Improvements in Automatic Car Brakes.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 4th July, 1898-Accepted, 13th Aug., 1898
COMPLETE DIBUITICATION,
Improvements in Automatic Car Brakes.
We, JAMES HARRY KEIGHLY MCCOLLUM, Electrician, of 1001, Bathurst Street,
REMIGIUS ELMSLEY, Esquire, of 35, Adelaide Street East, and WILLIAM HENRY
BROUSE, Barrister of Corner Wellington and Church Streets, all of the City of
Toronto, in the County of York, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
-
Our invention relates to improvements in automatic car brakes and the object
of the invention is to design a simple, cheap and effectual brake capable of being
applied automatically or manually, which will not be effected in its operation by
any swaying or oscillating motion of the car body, trucks, wheels or axles and
it consists essentially of a cross shaft supported in suitable bearings connected to
the body of the car and provided with friction' dises one of which has sprocket
teeth and is connected by a sprocket chain to a sprocket wheel secured to one of
the axles of the car, a bell-crank lever being provided suitably pivoted and de-
signed to throw the adjacent friction discs into engagement either through the
draw bar of the car and intermediate connection or by any other suitable means
controlled by the motorman, subsidiary mechanism being provided to act in con-
nection with the friction discs and the parts being otherwise constructed and
arranged in detail as hereinafter more particularly explained.
Fig. 1, is a perspective view of the car wheels and axles and our improved
brake mechanism in operative form.
Fig. 2, is a plan view looking up towards the bottom of the car showing two
cars connected together.
Fig. 3, is an enlarged detail of the friction discs and co-acting ratchet wheel and
pawl.
In the drawings like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each
figure.
A A are the main axles of the car and BB the wheels. C is a cross shaft,
which is supported in suitable journal brackets DD, which are attached to the
beams at the bottom of the body of the car.
E is a friction disc located near one end of the shaft C, loosely journalled
thereon, and having the annular face friction contact surface a and the outer
sprocket teeth e. The wheel E is connected by the sprocket chain F to a sprocket
wheel G secured on one main axle A as indicated. H is a friction disc also
located on the shaft C in proximity to the friction disc E and having an annular
face friction contacting surface h. The friction disc H is loose on the shaft C
and is provided with the ratchet wheel H¹ at one end attached to or forming part
of the same, with which is designed to co-act a spring actuated dog h¹ pivoted on
the end of the arm H2, which is secured to the shaft C, so as to rotate with it.
I is a bell crank-shaped lever pivoted at i on the projecting portion of one
of the brackets D. The short end of the lever I is provided with a jaw ¹, which
017

page_text: straddles the shaft and is located in proximity to the hub of the friction disc E.
The long end of the lever I extends within the bearing bracket D and is limited as
to its movement by a set screw 2 extending through the bearing bracket and
designed to abut the lever as indicated.
J are the cross bars upon the ends of which the brake shoes j are situated and
which are designed to contact with the wheels B as indicated. K is the brake
lever, which is pivoted on a suitable bracket L secured to the body of the car and
is connected by rods kk one on each side of the pivoted point to the centre of the
cross rod J.
M is a brake chain, which is connected at one end to the lever K and at the
other end is attached to the shaft C. N is a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft C,
and n is a dog or pawl, which is pivoted on a pin n' held in a suitable boss at
the bottom of the bearing bracket D. The pawl n has connected to it an arm n²,
which is connected by a suitable spiral spring 3 at the lower end to the bearing
bracket D. 00 are rods connected at a suitable point in the lever I to the
levers Pat each end of the car, which are pivotally held in suitable brackets p
secured to the body of the car.
Qis a draw-bar, which is of a common construction consisting of the outside
portion or draw bar proper Q¹, the link q, the rod q¹ provided with a front
jaw q, a spiral spring surrounding the rod between the front and back of the
supporting bracket Q2, and in this case also with a jaw q³ by which it is pivotally
connected to the short end of the lever P. The rod O extends through depending
lugs at the bottom of the lever P and has situated on its end a spiral spring
located between the outermost lug and a nut o' on the end of the rod and designed
to relieve the jaw in operating.
