IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RETARDING AND STADDING RAILWAY CARDIACTO
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgin, of the City of Manchester, Cotton
Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
RETARDING AND STADDING RAILWAY CARDIACTO
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
January 1862.
I, JAMES HIGGIN, of the City of Manchester, Cotton Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements upon the Invention for
which Letters Patent were granted to me on the Third day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, No. 1879, and it has reference to the
machinery by which the body of the carriage is lowered, so as to bring the
skids or breaks on to the rails for retarding or stopping the train, and by
which the carriage is again raised.
According to my present improvements the axles of the carriage wheels
revolve as usual in outside bearings, and the eccentric or other equivalent for
lowering and raising the carriage instead of being placed immediately above
the axle box is placed so as to act on one end of a spring, which is pro-
vided with a shoe, with antifriction rollers to reduce the friction, and with clips

page_text: taking over projections on the eccentric to retain the parts on their proper
relative positions. In this arrangement when the carriage is lowered to bring
the skids or breaks on to the rails the springs assume a diagonal position, and
when the carriage is raised they are horizontal, as usual, each spring being
jointed at one end to a bracket of the usual construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Higgin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
July 1862.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HIGGIN, of the City of Manchester, Cotton Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters-
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Higgin, Her special license that I, the said James Higgin,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Higgin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and 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 MACHINERY
FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Higgin, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 James Higgin, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists in certain improvements upon the Invention for
which Letters Patent were granted to me on the Third day of August One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, Number 1879, and it has reference to
machinery or apparatus for retarding and stopping railway carriages. by.

page_text: allowing the carriages to descend and rest upon the skids or breaks described,
which slide on the rails and are held. in a proper position by suitable projections
or flanges..
According to my present improvements axles, wheels, bearings, and springs;
such as are in use for carriages of the ordinary construction, may be employed
with slight modifications of some of the parts made as herein-after described:
An eccentric or other equivalent is used for lowering and raising the carriage,
and instead of being placed immediately above the axle box it is placed so-as
to act on one end of the spring, which is provided with a shoe with anti-
friction rollers to reduce the friction, and, if requisite, with clips taking over
projections on the eccentric to retain the parts in their proper relative posi-
tions. The horn plates. for the bearings require to be made long, so as to
provide for the amount of lift required, as herein-after described. In this
arrangement, when the carriage is lowered to bring the skids or breaks on to
the rails, the springs assume a diagonal position, and when the carriage is
raised they are horizontal as usual, each spring being jointed at one end to a
bracket of the usual contruction.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Draw-
ings, reference being had to figures and letters marked thereon..
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a railway carriage of the usual construction to
which my improved machinery or apparatus is applied. Fig. 2 is a detached
view on an enlarged scale of the same, and part of the carriage, representing
the parts in the positions they occupy when the carriage is running on the rails..
Fig. 3 is another view of the same, with the carriage lowered so that the
skid bears on the rails. Figs. 4 and 5 are plans of parts of my improved
machinery. The axles a of the carriage revolve as usual in the outside bear-
ings b; c, c are the horn plates in which the bearings 6 slide up and down
and which must be long enough to provide for the lift required; d are the
springs resting in the centre on the bearings b, and connected at one end to a
bracket of the usual construction, to the other end of each spring is attached
a shoe e, in which are antifriction rollers bearing on the circumference of-the
eccentric f, which is fixed on the shaft g; on the other end of shaft g is a
similar eccentric which operates: upon a spring similar to spring d, in a similar
manner. In the centre of the shaft g is a worm wheel g; this worm wheel
is turned round in the manner described in the Specification of Letters Patent,
granted to me on the Third day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty, Number 1879, or it may be actuated in any other convenient manner.
Each shoe e is or may be provided with clips fitting into segmental grooves:

page_text: in the eccentrics f, to retain the parts in their proper relative positions. To
the beams h forming part of the framework of the carriage, are fixed lattice
frames i, the lower bars ; of which are, when the carriage is running, raised
a short distance above the rails and form the skids or breaks when lowered
on to the rails of the permanent way. The bars ; may be of timber only,
or may be faced with metal. The bars j are provided at each end, on the
inside, with a projecting feather or flange k; these feathers or flanges, when
the carriage is lowered, fit between the rails of the permanent way, and assist
in preventing the carriage running off the rails when the load is taken
off the wheels, and their flanges then lose a part of their holding power.
The mode of operation is as follows:-In Figs. 1 and 2 the eccentrics are
down, that is, they are in such a position that the shoe e, attached to the spring
d, is at or nearly at its greatest distance from the axis of the eccentric, the
spring d is then held in a horizontal position as in railway carriages of the
usual construction, and the skid or break j is held clear of the rails. When it
is required to retard or stop the train, the shafts g are turned half round so as
to bring the eccentrics f into the positions shewn in Fig. 3, the shoe e is
allowed to move upwards, and the spring d then assumes a diagonal position,
and the body of the carriage, and with it i and j; are lowered until the skid or
break j is brought on to the rails of the permanent way; the friction produced
by the weight of the carriage on the rails checks the momentum of the train,
and rapidly stops it, without however producing any injurious shock, and with-
out damaging the rails. Between the body of the carriage and the frame i;
which supports j, india-rubber or other springs may be inserted as shewn at o,
in Fig. 3.
The long surface presented to the rails by the skid or break j, when faced
with iron, even if it be found not to develope more friction than could be
obtained by the present mode of scotching the wheels, offers great advantages.
The best laid rails soon become more or less disturbed, and their inequalities
when passed rapidly over by the small surface presented by the point of
contact of a retarded wheel, cause a very considerable vibration, which interferes
with the full employment of the present method, as such would be most
destructive to the rolling stock and to passengers' comfort.
The advantages resulting from the use of my improvements are, that the
inequalities of the rails are neutralized, there being no small surfaces.to sink
into them, so that a skid or break, such as I have described, may be brought
into operation when the train is going at a high speed, without doing damage
by causing vibration to the carriages, while at the same time the wheels are:
saved from the file-like action which the rails now exercise on them when they

page_text: are scotched by the ordinary method. If the skid or break ; be partially or
completely faced with wood, considerably more friction can be developed than
is now obtained or is capable of being developed from the system of producing
friction through "scotching" the wheels.
In Figs. 6 and 7, I have shewn a modification of my improvements which
enables the carriages to be stopped steadily and without running the risk of
leaving the rails; in this arrangement the flange k, instead of being fixed to the
bar j forming the skid or break, is connected to the slide / which is jointed to
the lower arm of the double lever m, the upper arm of which, when the car-
riage is let down, bears upon the circumference of the wheel. When the
carriage is raised and the train is in motion. the slide 7, is drawn by a spring
into or under the end of the skid or break bar j as shewn in Fig. 7, but when
the carriage is lowered to retard or stop the train, the slide is forced by the
action of the wheel on the upper arm of the double lever m, into close contact
with the wheel, bringing the slide into the position shewn in Fig. 6, and
ensuring the part of the slide which is intended to act like the wheel flange,
following the flange of the wheel with precision through all points, or inside
any sharp curve.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I declare that I claim the use of the improved
apparatus or machinery constructed as herein-before shewn and described, and
applied to railway carriages, for the purpose of retarding and stopping them,
and also the use of the feather or flange applied as described, whereby the
operation of stopping or retarding is performed with steadiness and safety.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Higgin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.