IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WORKING THE BREAKS OF RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Adolf Ellissen at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
February 1861.
I, ADOLF ELLISSEN, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR WORKING THE BREAKS OF RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improved apparatus for working the breaks of railway
trains consists in working these breaks by pneumatic pressure made to act on
the pistons of cylinders conveniently placed beneath the carriages so that they
may act direct upon the breaks or the break levers. To this end air tubes or
pipes are placed or arranged along the centre part of the under side of all the
carriages, so that the pipes of several carriages may be joined together in one
continuous length. These continuous pipes are made to communicate by
means of branch pipes with the air cylinders, in which are placed the pistons
whereby the breaks are worked, the pistons being connected to the breaks or
break levers by the piston rods. An air pump is placed on the engine or
tender, or other convenient part of the train, and is worked either by the
engine or by a small supplementary engine employed for the purpose, and to
the cylinder of which steam from the boiler is admitted in any quantity accord-
ing to the speed at which it is intended to work the air pump. Upon putting
the air pump in communication with the main air pipes beneath the carriages,
air will be exhausted from the pipes and also from the air cylinders in front
of the pistons, and the external atmosphere will then act with great pressure

page_text: on the other side of the pistons, and by forcing them forward will cause the
breaks to bind on the wheels and retard the progress of the train. The con-
tinuous air pipes beneath the carriages are rigid and made of iron, but the
junctions between the carriages are made of flexible pipe so as to admit of
bending as the carriages approach to or recede from each other. These
junctions may be made either of iron tubing with flexible joints or of some
flexible material like india-rubber, with coils of strong wire within and outside
the flexible part of the tube, so as to render it capable of resisting strong
external pressure to which the tubes will be subjected. I prefer to make
these latter flexible tubes in coils, so that they may be drawn out or allowed to
collapse as circumstances may require; and in order to support these coiled
tubes, I pass through the coil a rod or bar, which is fastened at one end to
the carriages. In order to take the pressure off the breaks a stop-cock is
adapted to the continuous air tube immediately behind the air pump, so that
air from the external atmosphere may be admitted into the air tubes and
cylinders. The breaks being thus relieved from the pneumatic pressure, they
will be forced out of contact with the wheel by means of strong springs
adapted for the purpose. It will of course be understood that the outer end
of the air tube of the last carriage in the train must be properly secured so as
to exclude the atmosphere; this is effected by means of a scrow cap and
washer which will fit air-tight on to the end of the pipe.