IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wallich Biddulph, of Tavistock Street,
Bedford Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS."
Sealed the 20th October 1871, and dated the 22nd April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wallich
Biddulph at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd April 1871.
I, WILLIAM WALLIOH BIDDULPH, of Tavistock Street, Bedford
Square, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the arrangement
and construction of railway breaks, the object being to effect by a con-
tinuous or in part continuous system of break a rapid stoppage of a
train of carriages, and also to enable such breaks to be controlled by
the engine driver or guards, either individually or in conjunction, as
may be required.

page_text: I propose firstly to apply a compound but continuous shaft throughout
the train, and to impart rotary motion to such shaft, whereby power
shall be brought to bear on the breaks. The method of actuating and
of applying the breaks to the wheels will form the subjects of further
detail.
In regard to the continuous rod or shaft it only becomes continuous
when the train is made up, because previously, and when the carriages
are separate from each other, the rod or shaft consists of sections or
lengths, each section being nearly equal to the length of each carriage,
and being applied thereto below or beneath the carriage frame and
above the axles, being set in suitable bearings or journals contained and
supported by brackets bolted or otherwise secured to the ends of the
carriage frame, so that each division of the compound or ultimately
continuous rod or shaft traverses the carriage in a medial line from end
to end, and is always held in such bearings wherever the carriage may
be situated.
Now since, according to this Invention, the rod or shaft is only
subject to torsion and the strain resulting therefrom, it is necessary
to place it in bearings capable of allowing it to freely rotate, and yet to
resist a thrusting force, which its revolution will produce, as will here-
after be described. Consequently the bearings should be made with
an annular seating of greater diameter than the diameter of the shaft,
which must be enlarged at both ends in order to permit of sockets
being formed therein to receive the keys of the shafts of the other
carriages, as hereafter described. This enlargement therefore permits
of the bearing or seating receiving the thrust of the rod at whichever
end of the carriage it may occur. This arrangement being made in cach
carriage, it may be assumed that the train is to be composed.
When the carriages are brought into position, or when one carriage
is brought to another for coupling, I propose to complete the compound
series of rods or shafts into one continuous compound rod or shaft, by
means of junction keys, which consist of two short lengths of square or
other section of bar, united together by a suitable universal joint, or by
means of two sets of universal joints with a shorter length of bar between
the two. Then the extremities of the keys are placed in the sockets of
the shafts described, and sufficient depth of socket being allowed for
play or distance between the carriages, while at rest or in motion, and
also for the action of the buffers, it will follow that the keys will serve

page_text: to render the compound rod absolutely continuous in so far as the object
of this Invention is concerned, viz., the action of torsion. The universal
joints permit the free oscillation of the carriages and their vertical
motion, and thereby adapt themselves to the curves of the permanent
way. By this arrangement any serpentine curve may be traversed, and
the compound or continuous rod or shaft actuated as though the train
were in a straight line. The key may consist of two bars sliding on
each other, and united by a pin passing through slots in the bars.
I now proceed to describe the means of communicating power from
the rotating shaft to the breaks, and the consequent tendency of the
shaft to exert a thrust against its bearings. I provide each shaft with
one, two, or more sets of screw threads of somewhat sharp pitch, and I
prefer the threads to be of the form known as "bead" threads, as being
strong and durable, and capable of freely receiving lubrication. Beneath
the carriage I apply one, two, or more wedge-shaped blocks, with double
wedged under surfaces reversed, and through these wedges the screw
or screws is or are passed as required, through corresponding screw
threads cut therein. Now, these wedges have a somewhat flat surface
in most instances perfectly flush, in some with a slight convexity, they
bear by upward pressure on a block containing suitable friction rollers
to ease their to-and-fro gliding motion caused by the rotation of the
endless screw threads on the shafts. The apex formed by the meeting
of the reversed wedged surfaces bears on a roller set on a cross bar or
spring, forming part of a break frame, acting on the breaks, and con-
sequently a thrust is exerted on the shaft, which is resisted by the
bearings herein-before described. The object of the double wedge is'
this: Whichever way the shaft may be turned, the wedge being in a
neutral position when its apex is over the roller, one end of the wedge
must pass over or along the roller and depress it to the extent required,
thus bearing down the frame which carries the breaks. The endless
screws may also be made to gear with worm wheels carrying excentrics
on each side, which raise or depress connecting rods attached by joints
to the frame, and cause a similar elevation and depression of the
frame. Suitable bearings are formed in connection with the under frame
of the carriage for the security of the worm wheels and excentrics.
The foregoing methods of actuating the break by the use of wedges
or inclined planes and by excentrics may be simplified by the following
method I propose to dispense with screws on the shafts, and to apply
:-

