511 



the part of the breaksman to avoid this ; for if the wheels be 

 made to shde over the rails, a flat surface is formed, and the 

 wheel is always liable to be stopped in the same position, so 

 that the wheel rapidly becomes unserviceable by being so 

 worn as to give a very uneasy motion to the carriage, and 

 eventually is liable to jump off the rail. 



An objection also arises to the applying very powerful 

 breaks to the tender, and reversing the steam or applying 

 breaks to the engine, that when the first part of the train 

 is suddenly checked or retarded, the other carriages press 

 forwards one on the other, having a tendency to throw some 

 of the carriages off the rails, the train being as though 

 squeezed together. 



It therefore appears to me that the means of obtaining 

 control over the speed of the train will be by increasing the 

 number of breaks which can be brought into action simul- 

 taneously. Any method for effecting such purpose must, 

 however, be simple, and must not require the employment 

 of additional guards. 



To effect this I propose to employ torsion-rods, similar to 

 those I have already described, but made somewhat stronger, 

 to communicate circular motion from one carriag-e to the 

 adjoining carriages in the same train ; so that the guard or 

 breaksman may, in addition to working the breaks of the 

 carriage on which he is riding, work breaks on the adjoining 

 carriages ; thus working breaks on three carriages, in lieu of 

 working only one, as at present; and each of such breaks 

 might be worked separately. 



It has been proposed to connect the breaks with the buffers 

 of railway carriages, so that when the buffer-springs are 

 compressed the breaks will be brought into action against the 

 wheels ; and, in a long train furnished with such self-acting 

 breaks, as each preceding carriage is pressed by the succeed- 

 ing carriages, the buffers will put the breaks in action, and 



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