IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS, IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND IN THE MODE OF RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Higgin, of the City of Manchester, Cotton
Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS, IN RAILWAY
CARRIAGES, AND IN THE MODE OF RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY
CARRIAGES,"
Sealed the th November 1860, and dated the 3rd August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgin, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
August, 1860.
I, JAMES HIGGIN, of the City of Manchester, Corn Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS, IN
RAILWAY CARRIAGES. AND IN THE MODE OF RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY
CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to increase the safety and convenience of
railway travelling, and the durability of the permanent way and rolling stock,
also to economise power.
My improvement in railways consists in making the rails of the permanent
way of strong angle iron, bolted or otherwiseattached to longitudinal sleepers.
In constructing railway carriages, I make the wheels without flanges and not
less than six feet in diameter; the body of the carriage is about four inches,
or more or less, above the rails of the permanent way; the part of the carriage
immediately over the rails is provided with plates of iron, with a projecting
flange, at one or more parts fitting within the rails. The projecting flanges
611....מ

page_text: answer the purpose of the flanges now applied to the wheels. When it is desired
to retard or stop the train, the whole body of the carriage is lowered by
means of shafts, wheels, and screws, or other equivalent agents, to bring the.
plates above referred to on to the rails of the permanent way. The tender
and carriages are connected by shafts with conical couplings or other suitable
couplings, and the gearing for lowering the carriages on to the rails is brought
within convenient reach of the engine driver and of the guard. The carriages
are raised clear of the rails by an auxiliary engine or other convenient
machinery. In case an axle should break, or other accident occur to bring
one of the carriages suddenly on to the rails, the apparatus for lowering the
other carriages is instantly brought into operation by means of a spring or
friction apparatus, which is acted upon by the increased resistance produced.
The said spring or friction apparatus may also be in connection with the
starting lever to shut off the steam at the same time.
When iny improvements in retarding and stopping trains of carriages are
applied to rails of the present construction, it is necessary to apply guide
wheels with flanges to the carriages.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditious of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Higgin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
ist February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HIGGIN, of the City of Manchester, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Higgin, Her special licence that I, the said James Higgin, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or. such others as I, the said
James Higgin, 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 terin 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILWAYS, IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND IN THE MODE OF RETARDING
AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Higgin, my executors or administrators, by an instrumentiu

page_text: writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 I, the said James Higgin, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
The object of my Invention is to increase the safety and convenience of
railway travelling, the durability of the permanent way and rolling stock,
and to economiso power.
My improvements in railways consist in making the rails of the permanent
way of strong angieiron, bolted or otherwise attached to longitudinal sleepers.
In constructing my improved railway carriages, I propose to make the wheels
without flanges; and of much greater diameters than they have been hitherto
used. I also propose to construct the carriage so that its body may be about
four inches, or more or less, above the rails of the permanent way; the part
of the carriage immediately over the rails is provided with plates of iron
with a projecting flange at one or more parts fitting within the rails; these
projecting flauges answer the purpose of the flanges now and heretofore
applied to the wheels.
When my improvements are applied to carriages of the ordinary construc-
tion, or to carriages with flanged wheels, the plates, which are to be lowered
in the manner herein-after described on to the rails, are made without flanges,
as the carriages are held on the rails by the flanges of the wheels, or the iron
plates may be dispensed with. and a surface of wood substituted.
When it is desired to retard or stop the train, the whole body of the
carriage is lowered by means of suitable apparatus, as herein-after described,
so as to bring the metal plates or surfaces of wood above referrad to on to
the rails of the permanent way.
I also propose to connect the locomotive engine, tender, and carriages, by
shafts with conical couplings or other suitable couplings, and so to arrange
the gearing for lowering the carriages on to the rails, as to bring it within
convenient reach of the engine driver, and of the guard as herein-after
described. The carriages are lowered and raised clear of the rails by an
auxiliary steam engine or other convenient machinery, as herein-after
described. In case an axle or wheel tyre should break, or other accident
occur to bring one of the carriages suddenly on to the rails, the apparatus for

