IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RE- TARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Meliton Martin, of Madrid, in the Kingdom of
Spain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RE-
TARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 19th March 1858, and dated the 13th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Meliton Martin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
October 1857.
I, MELITON MARTIN, of Madrid, in the Kingdom of Spain, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
The improved apparatus for retarding and stopping railway carriages, which
forms the subject of the present Invention, consists of an hydraulic apparatus,
whereby a break may be brought to act, and the running wheels of railway
carriages will be retarded or stopped altogether.
This apparatus may be described as consisting of a cylinder which com-
municates with a tank containing water, by means of one or more tubes fixed
on to the cylinder covers; a piston is made to work from end to end within
the cylinder by the pressure produced by a column of water upon the surface
of the piston, and which pressure will be greater and greater according to the
opening of the tube communicating with the tank. The entrance of the
water into the cylinder, and the velocity of the piston is governed by cocks on
the communicating pipes. Now, by connecting the piston rod with an excen-
f

page_text: tric placed on the axle of a railway carriage, it is evident that by slowly
shutting all communication with the water tank the carriage wheel will cease
to turn, and the carriage will thereby be stopped. It is also evident, that if
this break be applied to a railway carriage in an inclined plane, the outlet of
the water from the cylinder to the tank can be so regulated that the carriage
will descend with a constant, and not with an accelerated velocity. In order
to obtain the complete working of the hydraulic break, the inlet of the water
into the cylinder should be as free as possible, whilst the outlet should be so
disposed that it could be regulated to any required opening. This can be
obtained in two ways, either by using two tubes and two valves, or only one
tube and one valve at each end of the cylinder. In the first case, one of the
two valves would open entirely the inlet, and shut altogether the outlet of the
water, as in a common pump valve, whilst the other would be regulated so as
to allow only a determined quantity of water to pass into the tank, thereby
increasing or diminishing the resistance upon the piston.
In the second case, if only one valve be used, it may be constructed with a
conical regulating valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Meliton Martin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MELITON
MARTIN, of Madrid, in the Kingdom of Spain, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Meliton Martin, Her special license that I, the said Meliton Martin,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Meliton Martin, 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 "IMPROVED APPA-
RATUS FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Meliton Martin, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature

page_text: 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 Meliton Martin, do hereby declare.
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The "Improved Apparatus for Retarding and Stopping Railway Carriages,"
which forms the subject of the present Invention, consists of an hydraulic
apparatus, whereby a break may be brought to act on the running wheels of
ordinary carriages, which will be thereby retarded or stopped altogether.
This apparatus may be described as consisting of a cylinder which commu-
nicates with a tank containing water, by means of one or more tubes fixed
on to the cylinder covers; a piston is made to work from end to end within
the cylinder, by the pressure produced by a column of water upon the surface
of the piston, and which pressure will be greater and greater according to the
opening of the tubes communicating with the tank. The entrance of the
water into the cylinder, and the velocity of the piston is governed by cocks on
the connecting pipes. Now, by connecting the piston rod with an excentric
placed on the axle of a railway carriage, it is evident that by slowly shutting
all communication with the water tank the carriage wheel will cease to turn,
and the carriage will thereby be stopped. It is also evident, that if this
break be applied to a railway carriage on an inclined plane, the outlet of the
water from the cylinder to the tank can be so regulated that the carriage will
descend with a constant, and not with an accelerated velocity. In order to
obtain the complete working of the hydraulic break, the inlet of the water
into the cylinder should be as free as possible, whilst the outlet should be so
disposed that it could be regulated to any required opening. This can be
obtained in two ways, either by using two tubes and two valves, or only one
tube and one valve at each end of the cylinder. In the first case, one of the
two valves would open entirely the inlet, and shut altogether the outlet of
the water, as in a common pump valve, whilst the other would be regulated so.
as to allow only a determined quantity of water to pass into the tank, thereby
increasing or diminishing the resistance upon the piston.
In the second case, if only one valve be used, it may be constructed with a
conical regulating valve.
In order, however, that the Invention may be clearly understood, I have
shewn in the accompanying Drawing various views of the improved apparatus,

page_text: and the manner of adapting the same to railway carriages for the purpose of
retarding or stopping the same when required.
:
Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through one of the hydraulic cylinders;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus. A is the axle of the carriage; E, the
excentric fixed on the same; P, the piston working inside of a cast-iron
..cylinder in communication with the tank T, from which the water flows into
the cylinder through the valve passage; V is the valve, the action of which is
made greater or less as may be required, thereby increasing or diminishing
the water passage out of the cylinder. The working of the valve is effected
by means of the screw S, actuated by the breaksman.. As there are two
cylinders and two valves in each carriage, there are also two screws, S, worked
by two rods or key shafts k, k, one on each side of the guard's_box; these rods
or shafts are made to turn at the same time, by means of a cranked shaft or
handle H, H, (see plan view, Fig. 2,) carrying an endless screw e; at each end
to work two toothed wheels r, r.
There are two cylinders and two excentrics or cranks in each carriage.
The excentrics or cranks are set at one hundred and eighty degrees, and the
cylinders are placed so that the valve rods or key shafts k fall one on the one
side, and the other on the other side of the breaksman's box, which must be
built in the centre of the buffer plank between the two buffers. The cylin-
ders A are firmly fixed on the water tank T, by bolting them thereto through
a number of ears cast on the cylinder, and the tank is to be strongly built,
and stayed for the purpose of supporting the said cylinders. Both the valves
V are worked at the same time by the breaksman, who, by turning the
cranked shaft or handle H, raises or lowers the valves, and thereby diminishes
or increases the section of the water passage from the cylinder, although the
inlet section into the cylinder is always the same. G is a tube communica-
ting with the water tank, and is also kept full of water so as to increase
the pressure of this fluid; the tank can also be filled or emptied through this
pipe G.
Fig. 2 is a plan plan view of the apparatus, showing the position of both the
cylinders, the excentrics or cranks on the axle, and the cranked shaft or
handle H, H, for working the valves simultaneously by means of the endless
screws e, e, and the wheels r, r.
In Fig. 1, the section is taken through the axis of the cylinder and valve
to show the construction and arrangement of the piston in brass, the cast-iron
cylinder and water passage, the wrought-iron piston rod B, the steel screw S,
and the brass valve V, playing on a guide rod fixed on to a bridge across the
outlet joint of the cylinder.

page_text: From the foregoing description it will be seen that by admitting water from
the tank T to the hydraulic cylinder, the piston P will be forced forward,
and made to act on the excentrics on the axles of the running wheels, and
thereby retard the rotation of the wheels, and ultimately stop the carriages.
Having now described my Invention of "Improved Apparatus for Retard-
ing and Stopping Railway Carriages," and having explained the means of
carrying the same into effect, I claim the mode herein shewn and described of
stopping or retarding railway carriages, and the improved apparatus herein
shewn and described for effecting this object.
In witness whereof, I, the said Meliton Martin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
(L.S.) MELITON MARTIN.