IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS AND SIGNALS
Year: 1853

page_text: SROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by David Chalmers at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1853.
I, DAVID CHALMERS, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS AND SIGNALS" to be
as follows:-
I fix a lever with a weight at the end of it to the centre shaft of the
break; the said lever may be of any convenient length, say the extent
of the carriage, and the size of the weight may be regulated according
to the pression or power required. This lever and weight will press the
break blocks against the periphery of the wheels by its own power,
therefore I give the person in charge of the breaks the means of raising
the lever and weight to detach the break blocks from the wheels as fol-
lows I fix a pully in any convenient position under the carriage, and
attach to it a chain which extends and is attached to the end of the
lever, so that when the pully is turned round it winds up the chain and
raises the lever and weight, thus taking off the breaks; then in order to

page_text: give the guard or man in charge the means of turning the said pully I
fix a shaft with one or more universal joints longitudinally under the
carriage extending to the end thereof, and working with a vertical shaft
at the end of the carriage by means of bevil. wheels or similar con-
trivance. This vertical shaft or rod may extend to the top of the car-
riage, or may terminate at any convenient position for the man to work
it, which he does by turning a wheel which gives a revolving motion to
this vertical shaft, and by means of the bevil wheels or..other power
aforesaid gives also .a revolving motion to the longitudinal shaft, and by
means of bevil wheels a similar convenient power, this motion of the
longitudinal shaft turns the pully aforesaid, and by winding up the
chain raises the lever and weight, thus taking off the breaks. In order
to connect several carriages together to work a number of these breaks
I extend the said longitudinal shaft a little beyond each end of the car-
riage, and support it by hanging brackets...I then connect the longitu-
dinal shaft of each carriage by sliding socket joints, so that the said
joints will slide in and out with the buffer springs; this connection-gives
the man in charge of the breaks power to work any reasonable number
that may be required. My method of communicating signals between
the guard and engine driver, or from one part of the train to another, is
as follows: fix 'along the top of each carriage a tube made of india-
rubber or metal, or partly metal and partly india-rubber or other flex-
ible material; before the train starts I connect these tubes by a single
socket joint, which as soon as inserted is tightened by means of a lever
and catch which hold it air-tight, thus forming a continuous and perfect
speaking tube by which the guard can communicate with the engine
driver, and vice versâ, in oral language which must be the most perfect
and safest of all signals. These my improvements will be clearly under-
stood by reference to the accompanying outline Sketch or Drawing,
which shews the general principle of my Invention, but not all the
details thereof.