A Tramway Brake.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 15th June, 1891-Accepted, 25th July, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Tramway Brake.
We EDMUND ROTHWELL of Sandy Hill Rochdale in the County of Lancaster
Civil Engineer, and JOSEPH BENTHAM of Entwisle Road Rochdale aforesaid
Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:―
Our invention relates to brakes applicable to tramway cars, railway rolling stock,
and particularly to steam tramway cars, which brake, is capable of manual or
automatic operation.
The chief feature of our invention being its capability of actuating automatically,
being specially adapted to act in cases of emergency, thus our invention may be
termed an emergency brake; the said brake constitutes and operates as a separate
and independent brake with relation to the ordinary brake now in use in connection
with tramway cars, in conjunction with which our invention admits of being
employed.
As an example of the manual application of our brake, the same may be
applied to retard the motion of the front or leading wheels of the car when
descending an incline, which, may be used independently of, or as an auxiliary to
the ordinary car brake; its automatic application may be exemplified in case of
accident, such as the separation of the engine from the car, which may be caused
by the breaking of the couplings or accidental disconnection thereof, which may
occur during the ascent up an incline or steep gradient.
In the event of such an occurrence, the brake is caused, according to our
arrangement, to immediately operate, arrest the motion and have effectual control
of the car, so as to bring the same to a standstill.
In accordance with our construction our said invention consists of a hand
reversing or brake lever, mounted loosely on a stud, about which it is free to move,
and is provided with an adjustable pawl adapted and arranged to engage with the
serrated surface of a conveniently fixed quadrant situate on the entrance platform
of the car; the lower part of the lever is conveniently attached to brake straps,
preferably two, encircling the peripheries of friction discs or flanged drums provided
on the axles of the car wheels, being those situate furthest from the reversing
lever, that is to say, the wheels situate at the end of the car opposite to the one at
which the reversing lever is situate; the said lever and brake straps being connected
together by means of a series of horizontally placed levers and connecting rods
situate below and extending lengthwise of the car, the said connections being
suitably supported on the undercarriage of the car.
To one of the levers or connections intercepting the reversing lever and brake
straps, we attach the one extremity of a chain extending from the rear of the
engine, which, for convenience of description, we term the "brake actuating chain,"
the opposite extremity of the chain we provide with a peculiar formed or S shaped
link which is attached to the engine. In the event of a disengagement of the
engine and car couplings whilst in motion, the brake actuating chain would then
form the only connection between engine and car, the chain being then subjected to
a pull or strain, operates the brakes, which exert their influence on the wheels
situate at the rear part of the car; also simultaneously actuates the reversing lever,
causing it to interlock with the serrated quadrant, the brakes being then held or
retained in contact with the surfaces of the friction drums, the motion of the car is
consequently impeded, a strain occurs on the brake actuating chain, which causes
the S shaped connection to open out, consequently the engine and car are released
from each other, the car being then brought to a standstill, remains under the
control of the brakes until they are released from contact with the friction drums,

page_text: which may be effected by reversing the position of the lever with relation to the
quadrant.
The mechanism hereinbefore described constitutes our improved brake, which,
we purpose employing in duplicate in connection with a tramway car, so that the
wheels at each end of the car may be capable of being effectually controlled, as
may be required, the one brake operating automatically by its connection with the
engine, the other manually by directly operating the hand lever, both being effected
in the manner and at the particular periods herein described.
Dated this 26th day of September 1890.
EDMD. ROTHWELL.
J. BENTHAM.
J. H. Butterworth,
Rochdale, for the Applicants.
A Tramway Brake.
We, EDMUND ROTHWELL Tramway Manager & Secretary Tramway Depôt
and JOSEPH BENTHAM Locomotive Engineer, Tramway Depôt both in Rochdale,
County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of our said invention & 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 brakes applicable to tramway cars, railway rolling stock,
and particularly to steam tramway cars which brake is capable of manual or
automatic operation.
The chief feature of our invention being its capability of actuating automatically
being specially adapted to act in cases of emergency thus our invention may be
termed an emergency brake the said brake constitutes and operates as a separate
and independent brake with relation to the ordinary brake now in use in connection
with tramway cars in conjunction with which our invention admits of being
employed.
As an example of the manual application of our brake the same may be applied
to retard the motion of the front or leading wheels of the car when descending an
incline which may be used independently of or as auxiliary to the ordinary car
brake its automatic application may be exemplified in the case of accidents such as
the separation of the engine from the car which may be caused by the braking of
the couplings or accidental disconnection thereof which may occur during the
ascent of an incline in such event the brake is caused to immediately operate ou the
hind wheels of the car so as to bring the same to a standstill.
As constructed our invention consists of a hand reversing or brake lever mounted
loosely on a stud about which it is free to move and is provided with an adjustable
pawl adapted to engage with the serrated surface of a conveniently fixed quadrant
on the entrance platform the lower part of the lever being convertably attached
to brake straps, preferably two, encircling the peripheries of flanged drums on the
axles of the car wheels being those situated furthest from the reversing lever that
is to say the wheels situate at the end of the car opposite to the one at which the
reversing lever is situated-the said lever and brake straps being connected
together by means of a series of horizontally placed levers and connecting rods
situate below and extending lengthwise of the car. To one of the levers, intercepting
reversing lever and brake straps, we attach a chain extending from the engine
which for convenience of description be termed the "actuating chain" the other
end of the chain having a peculiarly formed or S-shaped link. In the event of a
disconnection whilst in motion the brake actuating chain being subject to a strain
operates the brakes at the rear part of the car also simultaneously actuates the
reversing lever causing it to inter-lock with the quadrant the S-shaped link is caused
to open out consequently engine and car are disconnected the car being brought to

