AN IMPROVED METHOD OF RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
MONTAGUE GROVER, of Boveney, in the County of Buckingham, Clerk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of May, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry
Montague Grover, Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Henry Montague Grover, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Henry Montague Grover, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF RETARDING
AND STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS," in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said Henry Montague Grover, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of

page_text: the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same Letters Patent,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Montague Grover, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
to consist in the application of the powers of an electro-magnet, or of electro-
magnets, or of magnetism generally, whether applied directly or indirectly to
any wheel or wheels upon which a train or any portion of a train of carriages
or other vehicles upon any railway moves, or in any other manner. And in
further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Henry Montague Grover,
do hereby also describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be per-
formed, by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:--

page_text: rod H and the rod or bolt K, so as to allow a free motion in those rods in the
nature of joints; the magnet will be at liberty to move nearer to or farther
from the face of the said tire as occasion may require, and when charged with
electro-magnetic power, it will be attracted thereto, if hung within the distance
aforesaid of the tire of the said wheel. Figure 3 is a side view of an ordinary
railroad truck with the apparatus aforesaid applied thereto, and shewing the
extension of the connecting wires W, W, W, W, to a galvanic battery,
which is here represented as placed on the platform or bed of the truck at T,
through the apertures 0,0, in the bottom of the said truck. The various arrows
represent the lines of motion of the various parts to which they severally apply.
Now, it follows from this arrangement of apparatus, that whenever it is
required to retard or stop a train, if the connection be formed with the wires
W, W, W, W, the magnet B hanging within half an inch of the wheel (more
or less, according to the strength and size of the magnet,) will be instantly
attracted to the face of the tire of the wheel, and adhering to it, will impede
or totally prevent its turning round, and thus retard or stop the train of which
the carriage, the wheel of which is thus acted upon, forms a part. Any
number of the wheels of a carriage or train may, of course, have these magnets
applied to them, and the retarding of each such wheel will be in proportion to
the power of the magnetism so elicited and applied. Now, whereas it is
evident that the application of such magnetic power may either be direct upon
any number of the wheels in such train as aforesaid, or may be applied only to
one, and its retarding power communicated by cranks and levers, or otherwise,
to other of the wheels of the carriages and other vehicles constituting the
train, or the power may, in the first instance, be exerted upon a lever or other
machinery, and act thus indirectly upon the wheels required. But whereas I
have described the mode of using and applying the power of electro-magnetism
for the purposes herein described, which is most simple in my apprehension,
though it must be evident that there are a variety of ways of applying the power
of electro-magnetism to the purpose of retarding or of stopping railway trains.
And I claim as my Invention the application of the power of electro or other
magnetism to the purpose of retarding or stopping railway trains. And such
my said Invention being to the best of my knowledge and beliefentirely new,
and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specifi-
cation of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth
comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in

page_text: the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I
hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Montague Grover, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid Henry Montague Grover came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord One