Chapter VIII: Part 8

A simple method of obtaining this increased resistance is by pressing a block or shoe of metal or wood against the rim of a moving wheel, or by tightening a flexible strap or band on a rotating pulley or drum. In wheeled road vehicles, a wheel may be prevented from rotating by a chain passed through its spokes and attached to the body of the vehicle, when the resistance is increased by the substitution of a rubbing for a rolling action; or the same effect may be produced by fixing a slipper or skid under the wheel. Other forms of brake depend, not on the friction between two solid bodies, but on the frictional resistance of a fluid, as in "fan" and "pump" brakes. Thus the motion of revolving blades may be opposed by the resistance of the air or of a liquid in which they are made to work, or the motion of a plunger fitting tightly in a cylinder filled with a fluid may be checked by the fluid being prevented from escape except through a narrow orifice. The fly used to regulate the speed of the striking train in a clock is an example of a fan brake, while a pump brake is utilized for controlling the recoil of guns and in the hydraulic buffers sometimes fitted at terminal railway stations to stop trains that enter at excessive speed. On electric tramcars a braking effect is sometimes obtained by arranging the connexions of the motors so that they act as generators driven by the moving car. In this way a counter-torque is exerted on the axles. The current produced is expended by some means, as by being made to operate some frictional braking device, or to magnetize iron shoes carried on the car just over, but clear of, the running rails, to which they are then magnetically attracted (see TRACTION).

The simplest way of applying a brake is by muscular force, exerted through a hand or foot lever or through a screw, by which the brake block is pressed against the rim of the wheel or the band brake tightened on its drum. This method is sufficient in the case of most road vehicles, and is largely used on railway vehicles. But the power thus available is limited, and becomes inadequate for heavy vehicles moving at high speeds. Moreover, on a train consisting of a number of vehicles, the hand brakes on each of which are independent of all others, either a brakesman must be carried on each, or a number of the brakes must be left unused, with consequent loss of stopping power; while even if there is a brakesman on every vehicle it is impossible to secure that all the brakes throughout the train are applied with the promptness that is necessary in case of emergency.

Considerations of this sort led to the development of power brakes for railway trains. Of these there are five main classes:--

Railway power brakes.

(1) Mechanical brakes, worked by springs, friction wheels on the axle, chains wound on drums, or other mechanical devices, or by the force produced when, by reason of a sudden checking of the speed of the locomotive, the momentum of the cars causes pressure on the draw-bars or buffing devices. (2) Hydraulic brakes, worked by means of water forced through pipes into proper mechanism for transmitting its force to the brake-shoes. (3) Electric brakes. (4) Air and vacuum brakes, worked by compressed air or by air at atmospheric pressure operating on a vacuum. (5) Brakes worked by steam or water from the boiler of the engine, operating by means of a cylinder; the use of these is generally limited to the locomotive. Of this kind is the counter-pressure or water brake of L. le Chatelier. If the valve gear of a locomotive in motion be reversed and the steam regulator be left open, the cylinders act as compressors, pumping air from the exhaust pipe into the boiler against the steam pressure. A retarding effect is thus exercised, but at the cost of certain inconveniences due to the passage of hot air and cinders from the smoke box through the cylinders. To remedy these, le Chatelier arranged that a jet of hot water from the boiler should be delivered into the exhaust pipe, so that steam and not the hot flue gases should be pumped back.

Power brakes may be either continuous or independent--continuous if connected throughout the train and with the locomotive by pipes, wires, &c., as the compressed air, vacuum and electric brakes; independent if not so connected, as the buffer-brakes and hand-brakes. Continuous brakes may be divided into two other great classes--automatic and non-automatic. The former are so arranged that they are applied automatically on all the coaches of the train if any important part of the apparatus is broken, or the couplings between cars are ruptured; in an emergency they can be put on by the guard, or (in some cases) by a passenger. Non-automatic brakes can be applied only by the person (usually the engine-driver) to whom the management of them is given; they may become inoperative on all the coaches, and always on those which have become detached, if a coupling or other important and generally essential part is broken. Many mechanical and several hydraulic and electrical continuous brakes have been invented and tried; but experience has shown them so inadequate in practice that they have all practically disappeared, leaving the field to the air and the vacuum brakes. At first these were non-automatic, but in 1872 the automatic air-brake was invented by George Westinghouse, and the automatic vacuum-brake was developed a few years later.

Those respects in which non-automatic brakes are inadequate will be understood from the following summary of the requirements most important in a train-braking apparatus: (1) It must be capable of application to every wheel throughout the train. (2) It must be so prompt in action that the shortest possible time shall elapse between its first application and the moment when the full power can be exerted throughout the train. (3) It must be capable of being applied by the engine-driver or by any of the officials in charge of the train, either in concert or independently. (4) The motion of the train must be arrested in the shortest possible distance. (5) The failure of a vital part must declare itself by causing the brake to be applied and to remain applied until the cause of failure is removed. (6) The breaking of the train in two or more parts must cause immediate automatic application of the brakes on all the coaches. (7) When used in ordinary service stops it must be capable of gradual and uniform application (followed, if necessary, by a full emergency application at any part of the service application) and of prompt release under all conditions of application. (8) It must be simple in operation and construction, not liable to derangement, and inexpensive in maintenance.

Simple air-brake.

