THE APPLICATION OF STEAM POWER TO THE WORKING OF RAILWAY BREAKS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Blair, of Ducie Bridge Mill, Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, for an Invention for
"THE APPLICATION OF STEAM POWER TO THE WORKING OF RAILWAY
BREAKS."
Sealed the 27th October 1853, and dated the 21st May 1853.

page_text: of a most lamentable nature (in addition a great degree of wear and
tare of the lines of railway, especially at railway stations) have arisen.
By my Invention, the break shall be worked by steam power, and
being so worked will be altogether under the management of the engine
driver. My Invention may be applied in various ways, and the cylinder
by which I intend to work it may be placed on different parts of the
engine, boiler, or tender, and in various positions thereon, and the
working parts of the break will be arranged accordingly. It is not my
intention in this my provisional specification to enter very fully into
the different modes of effecting the stoppage of a train by my Inven-
tion; I shall, therefore, at present confine myself altogether to an outline
of the Invention, and instance one mode.
The application of steam power to the break is effected by affixing
to some convenient part of the engine or boiler, or to the tender (in
an engine were the tender and engine are constructed together), a
steam cylinder, the power of which will depend upon its size and the
pressure of steam upon the boiler of the engine. In this cylinder is
placed a piston, with the rod thereof projecting through the cylinder
cover, as in ordinary steam engines. Upon that end of the piston rod
which projects through the cover of the cylinder is placed a 'flange or
broad surface, similar to those now in use on railway carriages, called
buffers. The steam to work this piston shall be supplied to the cylin-
der from the boiler of the engine in motion through a pipe so placed
that the engine driver can turn on the steam by means of a valve or
tap into the cylinder, and off again at pleasure, or as required.
The exhaust steam from the cylinder will be let off by means of taps
or valves so placed that the engine driver will have complete control
thereof. Underneath the bottom of each carriage, or other convenient
part thereof, shall be placed longitudinally one or more shafts in sockets
or steps, with flanges or buffers upon the ends thereof, so that when a
number o carriages are connected together the buffers of each shaft
shall come in contact with each other. These shafts shall be so con-
struct and so placed (as in my complete specification I shall particu
larly describe) that they will, upon being forced backwards, or drawn
forward, put on and take off the blocks to and from the wheels of each

page_text: carriage, or to and from as many thereof as it may be deemed neces-
sary for the purpose of effectually stopping the train: When it shall be
desirable or necessary for the engine driver to stop the train he shall
do so by shutting off the steam from the driving cylinders, and letting
the steam into the cylinder of my Invention. Whereupon the rod of
the piston thereof will project, and the flange and buffer thereon come in
contact with the buffer of the shaft. of the carriage nearest to: said
engine boiler or tender. The piston rod aforesaid shall project with
such power that the shafts along the train shall almost simultaneously"
perform their respective uses by placing blocks to the wheels of each
carriage, or to as many thereof as may be necessary to stop the train.
When the steam is admitted into the cylinder it shall remain there so:
long as the engine driver may think fit. When the train is about to
move forward the engine driver shall shut off the 'steam from the cylin-*
der aforesaid, and thereupon the shafts on each carriage and the
blocks shall resume their former position. I wish it to be distinctly
understood that, although I claim the above mode of stopping a train
as my sole Invention, that I am not confined to that mode or method
alone of working my said Invention, because it is my intention in my
complete specification to give a detailed account of different methods
of applying said Invention; all of which I will claim as my own. I!
therefore claim as my sole Invention the application of steam power 'to:
the working of breaks upon locomotive engines and railway trains. ¡
I also claim the longitudinal shafting, as described, underneath or in
any part of a railway train, for the purposes aforesaid. And inasmuch³
as this cylinder is capable of being made in different shapes without:
altering its effect upon the break, I claim it in any shape and form;
ifused for the purpose of a railway break
30
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Blair in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 8th November 1853.1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN BLAIR, of Ducie Bridge Mill, in the City of Manchester and
County of Lancaster, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing late the Twenty-first day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said John Blair, Her special license
that I, the said John Blair, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Blair, 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 "THE APPLICATION OF STEAM POWER
TO THE WORKING OF RAILWAY BREAKS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Blair, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office-
within six calendar months next and inmediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Blair, 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 (that is to say):
My present Invention being for "the application of steam power to
the working of railway breaks," I may state that hitherto and at the.
present time the breaks used for stopping locomotive engines and
railway trains have been, and still are, worked by hand power; and
being so worked by manual labour, a long period of time is necessary
in order to effect the stoppage of a railway train when in full motion,
and frequently accidents of a most lamentable nature have occurred,
owing to a want of sufficient power being applied to the breaks in
order to arrest the progress of the train in sufficient time to avoid
accident, in addition to a great amount of wear and tear of the line of
rail, especially at stations, where some of the wheels of the carriages
upon which the breaks act cease to revolve while the train is still in
motion.

