Year: 1885

page_text: I PERCIVAL EVERITT, of N° 47, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Engineer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that class of brakes that are automatic in their action
that is to say those brakes in which the blocks are applied to the wheels when the
train connection is intentionally or accidentally disconnected.
Until now these brakes have only been automatic when the couplings between
the carriages break or become detached or when the brake is damaged.
According to my invention the said brakes are automatically applied as soon as
any wheel in a train shall leave the metals.
In order to effect this I carry a pipe or pipes from the main train connection,
such pipes being so bent or shaped as to terminate within some little distance and
in such a position on a vertical line as to stand just behind the flange of each
leading and trailing pair of wheels on the carriage or engine to be fitted.
This pipe or these pipes must be attached to the axle box so as not to rise and
fall with the main body of the carriage as it is necessary that the pipe or pipes
should always retain its or their relative position to the wheel; the pipe or pipes
has or have play between the axle and the main train pipe.
At the end of the pipes nearest the rail I fit a cock or valve of any suitable con-
struction attached to which is a lever descending to a distance below the flange of
the wheel in the same track relative to the rail as the flange of the wheel is.
The action is as follows:
As long as the wheels retain their right position on the rails this lever will
follow in the track of the flange and the valve or cock will remain closed.
But as soon as the flange of the wheel commences to mount the rail the aforesaid
lever will come in contact with the rail and open the valve thus putting the
brakes on.
The lever, extending as it does below the flange of the wheel would be liable to
come in contact with high places in the road and obstacles such as stones etc, which
would damage it. I therefore construct the end of it so that it is free to move at
right angles to the path it takes when applying the brakes.
It will be seen from the preceding description that in a train properly fitted
with the above described apparatus the instant that any part of such train leaves

page_text: the metals the brakes will be instantaneously and automatically applied.-Instead
of carrying the pipe or pipes close down to the wheels as above described I
sometimes attach a bracket to the axle box carrying a pivotted lever of a similar
construction and acting in the same manner as before described. I connect this
lever by a connecting rod to a cock or valve in close proximity to the main train
connection. This valve is so situated that it can be actuated from both ends of
the axles thereby using one valve instead of two.
Improvements in or Applicable to Automatic Railway Brakes.
I, PERCIVAL EVERITT of N° 47 Cannon Street, in the City of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention relates to that class of brakes which are automatic in their
action, that is to say, those brakes in which the blocks are applied to the wheels
by self-acting mechanism when the train connection is intentionally or accidentally.
disconnected.
Until now these brakes have only been automatic when the couplings between
the carriages break or become detached or when the brake is damaged.
According to my invention the said brakes are automatically applied as soon as
any wheel in a train shall leave the metals, or as soon as any dangerous obstruction
to the passage of a wheel is encountered by a train in motion.
For this purpose I provide the engine or carriages with a pipe or pipes which
act as safety pipes from the main train connection such pipes being so bent or
shaped as to form pendent pipes terminating within a short distance from the rail.
These pendent safety pipes are fitted with a cock or valve or equivalent
provided with a lever or rod so arranged that should the engine or a carriage leave
the metals or a dangerous obstruction be met the said lever or rod would come in
contact with the rails, a sleeper or the earth, and thereby move round the plug of
the cock and admit air and thus put on the brakes.
In practice I find it advantageous to weaken the pendent pipes above the cock
by employing a reduced thickness of metal or equivalent ineans so that in case the
lever should, from any cause, not act, the pipe, on coming in contact with.any

page_text: obstacle such as the rail or a aleeper, would break off at the weakened part and
admit air.
safety
It will be obvious that instead of employing a cock whose moveable plug is
acted upon by a lever a fixed plug may be used to close the lower end of
pipe and that if the pipe be weakened as above described then on the carriage
leaving the rails or on a dangerous obstruction being met a portion of the safety.
pipe will be broken off and a communication opened between the air in the train
pipe and the external air which will cause the brakes to operate as will be herein-
after more fully explained.
In order to close the pendent pipe, after it has been broken, against the air when
the train is again started, the pendent pipe is advantageously provided with a cock
or valve above the weakened part of the pipe-or other means of closing the broken
pipe may be provided such as a plug or stopper.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawings in which figure 1 represents
a longitudinal elevation of part of the under frame of a railway carriage shewing
my pendent pipe with its cock and lever applied to an automatic brake; figure 2
is a part end elevation of the same; figures 3 and 4 are similar views shewing the
pendent pipe weakened at its lower part and closed at its lower end and having
a cock above the weakened part-and figures 5 and 6 are similar views shewing a
weakened pendent pipe closed at its lower end and without a cock above the
weakened part. Figure 7 is a longitudinal elevation of part of a locomotive engine
and figure 8 a front elevation of the same shewing a weakened pendent pipe closed
at its lower end and without a cock above the weakened part applied to an
automatic brake. Figures 9 and 10 are similar views to figures 1 and 2 shewing
a weakened pendent pipe open at its lower end and having a cock above and a
cock below the weakened part. Similar letters in all the figures represent similar
parts.
In figures 1 and 2 a, is the pendent pipe open at its upper part to the main train
connection its lower end, which extends to within a short distance of the rail b,
being provided with the cock c on the flat of which is the lever d.
In its normal position the cock c is closed but should the engine or a carriage
leave the metals the lever d of the cock c of its pendent pipe a on coming in
contact with the rail b, with a sleeper, or with the earth, would open the cock c, so
as to admit air and thus put on the brakes. When the train is again started the
cock c would of course have to be closed.
In the arrangement shewn in figures 3 and 4 the pendent pipe a is closed at its
lower end, and is weakened at a short distance above its lower end as illustrated
at e f is a cock placed above the weakened part e, the said cock in its norinal
position being open. On the train leaving the rails and the lower end of the pipe
coming against the rail, a sleeper or the earth, the portion of the pipe below the
weakened part e thereof would be broken off, thus admitting air, and putting on
the brakes. When the train is again started the cock f would of course have to be
closed.
The pendent pipes shewn in figures 5, 6, 7 and 8 are similar to that shewn in
figures 3 and 4 except that they have no cock f; in this case after the pendent
pipe a has been broken through the engine or the carriage leaving the metals as
above described, it would have to be closed by a plug or stopper when the train
is again set in motion.
The pendent pipe shewn in figures 9 and 10 is similar to that shewn in figures 1
and 2 except that the lower part is weakened and that the pipe is provided with
a cock fabove the weakened part as well as a cock at its lower end.
It will be obvious that in the arrangement shewn in figures 3 and 4 should the
weakened end of the pipe a become broken the cock f above when closed as
hereinbefore described could have a pendent lever attached to it which would then
act in a similar manner to the lever d of the cock c shewn in figures 1 and 2, if
the train should leave the rails.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. The use in combination with automatic brakes of a pendent pipe or pipes
provided with a cock or valve or its equivalent so arranged that on an engine or a
carriage leaving the rails or meeting a dangerous obstruction a communication
between the outer air and the interior of the pipes will be opened as and for the
purpose hereinbefore described.
2. The manufacture and use with automatic brakes, of the improved pendent
pipes hereinbefore described and illustrated in the several figures of the accom-
panying drawings.
3. The improved automatic brake apparatus constructed substantially as and for
the purposes herein described.