The Westinghouse non-automatic or "straight" air-brake, patented in
1869, consists in its simplest form of a direct-acting, steam-driven
air-pump, carried on the locomotive, which forces compressed air into
a reservoir, usually placed under the foot-plate of the locomotive.
From this reservoir a pipe is led through the engine cab, where it is
fitted with a three-way cock, to the rear of the locomotive tender,
where it terminates in a flexible hose, on the end of which is a
coupling. The coaches are furnished with a similar pipe, having hose
and coupling at each end, which communicates with one end of a
cylinder containing a piston, to the rod of which the brake-rods and
levers are connected. The application of the brakes is effected by the
engine-driver turning the three-way cock, so that compressed air flows
through the pipe and, acting against one side of the brake-cylinder
piston, applies the brake-shoes to the wheels by the movement of this
piston and the rods and levers connected to it. To release the brakes
the three-way cock is turned to cut off communication between the main
reservoir and the train-pipe, and to open a port permitting the escape
of the compressed air in the train-pipe and brake-cylinders. This
brake was soon found defective and inadequate in many ways. An
appreciable time was required for the air to flow through the pipes
from the locomotive to the car-cylinders, and this time increased
quickly with the length of the trains. Still more objectionable,
however, was the fact that on detached coaches the air-brakes could
not be applied, the result being sometimes serious collisions between
the front and rear portions of the train.

Section through Triple-Valve and Brake-Cylinder.]

Automatic air-brake.

In the Westinghouse "ordinary" automatic air-brake a main air
reservoir on the engine is kept charged with compressed air at 80 lb.
per sq. in. by means of the steam-pump, which may be controlled by an
automatic governor. On electric railways a pump, driven by an electric
motor, is generally employed; but occasionally, on trains which run
short distances, no pump is carried, the main reservoir being charged
at the terminal points with sufficient compressed air for the journey.
Conveniently placed to the driver's hand is the driver's valve, by
means of which he controls the flow of air from the main reservoir to
the train-pipe, or from the train-pipe to the atmosphere. A
reducing-valve is attached to the driver's valve, and in the normal or
running position of the latter reduces the pressure of the air flowing
from the main reservoir to the train-pipe by 10 or 15 lb. per sq. in.
From the engine a train-pipe runs the whole length of the train, being
rendered continuous between each vehicle and between the engine and
the rest of the train by flexible hose couplings. Each vehicle is
provided with a brake-cylinder H (fig. 1), containing a piston, the
movement of which applies the brake blocks to the wheels, an
"auxiliary air-reservoir" G, and an automatic "triple-valve" F. The
auxiliary reservoir receives compressed air from the train-pipe and
stores it for use in the brake-cylinder of its own vehicle, and both
the auxiliary reservoir and the triple-valve are connected directly or
indirectly with the train-pipe through the pipe E. The automatic
action of the brake is due to the construction of the triple-valve,
the principal parts of which are a piston and slide-valve, so arranged
that the air in the auxiliary reservoir acts at all times on the side
of the piston to which the slide-valve is attached, while the air in
the train-pipe exerts its pressure on the opposite side. So long as
the brakes are not in operation, the pressures in the train-pipe,
triple-valve and auxiliary reservoir are all equal, and there is no
compressed air in the brake-cylinder. But when, in order to apply the
brake, the driver discharges air from the train-pipe, this
equilibrium is destroyed, and the greater pressure in the auxiliary
reservoir forces the triple-valve to a position which allows air from
the auxiliary reservoir to pass directly into the brake-cylinder. This
air forces out the piston of the brake-cylinder and applies the
brakes, connexion being made with the brake-rigging at R. The purpose
of the small groove n which establishes communication between the two
sides of the piston when the brakes are off, is to prevent their
unintended application through slight leakage from the train-pipe. To
release the brakes, the driver, by moving the handle of his valve to
the release position, admits air from the main reservoir to the
train-pipe, the pressure in which thus becomes greater than that in
the auxiliary reservoir; the piston and slide-valve of the
triple-valve are thereby forced back to their normal position, the
compressed air in the brake-cylinder is discharged, and the piston is
brought back by the coiled spring, thus releasing the brakes. At the
same time the auxiliary reservoir is recharged.

Quick-acting air-brake.

With this "ordinary" brake, since an appreciable time is required for
the reduction of pressure to travel along the train-pipe from the
engine, the brakes are applied sensibly sooner at the front than at
the end of the train, and with long trains this difference in the time
of application becomes a matter of importance. The "quick-acting"
brake was introduced to remedy this defect. For it the triple valve is
provided with a supplementary mechanism, which, when the air pressure
in the train-pipe is suddenly or violently reduced, opens a passage
whereby air from the train-pipe is permitted to enter the
brake-cylinder directly. The result is twofold: not only is the
pressure from the auxiliary reservoir acting in the brake-cylinder
reinforced by the pressure in the train-pipe, but the pressure in the
train-pipe is reduced locally in every vehicle in extremely rapid
succession instead of at the engine only, and in consequence all the
brakes are applied almost simultaneously throughout the train. The
same effect is produced should the train break in two, or a hose or
any part of the train-pipe burst; but during ordinary or "service"
stops the triple-valve acts exactly as in the ordinary brake, the
quick-acting portion, that is, the vertical piston and valve seen in
fig. 1, not coming into operation. When the handle Z is turned to the
position X the quick-acting mechanism is rendered inoperative, and
when it is at Y the brake on the vehicle concerned is wholly cut out
of action.