0
RR are rods connected to the end of the arm n² and extending underneath
the brake mechanism and directly over the centre of the draw bar being supported
to the body of the car by the screw eyes or other like arrangement. The ends
of the rods R are provided with hooks r, the centres of which are directly over
the centre of the jaw g². S is a rod having eye-shaped ends s one end of which
is secured on the hcok r¹ and the other end of which is connected to snap
hooks T, which snap hooks T are connected together and to a similar rod S above
the draw bar in the car in front and likewise connected. This portion is not
shown but will be readily understood from the preceding description. It is
sufficient to say that the front end or continuation of the rod R is connected to a
bell-crank U suitably pivoted in the bracket at the bottom of the car and
provided at one end with the depression plunger a pivotally connected to it. The
depression plunger is designed to be operated by the foot of the motorman and is
consequently located in proximity to the ordinary brake mast of the motor car.
Having now described the principal parts involved in our invention we shall
briefly describe the operation of our brake. We wish to premise the description
of our brake by saying that it is specially gotten up to operate in connection with
the trailers commonly used in connection with trolley cars, but we wish it to be
understood that it may be applied to any train of cars following any class of a
motor car. We shall, however, describe our invention first as applicable to a
trailer.
Upon the brake being put on in the motor car and such car receiving a check
to it's onward impetus it will be seen that the draw bar at the rear thereof will
push against the draw bar of the trailer car shown in the drawing, thereby forcing
it rearwardly and tilting the lever on its pivot, thus drawing forward upon the
rod O and lever I and causing the forked end of the lever to press the friction
disc E against the friction disc H. By thus momentarily joining these discs, the
disc H is carried in the direction indicated by arrow and by means of the ratchet
wheel H¹ and pawl h¹ carries around the arm H2 and consequently the shaft O
around in the direction indicated by arrow, thereby winding the brake chain M,
so as to put on the brakes.
When the brakes are put on the spring-held pawl n pressing against the reversely

page_text: set ratchet wheels N will, hold the brakes on.
The motorman in the motor car
in which the plunger U is supposed to be by pressing his foot can through drawing
on the rod R throw the pawl out of engagement when desired, so as to relieve
the brake and allow both cars to go forward again. Immediately the pull is exerted
again upon the draw bar of the trailer car again the lever P is tilted reversely to
what it was before and by means of the rod O throws the long end of the lever I
backwardly, thereby relieving the frictional contact of the discs E and H.
Consequently the brake wheel G in revolving will carry the sprocket chain F and
friction disc E without normally communicating any winding motion to the
shaft C.
It will be also understood that in backing up the lower end of the sprocket
wheel G will be communicated with by the connections hereinbefore described
so as to connect the friction discs E and H, but by returning them in the reverso
direction the ratchet wheel H2 will slip underneath the pawl h and will not
communicate any motion whatever to the cross shaft C.
Should there be several trailers on, as the rod O is connected to the lever P
at the rear end of the car and our brake appliances are on each car, it will
be seen, that the connections will act in a compensating manner, so as to distribute
the braking pressure equally throughout the several cars.
In case we should wish to dispense with the automatic operating of the brakes
on each of the cars where such is desirable we would provide as shown in Fig. 2,
longitudinal rods 2 connected between the cars by suitable couplings 3, and by a
crank wheel 4 and link 5 to a bell crank 6 suitably pivoted in the bottom of the
car and connected by a link 7 to the lever I herein before described. In this case
of course the friction disc H³ would be secured to the shaft and be a simple friction
disc without any ratchet wheel as indicated in this latter figure.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:
1. In a car brake, the combination with the brake levers and shoes and rods
connecting the same, of the cross shaft connected by chain to the brake lever and
supported in bearings attached to the bottom of the car, a sprocket wheel provided
with a frictional face supported loosely on said shaft, a sprocket wheel on the car
axle and sprocket chain connecting both sprocket wheels, a friction disc operatively
connected to the main shaft, so as to rotate with it in one direction and revolve
loosely on the shaft in the opposite direction and means for throwing the sprocket
wheel friction disc against the friction disc operatively connected to the cross
shaft as and for the purpose specified.
2. In a car brake, the combination with the brake levers and shoes and rods
connecting the same, of the cross shaft connected by chain to the brake lever and
supported in bearings attached to the bottom of the car a sprocket wheel pro-
vided with a frictional face supported loosely on said shaft, a sprocket wheel on the
car axle and sprocket chain connecting both sprocket wheels, a friction disc
operatively connected to the main shaft, so as to rotate with it in one direction
and revolve loosely on the shaft in the opposite direction and the bell-crank
lever suitably pivoted on the supporting bearings connected to the bottom of
the car and having a forked end extending in proximity to the hub of the frictional
sprocket wheel and means for operating said lever, so as to throw the frictional
sprocket wheel in contact with the friction disc on the cross shaft as and for the
purpose specified.
