AN IM- PROVED APPARATUS FOR STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Archibald White at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th Septem-
ber 1861.
I, ARCHIBALD WHITE, of Great Missenden, in the County of Buckingham,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
On the axle nearest the tender of the first carriage of a train, a toothed
wheel of sufficiently less diameter than the carriage wheels, and over that
axle such a frame and so fixed to and in such carriage as that an inner frame
can be put in, and have up and down motion in it.
In such first-mentioned frame, another or inner frame so fitted as to have
such motion, and having at bottom a pair of chops, on each side fitting the
carriage axle when on it, and in which such carriage axle could then revolve
and being so suspended on the end of the lever after-mentioned as that by
means of such lever it could be lowered until it rested by such chops on the
carriage axle; also a toothed wheel on an axle so placed in the lower part of
such inner frame as, that when such inner frame was resting by its chops on
the carriage axle, it would gear with the toothed wheel on such axle, and
when such axle was revolving would be made to revolve by it. The axle
on which such toothed wheel attached to such inner frame was fixed to
have a crank in it by a rod from which crank to the crank in the axle
on which the drum after-mentioned was such drum could be made to revolve.
A lever having for its fulcrum part of the said fixed frame, or the end of the
carriage, on the short end of which to suspend the said inuer frame and the

page_text: other end to project sufficiently over the tender for a person on the tender to
reach and use it, and having sufficient guides and protection.
A drum on an axle on such inner frame, the box and axle of which so partly
round and partly octagon as that they could be put into and out of gear with
each other, and a spring to keep them in gear, and a crank in such drum
axlo to which to attach tho said rod.
A small lever so attached to the inner frame as that, when acted on by the
cord attached to it as after-mentioned, it should overpower the said spring and
force the drum out of its octagon gear, and a catch into which such lever
should slip which would cause it to remain after it had attained it in a position
to keep the drum out of its octagon gear without preventing its revolving.
A cord one end of it attached to the drum slightly but sufficiently to give
it sufficient hold to insure the commencement of its coiling, and proceeding
thence through the bottom of the carriage and under all the carriages to
the back end of the last carriage of the train, and then round a roller and
returning under the carriages and through the bottom of the carriage in which
the drum was to and so attached to the said small lever as that it would hold
when the cord was drawing the drum out of its octagon gear, but would
relinquish its hold on the strain continuing. Such cord to be formed of twice
as many lengths as there were carriages composing the train, and each length
to be as long as a carriage with suflicient for slack, and the space between
two carriages, and each to have sufficient slots in through which to pass the
arms mentioned, and at the ends properly guarded hooks and eyes, by which
to attach the cords under one carriage to the cords under the carriages
next it.
Conical rollers in proper positions at ends of each carriage round which
to coil slacks of cords, each roller having a spring so pressing on its apex as
to cause the cord coiled on it to remain on it till drawn off by the action of
the drum.
Pipes attached to the bottom of each carriage to form guides and supports
for the cords.
Two wheels, marked e in sketch A, on one of the axles of carriages having
4 wheels, and to each of the end axles of carriages having 6 wheels.
Two arms and two fall downs, marked in such sketch A respectively g and c,
attached to the part of the bottom of the carriage which was nearly over each
of the axles on which were wheels e.
In sketch A, g are the arms, the ends of which (a) are put through a slot
in the part of the cord which returns from the back end of the train, and
remain there till such cord is acted on by the drum; 6 are the pivots or pins