page_text: a stand still remains under the control of the brakes until released which may be
effected by reversing the positions of the levers with relation to the quadrant.
The mechanism herein before described constitutes our improved brake which we
purpose employing in duplicate in connection with a tramway car, so that the
wheels at each end of the car may be capable of being effectually controlled the
one brake operating automatically by its connection with the engine the other
manually by operating the hand lever both being effected in the manner at the
particular periods herein set forth.
In order that our invention may be clearly understood and more easily carried
into practice we have appended hereunto three double sized sheets of drawings upon
which we have fully illustrated the nature of our said improvements together with
a modification in the mode of effecting the same.
Figure 1, is a plan looking down of the wheels and bogie car at one end of an
ordinary tramcar with our improved brakes attached thereto.
Figure 2, is a similar plan but shewing the connection of the pivoted lever H
with the operating lever and engine or other motor.
Figure 3, is an elevation of the operating or reversing lever which is shewn by
plan in Figure 2.
Figure 4, is a plan of part of the underside of a car looking up shewing a
modification in the mode of applying the brake.
Figure 5 is an elevation of Figure 4 when the brake is being automatically
applied.
Figure 6 is a similar elevation when the brake is being applied by hand.
In carrying our invention into effect the brake straps M and N are so mounted
that they encircle the peripheries of the flanged drums E & F which are fixed to
the axles B and B of the car wheels 62, 63, 64, and 6. The brake straps M & Nare
cach connected with the horizontal pivoted lever H at one side of the pivot of the
bogie car A & in such a manner that the action of the bogie car does not interfere
with their action. The lever H is connected at 4 with the reversing hand lever P
by means of the intermediate rods & chains R and the intermediate lever R¹
which is pivoted at 2 and connected to the lever P by rod R2 such as shewn by
Figure 2. The reversing hand lever P is mounted upon the stud p¹ about which it
is free to move and is provided with the adjustable pawl på adapted to engage
with the serrated surface pt of the fixed quadrant po. The pawl is operated by the
spring p² and is withdrawn from action by the handle p. By these means the hand
reversing lever P upon the entrance platform may be made to operate upon the
wheels situate at the end of the car opposite to the one at which the reversing
lever P is situated. To the lever R₁ or any other suitable intermediate lever
between the reversing lever or brake straps the chain S is connected which extends
to the engine T or other motor and which we term the actuating chain S, the
engine end of which has the intermediate link S¹ and in the event of a discon-
nection of car and engine whilst in motion the chain S operates the brake at the
rear part of the car and by means of the pivoted lever R₁ and rod R³
simultaneously actuates the reversing lever P, which in its action is locked with
the quadrant p by the pawl p³ and teeth pt. At a certain point of the strain the
link S is caused to open out by which means the engine and car are disconnected
the car being brought to a standstill by the operation of the brakes until released
which is effected by reversing the positions of the lever P with relation to the
quadrant. The brake straps M & N are provided at one end with the ears m¹ & n¹
through which the rods K & L pass the ends ¹ & of the said rods being
screwed to receive the nuts k², 12 and 43 & 13 with lock nuts k and for the adjust-
ment of the straps M & N in relation to the drums E & F.
We purpose employing the whole of the mechanism before described in duplicate
in connection with each tramway car so that the wheels at each end of the car may
be capable of being effectually controlled the brakes on the one set of wheels or
bogie car operating automatically by its connection with the engine & those on

page_text: the other set of wheels or bogie manually by operating the hand lever P both being
effected in the manner and at the particular periods herein set forth.
In the modification shewn on Sheet 3 the centre lever H₁ is provided with the
pawl at each end which pawls are pivoted at 15 on the lever so as to work on
the serrated racks V. The pawls are operated upon from two different
centres 2 & 3 the centre 2 being connected with the engine for automatic operation
and the centre 3 with the hand lever for hand operation so that when the brake is
being applied by hand through the rod S the pawls are kept clear of the rack V
and the lever H is allowed to work freely without the pawl ' coming in contact
with the racks V but upon the brakes being automatically applied upon the
severance of the engine through the rod which is connected therewith the pawl h¹
is drawn towards the rack and the brakes are applied. The lever H is connected
to brake straps acting on drums in a similar manner to that before described.
The disengaging motion is effected in this case by the application of the hand brake
which pulls the pawl clear of the rack again. This arrangement is supplementary
to the ordinary brake mechanism & distinct therefrom.
Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion & in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1st The improvements in supplementary or auxiliary brakes which are operated
either by hand or automatically: substantially such as and for the purpose herein
described and illustrated on Sheets 1, 2, and 3.
2nd In improvements in supplemental or auxiliary brakes the arrangement of
the pivoted lever H and brakes upon the bogie car: substantially as herein set
forth & illustrated.
3rd In improvements in supplemental or auxiliary brakes the modification:
substantially such as described with regard to and illustrated upon Sheet 3.
Dated this 13th day of June 1891.
GEORGE BARKER.
77, Colmore Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.