page_text: directly to the shafts, excentrics, or cams, singly or doubly, and to
cause such excentrics or cams to press on a transverse bar or bars, over
the axle, such bar (in the case of one being used) carrying the friction
breaks, so that about a half turn of the shaft may bring the cam or
excentric into such position as to depress the bar to its lowest point,
and thus break the wheels. Slides would be formed in or on the sides
of the carriage frame for the cross bars to work in, and springs adjusted
in connection therewith to elevate the bars and breaks, when the cams
or excentrics are released by the opposite motion of the shaft. By
placing duplicate reversed cams on the shaft its rotation in either
direction will effect the same action on the cross bars. This method
may be made to actuate the friction breaks applied on each side of
the wheels (as at present) by the application of levers, toggle joints, or
other equivalents, but in such cases the excentrics or cams could
be placed in any convenient part of the rotating shaft. This latter
method obviates the use of screws beneath the carriage frame, and
will permit of the working gear being confined to the interior of the
The
guards' van, full power being given to the shaft by such gear.
thrust on the shaft described in the former examples would also be
avoided. The cross bars on which the rollers bear, actuated by the
pressure of the wedges or excentrics or other suitable mechanical
equivalent, may be rigid, but I prefer them to be capable of a moderately
yielding or spring action. They should be constructed accordingly,
either of a tapering form of bar or of a compound or single spring; they
are connected at each extremity with the longitudinal frames which
carry and are made part of the steel break bands passing over the upper
periphery of the wheels, and provided with internal wooden surfaces
to exercise friction; thus it will follow that the depression of the frame
will bear down the breaks either to exercise a limited break power, or to
completely bring the wheels to a state of rest, all depending upon the
number of turns given to the shaft and the consequent motion of the
wedges or excentrics. In six-wheeled carriages it would be advisable
to break the central pair of wheels, but in four-wheeled carriages the
breaks should bear on all the wheels, but of course experience will
determine the application of the system.
I lastly proceed to describe the method of actuating the continuous
shaft. Assuming that there are two guard's vans to the train, and
that the speed would not be great, it might be deemed advantageous to

page_text: make a few carriages only at each end of the train subject to the action
of the break; the connecting or coupling keys might be omitted from
the intermediate carriages, then the guards could each control those
carriages which should be united, leaving the others free from the
action of the break. So also in ordinary cases, so long as the shaft is
applied with keys, there is no occasion or necessity for the break action
to be added to every carriage, because when the train is made up those
carriages which have breaks will alone be influenced by the rotation of
the shaft. The guard will merely be required to turn a hand wheel and
shaft actuating bevel gear, and turning the continuous shaft. But in
express or fast trains, where it might be necessary to employ a more
rapid action of the continuous break, I propose to give the engine
driver the control of the break at any moment, independently of the
guards. In order to effect, I propose to apply an excentric to the
trailing shaft of the tender, or to other suitable shaft or axle, such
excentric actuating a crank shaft which works a clutch or other motion
in gear with a bevel and a mitre on the continuous shaft; the clutch or
other equivalent is kept free from gear with the bevel under ordinary
use, and is held by a bell-crank lever or other stay, and by a horizontal
connecting rod passing along the side of the tender, to which rod a
vertical pivoted lever is jointed, such lever being placed against a pro-
jecting stop on the inside frame of the tender or engine, against which
it is forced by a powerful flattened or helical spring. Consequently the
instant the driver perceives imminent danger he jerks the lever from
its stop, the spring throws the handle back, the lower part of the lever
springs forward, throwing the excentric into gear with the clutch and
bevels, and the shaft instantly rotates, and the train is rendered subject
to the full power of all the breaks supplied. Now it is of course necessary
that the number of turns, or the extent of a single turn given to the
continuous shaft by the engine power, should be defined and limited.
Therefore the bevel and clutch is provided with a releasing screw or
other equivalent motion, set to such a number of turns or part of a
turn as will apply the full power of the breaks, and then free the
continuous shaft from further influence. By this arrangement a train
in transit could soon be brought to a state of rest, by a release of the
pivoted lever, without the necessity of signalling to the guards. The
power of the wedges, inclined planes, excentrics, or cams, or other
equivalent, being brought to bear on the breaks over the wheels, will
of course tend to raise the carriages from their springs, bringing down

