IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKS FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Muntz, of Millbrook, in the County
of Hants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKS FOR LOCOMOTIVE
ENGINES."
Sealed the 12th April 1861, and dated the 11th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Muntz
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th January 1861.
I. WILLIAM HENRY MUNTZ, of Millbrook, in the County of Hants, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREAKS FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The principal object of this Invention is to make use of steam from the
boiler to apply the breaks to the wheels of a locomotive engine, or to the rails,
or both, as may be preferred.
The Invention consists principally in connecting a steam chest to each side
of the boiler by means of a pipe furnished with a valve or stop cock. The
lower side of this steam chest is furnished (immediately over each wheel) with
a piston, to the piston rod of which (passing out through a stuffing box)
the break block is attached. When the steam is admitted to the steam chests
the pistons are all simultaneously depressed, and the break blocks are thus
applied to the wheels. The steam chests are also furnished with an escape.

page_text: valve or cock through which the steam may be allowed to escape, and the
break blocks will then be again raised, either by springs or counterbalance
weights.
It will be evident that upon opening the valve the steam will be admitted
to the steam chest, the pistons will be depressed, and the break blocks forcibly
applied to the peripheries of the wheels. By placing additional pistons
over the spaces between the wheels with elongated rods and break blocks,
breaks may be thereby applied to the rails also, so that as many as ten breaks
may be simultaneously applied, if desirable, viz., six to the wheels and four
to the rails.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters latent, nied
by the said William Henry Muntz in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 9th July 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY MUNTZ, of Millbrook, in the County of Hants, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Henry Muntz, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Muntz, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Henry Muntz, my exccutors, administrators, 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN BREAKS FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Henry Muntz, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said William Henry Muntz, 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 follow-

page_text: ing statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say:
The principal object of this Invention is to make use of steam from the
boiler to apply the breaks to the wheels of a locomotive engine, or to the rails,
or both, as may be preferred.
The Invention consists principally in connecting a steam chest to each side
of the boiler by means of a pipe furnished with a valve or stop cock. The
lower side of this steam chest is furnished (immediately over each wheel) with:
a piston, to the piston rod of which (passing out through a stuffing box) the
break block is attached. When the steam is admitted to the steam chests the
pistons are all simultaneously depressed, and the break blocks are thus applied
to the wheels. The steam chests are also furnished with an escape valve or
cock through which the steam may be allowed to escape, and the break
blocks will then be again raised either by vacuum, springs, or counterbalance
weights.
It will be evident that upon opening the first-mentioned valve the steam
will be admitted to the steam chest, the pistons will be depressed, and the
break blocks forcibly applied to the peripheries of the wheels. By placing
additional pistons over the spaces between the wheels with elongated rods and
break blocks, breaks may be thereby applied to the rails also, so that as many
as ten breaks may be simultaneously applied, if desirable, viz., six to the
wheels and four to the rails; or, instead of applying the intermediate breaks
to the rails, they may be made of a double or wedge-shaped form, and applied
between the peripheries of the wheels.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for improvements
in breaks for locomotive engines, I will proceed to describe the manner in
which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect.
And in order that the same may be distinctly understood, I have annexed
hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the samo
with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:
Figure 1 in the annexed Drawing represents an elevation of a locomotive
engine with my improved break shewn as applied thereto, the steam chest
being drawn in section; Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same, and
Figure 3 is a plan or horizontal section of the steam chest, and part of the
boiler. A, A, is a steam chest fitted to each side of the boiler, and connected
by a steam pipe B, B, to the upper part or steam space of the boiler; C, C, is
a slide valve which may be opened and closed by means of the handle D, D,
and is for the purpose of admitting steam from the boiler into the steami

page_text: chests A, A, and shutting off the same when not required; E, E, are pistons
working in piston boxes or cylinders F, F, formed in the lower part of the
steam chests A, A, the rods of the said pistons passing out through steam-tight
stuffing boxes G, G, and being connected to the iron frames I, I, to which the
break blocks H, H, are secured; K, K, are brackets or standards for sup-
porting the steam chests A, A, which latter may be also bolted by means of
flanges to the boiler and fire-box; J, J, are auxiliary wedge-shaped breaks,
acting with great force between the peripheries of the wheels. In place of
these wedge-formed breaks (if preferred), by elongating the piston rods between
the wheels, breaks may be applied to the rails as well as to the wheels; L, L,
is a cock for letting off the steam from the steam chest when it is desired to
ease or withdraw the breaks.
The pistons or the breaks are to be provided, if preferred, with springs or
counterbalance weights to raise the breaks off the wheels as soon as the
pressure of the steam is removed from the upper surface of the pistons.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
"Improvements in Breaks for Locomotive Engines," together with the manner
in which the same is to be or may be performed-or-carried-into-practical
effect, I would remark in conclusion, that I claim as my Invention the
general construction and arrangement of the steam break for locomotive
engines as represented in the annexed Drawings and herein-before described,
and more especially I claim the steam chests placed over the wheels and
connected by a steam pipe and valve to the upper part of the boiler.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Muntz, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.