IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING OF TRAM-WAY CARS AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Edward Dawson and Arthur
Courteney Bluett at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
13th April 1883.
JOHN EDWARD DAWSON, of London Wall, in the City of London, and ARTHUR
COURTENEY BLUETT, of Watford, in the County of Herts "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING OF TRAM-WAY CARS AND OTHER
VEHICLES
"
Our invention relates to apparatus designed to be fitted to a tramway car or
other vehicle to facilitate the starting of the same.
Apparatus of this class, as heretofore constructed, is usually provided with two
handles or levers one for stopping and the other for starting the vehicle. But
according to our present invention we construct the apparatus in such a manner
that only one handle or lever is required for effecting both these operations,
although two levers may in some cases be used, if desired, and so that the brake
can be applied and taken off by the driver in the ordinary manner, and when so
applied will cause power to be stored, which power is available for assisting the
horses in starting the car as soon as the brake is taken off. Our improved
apparatus can, therefore, be easily used by the ordinary drivers of tramway cars
without difficulty or the necessity for becoming acquainted with the operation of
the said apparatus.
In carrying the said invention into practice we attach one end of a spiral or
other suitable spring to the vehicle and the other end we attach to a rack which is,
according to one method, connected by a chain or cord to a vehicle spindle (similar
to those ordinarily employed for actuating the brakes of tramway cars) in such a
manner that by rotating the said spindle in one direction the said spring will be
extended, the spindle being prevented from rotating in the opposite direction by a
pawl and ratchet wheel, which pawl can be disengaged from the ratchet wheel by
the foot in the manner usually practised with brakes of this kind. Botween the
said chain and the spring we arrange suitable devices for enabling the contraction
of the spring to rotate one of the axles of the vehicle, when the said pawl has been
lisengaged from the ratchet wheel. According to one mode of construction we
attach one end of the said rack to the spring and the other end thereof to the
:hain. This rack gears with a toothed wheel or pinion mounted loosely on one of
[Price 1

page_text: the axles and provided with a pawl on one or both sides, which pawls, when the
pinion is rotated in one direction, engage with ratchet wheels fixed on the said
axle. That part of the said rack which is adjacent to the said pinion when the
spring is contracted is preferably made without teeth so that the wheels of the
vehicle can be rotated in either direction, the pinion then turning freely with the
axle. The brake-shoes may be pivotted to the frame of the vehicle and connected
by a cross-bar, in which case we provide a pin or projection upon the back of the
said rack, which pin or projection, when the spring is expanded almost to the
desired extent, will come against the said cross-bar and a further movement of
the brake-spindle will cause the brakes to be applied. It will be obvious that
other means than those above described might be employed for applying the brake
and causing the movement of the brake-lever or the like to extend the spring, as
well as for connecting the brake shoes with the brake-spindle or lever. One
important feature of our invention is the employment of a spring, for accumulating
or storing power, in combination with a rack and pinion, the power to be stored
being applied by means of the brake mechanism,
Our apparatus can, moreover, be advantageously utilized on tramway cars
when the same are being drawn up an incline, as, by simply rotating the brake-
spindle until the rack engages with the pinion, the wheels on the axle to which
the device is fitted are prevented from rotating except in a forward direction,
and the apparatus therefore serves to prevent the vehicle from moving down the
incline.