IMPROVEMENTS INTRIC APPARATUS FOR APPLYING RAILWAY BRAKES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Arthur Dibbin, of Hallaton, in County of
Leicester, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS INTRIC
APPARATUS FOR APPLYING RAILWAY BRAKES."
Sealed the 24th April 1878, and dated the 31st October 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Arthur Dibbin at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st October 1877.
HENRY ARTHUR Dibbin, of Hallaton, in the County of Leicester, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR APPLYING RAILWAY BRAKES."
My Invention consists substantially of the improvements herein-after described,
by means of which all or any of the brakes adopted in railway trains may be
actuated or released, principally at the option of the engine driver, or by the
breakage of a coupling, or by an adverse signal on the railway.
My improvements are as follows:-I place a magneto-electric engine or a voltaic
battery in a suitable position on the locomotive or its tender, either of the axles of
which being caused to keep the magneto-electric engine in rotation; and when
desirable I employ the steam from the said locomotive to rotate the electric engine
by any improved means. I furnish the engine driver with any suitable means of
controlling the voltaic battery, or of operating the rotation of the said electrical
engine. And to either or all of the carriages or break vans of the train I fix
suitable insulated conducting wires, with hand-made connections between the car-
riages, so that a circuit shall be completed between the locomotive and the carriages
and the rear end of the train. I also place a sphere or mass of metal in each
carriage or van, so mounted with regard to the force of gravity either by direct
magnetic attraction or otherwise, that when any disconnection of the circuit or
cessation of the current of electricity liberates the keepers of certain electro-magnets
.

page_text: likewise suitably disposed in connection with the sphere or mass of metal aforesaid,
it falls by the force of gravity on to any suitable lever arranged for actuating or
releasing any brakes (continuous or otherwise) that are now or may be hereafter in
use.
And where, by reason of the length of the trains, it is desirable that what is
called a "relay." system, or some modification thereof, should be adopted, I place in
either or each of the carriages and guards' vans voltaic batteries or magneto-electric
engines, the latter being rotated as aforesaid by the revolutions of the carriage
axles. And I place in connection with the circuit of the locomotive battery and
the conducting wires aforesaid certain auxiliary electro-magnets, and the current of
electricity from the locomotive thus passing continuously through this circuit I make
any rupture or cessation of that current to effect a breakage of the current of the
respective batteries and electro-magnets belonging to the carriages, and the current
so generated by the batteries in the carriages being (but for this limitation and the
motion of the train) continuous, and by means of the electro-magnets persistently
maintaining the aforesaid sphere or mass of metal in opposition to gravity, the ball
when liberated affords by its percussion in falling as aforesaid the means of releasing
or actuating any form of break. I also make the falling of this weight to arrest the
attention of the guard of the train by striking a bell in its descent. And I make
the electrical conducting wire so to project from the locomotive in a loop or other-
wise as that a suitable trigger in connection with an adverse signal in the line,
shall, by means of rupturing the circuit as aforesaid, arrest the train by putting on
the brakes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Arthur Dibbin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
April 1878.
HENRY ARTHUR DIBBIN, of Hallaton, in the County of Leicester, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR APPLYING RAILWAY BRAKES."
My Invention consists substantially of the improvements herein-after described by
the use of which the driver and guards, or other officials in charge of railway
trains, are enabled to apply the brakes of the said trains simultaneously to any or
each and every portion of such trains; and I also cause the accidental partition of
the train, or the obstruction of mechanism in connection with a danger signal, to
effect the same result.
For the purposes of my Invention I place a magneto-electric engine or a voltaic
battery in a suitable position on the locomotive or the tender, or any carriage of a
train, any axle of which, by its revolution, keeps the magneto-electric engine in
rotation, and when desirable I employ the steam from the said locomotive to rotate
the electric engine by any convenient means; I provide the engine driver with any
suitable means of controlling the circuit of the voltaic battery or operating the rota-
tion of the magneto-electric engine; and to either or all of the carriages of the train
I fix suitable insulated conducting wires, with hand-made connections between the
carriages, so that an electrical circuit shall be completed between the locomotive and
the carriages, and therefore throughout the whole train; I also place in a suitable
receptacle in any or every vehicle or carriage of the train a mass or sphere of metal
so mounted with regard to the centre of gravity thereof and so controlled by the
magnetic attraction, either direct or otherwise, by the intervention of suitable
mechanism, that any cessation or rupture of the electrical circuit, as aforesaid,
liberates the sphere or mass of metal which is then free to follow the force of
gravity, and in its descent to act upon a suitable lever arranged for actuating or
applying any brakes, continuous or otherwise, that are now or may be hereafter in
use.
