IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS AND SIGNALLING APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Ward at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
October 1875.
I, THOMAS WARD, of Tadcaster, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
BREAKS AND SIGNALLING APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," to be as
follows:-
The object of my said Invention is to fit on each vehicle of a train
(or any of them) blocks of metal or other material suspended from the
framework of the said vehicles, so that the said blocks being operated in
the manner hereafter described are brought into close contact with the
tyres of the wheels simultaneously by the driver or other appointed
person on the engine of the train, and to further facilitate the use of such
blocks, and to provide for the interchange of necessary signals between
guard and driver, or passengers and guard and driver, by utilising my
break communications for telegraphic purposes.
The foresaid blocks are suspended by slings from the frame, and
connected by rods to small levers on a transverse shaft midway between

page_text: the wheels, and are placed in contact or out of contact with the tyres by
partially revolving the said traverse shaft. To this point the mechanism is
old, and is here stated for the purpose of more clearly defining the novel
arrangement by which I operate the said transverse shaft, and through
it the said break blocks. I suspend the said transverse shaft in hangers
of a special construction, the speciality consisting of a circular box
hereafter referred to. Near to the ends of the said transverse shaft (and
for very heavy vehicles in other places also) I fix coil springs, one end
of the coil being made fast to the shaft, and the other end to the inside
of the circular box in the hangers. These springs are of such pro-
portionate strength as the weight of the vehicle to the required break
power determines, and supply the power for the application of the blocks
to the wheels.
At or near to the centre of the said transverse shaft I fix a disc of
metal with small indentations and teeth on its face side corresponding to
similar indentations and teeth impressed in the end of a long lever, and
provided with circular slots for the purpose of bolting the said lever to
the said disc at right angles to the transverse shaft, and at the proper
point of adjustment to the said disc for the due performance of its work,
the object of the said lever being to partially revolve the said shaft for
the purpose of removing the blocks from the wheels when operated in the
manner hereafter described. The lifted or further end of the said lever
is provided with a small pulley. Immediately over this pulley I fix to
the framework two pullies in one frame, the line of their grooves being
parallel to the centre line of the train, and their centres rather further
apart than the greatest diameter of either of them.
At (or near to) the centre line of each vehicle I lay a rope of wire
(or other material) of exactly the same length of the said vehicle over
all, and fitted at each end with a special coupling, the speciality
consisting of a cavity to receive the end of the rope, a bevilled hook, and
a cylindrical cover to prevent the hooks becoming disengaged, the said
cylindrical cover being held in position by internal springs.
Immediately over the pair of pullies in one frame aforesaid I connect
a smaller flexible rope or chain to the rope aforesaid, and pass it between
the pair of pullies round the small pulley in the end of the lever, and
make the other end fast to the framework. On the screw coupling of
each vehicle I fit a guide large enough to admit of the passage of
the continuous rope and its coupling. In any convenient position

page_text: (according to build) on the engine or tender I fix a small cylinder and
piston, and connect the same by a pipe to the boiler, and also fit it with
the necessary exhaust pipe. The said pipes are carried to any con-
venient position near to the regulator so as to be within range of the
driver's hand without moving from the weather board, and there provided
with the necessary cocks for admitting steam from the boiler to the
cylinder, and for permitting the steam to escape from the said cylinder
at will. By preference I place this cylinder transversely or vertically, but
it may be adapted to any position, so that by attaching two ropes or
chains to the end of the piston rod and passing the same through
(or between) two pullies, both a forward and a backward pull are
produced when the piston is driven home by the pressure of steam in
the cylinder. These connections are carried to the front of the engine
and rear of the tender respectively, and there provided with the same
description of couplings as those on the carriages. The continuous rope
is connected at each carriage length, and so on to the tender or engine.
When the steam is off the piston aforesaid, and the several parts are
allowed to assume their normal position, the coil springs place the break
blocks in close contact with the tyres of the wheels, but if the steam be
admitted into the cylinder the piston is driven home and draws its
connections along with it, so that the continuous rope is drawn along
each carriage for exactly the same distance as the piston travels, and
the small flexible ropes (or chains) before referred to being attached to
the continuous rope of each carriage, are drawn through the pairs of
pullies aforesaid round the small pullies in the several levers aforesaid,
and thus elevate the levers, partially revolving the said transverse shafts
in the opposite direction to that of the pressure of the coil springs,
and by thus counteracting their power remove the break blocks from
the wheels.
The central strand of the continuous rope aforesaid is of copper or
other conductor of electricity encased in gutta percha or other non-
conducting material, and is continued in sections through the centre of
the couplings, so that when they are connected together a continuous
line of electric communication is maintained in the centre of my break
connections, and insulated from contact with the surrounding metal.
Electric knobs are fixed in each compartment (or any of them) in
connection with the necessary battery power, and also connected (by
wire attached in the manufacture) with the strand of telegraphic wire in
the continuous rope.

page_text: In the vans and on the engine I fix electric bells and knobs in
connnection with the necessary battery power and the telegraphic
strand aforesaid, so that when any of the knobs are struck with sufficient
force to drive them home the bells ring once for each blow, so that any
necessary signal (under a code arrangement) may be transmitted from
passengers to guards and driver, from drivers to guards, or guards to
drivers.
In any convenient place over the lever aforesaid I fix a shaft
transversely of the carriage, and provide it with a hand ratchet wheel
on each side of the carriage. Immediately over the lever I fix a chain
to the shaft and the other end to the lever, so that by turning the hand
wheel on either side the chain winds round the shaft and clevates the
lever, thus releasing the wheels from the pressure of the breaks. This
arrangement is for use when shunting or otherwise detached from the
engine.