IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA- RATUS FOR STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Eassie, of the City of Gloucester, Railway
Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS FOR STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY TRAINS."
Sealed the 30th October 1855, and dated the 1st May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Eassie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
May 1855.
I, WILLIAM EASSIE, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STOPPING OR RETARDING RAIL-
WAY TRAINS" to be as follows:-
The break will consist of a rod or tube through the centre of the carriage
longitudinaly immediately above the axles, supported by brackets fixed to the
frame, under which and at right angles to the above will be another shaft, fixed
also by brackets, having at each a double lever, connected with the break blocks
by a rod, having in it a hand screw and guide or a pipe nut, for adjusting
the block to or from the wheel as it may wear or require to be set when the
carriages are changed. The motion will be given from the longitudinal to
the transverse shaft by two pulleys connected to each other by a chain, or the
same effect may be given by two small levers and a connecting rod.
The connection from one carriage to the other will be formed by a square
rod with a universal joint in the centre, which rod fits into a square formed in
the end of the longitudinal pipe, and is long enough to allow for the play of the
buffers. This rod will be loose, and, with the joint in the middle as well as
the play it will have in the pipe, will provide for any jar in running, or curve

page_text: in the line over which it passes. The power will be given to the whole by the
usual means, by the screw worked near the stoker or that in the guard's van
at the end of the train; and as the apparatus will be cheap and simple in its
operations, each carriage should be fitted with the break, and thereby form a
complete connection between the guard and engine driver, so that it will be in
the power of either to stop the train when he pleases. The whole may be
applied to the breaks now in use with very little alteration and at a small
cost, as a great portion of the present fittings will be applicable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Eassie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th October 1855..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EASSIE, of the City of Gloucester, Railway Contractor, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Eassie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
especial license that I, the said William Eassie, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Eassie, 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 termi
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
OR APPARATUS FOR STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY TRAINS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Eassie, 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
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 William Eassie, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and forming

page_text: part of this my Specification, and to the Figures or Diagrams, on which similar
letters of reference are placed to denote similar parts, where such parts appear.
or can be seen at either of the Figures respectively :-
"
My Invention consists of a "break or braking apparatus, to be applied
to vehicles used on railways for the purpose of stopping or retarding their
progress when, from steep gradients, anticipated collision, or other. causes, it
may be found necessary so to do. I term my Invention a "railway connec-
tion brake," in contradistinction to such other brakes as immediately act
only on the carriage or vehicle on which they are applied, and by concussion
of or driving in the buffers of other carriages in the train, and it will be seen
by the following description that my brake may be made to communicate
with the whole quantity or number of vehicles forming, a railway train if
required :—
In the Drawing, Figure 1 is a view of the under frames of two railway
carriages, shewing the tubes, the connecting joints, and other portions of the
apparatus; Figure 2 shews the connecting joint in full size, or as it would
appear when in use; Figure 3, an enlarged front view of the screw and wheel
attached to the shaft; and Figure 4 is a side view of Figure 3.
At Figure 1 it will be seen that a tube a is passed longitudinally below and
in the centre of the framing of every carriage, or as many as it may be
deemed desirable to apply the braking apparatus to in one, train, which tube
is supported by brackets b, b, fixed. to the framing; on the tube are placed
screws c, c, which work into toothed wheels d, d, which are placed on the
transverse shafts e, e. At the extreme ends of these shafts levers f. f, are
fixed, and at the end of these levers and jointed therto are placed tension
rods g, g, which rods run below the end of the axles of the vehicles from one
end of the carriage to the other, being jointed at intervals to the brake blocks
h, h. To secure a connection between the tubes of the several carriages, a
connecting bar i, i, is let into the end of the tube a, this connecting bar being
formed square, and the ends of each tube being also formed square in the
inside, in order to receive the bar i, i, which works backwards and forwards
in correspondence with the play of the buffers. These square connecting
bars i, i, are shewn jointed in four different places or parts, as seen at
Figure 2, to allow for the lateral and vertical motion or shocks to which
railway vehicles are subject; and it will then be seen that a finger spring j, j,
is introduced at the end of the bolt k, which keeps the joint together. - By
pressure of thumb or finger on this spring, the bolt can be readily withdrawn
and the carriages immediately disconnected; and to prevent the connecting
bars from falling entirely out of the tubes, chains n, n, are fixed on the tubes

page_text: a, a, and linked, hooked, or otherwise attached together. The operation or
working the brake or braking apparatus according to my Invention is as
follows: A handle is fixed on the top of a vertical rod (in one of the
vehicles); at the bottom of said rod is a small wheel (Figure 1), which works
into another larger wheel m, fixed on the tube a. It will be evident, that as
the handle is turned from left to right, it imparts motion (by aid of the
wheels above mentioned) to the tube, thence to the transverse shaft, and so
continuously on to the brake blocks. As a block is placed on each side of a
wheel a double set of tension rods g, g, are required, their duty being to pull
in a different direction from the first. The screws c, c, at each end of the
carriage must be formed (alternately), one a right-hand screw and the other
left-handed, otherwise one side of the wheels only. would be pressed on by the
brake blocks.
. Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the means by which
it is carried into practical effect, I wish it to be known that I do not claim the
exclusive use of any of the parts or portions of machinery or otherwise I have
herein described and shewn in the Drawing, taken simply as parts or portions,
and not used in combination for the purposes of my Invention; and also I
desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the exact modifica-
tions or proportions of parts herein described or shewn, as such may be varied
to suit the construction of the various vehicles employed on railways without
at all departing from the principle of my Invention, which I declare to be,
and I claim, the exclusive use of the combination of a longitudinal tube, the
means of connection between each carriage, and the method of transmitting
power by screw and wheel, as herein-before' described, and illustrated in the
Drawing, forming when so combined an "improved apparatus for stopping
or retarding railway trains.".
In witness whereof, I, the said William Eassie, have hereunto affixed
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE, Patent Agent,
...
4, Wellington Street, Strand, London.
WN EASSIE.
(L.S.)