A further improvement introduced in the Westinghouse brake in 1906 was
designed to give quick action for service as well as emergency stops.
In this the triple-valve is substantially the same as in the ordinary
brake. The additional mechanism of the quick-acting portion is
dispensed with, but instead, a small chamber, normally containing air
at atmospheric pressure, is provided on each vehicle, and is so
arranged that it is put into communication with the train-pipe by the
first movement of the triple-valve. As soon, therefore, as the driver,
by lowering the pressure in the train-pipe, causes the triple-valve in
the foremost vehicle of the train to operate, a certain quantity of
air rushes out of the train-pipe into the small chamber; a further
local reduction in the pressure of the train-pipe in that vehicle is
thereby effected, and this almost instantaneously actuates the
triple-valve of the succeeding vehicle, and so on throughout the
train. In this way, on a train 1800 ft. long, consisting of sixty
30-ft. vehicles, the brake-blocks may be applied, with equal force, on
the last vehicle about 2-1/2 seconds later than on the first.

High-speed air-brake.

Brake-blocks can be applied, without skidding the wheels, with greater
pressure at high speeds than at low. Advantage is taken of this fact
in the design of the Westinghouse "high-speed" brake, invented in
1894, which consists of attachments enabling the pressure in the
train-pipe and reservoirs to be increased at the will of the driver.
The increased pressure acting in the brake-cylinder increases in the
same proportion the pressure of the brake-shoes against the wheels.
Attached to the brake cylinder is a valve for automatically reducing
the pressure therein proportionately to the reduction in speed, until
the maximum pressure under which the brakes are operated in making
ordinary stops is reached, when this valve closes and the maximum safe
pressure for operating the brakes at ordinary speeds is retained until
a stop is made.

Automatic Vacuum-Brake.

In the automatic vacuum-brake, the exhausting apparatus generally
consists of a combined large and small ejector (a form of jet-pump)
worked by steam and under the control of the driver, though sometimes
a mechanical air-pump, driven from the crosshead of the locomotive, is
substituted for the small ejector. These ejectors, of which the small
one is at work continuously while the large one is only employed when
it is necessary to create vacuum quickly, e.g. to take off the brakes
after a short stop, produce in the train-pipe a vacuum equal to about
20 in. of mercury, or in other words reduce the pressure within it to
about one-third of an atmosphere. The train-pipe extends the whole
length of the train and communicates under each vehicle with a
cylinder, to the piston of which, by suitable rods and levers, the
brake-shoes are connected. The communication between the train-pipe
and the cylinder is controlled by a ball-valve, one form of which is
shown in fig. 2. The release-valve is for the purpose of withdrawing
the ball from its seat when it is necessary to take off the brakes by
hand; it is made air-tight by a small diaphragm, the pressure of
which, when there is vacuum in the pipe, pulls in the spindle and
allows the ball to fall freely into its seat. When air is exhausted
through the train-pipe it travels out from below the piston direct,
and from above it past the ball, which is thus forced off its seat, to
roll back again when the exhaustion is complete. In this state of
affairs the piston is held in equilibrium and the brake-blocks are
free of the wheels. To apply them, air is admitted to the train-pipe,
either purposely by the guard or driver, or accidentally by the
rupture of the train-pipe or coupling-hose between the vehicles. The
air passes to the lower side of the piston, but is prevented from
gaining access to the upper side by the ball-valve which blocks the
passage; hence the pressure becomes different on the two sides of the
piston, which in consequence is forced upwards and thus applies the
brakes. They are released by the re-establishment of equilibrium (by
the use of the large ejector if necessary); when this is done the
piston falls and the brakes drop off. The general arrangement of the
apparatus is shown in fig. 2. To render the application of the brakes
nearly simultaneous throughout a long train, the valve in the guard's
van is arranged to open automatically when the driver suddenly lets in
air to the train-pipe. This valve has a small hole through its stem,
and is secured at the top by a diaphragm to a small dome-like chamber,
which is exhausted when a vacuum is created in the train-pipe. A
gradual application destroys the vacuum in the chamber as quickly as
in the pipe and the diaphragm remains unmoved; but with a sudden one
the vacuum below the valve is destroyed more quickly, and with the
difference of pressure the diaphragm lifts the valve and admits air. A
rapid-acting valve (fig. 3) is sometimes interposed between the
train-pipe and the cylinder on each vehicle. In the normal or running
position, a vacuum is maintained below the valve A and above the
diaphragm B, while the chamber below B and above A is at atmospheric
pressure. For an emergency application of the brake, air is suddenly
admitted to the train-pipe and thus to the lower side of A, and the
pressure acting on the under side of B is sufficient to cause it to
lift the valve A, and to admit air from the atmosphere, both to the
brake-cylinder and the train-pipe, through the clappet-valve D, which
also rises because of the difference of pressure on its two sides. In
a graduated application, neither D nor A rises from its seat, but air
from the train-pipe finds access to the brake-cylinder by passing
around the peg C, which is so proportioned as to allow the necessary
amount of air to enter the brake-cylinder, and so obtain simultaneous
action of the brake throughout the train. When the handle E is turned
so as to prevent the clappet D from rising, the rapid action is cut
out and the brake acts as an ordinary vacuum automatic brake. A
modification of the device for obtaining accelerated action, described
above in connexion with the Westinghouse brake, is also applicable.
Accelerating chambers, again containing air at atmospheric pressure,
are provided on each vehicle and are connected with the train-pipe by
valves which open as the vacuum in the latter begins to decrease with
the operation of the driver's valve. The air thus admitted into the
train-pipe effects a still further local reduction of the vacuum,
which is sufficient to actuate the accelerating valve of each next
succeeding vehicle and is thus rapidly propagated throughout the
train.

Brake trials.