page_text: on which such arms turn, to each of such arms sufficient supports and guides
to keep it at all times horizontal, and springs to keep it parallel to the axle
of the carriage except when the cord was acting on it; c, c, are the fall downs
on which the loops after mentioned, of which d, d, shew the ends, rest and
which fall downs rest each on one end of one of the arms; e, e, are the wheels
before mentioned, each having a flange on each side of or being concave in
the cross section of its periphery, and each having a double hook on its peri-
phery as shewn in sketch B; fare the present carriage wheels.
A pair of the ordinary block breaks between each pair of wheels on each
side of a carriage suspended as usual and acted on as shewn by sketch B.
In sketch B the outer circles are the carriage wheels the inner circle is the
wheel e with its double hook, on d is the loop before-mentioned, to which loop
is attached a few links of chain terminating in a pair of chops in which is a
roller round which the wheel cord passes and works; r is the wheel cord;
o is a roller over which such wheel cord works, and by it will be placed
sufficient guides and springs if necessary to insure the loop, when it loses its
support, so falling as to be caught by the hook on the wheel e; p, p, are the
ordinary wooden break blocks; n, n, are the arms of the breaks jointed to a
short piece of pipe fitting, embracing, and having motion up and down a longer
pipe descending vertically from, and firmly fixed and braced to the part of the
bottom of the side of the carriage between the wheels, and which last-mentioned
pipe has a slot in each side of its lower part through which a piece of iron,
attached by its ends to each side of the short piece of pipe, can work; k, k,
are rods attached to the arms of the breaks by a joint at one end, and to the
wheel cord at at the other end, which wheel cord proceeds over one of the
rollers at m and round the other, and thence to and over the roller o to the said
chops at the end of the said few links of chain, between which chops it passes
and then returns over the roller o to and round another roller near but acting
at right angles to roller o, and thence across under the carriage to and joining
the wheel cord of the breaks on the opposite side of the carriage. Sufficient
conical rollers or other simple appliances for coiling or disposing of the slacks
of these wheel cords.
In the lower part of the long pipe a spiral spring to keep the arms of the
breaks down and the breaks from the wheels when the apparatus is not
in use.
At each end of each carriage staples for receiving hooks on the roller for
the last carriage of the train round which the cord to return so that such
roller may be readily shifted from one carriage to another.
Pipes and conical rollers for being attached to carriages not fitted with the

page_text: apparatus with proper clamps and thumb screws, by means of which such
pipes and rollers may be readily attached to any carriage to continue the
connexion of the apparatus. The apparatus would work thus:-On a col-
lision appearing imminent the engine driver would reverse his engine, and the
stoker would, by means of the lever, lower the drum which would coil the cord,
and the arms under the last carriage of the train would be drawn back and slip
out and clear of the slots, the loops d would lose their supports and fall and
be caught by the hooks on the wheels e, which would draw up the cord which
passes over the rollers m, and so press the breaks against the carriage wheels
as to stop their revolving and bring them to a dead slide on the rails, and
this process would proceed one by one with all the carriages of the train fitted
with the apparatus up to the tender, the train must then be backed sufficiently
to enable the loops of the wheel cords to be taken off the hooks and all must
be replaced by hand. The drum might be on the engine or tender, and acted
on by a rod or other attachment to the engine gear, or by the axle of the
tender, or it might be in the guard's van and the guard might act on it.
Instead of having the wheels e separate each might be attached to and made
to form part of the carriage wheel, or the double hooks might be so attached
to the carriage wheels as to be certainly caught by the loops when such
loops lost their supports.
The ordinary block breaks as before-described with the tackle for applying
them to the wheels might be dispensed with by fitting all the axles of each
carriage with the wheels e, the hooks, the arms and fall downs, and having
a cord so suspended in a sheath between each pair of wheels on each side of a
carriage as that it would pay out properly with a loop at each end of such cord,
which on losing their supports on the fall downs would fall on and be caught by
the hooks on two of the wheels o on the same side of a carriage, and which
cord would then be coiled opposite ways round such two wheels e, and thus
make one wheel prevent the other revolving and bring the carriage wheels
to a dead slide on the rails. Or instead of making one wheel prevent the
other revolving, one end of the wheel cord might be firmly attached to the
bottom of the carriage which on the loops being caught by the hooks on the
wheels would at once cause such wheels o to cease revolving and bring the
carriage wheels to a dead slide on the rails, and a spring might be so placed
with reference to the wheel cord as to mitigate in some degree the jerk.