page_text: their pressure on the breaks in the same proportion as the weight on
the springs is diminished.
This element of the Invention is important, because it permits of a
more easy motion of the carriages under the operation of the breaks,
different to that caused by the ordinary break, which clamps the wheel
on each side, as in a vice, and allows of no vertical play, but this
improved break permits the vertical motion of the carriage, although
the break is full on.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Wallich Biddulph in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WALLICH BIDDULPH, of Tavistock Street, Bedford Square, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One, thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Wallich Biddulph,
Her special licence that I, the said William Wallich Biddulph, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Wallich Biddulph, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Wallich Biddulph, my exe-
cutors 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 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Wallich Biddulph, 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 :-
_
My Invention relates to certain improvements in the arrangement
and construction of railway breaks, the object being to effect by a
continuous or in part continuous system of break a rapid stoppage of a
train of carriages, and also to enable such breaks to be controlled by
the engine driver or guards, either separately or in conjunction, as may
be required.
I propose firstly to apply a compound but continuous shaft throughout
the train, and to impart rotary motion to such shaft whereby power
shall be brought to bear on the breaks. The method of actuating and
of applying the breaks to the wheels will form the subjects of further
detail.
In regard to the continuous rod or shaft it only becomes continuous
when the train is made up, because previously, and when the carriages
are separate from each other, the rod or shaft consists of sections or
lengths, each section being about the length of the carriage, and being
applied thereto below or beneath the frame and above the axles, being
set in suitable bearings or journals contained and supported by brackets
bolted or otherwise secured to the ends of the carriage frame, so that
each division of the compound or ultimately continuous rod or shaft
traverses the carriage in a medial line from end to end, and is always
held in such bearings wherever the carriage may be situated.
When the carriages are brought into position, or when one carriage
is brought to another for coupling, I propose to complete the compound
series of rods or shafts into one continuous rod or shaft by means of
junction keys, which consist of two short lengths of square or other
section of bar, united together by a suitable universal joint or by means
of two sets of universal joints with a shorter length of bar between the
two, or by one bar or key. Then the extremities of the keys are
placed in the sockets of the shafts described, and sufficient depth of
socket being allowed for play or distance between the carriages, while
at rest or in motion, and also for the action of the buffers, it will follow
that the keys will serve to render the compound rod continuous in so
far as the object of this Invention is concerned, viz. the action of torsion.
The universal joints permit the free oscillation of the carriages, and