Famous tests of railway brakes were those made by Sir Douglas Galton
and Mr George Westinghouse on the London, Brighton and South Coast
railway, in England, in 1878, and by a committee of the Master Car
Builders' Association, near Burlington, Iowa, in 1886 and 1887. The
object of the former series (for accounts of which see _Proc. Inst.
Mech. Eng._, 1878, 1879) was to determine the co-efficient of friction
between the brake-shoe and the wheel, and between the wheel and rail
at different velocities when the wheels were revolving and when
skidded, i.e. stopped in their rotation and caused to slide. These
experiments were the first of their kind ever undertaken, and for many
years their results furnished most of the trustworthy data obtainable
on the friction of motion. It was found that the co-efficient of
friction between cast-iron shoes and steel-tired wheels increased as
the speed of the train decreased, varying from 0.111 at 55 m. an hour
to 0.33 when the train was just moving. It also decreased with the
time during which the brakes were applied; thus at 20 m. an hour the
co-efficient was at the beginning 0.182, after ten seconds 0.133,
after twenty seconds 0.099. Generally speaking, especially at moderate
speeds, the decrease in the co-efficient of friction due to time is
less than the increase due to decrease of speed, although when the
time is long the reverse may be true. When the wheels are skidded the
retardation of the train is always reduced; therefore, for the
greatest braking effect, the pressures on the brake-shoes should never
be sufficient to cause the wheels to slide on the rails. The
Burlington brake tests were undertaken to determine the practicability
of using power brakes on long and heavy freight trains. In the 1886
tests there were five competitors--three buffer-brakes, one
compressed-air brake, and one vacuum-brake. The tests comprised stops
with trains of twenty-five and fifty vehicles, at 20 and 40 m. an
hour, on the level and on gradients of 1 in 100. They demonstrated
that the buffer-brakes were inadequate for long trains, and that
considerable improvements in the continuous brakes, both
compressed-air and vacuum, would be needed to make them act quickly
enough to avoid excessive shocks in the rear vehicles. In 1887 the
trials of the year before were repeated by the same committee, and at
the same place. Trains of fifty vehicles, about 2000 ft. long and
fitted with each brake, were again provided, and there were again five
competitors, but they all entered continuous brakes--three
compressed-air brakes, one vacuum and one electric. The results of the
first day's test of the train equipped with Westinghouse brakes are
shown in Table I., the distances in which are the feet run by the
train after the brakes were set, and the times the seconds that
elapsed from the application of the brakes to full stop.

TABLE I.--_Stops of a Train of Fifty Empty Cars, 1887--Automatic
Air-Brakes._

+-----------+----------+----------+---------------------+
| Speed in | Distance | Time in | Equivalent Distance |
| Miles per | in Feet. | Seconds. | at 20 m. and 40 m. |
| Hour. | | | |
+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| 19-1/2 | 186 | 9-3/4 | 196 | . . |
| 19-1/4 | 215 | 11 | 233 | . . |
| 36-1/2 | 588 | 17 | . . | 693 |
+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

The remarkable shortness of these stops is the more evident when they
are compared with the best results obtained in 1886, as shown in Table
II.

TABLE II.--_Stops of a Train of Fifty Empty Cars, 1886--Automatic
Air-Brakes._

+-----------+----------+----------+---------------------+
| Speed in | Distance | Time in | Equivalent Distance |
| Miles. | in Feet. | Seconds. | at 20 m. and 40 m. |
+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| 23.5 | 424 | 17-1/2 | 307 | . . |
| 20.3 | 354 | 16 | 340 | . . |
| 40 | 922 | 22-1/2 | . . | 922 |
| 40 | 927 | 22-3/4 | . . | 927 |
+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

The time that elapsed between the application of the brakes on the
engine and on the fiftieth vehicle was almost twice as great in 1886
as in 1887, being in the latter tests only five to six seconds, and in
1887 the stops were made in less than two-thirds the distance required
in 1886. Still, violent shocks were caused by the rear vehicles
running against those in front, before the brakes on the former were
applied with sufficient force to hold them, and these shocks were so
severe as to make the use of the brakes in practice impossible on long
trains. When the triple-valves were actuated electrically, however,
the stops were still further improved, as shown in Table III.

Table III.--_Stops of a Train of Fifty Empty Cars--Electric
Application of Air-Brakes._

+-----------+----------+----------+---------------------+
| Speed in | Distance | Time in | Equivalent Distance |
| Miles. | in Feet. | Seconds. | at 20 m. and 40 m. |
+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| 21-1/2 | 160 | 7 | 139 | . . |
| 23 | 183 | 8 | 138 | . . |
| 38 | 475 | 14-1/2 | . . | 519 |
| 36-1/2 | 460 | 14 | . . | 545 |
+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

Although the same levers, shoes, rods and other connexions were used,
there were no shocks in the fiftieth car of the train on any stop,
whether on the level or on a gradient. The committee in charge
reported that the best type of brake for long freight trains was one
operated by air, in which the valves were actuated by electricity, but
they expressed doubt of the practicability of using electricity on
freight trains. The Westinghouse Company then proceeded to quicken the
action of the triple-valve, operated by air only, so that stops with
fifty-car trains could be made without shock, and without electrically
operated valves; and they were so successful in this respect that,
towards the end of the same year, 1887, with a train of fifty
vehicles, stops were made without shock, fully equalling in quickness
and shortness of distance run any that had been made at the trials by
the electrically operated brakes.

In 1889 some further tests were made by Sir Douglas Galton with the
automatic vacuum-brake, on a practically level portion of the
Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire railway (now the Great Central).
The train was composed of an engine, tender and forty carriages, the
total length over buffers being 1464 ft., and the total weight 574
tons, of which 423 tons were braked. At a speed of about 32 m. an hour
this train was brought to a standstill in twelve seconds after the
application of the brakes, in a distance of 342 ft.

