IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frank Wirth at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
December 1873.-A communication from Hermann Brandt, En-
gineer, residing at Kopenhague, Danmark.
I, FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent
Agency, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY BRAKES," a communication from Hermann Brandt, Engineer,
resident at Kopenhague (Danmark), to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a brake or brakes of greater
power and more instantaneous application than any brake hitherto used,
in order that railway trains may be more speedily stopped, and collisions
and other serious accidents be thereby prevented or considerably
diminished in violence.
This improved brake is constructed of iron or of iron in conjunction
with other suitable metal, and consists of a strong vertical slide from 18
inches to two feet broad (more or less), operating directly upon the
railway rails and is herein-after called the "sledge brake," this sledge
brake is formed in two parts or divisions, the upper or fixed part and the

page_text: lower or sliding part, herein-after called the brake key. The said upper
part is attached to and is operated by an eccentric fixed on and turned
by an axle, which axle is mounted in the side or longitudinal bearers of
the frame of the vehicle, the said axle is operated by an ordinary toothed
wheel and pinion arrangement. The said brake key when in use rests 5
or slides upon the railway rails, and when not in use is drawn up an
inclined plane formed at the bottom of the said upper part, and fitted
with antifriction rollers to the requisite height above the said rails.
This brake key is moved up and down the inclined plane by leverage
operated by simply moving the handle thereof or end lever forwards or 1
backwards, when the brake instantly acts or is suddenly released from
contact with the rails.
The power of the sledge brake is increased by operating the eccentric
on the axle of the brake, which presses the foot or lower edge of the
brake key upon the rails with great force, and having a considerable 1
length of friction surface speedily brings the train to a stand.
The improved sledge brake when attached to the engine tender is
applied by the engine driver or his assistant by means of connecting rods
and levers of simple construction.
For cases of emergency or imminent danger with a similar arrange-
ment he can also operate the sledge brake on the guard's van, or on any
other vehicle of the train by turning the handle of a connecting rod
provided with a suitable sliding connection.
For railways over mountains or those having steep gradients, the
sledge brake may be so placed on the last or end vehicle of a train as to
operate in the opposito direction to that in which the train is travelling
for the purpose of arresting the downward progress of vehicles when
suddenly detached from a train moving up a gradient. In this case the
brake key is held clear of the rails by an ordinary cord secured to the
engine, when any vehicles become thus detached from the train, this
cord will break and thus liberate the brake key which instantly slides
down to the rails by its own gravity, and the said detached vehicles are
at once prevented from running down the gradient. The sledge brake
is mounted in pairs on the same axle so as to operate on both lines of
rails at the same time, which with their large friction surface gives a
brake power some 200 to 250 times greater than that of the ordinary
railway brake.

page_text: Some of the advantages of the sledge brake are, its simplicity of con-
struction which prevents it being easily deranged, the rapidity with
which it can be applied, which with its enormous brake power will
bring a light passenger train to a stand in a few rails length, and its
application to prevent accidents by runaway vehicles.