page_text: By. my Invention the breaks are worked by steam power, and.will
be altogether under the control and management of the engine driver.
Before describing my Invention I deem it necessary to observe, that
steam power can be applied to the breaks in various ways, several of
which suggest themselves to me; but as it would be absolutely
necessary to be very prolix in this specification in order to describe the
different methods of applying it, and which I consider here unnecessary
to mention in detail, I shall content myself with instancing one mode.
This observation I make in order that it may be understood that I
claim as my sole Invention the application of steam power in any form
to the working of railway breaks, and that I should deem it's application
thereto by any party, without my consent, an infringement of my Patent
rights. I shall now instance a mode in which my Invention may be
performed.
3
Under the foot plate of a locomotive engine, and attached thereto by
stays, shall be affixed an ordinary steam cylinder with piston. Upon
that end of the piston rod which projects through the cylinder cover
shall be placed a broad flange or surface, similar in make to those now
in use on railway carriages, called "buffers." The cylinder shall be:
placed in the centre of the foot plate, the piston red projecting in the:
direction of the engine tender.
'
The engine tender, and each and every carriage respectively, shall:
carry it's own shafting and. breaks; namely, the tender shall have
underneath, and lying along it's centre, a shaft terminating at both ends.
of the tender, with a broad surface, flange, or buffer; these buffers or:
flanges will project and lie at equal distances from the regular buffers
now in use on railway tenders and carriages, and will have the appear-
ance of a third buffer to each end of the tender. Attached to this-
shaft shall be strong arms or bars of wrought iron, upon the ends of:
which will be the break blocks, which will be placed distant from the
wheels of the tender or carriages, only sufficiently far as to allow the
wheels to revolve without interruption. Each carriage shall also carry
a similar shaft, terminating at each end of the carriage with flanges or
buffers, and having also the appearance of a carriage with three buffers
instead of two.
Attached to the shaft under the carriage (in the same

page_text: manner. as already described to the tender. shaft) shall also be strong
wrought iron bars with break blocks on the end of each, and also.lying
close, to the carriage wheels, but without interfering with their revo-
lutions.
The shaft. already mentioned shall work in sockets or steps, and shall
move backwards and forwards, placing on and taking off, when necessary,
the breaks to and from the wheels... When a train of carriages, with
tender and engine, are connected, the: buffers upon the ends of each
carriage shaft shall meet, and thus form a continued line of shafting
throughout the train. So also will 'one end or buffer of the tender shaft
meet one buffer of the carriage shaft nearest thereto, and so also will
the other buffer of the tender shaft nearest the locomotive engine meet
the flange, broad surface, or buffer upon. the. piston rod, and thus a
continued line of shafting, commencing at the piston rod buffer and
extending along the tender and whole train of carriages, will be
formed.
+
When it shall be necessary for the engine driver to stop a train
he shall do so by. turning off the steam from the driving cylinders,.
admitting it at same time. into the third cylinder, which I shall here'
name or designate as the break cylinder," through:
feed pipe so
constructed as to convey steam from the locomotive boiler into the
bottom part of the break cylinder, upon the admission of which the
piston rod will project, come in contact. with the buffer shaft of the
tender, and the tender buffer shaft with next carriage shaft, and so along
the train; whereupon, the shaft being pressed backward in its sockets or.
steps will immediately. apply the breaks to the wheels of each and every
carriage throughout the train, and immediately arrest the speed; and
when the train is again about to move forward, the engine driver shall
shut off the steam from the break cylinder, and admit it into the driving
cylinders, whereupon the shafts and breaks shall resume their regular ·
position, and allow the wheels to revolve.
By my Invention the engine driver can limit the quantity of steam
to be admitted into the break cylinder, and thus regulate the pressure
of the breaks upon the wheels..
Although in this Specification I have described the break cylinder as
4

page_text: being placed under the foot plate of the locomotive engine, yet I do not
confine myself to that position, as it can be placed with equal effect in
different positions on the engine, boiler, or tender, and the shafting and
breaks on the train altered and constructed to receive the power
accordingly.
By my Invention the power given out from the break cylinder will
be equally applied to each break.
I claim as my sole Invention the application of steam power to the
working of railway breaks, also the break cylinder and piston and
longitudinal shafting; and inasmuch as the break cylinder can be con-
structed in other shapes not cylindrical without altering it's effect upon
the break, I claim it in any shape or form, if used for the purpose of
supplying steam power for the working of railway breaks.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Blair, have heretofore set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOHN BLAIR. (L.S.)