IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PÅTENT to John Gedge, of 4, Wellington Street South, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY TRAINS."
-A communication from Franz Steigerwald, Henrich Schirges, and Carl
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gedge at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th March
1855.
I, JOHN GEDGE, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY TRAINS," a
communication from Franz Steigerwald, Henrich Schirges, and Carl Fuchs,
of Munich, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, to be as follows:-
I propose to apply a receding force, or power reproducing itself, which, on the
occurrence of interruption to the progress of a railway train from collision or
other causes, shall check, retard, or stop the train. I employ for this purpose
the action of the buffers of railway vehicles, so arranging certain apparatus,
that upon the buffer heads being driven home, or partly so, such action shall
cause a pressure or embracing of the outer peripheries of all or as many as
may be required of the wheels of the vehicles forming a railway train. The

page_text: obstructive cause being removed, the buffers and consequently the breaking
apparatus resume their original positions, and the wheels are set free to revolve
as before.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GEDGE, of 4, Wellington Street South, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth_day_of_March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant unto me,
the said John Gedge, Her especial license that I, the said John Gedge, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Gedge, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF
STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY TRAINS," a communication from Franz Steiger-
wald, Henrich Schirges, and Carl Fuchs, of Munich, in the Kingdom of
Bavaria, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Gedge, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 calandar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Gedge, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description,
reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and forming
part of this my Specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon
to denote similar parts, where such parts appear or can be seen respectively.
This Invention consists in the means for breaking or retarding the velocity
of railway carriages, and may be termed a self-acting "brake or break," in

page_text: connection with the buffer and buffer rods of railway vehicles. The idea of a
breaking apparatus to be acted upon by such means is by no means new, and
many arrangements have been made and applied to effect the stoppage or
retardation of trains on that principel, but hitherto without practical success;
some apparatus act upon the wheels, some upon the rails, but hitherto none
seem to have offered the advantages to be obtained from the use of this
Invention.
The first advantage proposed by its use is; that it provides the means för sus-
pending the action of the breaking apparatus from one single point, say, either
the tender or the last carriage in the train, whenever it is necessary to shunt or
back the train.
Secondly, the breaks are so constructed, that, whenever by slackening the
speed of the train the buffers are acted upon, they not only affix themselves to
the wheels, but at the same time impinge on the rails, thus effecting an
increase of friction, and stopping or retarding the train more readily or in a
shorter space of time than when friction on the peripheries of the wheels only
is used, as in vehicles provided with breaking apparatus according to this
Invention will perform or give out as much retarding power and that with
greater quickness than 'three vehicles armed with the breaks in ordinary use;
and it is evident that as the wheels' of the latter would only be prevented from
turning, and so compel the vehicle to slide on the rails (to the great deterio-
ration both of the wheels and rails) on a single point of the peripheries of the
wheels; while a combined action on both wheels and rails, spread as it is by
this Invention over at least 24 inches 'of surface, would not only materially
assist in 'the sudden retardation of the train, but 'essentially economize the
material of both wheels and 'rails, saving the former from being so constantly
returned to the shop for new facing, and the latter from being worn unevenly
at those portions or places where breaking usually comes into operation.
Again, the important advantage is achieved that a train will require less
braking or retarding apparatus owing to the increased power and efficiency of
that used according to this Invention, the wear and tear of the wheels and rails
being, as before shewn, considerably diminished:
In the Drawing Sheet 1, Figure 1, will be seen an elevation of two railway
trucks and a goods waggon, with the whole of the breaking apparatus applied
thereto or thereon; Figure 2 is an end view of a goods waggon, having
part of the apparatus, as herein-after described; Figure 3 is a front view of
a railway goods waggon, shewing parts of the apparatus; and Figure 4 is a
plan view of Figure 1, also shewing the apparatus as it would appear on such
view.
"

