IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James Smith, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS."-A communication from
abroad by Joseph Porter Michaels and Lewis Wells Broadwell,
both residing at Vienna, in the Empire of Austria
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas James Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patcuts, with his Petition,
on the 14th February 1872.
I, THOMAS JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as
follows:
This Invention relates to certain arrangements of apparatus to be
fitted to the bottom or under side of carriages, trucks, and other vehicles

page_text: which run upon railways, whereby the retarding or stopping powers are
increased or diminished in proportion to the number of passengers or
the weight of goods or material carried.
According to one arrangement levers or rods in connection with the
break blocks are attached to the draw bars, and as the engine exerts ;
its power in pulling the breaks are prevented from coming into contact
with the wheels, but on the steam being shut off the forward movement
of the after part of the train causes the buffers to be compressed and
the inner ends of their rods to bear against sliding bars, which act upon
levers and put the breaks into action against the wheels, the pressure
being in proportion to the number of passengers or weight of goods or
other material carried. This pressure is maintained until the engine is
again started, when the pull on the draw bars will release the breaks
automatically; they may, however, be actuated by hand from the
guard's van or from the engine, if found desirable.
The sliding bars before mentioned have a crook or bend in them to
cause the block levers to rise and to fall, but they can be fixed by
a short piece being pushed in between them, the picce having a handle
projecting from the outside for the purpose.
According to another arrangement the sliding bars with the bends
are connected to weighted levers, which can be acted upon by a threaded
rod and hand wheel within reach of the attendant, and the break blocks
may be arranged to act upon the top portions of the peripheries of the
wheels or upon the side portions as desired.
According to another arrangement both the hand levers and the draw
bars are attached to the break levers, so that either of them can be
used independently of the other, but one can be made to assist the other
if both are put into action, and this will be found of service in many
cases, such for instance as where stations are only a short distance apart,
when the first shut off of the steam would put the breaks into contact
with the wheels to check the progress of the train, so that she would
glide along at the side of the platform, and then by working the hand
wheel to pinch the breaks the tighter the train would be brought to a
stand still suddenly.
The break blocks can be fitted to the levers singly or in pairs, or three
blocks can be arranged by shaping the levers or the sockets on their ends
in a suitable manner, so that as one of them becomes worn the socket

page_text: can be turned about and a fresh one brought into work. The blocks can
also have keys or wedges fitted behind them, which can be driven or
screwed in to force the blocks outwards; by this means the wear can
always be compensated for, it being only necessary to drive or screw in
the wedge or key.
There are many ways of pivotting the levers of the break appliances
for maintaining their proper action according to the direction the vehicle
may be travelling, and these will be shown in the Drawings proposed
to be lodged with the final Specification of this Invention, some of
which will be upon the axles themselves, some upon separate axles
or shafts, and some upon pins or studs arranged both vertically and
horizontally.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas James Smith in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas James Smith, Her special.
licence that I, the said Thomas James Smith, my executors, adminis-.
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas James Smith,
my executors, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINE,"
(a communication from abroad by Joseph Porter Michaels and Lewis
Wells Broadwell, both residing at Vienna, in the Empire of Austria,) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas James Smith

page_text: my executors or administrators, 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 Thomas James Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to certain arrangements of apparatus to be fitted
to the bottom or under sides of carriages, trucks, and other vehicles which
run upon railways, whereby the retarding or stopping powers are
increased or diminished in proportion to the number of passengers or
the weight of goods or material carried.
According to one arrangement levers or rods in connection with the
break blocks are attached to the draw bars, and as the engine exerts its
power in pulling the breaks are prevented from coming into contact with
the wheels, but on the steam being shut off the forward movement of
the after part of the train causes the buffers to be compressed, and the
inner ends of their rods to bear against sliding bars which act upon
levers and put the breaks into action against the wheels, the pressure
being in proportion to the number of passengers or weight of goods or
other material carried. This pressure is maintained until the engine is
again started, when the pull on the draw bars will release the breaks
automatically; they may however be actuated by hand from the guard's
van, or from the engine if found desirable.
The sliding bars before mentioned have a crook or bend in them to
cause the block levers to rise and to fall, but they can be fixed by a
short piece being pushed in between them, the piece having a handle
projecting from the outside for the purpose.
The first part of the Invention will be understood by referring to
Sheet 1 of the Drawings annexed. Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of
the main framing of a railway carriage or truck with the Invention
applied, and Figure 2 a plan view of the same carriage, the flooring being
removed to show the parts more clearly.