<<
And when, by reason of the nature or length of the railway trains, or from other
causes, it may be desirable to adopt what is known as a relay" system of elec-
trical circuit, I place in either or each of the vehicles of the train additional voltaic
batteries or magnets, electric engines, the latter being rotated, as aforesaid, by the
revolution of the axles of the vehicles. And each such additional source of electrical
power has then a local circuit to itself, and I place in connection with each such
local circuit suitable electro-magnets, which are capable of breaking the current of
the local circuit by any suitable means, and the said electro-magnets are in aud
worked by the circuit of the first-named battery and conducting wires, which circuit,
as aforesaid, runs continuously throughout the train, and any rupture of the first-
named circuit creates also a rupture of each local circuit in the vehicles, as stated,
thereby producing the same effect of liberating the sphere or mass of metal, as afore-
said, and thereby putting on the brakes. And I make the conducting wire of the
electric circuit, so far as pertains to the locomotive or its tender, to project in a loop
or otherwise. And a suitable trigger, which becomes erect at or near the rails
when a signal is put to " danger," will, during the transit of a train running
adverse to the signal, rupture the said loop in the electric circuit, or otherwise break
contact and thereby cause the brakes to be applied as aforesaid, and I cause the said
sphere or mass of metal in descending to strike a bell and thereby arrest the atten-
tion of the guards. And the restoration of the electrical circuit, by whatsoever
means effected, is indicated by any well-known means on a dial, so that the guard
can then replace the actuating part of the brake levers to their normal position in
any vehicle of the train, and the said ball or mass of metal is replaced by the guard
in so restoring the said brake levers.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed more par-
ticularly to describe in what manner the same is to be performed by the aid of the
..

page_text: accompanying Drawings, in which are represented arrangements of apparatus
adapted for carrying the Invention into effect..
The apparatus referred to consists chiefly of three parts (viz.), (1), electrical bat-
teries; (2), conducting wires and their connections between the carriages; and (3),
the releasing apparatus in connection with the liberation of the brake power.
I will refer first to electrical batteries. In Figure 1, A and B represent two electrical
batteries or magneto-electric engines, as aforesaid, one being on the locomotive or its
tender, and the other in a vehicle of a railway train; but when the presence of the
battery A in the locomotive is found impracticable or objectionable it may be
dispensed with, and the battery B in the vehicle alone retained, and in either case
any ordinary well-known means for breaking the circuit from the battery is placed
at the disposal of the engine driver. But assuming that no objection exists to the
presence of the voltaic battery or magneto-electric engine A on the locomotive, the
imagneto-electric engine is driven by any suitable means, as, for instance, by a strap
from a drum keyed on either axle of the locomotive, or its tender, or the steam from
the locomotive boiler may be conducted to the magneto-electric engine, and so cause it
to rotate by any suitable means, such as by a cylinder and piston driving multi-
plying gear, or by cog wheels in gear with the axle of the magneto-electric engine.
And in either case the magneto-electric engine or voltaic battery at A, or the
magneto-electric engine or the voltaic battery at B, generate and maintain a current
of electricity, and according to the special means adopted the current may thus be
made co-existant with the movement of the train, or absolutely continuous at
pleasure. By preference I adopt the latter method, subject to its intermission by the
agents aforesaid.
The electric battery is of any form suitable for permanence and portability, and
is made readily accessible for removal, and renewal, and interchange, and is withal
protected from the effects of frost in a suitable receptacle. Its removal by the guard
or other person gives him the power of putting on the brakes whilst the train is in
motion, as aforesaid, and as is herein-after more particularly described.
In Figure 1 the letters A and B may also be taken to indicate the respective
functions of the relay circuit aforesaid, provided also that the battery at B may be
many times repeated in the same train, or successive portions thereof, and A may
be taken to indicate the motor of the general circuit, which circuit, when in action,
maintains by suitable electro-magnets, in any well-known way, the persistence and
continuity of the several local circuits at B, B, B. By this means (as is ordinarily
done) a considerable gain of electrical power is obtained when so desired; and the
receptacles for the batteries are so disposed that it is made impossible to deposit the
batteries in an erroneous position therein with regard to the negative and positive
poles, such as for example, making the battery round at one end, and square at the
other, or by any such well known and suitable devise as may be convenient.
To the battery, and the box containing the battery, or in its receptacle, are fixed
suitable metal springs in correspondence to the respective poles, so that depositing
the battery in its receptacle (to which receptacle are attached the conducting wires
as aforesaid), by that act completes the closure of that part of the electric circuit.
