AN ELECTRIC BRAKE
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sigmund von Sawiczeski
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th August 1881.
SIGMUND VON SAWICZESKI, of 3, Boulevart St. Michel, in the City of Paris.
"AN ELECTRIC BRAKE."
This electric brake is distinguished from former existing systems by the extreme
simplicity of its working as well as by the rapidity and security of its effects.
The adaptation of the brake can be easily made to any existing railway, tram,
or other cars. For railway cars I connect the two axles with a flat iron piece
having two brackets fixed on the bands of the axles or on the axleboxes to insure
the perfect rigidity of the system.
These brackets are bolted on the flat iron piece. Two pieces of plate iron on
each wheel bolted on the flat iron form a casing fixed with crossbars in which the
brake is fixed.
This brake is composed of an electro-magnet of a new and special form. This
electro-magnet has at its upper and lower part two coils of a special form, whose
circular external faces are made to a radius excentric to the wheel circumference,
the internal being concentric to the outside of the wheel, and distant about half an
inch from it when free.
The object of this arrangement is to form a coiling between two solid pieces of
metal or timber fixed between the two plate iron pieces forming the casing of the
electro-magnet.
The radius of these solid pieces must be so constructed that as soon as the
electric current is stopped, the coils disengage themselves and take their former
normal position.
This action is very important for the instantaneous loosening of the brake in
order to be able to moderate the effects of the brake, and for resetting in motion
when a complete stopping has not been judged necessary.
This faculty constitutes one of the important points of this Invention.
D

page_text: The electro magnets with the coils are simply suspended freely in the casing by
two little spiral springs.
Every electro magnet has two coils, one at the top and the other at the bottom,
which are destined one for forward motion the other for backward motion.
The action of the brake is as follows:-
An electric generator of any description is placed on the engine or on the fore
or back luggage van. The cars are connected by electric isolated wires. Com-
mutators capable of being worked by the engineer or by the agents of the train
start an électric current which will pass through all the electro magnets. This
current will magnetise them and produce their adhesion to the wheels forming
their armatures.
The impulsive force of the wheel will lead the coils in the conical space formed
in the casing by the outside of the wheel and the pieces already described. This
will produce a coiling of a strength proportionate to the strength of the current.
As soon as the current is stopped the coils and electro magnets will take their
former loose position and immediately uncoil the wheels.
For being able to brake the waggons left behind in case of accidental rupture
of a part of the train whilst running, I have a special arrangement for the electric
wires, which at the moment of the rupture will send automatically an electric
current through all the electro magnets of the waggons left behind, and produce an
instantaneous strong braking in. order to stop them.
To produce this effect I have a certain quantity of wire rolled on a cylinder
fixed on the tender or on the first van; as soon as this cylinder by the rupture of
the train is put in motion, the wires being fixed at the last waggon, a commutator
will be turned automatically and will send an electric current in the back part of
the train, the wires being so disposed to connect -each waggon to the other that
even the rupture of these wires will allow the current to pass in all the electro
magnets of the waggons left behind.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed.
by the said Sigmund von Sawiczeski in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th February 1882.
SIGMUND VON SAWICZESKI, of 3, Boulevart St. Michel, in the City of Paris.
"AN ELECTRIC BRAKE."
This electric break is superior to all existing breaks by the extreme simplicity
of its action, as also by the rapidity and security in its effect. The total absence
of mechanism produces economy in its application to all existing vehicles. In
this break the electricity takes the effect of an agent, which at a certain moment
and in an instantaneous manner causes the wheels of a train to be acted upon to
stop their rotation, the removal of the break being also instantaneous if necessary.
The impulsive force of the train to be arrested serves itself to this stopping, and
the greater the weight and the force the more powerful are the effects of the
break.
My system of break will be well understood by the following description with
reference to the annexed Drawings, in which it is shown as applied to a railway
carriage frame. By way of example,―
Figure 1 represents a side view of a railway waggon underframe provided with
my break, the hind wheel showing the break unapplied, and the front wheel
showing the break full on.
Figure 2 represents a section through the axis of the special and new form or
shape of electro-magnet which I employ in combination with the break blocks.
My break may be easily applied to all existing waggons and vehicles.
For railway carriages or waggons I connect the two axles to ensure a perfect
bracing by means of a semi-flat iron piece a provided with cheeks b and b', taking
onto the axle tree bonds or onto the grease boxes, and bolted to the iron piece a.
Two pieces of sheet iron c and c¹ on each wheel connected by the bars d, d¹, fixed
to the iron piece a serve as a receptacle or box for the break which is composed of
the electro-magnet e of a special and new form or construction.
This electro-magnet has at its upper and lower parts two wedges fand ƒ¹, of
special shape, and of which the outer circular part is described by a radius excentric
to the axis of the wheel, the inner part being concentric to the rim or tyre of the
wheel, and distant from the latter about 8 millimetres when the break is unapplied
or at rest. This arrangement is designed to cause a wedging-up at the moment of
the action of the break, it should be so constructed that when the action of the
electricity ceases the said break blocks return to their normal position as shown in
the Drawings on the hind wheel of the waggon.
This action is of great importance for the "taking off" of the break when the
rapidity of stoppage is to be moderated, and for the continuance of running
of the train when complete stoppage is not found to be necessary, and constitutes
one of the essential points claimed in the Invention.
The electro-magnets e encased or enclosed in the box formed by the two pieces
of sheet iron c and c¹ are simply suspended by means of small spiral springs h.
The wedging of the break blocks is produced against the wooden or metal
pieces fand f, which are rigidly fixed to the sheet iron pieces c and c¹ by means
of the tie bars d and d'. This arrangement allows of the rapid dismounting of
the break by simply removing a tie bar which will free the piece f, enabling the
electro-magnet and the break blocks to be unhooked from the springs.
The inner part of the pieces f and f' has an excentric radius different from that.
of the break blocks, and it is this difference which permits of instant or immediate
unwedging.

page_text: Each electro-magnet has two break blocks of special form, one upper and one
lower, and are intended one for forward running and the other for backward
running of the train.
The action of the break is as follows:-A generator of electricity (battery,
magneto-electric or dynamo-electric machine, or other) is placed on the engine or
on the luggage van at the front or rear of the train. The carriages or waggons
having been placed in connection by wires, commutators may be worked by the
driver or by the attendants of the train who may send an electric current which
would pass through all the electro-magnets, setting their magnetic properties in
activity and causing their instantaneous adhesion to the wheels which then act as
armatures; the impulsive force of the wheel will carry the break blocks in the
form of wedges round into between the abutments g and g', and the wheel which
will cause a wedging action of a strength proportionate to the strength of the
current and the initial speed of the train.
Having now described the nature of my said. Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First. The arrangement and the method of action of the electro-magnets
which serve to produce the wedging and unwedging of the wheels; the action of
the said electro-magnets being the same in principle both for forward and backward
running.
Secondly. The application of this electric break to all waggons or carriages of
railways, tramways, or other vehicles as above described and specified, and shown
as an example in the annexed Drawings, or any modifications of the same which
may be found necessary according to the nature of the vehicle, such as the means
of fixing and the detail arrangement of the electro-magnets and break blocks to
the waggon or vehicle, also general modifications of the accessory or auxiliary parts
of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sigmund von Sawiczeski, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.