page_text: their vertical motion, and thereby adapt themselves to the curves of
the permanent way. By this arrangement any curve may be traversed
and the compound or continuous rod or shaft actuated as though the
train were in a straight line. The key may consist of two bars sliding
on each other, and united by a pin passing through slots in the bars.
I propose to apply directly to the shafts one or more excentrics or
cams, singly or doubly, and to cause them to press on a transverse bar
or bars over the axle, such bar (in the case of one being used) carrying
the gear of the friction breaks, so that about a quarter turn of the
shaft may bring the cam or excentric into such position as to depress
the bar to its lowest point and thus break the wheels, but I prefer to
cause the excentric to elevate the bar and toggles or levers and thus
actuate the breaks.
In order that my said Invention may be completely understood I
annex the accompanying Drawings, which represent the best examples
of the principles before described and the simplest application of the
break, combining rapidity of movement with great strength and
durability of parts.
Fig. 1 shews a side elevation of the lower part or frame of a four-
wheeled carriage; the rod which actuates the break levers is shewn at
a, supported by the bearings b, b, bolted to the under part of the frame c.
The rod carries an excentric or cam supporting the saddle bar, cage,
or strap d, the legs of which form pendants d³, d', to which the toggles
or levers e, e, f, f, are jointed; these are finally connected to the sus-
pended break blocks, which are faced with cast-iron plates. In Fig. 2
a transverse view (full size) of the excentric 9, and saddle bar d, is
shewn. h, Fig. 1, is the hand wheel for the guard to turn; it is provided
with a stem or shaft i, an endless screw and worm wheel, or other suitable
gearing for the purpose of turning the rod a. Now the action of these
arrangements will at once be obvious, for the motion of the excentric
will regulate the height of the saddle and pendants, and consequently
change the angles of the toggle levers, so as to apply and release the
break blocks as required.
It will be observed that the upper half of the cam consists of an
elliptical curve, the lower half being concentric with the axis of the
rod; the result is that whichever way the cam may be turned a fourth
portion, or say 90 degrees; will be the maximum of its action on the
saddle; in a train of carriages (the rods being keyed end to end) a

page_text: slight play between the keys and sockets would occur; this contingency
will therefore be entirely neutralized by the partially concentric form
of the cam, and consequently equal break power will be afforded
throughout the train. The saddle or cage is supported and steadied
by means of the rollers k, k, k, set in bearings, which rotate in a guide
or groove cut in the excentric or cam. 1, l, shew two key bars which
are let into the sockets m, m; the bars are made of a square section, and
the sockets taper internally so as to permit of the necessary play caused
by the oscillation or other motion of the carriages. The toggle levers
are arranged outside and inside each wheel in order to present a true
or flush surface of the break blocks to the periphery of the wheel. The
square keys have one angle or corner cut away, and the sockets are
made to correspond so that the keys and sockets must always be united
in the proper line for continuous communication in regard to the
excentrics, or a mark may be made on the key and socket for the same
object. The coupling lever should be formed with an additional pivot or
joint to enable the ball to be raised above the torsion bar, while the
right and left handed screw is being turned to tighten up the carriages,
after the keys are inserted in the sockets, or it would be preferable to
apply a ratchet brace lever.
The chief advantages of the system will be as follows, speedy action
in its application and release, great durability and cheapness of con-
struction, and ease of adjustment.
The Invention is of course equally applicable to tramways, but I
propose in such cases to dispense with the turn wheel and to apply
to the rod a a lever or rod set in a segmental guide, whereby the driver
or conductor by a slight movement of the lever could actuate the rod a
sufficiently to break the wheels of the carriage. The extent of motion
of the lever would be determined by ratchet teeth in the segmental
guide, and by degrees of the circle to be traversed, so that by releasing
the handle from its stop or catch it would at once fall to the extent
regulated by the quadrant, and if weighted sufficiently would actuate the
break blocks without further exertion on the part of the driver or con-
ductor; but if necessary he could apply force to the simple lever, but
other suitable arrangements may be devised for the purpose.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would remark in
conclusion that I do not limit myself to the exact details and con-

page_text: figuration of parts which I have described and shewn, as the same
may obviously be varied or modified without in any degree departing
from the nature of the Invention and the principles on which it is
based, because the form of rod or its diameter may be changed, and
the outline of the excentric may also be modified if necessary to meet
any requirements. Although the form I have indicated is the most
suitable for general use, so also the form, arrangement, and angles of
toggle levers may be modified according to circumstances, and also the
keys and sockets of the rods or torsion bars may be changed to other
convenient forms. I am also well aware that torsion rods have here-
tofore been used to actuate the gearing of railway breaks, therefore I
make no claim to the exclusive use of the torsion rod, but what I claim
and desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters
Patent is, the application of a torsion rod in combination with an ex-
centric or cam or excentrics and cams, whereby one or more saddles,
straps, or cages are actuated, giving motion to a series of toggle levers
or rods and ultimately to the break blocks.
I also claim the continuous system of joining the rods by means of
keys, all substantially as and for the purposes herein specified and
shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wallich Biddulph, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
W. W. BIDDULPH. (L.S.)