page_text: lowering the other carriages may be instantly brought into operation by
means of a spring or friction apparatus, which is acted upon by the increased
resistance produced. The said spring or friction apparatus may also be in
connection with the starting lever of the locomotive, so as to shut off the
steam at the same time.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, 1 will proceed to describe the three accompanying
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Ou Sheet 1, Figure la shews a section of my improved rail. a is a strong
angle iron sécured to the longitudinal sleeper 6 by the bolts 61, which are
provided with countersunk heade. Figure 1 is an elevation of a railway
carriage and part of the locomotive engine to which my improvements are
applied; Figure 2 is a plan of the carriage; Figure 3 is a transverse section
of the same; and on Sheet 2, Figure 4 is a detached view on an enlarged
scale of the wheel, axle box, and spring, with the gearing for lowering the
carriage.
The carriage may be made to consist of three first-class, and two second-
class or luggage compartments, the latter being at each extremity, but the
arrangement of the compartments may be varied; c is the framework of the
carriage, which is supported on the four wheels d, these wheels I prefer to
make of about six feet in diameter, although I do not limit myself to this
dimension (though I do not recommend them to be made much less they
may be made larger); the wheels are mounted on the axles, revolving in the
bearings; the lower part of the framework of the carriage is brought within
about four inches from the rails of the permanent way, and the floor of the
carriage marked c¹ is supported on the beams formning the lower of the
framing. The beams of the framing immediately over the rails are marked c³,
and these beams may be covered or not with iron plates gas is found desirable;
in some cases these plates have flanges g' projecting within the rails of the
permanent way. The bearings fare made with screw nuts f', in which work
the screws h, two of which have right-handed and two left-handed threads;
the lower ends of the screws h are square and fit in sockets cast to the bevel
wheels, which are turned round simultaneously by the main shaft i,
pinions,cross shafts, and pinions or by any other convenient arrangement
of machinery. The carriage is suspended upon the springs k,which bear on
shoulders on the screws,and are connected to the framing of the carriage by
the links ; the main shaft & is furnished at one end with a conical block ³,
and at the other end with an internal cone is connected to the shaft by a
spring to compensate for the expanding and contracting of the buffers 1, which

page_text: are made in the usual manner. The shafts i of a train of carriages are con-
nected by the conical blocks and internal cones above described, or by any
other suitable couplings; although it may be possible by suitably arranged
mechanical means in which power is gained to raise and lower the carriages
by hand power, I prefer to employ steam power.
To the locomotive engine or to the tender may be attached an auxiliary
engine with two cylinders, as shewn at m, in Figure 1; this engine works
the crank shaft n, which forms the continuation of the line of shafts, and
when it is requisite to stop the train, the engine m is started, thereby turning
the shafts and i, and by them the screws h, by thus turning the screws h,
the carriages are lowered from their proper working level until the plates g,
or the undersurface of the beams c, bear with the whole weightof the carriage
on the rails of the permanent way, thereby causing agreat amount of friction,
which instantly retards the motion of the train, and finally stops it in a com-
paratively short distance. The steam for the auxiliary engine is shut off when
the screws have performed the requisite number of revolutions to lower the
carriages on to the rails, by means of a worm on the crank shaft n, acting
ou a wheel in which is a stud for moving the starting lever. The same
apparatus may be also applied for stopping the engine when the carriages
have been raised to their proper level. Indexes are placed on the engine
and curriages to show the distance of the carriage from the rails. The con-
nection between the tender (which is not shewn in the Drawing) and the first
carriage of the train, is, by means of a draw hook of the usual construction,
but this draw hook may be connected to the valve gear of the auxiliary
engine mn, so that in case an axle or wheel tyre should break or other
accident should occur to bring one of the carriages suddenly on to the rails,
the increased resistance thus produced would cause the valve rod to act
and to admit steam to the cylinders of the auxiliary engine, thus giving
motion to the shafts n and i, and bringing the other carriages down on to the
rails and stopping the train. The valve gear of the auxiliary engine may also
be connected by rods and chains or other suitable means to the guard's van,
so that the guard can also start the said engine when required; the guard's
van may also be provided with the requisite gearing for communicating
motion to the shafts when it is disconnected from the auxiliary engine.
When the carriages are lowered the shaft n,or the shaft on the tender assumes
a diagonal position, one of the bearings being fixed on a swivel, and the
bearing near the carriages may be furnished with a spring to allow that
end of the shaft to descend, and to raise it again when the carriages are again
raised.

