AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR STOPPING TRAMWAY CARS
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Honyman Gillespic
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th February 1873.
I, WILLIAM HONYMAN GILLESPIE, of Torbanehill, residing at Number
46, Melville Street, Edinburgh, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR STOPPING TRAMWAY CARS," to be
as follows:-
First. A strong longitudinal beam of malleable iron or other metal is
fastened to the bottom of the car, and runs from end to end thereof, to
which beam are attached by strong easily worked joints iron prongs
sharpened at the points. The iron prongs to be six or more in number,
and of graduated lengths falling from different parts of the said iron
beam, so that they will on being made to drop by the driver of the car
as herein-after described, strike the ground nearly simultaneously, but at
different angles.
Second. A strong copper or other metallic rod attached to a vertical
lever, the handle of which lever is immediately in front of the driver,
runs along the said longitudnal beam at the bottom of the car, and is
kept in its place by loops or holdfasts attached to said beam. To this
rod are attached copper or other metal nooses, placed at distances corre-

page_text: sponding to the position of the iron prongs before described, and which
hold up the said prongs when they are not in use.
This rod is attached
to a bell at the other end of the car, and is wrought by an ordinary
spring which when the handle of the vertical lever is pulled by the
driver rings the bell at the same moment that the iron prongs are
liberated, as herein-after described, and thus warns the conductor to
apply the drags at the other end of the car, also as herein-after described.
Third. Where any danger may be in the way requiring the immediate
stoppage of the car, the driver by simply pulling the handle of the said
vertical lever will cause the said metal nooses to liberate the points of
the said prongs, which striking the street will enter the seams or
interstices between the pavement stones, between the rails, and will thus
cause the car to stop instantaneously.
Fourth. Fastened to a strong iron transverse beam near the back end
of the car are two iron drags attached thereto by means of a simple
easily wrought joint, and the conductor of the car on hearing the bell
ring, as before described, pulls the handle of a lever which is placed
convenient to him, and liberates the two drags which fall to the ground
and take hold of the paving stones, thus providing an additional means
of arresting the motion of the car, and at the same time they will tend
to steady the car when the motion is arrested. The lever and drags are
wrought on precisely the same principle by the conductor behind as the
lever and prongs by the driver in front.
Fifth. Each of the iron prongs and also the two drags before described
when liberated fall into strong iron sockets which are fastened to the
longitudinal beam and transverse beam respectively. These iron sockets
serve the double purpose of directing each prong in its intended angle as
it falls, and also to keep it pointing in the proper direction to arrest the
motion of the car. The sockets further prevent the prongs from turning
backwards by supporting them from behind.
Sixth. Where the front and back of a car are reversed, it is only
necessary to fit up a double set of prongs on the iron beam before
described, with an additional lever, rod, and bell.