AN IMPROVED ELECTRIC BREAK
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Louis Alexandre Floire at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th April 1860.
I, LOUIS ALEXANDRE I'LOIRE, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, Professor
of Mathematics, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED ELECTRIC BREAK," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a new railway break, in which different arrange-
ments can be adopted; the one as an ordinary break, the other for extra-
ordinary and urgent occasions.
I have represented the first of the two arrangements in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
and 7 of the Drawings annexed. Figs. 1 and 2 show different arrangements of
the break as applied to a carriage. Fig. 3 shows a principal conical part, which
determines the movements of the break. Figs. 4 and 5 show front and side views
of details. Fig. 6 represents the skid or rubbing surface applied to the wheel.
Fig. 7 represents the arrangements adopted for conveying the current of
electricity along the train. a, conical piece keyed on the boss of one of the
wheels; it has a course or path on its exterior passing round and advancing
from the smaller to the larger part of the cone; b, lever oscillating on axis 6',
fixed to the frame c of the carriage; on this lever (Figs. 4 and 5) is a sliding
piece d, sustained by a series of levers connected by a rod e. The latter carries
a stop, which catches in a moveable armature d of an electro-magnet
placed in the carriage f, f, rubbing surfaces or skids, put in motion by lever b,

page_text: by means of levers 9, 9, disposed so that the wheel which carries cone piece a
will be last acted on. The skids f, f, are mounted on axes i, which can move
in the slide j, formed in the support k; one of these rubbing surfaces, Fig. 6,
should be counterbalanced by a spring fixed to the other side of the support.
In Fig. 7 the red lines represent the conducting wires. x, commutator placed
near the operator; y, electric pile introduced in the circuit.
The whole being disposed as represented in the Drawing, supposing the
carriage moving in the direction of the arrow, and if the current is transmitted
the movable armature is attracted and moved; the rod e is then free, and the
piece d descends by its weight and engages in the course or path of the cone,
which thus makes it advance towards the base or larger part. In this
movement the lever is drawn in the direction of the arrow, and causes tho
rubbing surfaces or skids to bear against the wheels.
To withdraw the breaks it is necessary to reverse the movement of the
carriage, the cone carrier, the piece d, and consequently the lever b, back to
their first positions at the extremity of its course. The piece d is raised by a
cam m, and the rod e again engages with the detent on the armature. To
facilitate the disengaging of the breaks, the pivot which carries the skid can
slide in a groove made in the support. It is evident by the position of this
groove, that if the wheel turns in a contrary direction to that indicated by the
arrow, this skid not bearing on its support cannot oppose any resistence to its
movement.
To render the use of this system of break more general I employ an
electro-magnet with two circuits, so as to obtain a simultaneous locking
action, or an arrangement which I have represented at Fig. 8, as follows:-
If I place a commutator in the position a, a, I complete the circuit represented
by the dotted lines, and I obtain a simultaneous gearing; but if I place this
commutator in the position,, I complete a circuit represented by the
plain lines, which is limited to the first carriage, but through the attraction of
an electro-magnet n placed in the circuit by a small spring o, a current is
derived which acts on the electro-magnet of the second carriage, and so on.
The operator can thus work alternately the breaks of one, two, or more
carriages by one, two, or more emissions of the current, according to the work
to be performed.
I have represented in Figs. 9, 10, 11, and 12 a second system of break, in
which the buffers act on the skids or rubbing surfaces. a', bar of iron turning
on a pivot 6'; this bar a enters in a mortice made on the traction bar c'; d,
detent, which is placed under the bar a', when the latter has been raised; e',
coupling fixed on the axle of one of the wheels of the carriage; it carries an

page_text: endless screw or cam course f, in which a part g' engages at a given time; g',
Fig. 11, tongue piece, furnished with a spiral spring, engaging with the
moveable armature i of an electro-magnet j'.
Supposing the whole mounted as indicated by the Drawing, the operator
having transmitted the current, the piece 9 engages in the cam course f¹, which
it causes to move to the right or left, and disengages by means of arms b', 6',
the bar a' from the mortice on the traction bar, and catches it in the detent d'.
At this moment, if the speed of the train is diminished at the engine, the
resistance transmits itself by the buffer rods and springs, Fig. 9, to the extremity
of the lever which governs the skids. In displacing itself the buffer spring
operated by means of the piece m', the unlocking of the bar a' on which the
traction bar rests, and causes it to again enter the mortice as soon as the
movement ahead is produced. This can be produced at the will of the operator
on one or more carriages, by employing the arrangement represented at Fig. 8
for distributing the current.
Fig. 12 represents a method which permits of the circuit being made if the
traction bar is broken. a", elastic metallic plate, fixed at its centre to one of
the cross bars of the frame; one end is in contact with one of the buffer rods,
and the other on the rod of the hook of the drag chain in case of breakage.
The effect exercised by the chain displaces the hook, and the plate which rests
on its rod enters a mortice in this rod, and allows the plate to bear on the
other buffer rod, and so to make the circuit.