BRAKELOND, JOCELYN DE (fl. 1200), English monk, and author of a chronicle narrating the fortunes of the monastery of Bury St Edmunds between 1173 and 1202. He is only known to us through his own work. He was a native of Bury St Edmunds; he served his novitiate under Samson of Tottington, who was at that time master of the novices, but afterwards sub-sacrist, and, from 1182, abbot of the house. Jocelyn took the habit of religion in 1173, during the time of Abbot Hugo (1157-1180), through whose improvidence and laxity the abbey had become impoverished and the inmates dead to all respect for discipline. The fortunes of the abbey changed for the better with the election of Samson as Hugo's successor. Jocelyn, who became abbot's chaplain within four months of the election, describes the administration of Samson at considerable length. He tells us that he was with Samson night and day for six years; the picture which he gives of his master, although coloured by enthusiastic admiration, is singularly frank and intimate. It is all the more convincing since Jocelyn is no stylist. His Latin is familiar and easy, but the reverse of classical. He thinks and writes as one whose interests are wrapped up in his house; and the unique interest of his work lies in the minuteness with which it describes the policy of a monastic administrator who was in his own day considered as a model.

Jocelyn has also been credited with an extant but unprinted tract on the election of Abbot Hugo (Harleian MS. 1005, fo. 165); from internal evidence this appears to be an error. He mentions a (non-extant) work which he wrote, before the _Cronica_, on the miracles of St Robert, a boy whom the Jews of Bury St Edmunds were alleged to have murdered (1181).

See the editions of the _Cronica Jocelini de Brakelonda_ by T. Arnold
(in _Memorials of St Edmund's Abbey_, vol. i. Rolls series, 1890), and
by J.G. Rokewood (Camden Society, 1840); also Carlyle's _Past and
Present_, book ii. A translation and notes are given in T.E. Tomlin's
_Monastic and Social Life in the Twelfth Century in the Chronicle of
Jocelyn de Brakelond_ (1844). There is also a translation of Jocelyn
by Sir E. Clarke (1907).

BRAMAH, JOSEPH (1748-1814), English engineer and inventor, was the son of a farmer, and was born at Stainborough, Yorkshire, on the 13th of April 1748. Incapacitated for agricultural labour by an accident to his ankle, on the expiry of his indentures he worked as a cabinet-maker in London, where he subsequently started business on his own account. His first patent for some improvements in the mechanism of water-closets was taken out in 1778. In 1784 he patented the lock known by his name, and in 1795 he invented the hydraulic press. For an important part of this, the collar which secured water-tightness between the plunger and the cylinder in which it worked, he was indebted to Henry Maudslay, one of his workmen, who also helped him in designing machines for the manufacture of his locks. In 1806 he devised for the Bank of England a numerical printing machine, specially adapted for bank-notes. Other inventions of his included the beer-engine for drawing beer, machinery for making aerated waters, planing machines, and improvements in steam-engines and boilers and in paper-making machinery. In 1785 he suggested the possibility of screw propulsion for ships, and in 1802 the hydraulic transmission of power; and he constructed waterworks at Norwich in 1790 and 1793. He died in London on the 9th of December 1814.

BRAMANTE, or BRAMANTE LAZZARI (c. 1444-1514), Italian architect and painter, whose real name was Donate d'Augnolo, was born at Monte-Asdrualdo in Urbino, in July 1444. He showed a great taste for drawing, and was at an early age placed under Fra Bartolommeo, called Fra Carnavale. But though he afterwards gained some fame as a painter, his attention was soon absorbed by architecture. He appears to have studied under Scirro Scirri, an architect in his native place, and perhaps under other masters. He then set out from Urbino, and proceeded through several of the towns of Lombardy, executing works of various magnitudes, and examining patiently all remains of ancient art. At last, attracted by the fame of the great Duomo, he reached Milan, where he remained from 1476 to 1499. He seems to have left Milan for Rome about 1500. He painted some frescoes at Rome, and devoted himself to the study of the ancient buildings, both in the city and as far south as Naples. About this time the Cardinal Caraffa commissioned him to rebuild the cloister of the Convent della Pace. Owing to the celerity and skill with which Bramante did this, the cardinal introduced him to Pope Alexander VI. He began to be consulted on nearly all the great architectural operations in Rome, and executed for the pope the palace of the Cancelleria or chancery. Under Julius II., Alexander's successor, Bramante's talents began to obtain adequate sphere of exercise. His first large work was to unite the straggling buildings of the palace and the Belvedere. This he accomplished by means of two long galleries or corridors enclosing a court. The design was only in part completed before the death of Julius and of the architect. So impatient was the pope and so eager was Bramante, that the foundations were not sufficiently well attended to; great part of it had, therefore, soon to be rebuilt, and the whole is now so much altered that it is hardly possible to decipher the original design.

Besides executing numerous smaller works at Rome and Bologna, among which is specially mentioned by older writers a round temple in the cloister of San Pietro-a-Montorio, Bramante was called upon by Pope Julius to take the first part in one of the greatest architectural enterprises ever attempted--the rebuilding of St Peter's. Bramante's designs were complete, and he pushed on the work so fast that before his death he had erected the four great piers and their arches, and completed the cornice and the vaulting in of this portion. He also vaulted in the principal chapel. After his death on the 11th of March 1514, his design was much altered, in particular by Michelangelo.

See Pungileoni, _Memoire intorno alla vita ed alle opere di Bramante_
(Rome, 1836); H. Semper, _Donato Bramante_ (Leipzig, 1879).