page_text: I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to limit myself to the precise
arrangement of shafts, wheels, and screws for lowering andraisingthecarriages
as herein described, as the same object can be attained by other equivalent
arrangements of machinery, such as those shewn on Sheet 3 in Figures 5,6,7,
and on Sheet 2 in Figures 8 and 9. Figure 5 being an elevation of a railway
carriage of the usual construction, to the right-hand end of which my
improvements are adopted; Figure 6 is a plan of the framework, and
Figure 7 a transverse sectional elevation of the same. c is the body of the
carriage which is supported on the flanged wheels d, as now customary. At
the left-hand side of Figure 5, the axle bearings, springs, and horn plates are
shewn of the usual construction, but the other end of the carriage is shewn
with the alterations required in carrying out my Invention. g is a plate or
beam connected by a strong frame g³ to the under side of the framework of
the carriage. This plate or beam is about four inches above the rails of the
permanent way, as in Figure 1; and in order to bring it down on to the said
rails, I make use of the four eccentrics 7, each of which works in a frames
placed over one of the axle bearings f; the eccentrics are fixed in pairs on
the shafts t, to which are fixed the worm wheels ',which are turned round by
the worms » fixed on the line shaft v', corresponding to and driven in the
same manner as the shaft i in the preceding Figures, The lower part of each
frame s bears on a spring k connected by links K' to the stay forming part
of the framework which unites all the horn plates on one side of the carriage.
In Figures 5 and 7 the eccentrics are in the required positions for holding
the plates or beams above the rails of the permanent way, but as soon as it
becomes desirable to retard or stop the train the line shaft v' is turned round,
so as to reverse the position of the eccentrics, as shewn by the dotted circle in
Figure 5; by this means the whole body of the carriage is lowered until the
plates or beams g come on to the rails of the permanent way. The plate or
beam g is made to project laterally a few inches on each side of the rails of
the permanent way, so that in case a wheel or axle should break, the carriage
instead of falling over, as would be the case in carriages of the present
construction, would be held up by the plate or beam bearing on the rails.
Figures 8 and 9 are two views on an enlarged scale representing this
improved mode of lowering and raising the carriages as applied to a
carriage having large wheels; in this case the eccentrics act in the frame s
placed under the axle e, and the shaft t should be provided with a universal
joint to compensate for the play of the springs.
From the foregoing description and Drawings it will be seen that the
principle of my Invention of improvements consists of retarding and stopping

page_text: railway trains, by taking the weight of the carriages off the wheels and
transmitting it directly on to the rails of the permanent way through a large
surface, thereby reducing the wear and tear on the rails, tyres, axles, and
axle boxes, and by the speedy application of well-developed friction,
enabling trains to be stopped in less time than at present consumed, and
thus diminish the liability to collisions. The principle may be applied to
the engine and tender, passenger and freight carriages, and the whole
rolling stock of railways.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention and described the manner
of performing the same, I claim,-
First, the improved combination of rails and sleepers and fastenings, as
described and shewn in the Drawings.
Secondly, the application of wheels of large diameters for supporting
railway carriages in the mauner shewn and described.
Thirdly, theimproved mode of retarding and stoppingirailway carriages and
rolling stock, whereby the body of the carriage is lowered and the weight is
taken off the wheels, and transmitted directly and through a large surface on
to the rails of the permanent way, as described and shewn in the Drawings.
Fourthly, the improved combinations of machinery for lowering and
raising railway carriages, as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Higgin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JAS. HIGGIN. (L.S.)