IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AD A BORAY POWER TO RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES AND MACHINES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Barnes, Surgeon, David Hancock, Copper-
smith and Brazier, and Edward Cowpe, Grocer, all of the Borough of
Wycombe, in the County of Buckingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING ELECTRO-MAGNETISM
AD A BORAY POWER TO RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES AND MACHINES."
Sealed the 30th June 1865, and dated the 12th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Barnes, David
Hancock, and Edward Cowpe at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 12th January 1865.
We, FREDERIC BARNES, Surgeon, DAVID HANCOCK, Coppersmith and
Brazier, and EDWARD COWPE, Grocer, all of the Borough of Wycombe, in the
County of Buckingham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING ELECTRO-
MAGNETISM AS A BREAK POWER TO RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES AND MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in applying to the wheels of a carriage or machine
electro-magnetism as a break power in the following manner :-
Supposing we apply our Invention to the wheels of a railway carriage we fit
[Price Bd.]

page_text: the magnets by preference on the under side of the said carriage and in a
suitable frame. This frame is mounted on grooved wheels, free to travel
within certain limits between rails or guides, and the magnets in the frame are
in communication by wires with a battery or batteries in the guard's van or on
the engine. At all times, except when the break power is applied, the
magnets are somewhat withdrawn from the wheels of the carriage, and are so
maintained by a spring or springs united at one end to the frame carrying the
magnets, and at the other to a bar fixed by preference at or near the central
part of the under side of the carriage, but on the current being applied, the
magnets are thereby caused to advance against the wheels, and in so doing
the grooved wheels, and with them-the frames and magnets travel along the
guides or rails, and as the magnets approach the wheels the rotation thereof is
stopped. Where the wheels are not wholly formed of metal, we apply plates
of metal to them. Upon the wires being disconnected the magnets recede
from the wheels between the rails or guides, as before described, and so return
to their normal position, the spring or springs before referred to being the
power used to draw them back. We prefer to apply the magnets to the
wheels alternately, but they may be applied to all the wheels, and this can be
done to every carriage, as all the frames carrying their magnets are connected
together by wires, so that before the circuit being completed by the guard,
driver, or other attendant, break power may be simultaneously applied to all
the wheels throughout a train, and the power at the same time regulated
according to the intensity of the current employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederic Barnes, David Hancock, and Edward Cowpe, in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
BARNES, Surgeon, DAVID HANCOCK, Coppersmith and Brazier, and EDWARD
COWPE, Grocer, all of the Borough of Wycombe, in the County of Bucking-
ham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: us,the said Frederick Barnes, David Hancock, and Edward Cowpe, Her special
licence that we, the said Frederick Barnes, David Hancock, and Edward Cowpe,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Frederick Barnes, David Hancock, and Edward Cowpe,ourexecutors, adminis-
trators, 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 Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING
ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AS A BREAK POWER TO RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES AND
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Frederick
Barnes, David Hancock, and Edward Cowpe, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Frederick Barnes, David Hancock, and
Edward Cowpe, do hereby declare the nature of our 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
accompanying Drawing, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in applying to the wheels of a carriage or machine
electro-magnetism as a break power in the following manner:-
Supposing we apply our Invention to the wheels of a railway carriage, we
fit the magnets by preference on the under side of the said carriage, and in a
suitable frame. This frame is mounted on grooved wheels, free to travel with-
in certain limits between rails or guides, and the magnets in the frame are in
communication by wires with a battery or batteries in the guard's van, or on
the engine. At all times, except when the break poweris applied, the magnets
aresomewhat withdrawn from the wheels of the carriage, and are so maintained
by a spring or springs united at one end to the frame carrying the magnets,
and at the other to a bar fixed by preference at or near the central part of the
under side of the carriage, but on the currents being applied the magnets are
hereby caused to advance against the wheels, and in so doing the grooved
wheels, and with them the frames and magnets travel along the guides or rails,
nd as the magnets approach the wheels, the rotation thereof is stopped.
Where the wheels are not wholly formed of metal we apply plates of metal to

page_text: them. Upon the wires being disconnected the magnets recede from the
wheels between the rails or guides as before described, and so return to their
normal position, the spring or springs before referred to being the power used
to draw them back. We prefer to apply the magnets alternately to the
wheels, but they may be applied to all the wheels, and this can be done to
every carriage, as all the frames carrying their magnets are connected together
by wires, so that upon the circuit being completed by the guard, driver, or
other attendant, break power may be simultaneously applied to all the wheels
throughouta train, and the power at the same time regulated according to the
intensity of the current employed.
The accompanying Drawing illustrates the manner in which our Inventiou
may be carried into effect. a, a are the electro-magnets inserted and held in
a frame b. This frame is mounted on wheels c, c, c, c, which are grooved and
run in guides or frames d, d; e, e are rods fixed to the rear of the frames b, b,
and passing through a guide f, between which and its head g there is placed a
strong helical springh, which always having a tendency to expand will maintain
the frames b,b, as near the guide f as the wheels c, c, will allow them to travel.
Thus the extremities of the clectro-magnets when not acted upon by the
electric current, as hereafter described, will always be kept clear of the
wheelsi,i. The magnets are in connection with electric batteries in the break
or guard's van, by means of wires, and the circuit is completed or applied by
means of handles in the guard's van, and withdrawn in a similar manner. The
wheels to which the magnets are applied are faced with, by preference, an
annular ring of metal, so that to apply the break power the guard or other
attendant completes the circuit, which excites the magnets, and driving them
against the plates on the wheels arrests their revolution; upon disconnecting
the circuit the springs h bring back the magnets to their normal position;
n, n are clips which may be attached to the end of each carriage, whereby the
magnets fitted to the wheels of one carriage are united to the next, and so on
for each carriage composing the train; by this means break power can be
applied simultaneously to all the wheels of the carriages, for although we have
shown the magnets applied to the wheels alternately, yet they may with equal
facility be applied to all the wheels. We would have it further understood
that although we have described and consider that our invention is particularly
adapted for use as a break power on railways, yet it can be applied with
advantage in all cases where a break power is required.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim the method of

page_text: and apparatus for applying electro-magnetism as a break power to railway
and other carriages and machines, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward Cowpe and David Hancock,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
EDWARD COWPE. (L.S.)
DAVID HANCOCK. (L.S.)