page_text: To affix the apparatus, an axle a is placed at each extremity (or nearly so),
say, behind the front board, having on both sides or ends thereof a lever b, the
lower end of each of which is secured to the connecting rods of the breaks c.
The upper part of the lever b is bifurcated, and is provided with a flap d, which
flap impinges on the buffer rode whenever the breaks are to be brought
into operation, or in other words, whenever backing or shunting the train is
not going on. The flap d of the two levers mentioned are connected across
the carriage framing by a slight cross bar or connecting rod f, Figure 4,
Sheet 1. In the middle, and well secured thereto, of the cross bar is a
roller, made of any suitable material g, in the inner sides of the front boards
or cross pieces of the waggon, and above the cross bar is fixed a roller h;
roller being of less elongated dimensions than the one just mentioned g, and of
about four inches diameter, (more or less, as may be found best in practice);
and by these means a small rope (denoted in the Drawing by the red line,) passes
from one extremity of the line to the other; in order to enable me to discon-
nect the carriages composing such train at pleasure, I place at proper distances
a small carbine hook or fastening, so that the said fastening, being in the open
centre between the ends of the carriages, can be disconnected without trouble
or inconvenience. This rope or line runs through the front and back framing
of each carriage, and around or over the rollers g and h, before described.
When the train is to be backed or shunted, this rope is to be drawn (either
from the tender or the extremity of the train); it lifts the cross bars of the flaps
d, and thus, suspending the communication of the flaps d with the buffer rods,
the slackening or loosening of the rope causes the flaps to resume their position
on the buffer rods, and the breaking apparatus can then act. Care must be
taken to secure the rope from passing through the front framing of the last
carriage, say, by means of a knot or otherwise. On the third vehicle or break
van, Figure 1, is shewn the peculiar suspension of the break. The buffer rod
is so made as to prevent its being elongated as at o, according to the structure of
the vehicle, which elongation terminates in a chain p; such chain, after passing
over an iron roller solidly constructed and securely attached to the under
framing of the vehicle, descends to the break block q, and is bolted or otherwise
fastened thereto. These break blocks are connected or rather held in position
by a cross bar r of sufficient strength (Figure 1), and are drawn down on the
rails, and at the same time against the wheels by the connecting rods 5, 5,
which parting from the lever b expand into two branches, and terminate on the
break block q, as described and shewn. The buffer being acted upon drives in
the buffer rod, and by its action on the chain apparatus described, causes the
break block q to descend towards the rail, the lower end of the lever 6 passing

page_text: it simultaneously on to the periphery of the wheel by means of the connecting
rods 5, 5, making the action of the break block similar to that of a wedge.
The break block may be coated on both sides with plates of wrought iron or
soft sheet iron, or other suitable material, and the inner side of the block acting
on the periphery of the wheel is provided with a flange. When the power
which has driven in the buffer springs ceases, or is withdrawn, the buffer
resumes the nominal position; the break block by means of the chain is lifted
from the rail and pushed sideways from the wheel, in a manner equally reliable
and practical.
I would here observe that the rope serving to lift the flaps & should be coiled
on a roller, placed either in the tender or in the last carriage of the train, as
may be found most convenient, and care should be taken that the connecting
hooks used with the rope should not exceed such dimensions as to permit
their being freely wound on such roller with the rope when required, without
interference with the regularity of the coil.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention communicated to
me, and the means by which it is carried into practical effect, I desire it to
be distinctly understood that I lay no claim to the exclusive use of any of the
parts or portions of apparatus or otherwise I have herein described or shewn
in the Drawings, taken as parts or portions, and when used seperately and not
in combination for the purposes of this Invention; nor do I confine myself to
the exact modifications herein described, nor to the proportion of parts to each
other, as such may and indeed must be varied to suit the different build of
vehicles used on railways; but I claim, the combination of parts herein-before
described and illustrated by the Drawings, forming when so combined improved
means for stopping or retarding railway trains.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gedge, have hereunto affixed my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
EDWARD WATSON GEDGE,
39, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden.
JOHN GEDGE.