IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Heggie, of Kirkcaldy, in the County
of Fife, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Heggie at
the Office of the Commissioner of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd November 1852.
I, ROBERT HEGGIE, of Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife, North
Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the so arranging the brakes of the
engines and rolling stock of railways, that the engine driver may be
enabled to bring up his train alınost instantaneously, by the simul-
taneous engagement of an entire series of brakes, one on each
carriage or wagon.
According to this plan, every carriage carries a simple brake of any
convenient kind, such as an arrangement of friction blocks, capable
of being brought into powerful contact with the whole of the wheels
by a mere traverse of a single central bar or brake rod. When the

page_text: carriages are placed together to forin the train, the end of all these
brake rods come into contact in one unbroken line, so that any
pressure applied to one end rod, puts the whole of the brakes down,
or into frictional contact with the wheels.
The necessary actuating power for this line of brakes is obtained
from a simple apparatus carried on the engine or tender; beneath
the frame of the tender. For example, one of the axles has upon it
an eccentric of very small throw, and the rod of this eccentric com-
municates, at its opposite free end, with a species of ratchet detent
apparatus, so that at each movement of the eccentric rod, a sliding
rod or bar, in end contact with the first of the series of brake rods
on the carriages, is urged slightly forward and held, after cach
impulse, by a suitable detent. In this way, when the engine driver
throws his actuating apparatus into gear, the eccentric or other
suitable movement gradually winds up, as it were, the whole of the
brakes, by continually urging the line of rods forward in slow or
minute stages. By this means the train is quickly stopped; and
when the detent is thrown out, a spring on each brake brings the
whole series out of contact with the wheels, and entirely removes
the brake action. Various incans may be adopted for actuating the
series of brakes; the essential object of the Invention being the
bringing a series of brakes into gear by delicate and steady incre-
ments of movement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Robert Heggic in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ROBERT HEGGIE, of Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife, North Britain,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and

page_text: successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Heggie, Her
special license that 1, the said Robert Heggie, ny executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, he said Robert Heggie,
my executors, administrators, or 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 RAILWAY BRAKES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Robert Ieggie, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 1, the said Robert Heggie, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, (that is to say):
My said Invention relates to the so arranging the brakes of
the engines and rolling stock of railways, that the engine driver
may be enabled to bring up his train almost instantaneously, by
the simultaneous engagement of an entire series of brakes, one on
cach carriage or wagon in a train. According to this plan, every
carriage carries a simple brake, of any convenient kind, such as an
arrangement of friction blocks, capable of being brought into
powerful contact with the whole of the wheels, by the inere traverse
of a single central bar or brake rod. When the carriages are placed
together to form the train, the ends of all these brake rods come
into contact in one unbroken line, so that any pressure applied to
one end rod puts the whole of the brakes down, or into frictional
contact with the wheels. The necessary actuating power for this
line of brakes is obtained from a simple apparatus carried on