page_text: A, A, are levers or rods passing through the transverse bars B, B, and
through guide eyes C, C, so that the ends D, D, are free, the outer ones
to be acted upon by the buffer rods E, E, whose ends F, F, project
toward the inside and are clear of the rod end D, D, to permit of the
coupling up of two adjoining carriages or trucks, and a partial compression
of the buffers as is usual. The levers or rods A, A, are bent at or about
the centres, where they are embraced loosely by a kind of clip or ring a
attached to or forming part of arms G, G, centred upon pins b, b, on
which the break block frames H, H, are supported, and by which the
breaks I, I, on them are put into contact with the peripheries of the
wheels, when the bent portions of the levers A, A, are pushed in by
the action of the buffer rods, the bends causing the rings to rise thereby
and the break frames to turn upon their centres to apply the breaks.
Each of the levers A, A, terminate near the centre of the carriage,
where a space is left between them, so that all the levers can be pushed
in at one time by their own buffers.
By this means as each or any carriage of a train can be fitted with
the Invention a positive "breaking" power is obtained for the carriages
so fitted, the bite of the bend upon the rings being temporarily main-
tained by the spring c of the draw bar J, which bar is in connection
with the levers A, A, through rods K, K, as seen in Figure 2, the breaks
are thus held in contact until the draw bar is again acted upon to
propel the carriage, whereby the levers are drawn outwards and the
rings released from the bends. These movements all occur automati-
cally both in the stoppage and in the forward movement of the train,
and are determined by the engine driver, that is to say, the driver can
check or retard the progress of the train by the suddenness or ease with
which he turns off the steam of his engine. In the case of approach-
ing danger the driver can by suddenly shutting off the steam shift the
valves, and by reversing the motion of the engine cause an instant
application of all the breaks of the train, be there many or few, and
bring the train to a standstill in a few yards, he at the same time being
able to withdraw the breaks from contact in an instant by again reversing
the engine for pulling the train.
In all cases the engine would be furnished with separate breaks as is
usual under the care of the fireman or stoker, so that the weight of the
engine (with the wheels "skidded" and sliding on the metals) would

page_text: :
be pushed along by the momentum of the carriages in the rear, acting
at the same time as an applier of the breaks of the carriages to their
wheels.
It will thus be understood that a train can if properly fitted with this
Invention be made to glide into a station or down an incline at any
diminished rate of speed, or be stopped entirely at the will of the driver
and of the stoker, by the one shutting off the steam and the other apply-
ing the engine breaks.
The spaces between the inner ends of the levers A, A, can have a bolt
or cross bar d arranged in each of them, as shown in the Figures, by
the turning or pushing in of which by one of the handles e to fill up
the spaces the levers A, A, could be prevented from moving. By this
means the carriages could be shunted or moved about in an ordinary
manner like carriages without breaks.
The
Figures 3 and 4, Sheet 2, show a modified mode of operating the break
blocks by the bars A, as also for taking the blocks off the wheels, both
operations being effected automatically or by hand as desired.
bent levers A. in this plan are attached at their inner ends to swivel
levers K', which are slotted to give play at the opposite corners, whether
the blocks are put on by the compression of the buffers or taken off by
the nut of the draw bar J or by the hand wheel.
The same mode of preventing the action of these blocks for shunting
purposes can be applied to this plan as for the one first mentioned.
According to another arrangement the sliding bars with the bends are
connected to weighted levers, which can be acted upon by a threaded
rod and hand wheel within reach of the attendant, and the break blocks
may be arranged to act upon the top portions of the peripheries of the
wheels or upon the side portions as desired.
This will be understood by reference to Figures 5, 6, and 7 on Sheet 3,
where the break blocks are fitted to bear upon the tops of the wheels.
The frames in these views are pivotted upon the pins b at the ends, and
work in pairs upon opposite wheels by the bars M, M, which are caused
to fall or are depressed by the bent portion of the lever A, which in
this case is single, and at or about the middle, lengthwise, of the
carriage, one portion of the lever A being fitted with studs f, ƒ,
embraced by a fork 9 of a weighted rock lever N for returning the

