to Fig. 1 of the Drawings.

page_text: Second. The use of break apparatus for the rolling stock of railways,
wherein the putting on of the breaks is effected by the weight of the
vehicle acting upon a lever, or system of levers, connected to the break
blocks, and so arranged that by holding the lever or levers in a raised
position the breaks are taken off, substantially as herein described with
reference to Figs. 2, 3, and 4 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.