page_text: the engine or tender, beneath the frame of the tender. For
example, one of the axles has upon it an eccentric of very small
throw, and the rod of this eccentric communicates, at its opposite
free end, with a species of ratchet detent apparatus, so that at each
movement of the eccentric rod, a sliding rod or bar, in end contact
with the first of the series of brake rods on the carriages, is urged
slightly forward, and held, after each impulse, by a suitable detent.
In this way, when the engine driver throws his actuating apparatus
into gear, the eccentric or other suitable movement gradually winds
up, as it were, the whole of the brakes, by continually urging the
line of rods forward in slow or minute stages. By this means the
train is quickly stopped; and when the detent is thrown out, a
spring on each brake brings the whole series out of contact
with the wheels, and entirely removes the brake action. Various
means may be adopted for actuating the series of brakes; the es-
sential object of the Invention being the bringing a series of brakes
into gear by delicate and steady increments of movement.
Figure 1, on my Sheet of Drawings, is a longitudinal section of
a locomotive engine tender, as fitted up with one modification of
my improved system of brake apparatus. Figure 2, on the same
Sheet, is a similar section of a common railway wagon, as an example
of the plan of fitting the carriages forming the body of the trains.
In Figure 1, the leading axle A, of the tender, has keyed upon its
longitudinal centre a small eccentric B, as a continuous worker
during the transit of the train. A plain rod passes back from this
eccentric, beneath the tender frame, and is hinged by a common eye
at C, to the lower end of a lever, which is hung from a joint stud D,
in the tender frame. Nearly midway between these two joints, a catch
is hinged at E, upon a loose stud joint in the lever, and it is further
suspended by an adjusting rod F, connected to its free end, and
passing upwards to the engine man's foot plate or platform above.
At G, is a central longitudinal brake rod, fitted at the hind end of
the tender with a buffer head II, and carried in the three bracket-
bearing guides I, bolted to the framing. A portion of this rod is
squared, and is serrated, or cut with a line of ratchet teeth at J, on

page_text: its upper side; and with these teeth the catch E, is engaged or
disengaged at pleasure, by lowering or raising the suspending rod
F; whilst immediately in front of this catch is a loose detent K,
jointed to a stud on the frame, and suspended by its free end from
the engine man's hand lever L, on the tender above. By this con-
trivance, when the engine man puts his hand lever L, into the
position shown in my Drawing, and lowers the suspending rod F,
of the catch E, to the like position, the reciprocatory action of the
eccentric rod will gradually urge forward the rod G, in the direction
of the arrow, by a rapid succession of minute movements, due to
the ratchet-tooth action, which I have described; the rod G, being
prevented from returning after each stroke by the stop action of the
detent K. Both the catch E, and the detent K, may be worked
from the same adjusting lever L. On the front end of the rod G, is
an adjustable collar M, between which and the bracket I, at that
end, is a helix N, encircling the rod, and contrived so as to prevent
concussion in the rod when it is acted upon longitudinally from the
train end. The opposite end of the rod G, has also a similar collar
O, with a longer helix P, abutting between it and the bracket I, on
that end. Near the centre of the rod G, is another collar Q, with a
helix R, abutting between it and the movable cross lead S, working
against a forked lever T. At U, is a lever, fast on a short trans-
verse shaft, set in fixed bearings in the framing, and carrying at the
part opposite or between the first and second wheel, on each side,
a duplex cam W. This cam, on each side of the tender, fits in be-
tween the external surfaces of a pair of brake blocks X, one for each
wheel Y, Z. These blocks are suspended by link pieces from the
stud centres a, b, in the framing; and on the back of each is a hook
c, fitting to a circumferential flange on each cam; so that the
back action of the cam may at once relieve them from the wheels.
The front wheel Y, has also an opposite corresponding block d,
similarly suspended and linked, by a horizontal rod e, to the hind-
most of the two blocks X. A link f, is jointed by one end to the
crank pin of the lever, and passes to the lever g, on a cross shaft h,
carrying a second pair of duplex cams i, cach precisely like the first.

