Improvements in and relating to Hand Brakes for Railway Wagons and the like.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Nov.,
1899
Complete Specification Left, 8th Aug., 1900-Accepted, 29th Sept., 1900
Improvements in and relating to Hand Brakes for Railway Wagons
and the like.
I, VICTOR ISIDORE FEENY, of 60, Queen Victoria Street, in the City and County
of London, Consulting and Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
-
In brakes as hitherto designed for being operated in each sense from either
side, it is usual to employ a rack into which a hand lever gears, and to apply
various movable devices to the brake gear on each side, such for example, as
pivoting the rack in order to enable the lever to clear the rack when the brake
is being operated, and to be locked or held off after the operation.
My invention consists in providing the adjustment necessary for these purposes
without the addition of such devices to the brake gear on either side and without
interfering with the use of bottom or side doors.
In consists in pivoting a cross shaft through which the motion of the brake
gear on one side is transmitted to the gear on the other side of the truck, so as to
allow the whole system of levers on each side to move into or out of the position
in which it is locked through the hand lever with the rack.
The following construction would for example embody my invention; fixed
racks are provided on each side, the teeth of which respectively look to and from
the side of the wagon, and the brake blocks on one side are carried on a compound
lever, through one joint of which nearest to the end of the wagon passes a cross-
shaft on which is keyed the longitudinal hand-lever on the other side of the wagon.
The shaft is supported by and free to revolve in a horizontal sleeve placed at its
centre which is pivoted to the underside of the wagon so as to be free to revolve
round a vertical axis.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Hand Brakes for Railway Wagons
and the like.
I, VICTOR ISIDORE FEENY, of 60, Queen Victoria Street, in the City and County
of London, Consulting and Mechanical 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:-
-
In brakes as hitherto designed for being operated in each sense from either
side it is usual to employ a rack into which a hand lever gears, and to apply

page_text: various movable devices to the brake gear on each side, such for example as
pivoting the rack, in order to enable the lever to clear the rack when the brake
is being operated and to be locked or held off after the operation.
My invention provides the adjustment necessary for these purposes without the
addition of such devices to the brake gear on either side and without interfering
with the use of bottom or side doors.
It consists mainly in pivotting a cross shaft and using the rotation of this cross
shaft to transmit the motion of the brake gear on one side to the gear on the
other side of the wagon, so as to allow the lever or whole system of levers on each
side to move into or out of either position in which it is locked through the
engagement of the hand lever with the rack, or the intermediate position in
which it is merely
65
on.
وو
In order that my invention may be the more clearly understood, I will now
describe some forms in which it may be applied, with reference to the accom-
panying drawings, in which, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a wagon
and Figure 2 a plan of the underside of the same wagon, to which one form of
the invention has been applied. Figure 1* shews a front and plan view of a curved
plate hereafter described. Figure 1b is an alternative eye-device for carrying the
cross shaft. Figure 3 is a plan view of a modified arrangement, and Figure 4
comprises a side and an end view of the pivoted fork. Figure 5 is an alternative
gearing device for coupling the shafts together. Figure 6 is a plan view in which
the teeth of the racks look longitudinally. Figures 7 and 8 are detail views of the
rack and of a pivot for securing the lever to the cross shaft. Figure 9 is an
enlarged view of part of the rack and of the lever.
In the form of my invention shown in Figures 1 and 2, the braking mechanism
is substantially that which is in ordinary use except that the hand-lever A is
connected to the brake spindle B by means of jointed levers CD. The fulcrum of
the hand-lever is a slotted plate or pivotted link E secured to the sole plate F
of the wagon and a cross shaft G is rigidly attached to the hand-lever Å at its
fulcrum. The plate is preferably curved to an arc struck from the centre of the
cross-shaft, as shewn in detail in Figure 1", or the link is preferably a loose fit
round the cross shaft, so as to permit the slight angular movement of the cross
shaft in operation. This cross shaft is pivoted at its centre round a vertical
axis H; at its further side it works in a slotted plate or pivoted link E' similar
to that on the near side and is rigidly attached to a second hand-lever A. The
weight of the cross shaft is preferably taken by the slotted plates or links E E¹.
The hand-levers work in loops I I' furnished with teeth which may look respec-
tively to and from the wagon or may both look to or both from it, and a tooth
or projection on the hand-lever engages with them. When "off" the hand-lever
rests in a hook at the top of the rack.
In lieu of the pivoted bracket for the cross-shaft I may use the fixed eye device
illustrated in Figure 1b.
When the hand-lever on either side has to be operated, for instance to be taken
out of engagement with a tooth of its rack, the freedom of the cross shaft round
its pivot permits the transverse motion necessary for the purpose and the rigid
connection of the levers to the cross shaft causes such motion imparted to a lever
on one side to be communicated positively to the lever on the other side. It will
be observed that this construction has the advantage of requiring the moving
joints to be made quite free.
Where it is desired that the hand-levers, while being operated by the same
motion on either side, shall on each side of the wagon be on the same hand of a
person in the centre of the wagon and looking towards it, the hand levers must
be placed at opposite ends of the wagon. In this case the pivoted cross shaft should
be divided at or about its centre, as shown in Figure 3, and I connect the two
divided ends by gearing K, the central part of the shaft being carried by bearings
formed in a pivoted fork L (Figure 4). In this arrangement the teeth of the
racks II are preferably formed to look both towards or both from the wagon.

page_text: Instead of looking transversely I may make the teeth of my racks look longi-
tudinally along the wagon, the racks being preferably curved to approximately
an are struck from the fulcrum, see Figures 6, 7 and 8. With this arrangement
I pivot the hand levers to the cross shaft around a vertical axis O and make them
work in loops or guides in which they fit loosely, so that in addition to revolving
with the cross shaft and so operating the brake, they are quite free to move back-
wards and forwards and so to lock and release it.
I may form cams on the teeth of my rack and on the tooth on each hand-lever
such as those shown in Figure 9 with the object of guiding the hand-lever when
depressed from engagement and raised and thereby preventing the tooth on one
hand-lever from catching in its rack when it is raised by the operation of the
opposite hand-lever. In the form shown in Figure 9 the cams Q and R serve to
guide the lever outwards when the operator merely depresses it, and the surfaces S
and T tend to throw it outwards when raised and to prevent its unintentionally
catching in the rack. A similar effect is exercised when the lever is lifted into
the hook.
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). In hand brakes for railway wagons and the like provided with operating
mechanism on each side, a transverse pivoted cross-shaft, the rotation of which
from either side operates the brakegear and the operating mechanism on the other
side, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated.
(2). In hand brakes for railway wagons and the like provided with operating
mechanism on each side, a transverse pivoted cross-shaft divided at or about its
centre, the two divided ends being geared together, substantially for the purposes
and as described and illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6.
(3). In hand brakes for railway wagons and the like having hand-levers which
engage and disengage with teeth on a rack by means of a vertical and a horizontal
traverse, forming on the hand-levers and the teeth of the rack cams which during
the vertical traverse guide the lever through its horizontal traverse, substantially
as described and illustrated on the accompanying drawings.
(4). Hand-brakes for railway wagons and the like, substantially constructed,
combined and arranged as described and illustrated Figures 1 to 9.
Dated this Eighth day of August 1900.
For the Applicant,
GEDGE & FEENY,
Chartered Patent Agents,
60, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C.