3. In a car brake, the combination with the brake levers and shoes and rods
connecting the same, of the cross shaft connected by chain to the brake lever
and supported in bearings attached to the bottom of the car, a sprocket wheel
provided with a frictional face supported loosely on said shaft, a sprocket wheel
on the car axle and sprocket chain connecting both sprocket wheels, a friction
disc operatively connected to the main shaft, so as to rotate with it in one direction

page_text: and revolve loosely on the shaft in the opposite direction, and the bell-crank lever
suitably pivoted on the supporting bearings connected to the bottom of the car
and having a forked end extending in proximity to the hub of the frictional
sprocket wheel, the recedable draw bar, the lever connected to the rear end thereof
and suitably pivoted in a bracket connected to the bottom of the car and the
spring-held rod connecting the opposite end of the lever to the bell-crank lever
as and for the purpose specified.
4. In a car brake, the combination with the brake levers and shoes and rods
connecting the same, of the cross shaft connected by chain to the brake lever and
supported in bearings attached to the bottom of the car, a sprocket wheel provided
with a frictional face supported loosely on said shaft, a sprocket wheel on the car
axle and sprocket chain connecting both sprocket wheels, a friction disc having a
ratchet wheel connected to same, an arm on the main shaft provided with a spring-
held dog designed to engage with the ratchet wheel and means for throwing the
sprocket wheel friction disc against the friction disc operatively connected to the
cross shaft as and for the purpose specified.
a
5. In a car brake, the combination with the brake levers and shoes and rods
connecting the same, of the cross shaft connected by chain to the brake lever and
supported in bearings attached to the bottom of the car, a sprocket wheel provided
with a frictional face supported loosely on said shaft, a sprocket wheel on the car
axle and sprocket chain connecting both sprocket wheels, a friction disc having
ratchet wheel connected to same, an arm on the main shaft provided with a spring
held dog designed to engage with the ratchet wheel, means for throwing the
sprocket wheel friction disc against the friction disc operatively connected to
the cross shaft. a supplemental ratchet wheel on the main shaft reversely set to
the ratchet wheel on the friction disc, a spring-held dog designed to engage there-
with and means for releasing such dog as and for the purpose specified.
6. In a car brake, the combination with the brake levers and shoes and rods
connecting the same, of the cross shaft connected by chain to the brake lever and
supported in bearings attached to the bottom of the car, a sprocket wheel provided
with a frictional face supported loosely on said shaft, a sprocket wheel on the
car axle and sprocket chain connecting both sprocket wheels, a friction disc having
a ratchet wheel connected to same, an arm on the main shaft provided with a
spring-held dog designed to engage with the ratchet wheel, means for throwing the
sprocket wheel friction disc against the friction disc operatively connected to the
cross shaft, a supplemental ratchet wheel on the main shaft reversely set to
the ratchet wheel on the friction disc, a spring-held dog designed to engage there-
with, an arm connected to such dog, a rod extending from such arm to a point
above the centre of the pivotal connection of the draw-bar to the draw bar rod
and an operative connection from such rod to the motor car as and for the purpose
specified.
a
7. In a car brake, the combination with the brake levers and shoes and rods
connecting the same, of the cross shaft connected by chain to the brake lever and
supported in bearings attached to the bottom of the car, a sprocket wheel provided
with a frictional face supported loosely on said shaft, a sprocket wheel on the car
axle and sprocket chain connecting both sprocket wheels, a friction disc having
ratchet wheel connected to same, an arm on the main shaft provided with a spring-
held dog designed to engage with the ratchet wheel, means for throwing the
sprocket wheel friction disc against the friction disc operatively connected to
the cross shaft, a supplemental ratchet wheel on the main shaft reversely set to the
ratchet wheel on the friction disc, a spring-held dog designed to engage therewith,
an arm connected to such dog, a rod extending from such arm to a point above the
centre of the pivotal connection of the draw bar to the draw bar rod, a rod having
an eye-shaped end secured on the hooked end of the aforesaid rod, snap hooks
connecting the end of the eye-rod, an eye-rod above the opposite draw bar and a
connecting rod from such rod to the front of the car, a bell-crank pivoted to a
suitable bracket connected to the bottom of the car and connected at the bottom

page_text: to the connecting rod and a depression plunger pivotally connected to the upper
end of the bell-crank as and for the purpose specified.
Dated the 4th day of July 1898.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.