Im- PROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGONS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Patrick Fleming at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
May 1871.
I, PATRICK FLEMING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN BRAKES FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGONS," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention of improvements in brakes for railway carriages and
wagons consists in so arranging the brakes that when the carriages or
wagons are not coupled together in a train, the brake blocks are pressed
against the wheels of the carriages or wagons, and when the carriages
or wagons are coupled together in a train and the buffers compressed,
the brake blocks are withdrawn from contact with the said wheels.
Under this Invention the buffer rods and springs are supported in the
frame of the vehicle in the usual manner, and to each buffer rod at either
end of the carriage or wagon a connecting link is attached, the
inner end of each pair of connecting links being attached to the draw
bar at the opposite end of the carriage or wagon by means of a
transverse bar. On the ends of each of the transverse bars other con-
necting links are fixed, the lower extremities of which are attached

page_text: to the outer brake blocks at each end of the carriage or wagon, and each
of the said outer brake blocks is connected to the inner brake block of
the opposite wheel on the sides of the carriage or wagon, at which they
are respectively situated by means of suitable links. The connecting
links of the buffer rods at one end of the carriage or wagon are attached
to those of the buffer rods at the opposite end by means of a pair of
crossed levers moving in opposite directions and producing a parallel
motion, and which are situated on a common centre within or underneath
the central part of the carriage or wagon frame, that is to say, the link
of the buffer rod at the right-hand side of one end of the frame is
attached to the link of the buffer rod at the left-hand side of the opposite
end, and vice versa.
By means of the arrangement of mechanism now set forth, the buffer
springs are made to act as draw springs, the draw bars being attached
to the connecting links of the buffer rods by means of transverse bars
as herein-before described. When the carriages or wagons are uncoupled
from a train, the combined buffer and draw springs force the brake
blocks against the wheels by means of the herein-before set forth
arrangement of links; and when the carriages or wagons are coupled to
a train the tension so applied prevents the buffer springs from forcing
the brake blocks against the wheels.
In order to provide for shunting carriages, or wagons fitted with the
improved braking apparatus herein-before described, a screw or lever
is fixed to the frame of the carriage or wagon by which the draw bar is
held in tension, thereby freeing the brake blocks from contact with the
wheels, or cams may be used for that purpose.
An advantage resulting from the brake mechanism herein-before
described is, that in the event of a carriage or wagon being disconnected
from a train, the brake immediately comes into operation and stops the
motion of the carriage or wagon.