I will now refer to conducting wires and their connections. On every carriage
or vehicle of the train, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 by the dotted lines,
are attached in any convenient position electrical conducting wires, suitably
covered and insulated, one pair to each vehicle. Between every vehicle com-
posing the train the wires are connected together by hand in the following way,
as shewn in Figure 3, that is to say, on each side of every carriage or vehicle is put
one wire, having therefore two terminations, which, per se, hang loose, and at each
left-hand forward end or termination (looking from the inside of the vehicle) is
attached the "spigot" joint (Figure 4), and at the other or right-hand corner
(also looking forward from the inside of each vehicle) is. attached the "faucet
joint (Figure 5), and being thus arranged at the ends of every vehicle in dissimilar
pairs, any two pair of such couplings or connections are certain to come in proper
order opposite each other in contiguous vehicles, as are also the batteries aforesaid,
"

page_text: owing to the particular means set forth for ensuring the proper relation of the poles
to the circuit; and in any vehicle where the electric battery or magneto-electric
engine is fixed as aforesaid, two ends of the conducting wires are brought down and
into connection with the battery and “spigot" wire in the near side of the vehicle
is, by preference, put to the elastic metal springs aforesaid under the positive pole
of the battery; and as shewn at f! (Figure 6), resumes at the said springs in the
negative end of the battery, f", and passes thence through an ordinary electro-
magnet g (Figure 6), and again goes out to resume its function as a continuous line
wire to the wire of the next vehicle, to which it is coupled by the spigot and
faucet joint aforesaid, which is made as follows:-The faucet joint is formed
by attaching, by soldering or otherwise, a partly split brass tube a (Figure 5), to
the bared end of the conducting wire, and encasing the same in a ferule of india-
rubber b. The spigot joint (Figure 4) is made by attaching a partly split and
pointed brass pin c (of somewhat larger exterior diameter than the internal diameter
of the split brass tube a) to a bared end of another conducting wire, and this is
also encased in an india-rubber tube d, and the whole is formed in such proportions,
which are nicely determined, as that when it is desired to effect the coupling of
these joints together by hand, some little force is requisite, and the friction so
obtained by the elasticity of the brass and india-rubber portions maintains a good
electrical and mechanical contact, which is also thus sufficiently insulated.
.
And when desirable the conducting wires aforesaid are taken to a suitable place
inside of each passenger carriage, with a view to afford the passengers in any
emergency the means of applying the brakes by a rupture of the conducting circuit,
which rupture is effected by any well known means, but such means are likewise so
disposed as to form a tell-tale in any particular compartment where it may have
been used, such, for example, as the breakage of a glass frame in front of the said
tell-tale. The attention of the guards may thus be called to passengers in trouble.
As to release mechanism for liberating the brake power (Figure 6), the electro-
magnet g aforesaid as being in the continuous line circuit (or as aforesaid a local
circuit if in a "relay" system) has an ordinary keeper or armature on a vertical
axis h in connection thereto, and to the armature is attached an arm i overhanging
two suitable brackets k. By the persistence of the electric current through the
electro-magnet g, the arm is kept in place over the brackets k. Over the said arm i
and the open space between the brackets k hangs a pointed end of a balanced lever
or trough , and the said arm i when over the brackets prevents the end of the
balanced trough from dropping, and the arm i is at this end made elastic or with
a slight spring therein to admit of a small extent of vertical play over the
brackets k, k.
The balanced trough carries over its point of suspension a spherical ball of metal m,
and the trough being placed in its bearings transversely to the longitudinal axis of
the vehicle, the vibration and oscillation thereof when travelling cause the said
balanced trough and its contained sphere, having a small amount of vertical play
given, to be perpetually rocking; and therefore the recoil of the armature of the
electro-magnet being caused by a spring which acts directly the superior force of the
electrical current is suspended by any rupture of the circuit as aforesaid, as is
ordinarily done, the arm i flies back and no longer prevents the fall of the rocking
trough, which fall is caused by a bias received immediately from the momentum of
the sphere of metal m on account of the oscillation of the train as aforesaid, and
thence the trough dropping down below a horizontal line, the ball runs to the
depressed end of the trough and thence depresses the end of another lever o, which
is so placed that it underlies, and to a small extent supports, a heavy hanging
weight p, and its fulcrum is nearly directly under the weight p, and so that the
lever is withdrawn from under the weight p by the action of the rocking trough
and sphere upon its disengaged end. And the falling of the hanging weight is made
through an ordinary connection of wires and pullies or cranks to liberate or dis-
engage or actuate any form of brake power at pleasure. The fall of the ball in
free space may likewise be made to effect the same more directly if required.

page_text: The releasing apparatus as herein described is restored to its normal condition by
the guard of the train, who pulls the hanging weight back into its place by a
lever suitably disposed. The hanging weight p also in its descent comes upon the
end of a lever s, the other end of which restores the rocking trough to its normal
position, and the restoration of the electrical circuit, by what means so ever effected,
draws the armature and its lever i to place, and so the brakes can thus be disengaged
by the action of the guard as stated, and the restoration of the electrical circuit is
shewn on a dial by a card suitably carried on the said arm i of the keeper or
armature of the electro-magnet g.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed or carried into effect, I desire it to be understood that I
do not limit my claim to the apparatus herein-before described or any details thereof,
as the same may be varied or modified to almost any extent without departing from
the principle or nature of my said Invention, and the same is indeed here described
and illustrated as one practical means suitable for the carrying into effect the object
sought to be attained by my Invention, viz., the application of railway brakes by
'means of electric batteries, conducting wires, and releasing mechanism, arranged and
combined substantially in the manner herein-before described; but what I do claim
as the Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
is,―
First. The combination of electrical batteries or magneto-electric engines and
conducting wires, and their couplings and releasing mechanism in any or all of the
carriages of which a railway train may be made up, so that any form of brake
power may be thereby actuated by engine drivers or guards, or other officials in
charge of a railway train, or by such inanimate objects also as are herein-before
referred to, substantially as herein-before described and as illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The apparatus herein-before described for the purpose of releasing a
weight or weights by reason of or through the cessation of an electrical current in
conjunction with the oscillation of the railway train or vehicle, substantially as
herein-before described and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Arthur Dibbin have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
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