A Railway Velocipede.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 25th June, 1896-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1896
A Railway Velocipede.
We, WILLIAM HENRY SALADEE, and HORACE BENTON MCDERMED, both
of Bedford, in the County of Lawrence, and State of Indiana, United States of
America, Gentlemen, 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 :-
The invention relates to improvements in hand-cars. The object of the present
invention is to improve the construction of hand-cars and to provide a simple,
inexpensive and efficient one capable of being easily propelled and adapted to be
driven at a high rate of speed.
The invention consists of the construction and novel combination and arrange-
ment of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.
In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a hand-car constructed in
accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view.
Fig. 3
is a transverse sectional view. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the operating lever.
Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of
the drawings.
1 designates a hand-car frame of any desired construction, provided with bearings
receiving axles 2, having car-wheels 3 fixed to their ends in the usual manner.
One of the axles carries a pinion 4 which meshes with a gear-wheel 5 fixed to a
crank-shaft 6 that is journaled in suitable bearings of the hand-car frame, and the
-crank bend of the shaft 6 is connected with the lower end of a pitman 7, which
extends upward to an oscillating segmental gear-wheel 8. The segmental gear-
wheel 8 is mounted on a transverse shaft which is journaled in a supporting-frame 9
mounted on the hand-car and being substantially pyramidal.
The supporting frame 9 has closed ends and is provided with corner posts 10
connected at their upper ends at the sides of the supporting frame by sectional
bearings 11 and at an intermediate point by horizontal bars 12 carrying sectional
bearings 13. The sectional bearings 13 are secured to the horizontal bars 12 by
bolts and receive a transverse shaft 14 on which the segmental gear-wheel 8 is
mounted. The segmental gear-wheel 8 is rocked or oscillated by a similar gear-
wheel 15 mounted on a transverse shaft 16 which is journaled in the top
bearings 11. The upper end of the pitman 7 is pivoted to a solid portion 17 of
the gear wheel 8. The latter is of sufficient diameter to rotate the gear wheel 6
by its oscillations. The upper segmental gear wheel is provided at opposite sides
with solid portions 18 having their outer faces flush with the side faces of the gear
wheel, and receiving an operating lever 19 provided with a central longitudinal
opening 20 to receive the gear wheel 18. The operating lever is provided at its
ends with handles and it has at an intermediate point a removable section 21
recessed intermediate of its ends to correspond with a similar recessed portion of
the body of the operating lever to provide the opening 20 and having its ends
bolted or otherwise secured to the body of the lever with its onter face flush with
the same.
The hand-car is operated by oscillating the operating lever, and a rotary motion
will be communicated to the lower gear-wheels and the hand-car may be driven at
a high rate of speed without much labor.
It will be seen that the hand-car is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in
construction, that it is capable of convenient operation, and that the gearing

page_text: may be readily applied to the ordinary hand-car and will enable the same to be
driven at a high rate of speed at the expenditure of a minimum amount of
labor.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare, that what we
claim is :-
1. In a hand-car, the combination with a frame and car-wheels supporting the
frame, of a supporting-frame mounted on the hand-car frame and provided at its
corners with posts, bearings at the upper ends of the posts and located at the sides
of the supporting-frame, a lower segmental gear-wheel journaled in the supporting-
frame, a transverse shaft mounted in the sectional bearings, and an upper segmental
gear-wheel mounted on the said shaft and meshing with the lower segmental gear-
wheel, an operating handle provided with a central opening receiving the upper
segmental gear-wheel and secured to the same, said operating lever being provided
with a removable section 21 recessed intermediate of its ends and co-operating with
a similar recessed portion of the body of the lever to form the opening thereof and
having its ends secured to the body of the lever, a pitman connected with the
lower segmental gear-wheel, and gearing for connecting the lower end of the
pitman with the car-wheels for rotating the same, substantially as described.
Dated this 25th day of June 1896.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.