page_text: breaks to their normal positions off the wheels. The lower end of the
weighted lever can have as shown attached to it a rod P for connecting
it by means of a bell-crank lever Q to the threaded rod as fitted in
ordinary guard vans, as shown in the diagrams, Figures 8 and 9, Sheet 3.
The break blocks may be put out of contact with the wheels by springs
such as is represented in Figure 10, if desired the arms being centred
to brackets h for the purpose. Again, the weighted levers N can be
attached to coupling links R or hooks by rods running under the entire
length of each carriage, so that they could be hooked or secured
throughout the train, that of the first carriage being attached say to the
piston rod of a small cylinder under the engine or tender, and furnished
with steam for applying the breaks or for working a winding-up appliance
by which the breaks could be applied, or the last-mentioned means may
be adopted in combination with the other appliances, one for applying the
breaks to check speed such as when going down inclines, the other for
increasing the bite of the breaks to produce a stoppage. It is not
proposed to fit all the three last methods to each or to any one carriage,
but it must be understood that any one or any two of them would act
in unison if they were required particularly on lines with very steep
gradients, such as are constructed in mountainous tracts of country.
Either the hand levers or the draw bars if attached to the break levers
can be used independently of the other, but one can be made to assist
the other if both are put into action, and this will be found of service
in many cases, such for instance as where stations are only a short
distance apart when the first shut off of the steam would put the break's
into contact with the wheels to check the progress of the train so that
she would glide along at the side of the platform, and then by working
the land wheel to pinch the breaks the tighter the train would be
brought to a standstill almost suddenly. The break blocks can be fitted
to the levers singly or in pairs, or three blocks can be arranged by
shaping the levers or the sockets on their ends in a suitable manner
so that as one of them becomes worn the socket can be turned about
and a fresh one brought into work. This will be understood by referring
to Figures 11 and 12, Sheet 4, where the block frames H are of triangular
form for the reception of three blocks I, either one of which can be put
into position for coming into contact with the periphery of the wheel
on the draw bar or the break lever being operated. In these views the
block frames are shown as suspended by links S to the body framing of

page_text: the carriage and with connection links T leading to a collar upon the
axle U, the collar having a short arm V for the attachment of the draw
rod leading from the guard's van or from the supplementary cylinder
or winding up appliance before mentioned.
In Figure 11 the blocks are shown in contact with the wheels, as also
on one portion of Figure 12, the other portion showing the break blocks
" off."
The blocks can have keys or wedges fitted behind them which
can be driven or screwed in to force the blocks outwards, by this means
the wear can always be compensated for, it being only necessary to drive
or screw in the wedge or key. This plan is shown in Figures 13 and 14,
Sheet 4, W being a wedge between the face of the frame H, and the back
of the block I, which wedge can be drawn downwards by the nut X to
bring the working face of the block at intervals nearer the wheel as it
becomes worn. The block is kept against the wedge by its bolt and
spring Y, the side walls of the frame preventing the block having any
lateral movement. The advantage of this plan is that the blocks can be
kept in such a position that the draw bar or the block lever can act upon
all the blocks with an equal amount of power, and not as is now the
practice of a few blocks only being put upon their wheels, the others not
being near by reason of having been worn down too far for the lever to
put them into contact. The value of this part of the Invention cannot be
over estimated. Up to the present time a large number of accidents have
been attributed solely to the want of sufficient break power being applied
at the proper moment, and it is quite a common occurrence to witness
one pair of wheels of a guard's van rotating while the other pair are
sliding upon the metals with the break blocks "on," hence one must not
be astonished at accidents happening from this cause, because by the
present system it is usual to attach a fixed number of break vans or break
carriages to trains of certain lengths, say to a train of from twelve to
twenty carriages three break carriages, one being next the engine, one at
or about the centre, and one at the tail. Each break carriageis under the
care of a guard as also the breaks for the time being, and his duty is to
apply the breaks to affect a stoppage at the stations as also for checking
the speed going down inclines, beyond rotating his hand wheel he is
powerless, and he finds the train going far beyond the stopping place
or quicker down an incline than it should do solely because all his
break blocks do not bite the wheels, some of them having been worn

page_text: down or perhaps from a new one having been fitted to one frame only
the other three of the two pairs are out of action, consequently the
break power of the train is reduced to an alarming extent for the want
of a block compensating appliance such as the one referred to.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that claim is made,-
Firstly. To the combination of appliances and their method of action
for automatically putting on and taking off the break blocks of railway
carriages or trucks as described and shown.
Secondly. To the modification of such appliances as hercin-before
described and shown.
Thirdly. To the employment of bent levers for applying break blocks
of railways carriages or trucks substantially in the manner shown and
described.
Fourthly. To fixing the appliances to prevent the break blocks acting
upon the wheels, substantially as described.
Fifthly. To fixing more than one break block to a frame, substantially
as shown and for the purposes set forth.
Sixthly. To compensating for the wear of break blocks of railway
carriages by employing wedges or keys between the frames and the
blocks, substantially as described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
T T