BRAMPTON, HENRY HAWKINS, BARON (1817-1907), English judge, was born at Hitchin, on the 14th of September 1817. He received his education at Bedford school. The son of a solicitor, he was early familiarized with legal principles. Called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1843, he at once joined the old home circuit, and after enjoying a lucrative practice as a junior, took silk in 1859. His name is identified with many of the famous trials of the reign of Queen Victoria. He was engaged in the Simon Bernard case (of the Orsini plot celebrity), in that of _Roupell_ v. _Waite_, and in the Overend-Gurney prosecutions. The two _causes celebres_, however, in which Hawkins attained his highest legal distinction were the Tichborne trials and the great will case of _Sugden_ v. _Lord St Leonards_. In both of these he was victorious. In the first his masterly cross-examination of the witness Baigent was one of the great features of the trial. He did a lucrative business in references and arbitrations, and acted for the royal commissioners in the purchase of the site for the new law courts. Election petitions also formed another branch of his extensive practice. Hawkins was raised to the bench in 1876, and was assigned to the then exchequer division of the High Court, not as baron (an appellation which was being abolished by the Judicature Act), but with the title of Sir Henry Hawkins. He was a great advocate rather than a great lawyer. His searching voice, his manner, and the variety of his facial expression, gave him an enormous influence with juries, and as a cross-examiner he was seldom, if ever, surpassed. He was an excellent judge in chambers, where he displayed a clear and vigorous grasp of details and questions of fact. His knowledge of the criminal law was extensive and intimate, the reputation he gained as a "hanging" judge making him a terror to evil-doers; and the court for crown cases reserved was never considered complete without his assistance. In 1898 he retired from the bench, and was raised to the peerage under the title of Baron Brampton. He frequently took part in determining House of Lords appeals, and his judgments were distinguished by their lucidity and grasp. He held for many years the office of counsel to the Jockey Club, and as an active member of that body found relaxation from his legal and judicial duties at the leading race meetings, and was considered a capable judge of horses. In 1898 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1903 he presented, in conjunction with Lady Brampton (his second wife), the chapel of SS. Augustine and Gregory to the Roman Catholic cathedral of Westminster, which was consecrated in that year. In 1904 he published his _Reminiscences_. He died in London on the 6th of October 1907, and Lady Brampton in the following year.

BRAMPTON, a market town in the Eskdale parliamentary division of Cumberland, England, 9 m. E.N.E. of Carlisle, on a branch of the North Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 2494. It is picturesquely situated in a narrow valley opening upon that of the Irthing. The town has an agricultural trade, breweries, and manufactures of cotton and tweeds. The neighbourhood is rich in historical associations. Two miles N.E. of Brampton is the castle of Naworth, a fine example of a Border fortress. It was built in the reign of Edward III., by a member of the family of Dacre, who for many generations had had their stronghold here. Overlooking a deep wooded ravine, with streams to the east and west, the great quadrangular castle was naturally defended except on the south, where it was rendered secure by a double moat and drawbridge. By marriage in 1577 with Lady Elizabeth Dacre it passed into the hands of William Howard, afterwards lord warden of the Marches, the "Belted Will" of Sir Walter Scott and the Border ballads, who acquired great fame by his victories over the Scottish moss-troopers. The castle, the walls of which have many secret passages and hiding-places, is inhabited, and in its hall are numerous fine pictures, including a portrait of Charles I. by Van Dyck. Not far distant is Lanercost Priory, where in 1169 an Augustinian monastery was established. In 1311 Robert Bruce and his army were quartered here, and the priory was pillaged in 1346 by David, king of Scotland. From this time its prosperity declined, and at its dissolution under Henry VIII. it consisted only of a prior and seven canons. The Early English church has a restored nave, but retains much fine carving. The chancel is ruined, but the interesting crypt is preserved.

BRAMWELL, GEORGE WILLIAM WILSHERE BRAMWELL, BARON (1808-1892), English judge, was born in London on the 12th of June 1808, being the eldest son of George Bramwell, of the banking firm of Dorrien, Magens, Dorrien & Mello. He was educated privately, and at the age of sixteen he entered Dorriens' bank. In 1830 he gave up this business for the law, being admitted as a student at Lincoln's Inn in 1830, and at the Inner Temple in 1836. At first he practised as a special pleader, but was eventually called to the bar at both Inns in 1838. He soon worked his way into a good practice both in London and the home circuit, his knowledge of law and procedure being so well recognized that in 1850 he was appointed a member of the Common Law Procedure Commission, which resulted in the Common Law Procedure Act of 1852. This act he drafted jointly with his friend Mr (afterwards Mr Justice) Willes, and thus began the abolition of the system of special pleading. In 1851 Lord Cranworth made Bramwell a queen's counsel, and the Inner Temple elected him a bencher--he had ceased to be a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1841. In 1853 he served on the royal commission to inquire into the assimilation of the mercantile laws of Scotland and England and the law of partnership, which had as its result the Companies Act of 1862. It was he who, during the sitting of this commission, suggested the addition of the word "limited" to the title of companies that sought to limit their liability, in order to prevent the obvious danger to persons trading with them in ignorance of their limitation of liability. As a queen's counsel Bramwell enjoyed a large and steadily increasing practice, and in 1856 he was raised to the bench as a baron of the court of exchequer. In 1867, with Mr Justice Blackburn and Sir John Coleridge, he was made a member of the judicature commission. In 1871 he was one of the three judges who refused the seat on the judicial committee of the privy council to which Sir Robert Collier, in evasion of the spirit of the act creating the appointment, was appointed; and in 1876 he was raised to the court of appeal, where he sat till the autumn of 1881. As a puisne judge he had been conspicuous as a sound lawyer, with a strong logical mind unfettered by technicalities, but endowed with considerable respect for the common law. His rulings were always clear and decisive, while the same quality marked his dealings with fact, and, coupled with a straightforward, unpretentious manner, gave him great influence with juries. In the court of appeal he was perhaps not so entirely in his element as at _nisi prius_, but the same combination of sound law, strong common sense and clear expression characterized his judgments. His decisions during the three stages of his practical career are too numerous to be referred to particularly, although _Ryder_ v. _Wombwell_ (L.R. 3 Ex. 95); _R._ v. _Bradshaw_ (14 Cox C.C. 84); _Household Fire Insurance Company_ v. _Grant_ (4 Ex. Div. 216); _Stonor_ v. _Fowle_ (13 App. Cas. 20), _The Bank of England_ v. _Vagliano Brothers_ (App. Cas. 1891) are good examples. Upon his retirement, announced in the long vacation of 1881, twenty-six judges and a huge gathering of the bar entertained him at a banquet in the Inner Temple hall. In December of the same year he was raised to the peerage, taking the title Baron Bramwell of Hever, from his home in Kent. In private life Bramwell had simple tastes and enjoyed simple pleasures. He was musical and fond of sports. He was twice married: in 1830 to Jane (d. 1836), daughter of Bruno Silva, by whom he had one daughter, and in 1861 to Martha Sinden. He died on the 9th of May 1892.