page_text: The second cam fits in between another pair of brake blocks j,
respectively, fitting to the central and trailing wheels of the tender;
and from the foremost of these two blocks, a link k, passes to
the hindinost block I, fitted to the outside of the hindmost wheel.
In this way the whole six wheels of the tender are made to act as
brakes. It is on the cross shaft h, that the forked lever T, is
keyed; and it is through this lever that the brake action of the
whole of the blocks is communicated to the wheels. When a
collision is apprehended, the engine man puts the traverse appa-
ratus of the rod G, into action, in the manner which I have de-
scribed; and as the rod is thus passed forward in the direction of
the arrow, it overcomes the re-active pressure of the helix P, and
presses through the clastic medium of the helix R, upon the upper
end of the forked lever T, embracing the rod G. The result of
this is, that the two sets of duplex cams W, i, are caused to turn
partially round, and bring their prominences to bear against the
backs of the blocks X, j; whilst the links e, k, similarly draw their
blocks d, l, into frictional contact also. This speedily stops the
train's motion; and, when the frictional action is to be relieved, the
engine man puts his ratchet movement out of gear, when the re-
action of the spring P, at once presses back the rod G, and reverses
the cams, which, by their hooks, now draw all the blocks out of
action, and clear of the wheels. And if this arrangement is to be
followed up throughout the train, the buffer head II, of the brake
rod G, is made to coincide with another rod carried in central
bearings, beneath the first carriage of the train; and this rod bears
against a third rod on the next carriage, and so on throughout the
train. In this way, cach rod having a brake apparatus of its own,
the traverse of the tender rod puts the whole series of brakes into
action throughout the entire train; springs being added, in cach
case, to relieve the brakes when their action is no longer wanted.
Figure 2, on my Sheet of Drawings, represents a convenient
and effective arrangement of duplex brake action, capable of work-
ing by pressure in both directions, and consequently suitable
for carriages and wagons which run indiscriminately, either end

page_text: first. The main actuating brake rod A, is carried in bearings B,
beneath the carriage framing, at a level corresponding with all the
other rods in the train, so that the buffer heads C, may all work
fairly together. This rod has, near cach end, an adjustable collar
D, with a helix E, encircling the rod, and abutting between the
collar and the bearing B, so as to give reverse spring actions to suit
either direction of motion. The centre of the brake rod carries a
species of duplex cross head F, embracing the upper forked end of
the lever G, which also embraces the rod A. This lever G, is fast
on a central cross shaft H, carried in bearings in the wagon framing,
and having near cach end of it a slotted disc I, set in the line of the
wagon wheels. This disc, in cach case, is slotted curvilinearly in
four sections J, K; and into each of these slots is fitted the stud pin
I, M, of the four connecting links N, O; and the opposite ends
of each pair N, O, respectively jointed to eyes on the back of
the brake blocks P, Q. These blocks are suspended in the usual
way, by links hung to the framing at R, S; and the lower portions
of the blocks carry eyes T, U, for connection, by the links V, W, to
corresponding eyes on the two outer brake blocks X, Y. With this
arrangement, if the actuating strain, whether arising from the me-
chanical brake action of Figure 1, or a casual concussion, is in the
direction of the arrows on the rod A, the traverse of the cross head
F, which has on each side a spring pressure helix Z, pushing for-
ward the top of the lever G, will put all the brakes into action
through the medium of the links O, of the disc I. For as this disc
turns in the direction of its arrow, the ends of its slots K, will press
forward the studs M, M, of these links; whilst, at the same time,
the other studs L, L, will slide freely through their slots; similarly
when the pressure comes in the reverse direction, the relative
actions of the curvilinear slots and the links will be reversed, and
the brakes will be brought equally well into action, without any
strain or dislocation of parts. The brakes are always brought casily
and effectively into contact with their wheels, by the action of the
intermediate helices Z; and when not intended to be down, the
brakes are relieved by the helices E.

page_text: Having now described, and particularly ascertained, the nature
of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is, or
may be performed, used, or carried into effect, I may observe, in
conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to the precise
details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom, without de-
viating from the principles or main features of iny Invention; but
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is :
First, the general arrangement and construction of Railway
Brakes, as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of a continuous line of brake
rods, working in concert by longitudinal pressure and end contact
throughout the train, for working a series of brakes simulta-
neously.
Third, the system or mode of working railway brakes, by means
of a continuous revolver, capable of engagement at pleasure, to
work up the acting brakes into contact by slow gradations of tra-
verse or pressure, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the system or mode of working railway brakes, by
means of the duplex slot movement, as described in reference to
Figure 2, of my Drawings, whereby the traverse of the brake rod,
in either direction, brings the brakes into action.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Heggie, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.