His younger brother, Sir Frederick Bramwell (1818-1903), was a well-known consulting engineer and "expert witness."

At all times Lord Bramwell had been fond of controversy and
controversial writing, and he wrote constant letters to _The Times_
over the signature B. (he also signed himself at different times
Bramwell, G.B. and L.L.). He joined in 1882 the Liberty and Property
Defence League, and some of his writings after that date took the form
of pamphlets published by that society.

BRAN, in Celtic legend, the name of (1) the hero of the Welsh _Mabinogi of Branwen_, who dies in the attempt to avenge his sister's wrongs; he is the son of Llyr (= the Irish sea-god Ler), identified with the Irish Bran mac Allait, Allait being a synonym of Ler; (2) the son of Febal, known only through the 8th-century Irish epic, _The Voyage of Bran_ (to the world below); (3) the dog of Ossian's Fingal. Bran also appears as a historical name, Latinized as _Brennus_. See Kuno Meyer and D. Nutt, _The Voyage of Bran_ (London, 1895).

BRAN, the ground husk of wheat, oats, barley or other cereals, used for feeding cattle, packing and other purposes (see FLOUR). The word occurs in French _bren_ or _bran_, in the dialects of other Romanic languages, and also in Celtic, cf. Breton _brenn_, Gaelic _bran_. The _New English Dictionary_ considers these Celtic forms to be borrowed from French or English. In modern French _bren_ means filth, refuse, and this points to some connexion with Celtic words, e.g. Irish _brean_, manure. If so, the original meaning would be refuse. "Bran-new," i.e. quite new, is now the common form of "brand-new," that which is fresh from the "brand," the branding-iron used for marking objects, &c.

BRANCH (from the Fr. _branche_, late Lat. _branca_, an animal's paw), a limb of a tree; hence any offshoot, e.g. of a river, railway, &c., of a deer's antlers, of a family or genealogical tree, and generally a subdivision or department, as in "a branch of learning." The phrase, to destroy "root and branch," meaning to destroy utterly, taken originally from Malachi iv. 1, was made famous in 1641 by the so-called "Root and Branch" Bill and Petition for the abolition of episcopal government, in which petition occurred the sentence, "That the said government, with all its dependencies, roots and branches, be destroyed." Among technical senses of the word "branch" are: the certificate of proficiency given to pilots by Trinity House; and in siege-craft a length of trench forming part of a zigzag approach.

BRANCO, or PARIMA, a river of northern Brazil and tributary of the Rio Negro, formed by the confluence of the Takutu, or "Upper Rio Branco," and Uraricoera, about 3 deg. N. lat. and 60 deg. 28' W. long., and flowing south by west to a junction with the Negro. It has rapids in its upper course, but the greater part of its length of 348 m. is navigable for steamers of light draught. The Takutu rises in the Roraima and Coirrit ranges on the Guiana frontier, while the Uraricoera rises in the Serra de Parima, on the Venezuelan frontier, and has a length of 360 m. before reaching the Branco. These are white water rivers, from which the Branco (white) derives its name, and at its junction with the Negro the two differently-coloured streams flow side by side for some distance before mingling.

BRANCOVAN, or BRANCOVEANU, the name of a family which has played an important part in the history of Rumania. It was of Servian origin and was connected with the family of Branko or Brankovich. Constantine Brancovan, the most eminent member of the family, was born in 1654, and became prince of Walachia in 1689. In consequence of his anti-Turkish policy of forming an alliance first with Austria and then with Russia, he was denounced to the Porte, deposed from his throne, brought under arrest to Constantinople and imprisoned (1710) in the fortress of Yedi Kuleh (Seven Towers). Here he was tortured by the Turks, who hoped thus to discover the fortune of L3,000,000, which Constantine was alleged to have amassed. He was beheaded with his four sons on the 26th of August 1714. His faithful friend Enake Vacarescu shared his fate. Constantine Brancovan became, through his tragic death, the hero of Rumanian popular ballads. His family founded and endowed the largest hospital in Walachia, the so-called Spital Brancovanescu.

See O.G. Lecca, _Familiile Boeresti Romane_ (Bucharest, 1899), p. 90,
sqq. (M. G.)

BRAND, JOHN (1744-1806), English antiquary, was born on the 19th of August 1744 at Washington, Durham, where his father was parish clerk. His early years were spent at Newcastle-on-Tyne with his uncle, a cordwainer, to whom he was apprentice in his fourteenth year. Showing promise, however, at Newcastle grammar school, friends interested themselves in him and assisted him to go to Oxford. It was not, however, until his twenty-eighth year that he matriculated at Lincoln College, but before this he had been ordained, holding in succession the curacies of Bolam, Northumberland, of St Andrew's, Newcastle, and of Cramlington, 8 m. from the county town. He graduated in 1775 and two years later was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Having for a short time been under-usher at the Newcastle grammar school, the duke of Northumberland, a former patron, gave him in 1784 the rectory of the combined parishes of St Mary-at-Hill and St Mary Hubbard, London. Appointed secretary to the Society of Antiquaries in the same year, he was annually re-elected until his death in 1806. He was buried in the chancel of his church. His most important work is _Observations on Popular Antiquities: including the whole of Mr Bourne's "Antiquitates Vulgares," with addenda to every chapter of that work_. This was published in London in 1777, and after Brand's death, a new edition embodying the MSS. left by him, was published by Sir Henry Ellis in 1813. Brand also published a poem entitled: _On Illicit Love, written among the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, near Oxford_ (1775, Newcastle); _The History and Antiquities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne_ (2 vols., London, 1789), and many papers in the _Archaeologia_.

BRAND, SIR JOHN HENRY (1823-1888), president of the Orange Free State, was the son of Sir Christoffel Brand, speaker of the House of Assembly of the Cape Colony. He was born at Cape Town on the 6th of December 1823, and was educated at the South African College in that city. Continuing his studies at Leiden, he took the degree of D.C.L. in 1845. He was called to the English bar from the Inner Temple in 1849, and practised as an advocate in the supreme court of the Cape of Good Hope from that year until 1863. In 1858 he was appointed professor of law in the South African College. He was elected president of the Orange Free State in 1863, and subsequently re-elected for five years in 1869, 1874, 1879 and 1884. In 1864 he resisted the pressure of the Basuto on the Free State boundary, and after vainly endeavouring to induce Moshesh, the Basuto chief, to keep his people within bounds, he took up arms against them in 1865. This first war ended in the treaty of Thaba Bosigo, signed on the 3rd of April 1866; and a second war, caused by the treachery of the Basuto, ended in the treaty of Aliwal North, concluded on the 12th of February 1869. In 1871 Brand was solicited by a large party to become president of the Transvaal, and thus unite the two Dutch republics of South Africa; but as the project was hostile to Great Britain he declined to do so, and maintained his constant policy of friendship towards England, where his merits were recognized in 1882 by the honour of the G.C.M.G. He died on the 14th of July 1888. (See ORANGE FREE STATE: _History_.)

BRANDE, WILLIAM THOMAS (1788-1866), English chemist, was born in London on the 11th of January 1788. After leaving Westminster school, he was apprenticed, in 1802, to his brother, an apothecary, with the view of adopting the profession of medicine, but his bent was towards chemistry, a sound knowledge of which he acquired in his spare time. In 1812 he was appointed professor of chemistry to the Apothecaries' Society, and delivered a course of lectures before the Board of Agriculture in place of Sir Humphry Davy, whom in the following year he succeeded in the chair of chemistry at the Royal Institution, London. His _Manual of Chemistry_, first published in 1819, enjoyed wide popularity, and among other works he brought out a _Dictionary of Science, Literature and Art_ in 1842, on a new edition of which he was engaged when he died at Tunbridge Wells on the 11th of February 1866.

BRANDENBURG, the name of a margraviate and electorate which played an important part in German history, and afterwards grew into the kingdom of Prussia. During the early years of the Christian era, the district was inhabited by the Semnones, and afterwards by various Slavonic tribes, who were partially subdued by Charlemagne, but soon regained their independence. The history of Brandenburg begins when the German king, Henry the Fowler, defeated the Havelli, or Hevelli, and took their capital, Brennibor, from which the name Brandenburg is derived. It soon came under the rule of Gero, margrave of the Saxon east mark, who pressed the campaign against the Slavs with vigour, while Otto the Great founded bishoprics at Havelberg and Brandenburg. When Gero died in 965, his mark was divided into two parts, the northern portion, lying along both banks of the middle Elbe, being called the north or old mark, and forming the nucleus of the later margraviate of Brandenburg. After Otto the Great died, the Slavs regained much of their territory, Brandenburg fell again into their hands, and a succession of feeble margraves ruled only the district west of the Elbe, together with a small district east of that river.

Albert the Bear.

A new era began in 1106 when Lothair, count of Supplinburg, became duke of Saxony. Aided by Albert the Bear, count of Ballenstadt, he renewed the attack on the Slavs, and in 1134 appointed Albert margrave of the north mark. The new margrave continued the work of Lothair, and about 1140 made a treaty with Pribislaus, the childless duke of Brandenburg, by which he was recognized as the duke's heir. He took at once the title margrave of Brandenburg, but when Pribislaus died in 1150, a stubborn contest followed with Jazko, a relation of the late duke, which was terminated in 1157 in Albert's favour. Albert was the real founder of Brandenburg. Under his rule Christianity and civilization were extended, bishoprics were restored and monasteries founded. The country was colonized with settlers from the lower Rhineland, land was brought under cultivation, forts were built, German laws and customs introduced, and gradually the woods and marshes were converted into lands of comparative fertility.

Otto III.