AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING CARRIAGES AND WEIGHTS UP AND DOWN INCLINES AND UPRIGHTS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Marsland Marsden, of Handley Wood, in
the County of Derby, Agriculturalist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF PROPELLING CARRIAGES AND WEIGHTS UP AND DOWN INCLINES
AND UPRIGHTS."
Sealed the 3rd January 1865, and dated the 7th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Marsland Marsden
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th July 1864.
I, EDWARD MARSLAND MARSDEN, of Handley Wood, in the County of
Derby, Agriculturalist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING CARRIAGES AND WEIGHTS UP AND DOWN
INCLINES AND UPRIGHTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of a weight, say that of a train of
carriages, proceeding by gravity alone, or aided by steam, horse, or other
power, down an incline or upright to produce a vacuum or partial vacuum in
an atmospheric tube behind a piston in such tube, and to which the weight is
connected, in order that on the carriages or weight attaining the bottom of the
incline or upright, the same or other similar carriages or weight, equal to or
less or greater than that of the carriages or weight which have descended,
may be connected to the piston, and by the vacuum on one side, and atmo-
spheric pressure on the other side thereof, may be drawn or propelled to the

page_text: top of the incline or upright with or without the aid of horse, steam, or other
power. The area of the piston must be proportioned to the load and to the
incline; the steeper the incline the greater must be the area of the piston.
A second part of my Invention consists in the employment of a continuous
atmospheric tube, one part carried from the top to the bottom of an incline or
upright, and the other part from the bottom to the top. A piston connected
to a carriage or weight starting from the top of the incline or upright drives a
similar piston connected to a carriage or weight from the bottom to the top of
the incline or upright, the one descending in one part, and the other ascending
in the other part of the continuous tube. As in the former case the move-
ments may be assisted by steam, horse, or other power.
Another part of my Invention consists in the employment of an atmospheric
tube extending from the bottom of an incline to the top and down another
incline; in fitting pistons therein and in connecting weights or carriages to
such pistons in such manner that one carriage or weight shall be at the top of
the incline and another carriage or weight at the bottom of the opposite
incline, then, on the carriage or weight descending one incline,, the other
carriage or weight will be caused to ascend the opposite incline, the pressure
of the atmosphere being allowed to act on the back of the piston of that
carriage or weight at the bottom of the incline. As before, the movements
may be aided by steam, horse, or other power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Marsland Marsden in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
MARSLAND MARSDEN, of Handley Wood, in the County of Derby, Agricul-
turalist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Marsland Marsden, Her special licence that I, the said
Edward Marsland Marsden, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Marsland Marsden, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING CARRIAGES AND WEIGHTS
UP AND DOWN INCLINES AND UPRIGHTS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward Marsland Marsden, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Marsland Marsden, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the employment of a weight, say that of a train of
carriages, proceeding by gravity alone, or aided by steam, horse, or other power,
down an incline or upright to produce a vacuum or partial vacuum in an
atmospheric tube behind a piston in such tube, and to which the weight is
connected, in order that on the carriages or weight attaining the bottom of
the incline or upright, the same or other similar carriages or weight, equal to
or less or greater than that of the carriages or weight which have descended,
may be connected to the piston, and by the vacuum on one side, and atmo-
spheric pressure on the other side thereof, may be drawn or propelled to the
top of the incline or upright with or without the aid of horse, steam, or other
power. The area of the piston must be proportioned to the load and to the
incline; the steeper the incline the greater must be the area of the piston.
This part of my Invention will be fully understood by Figures 1 and 2 of
the accompanying Drawings. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section; Figure 2 a
transverse section; and Figure 3 a plan of an inclined tube with a piston
therein as before mentioned. A is the tube and B the piston. The tube A
s formed at top with an opening or slot for its whole length, covered by a
ongitudinal valve a, formed by preference of vulcanized india-rubber or
eather strengthened by narrow transverse bars of iron or other metal, or by
heets of spring steel or other metal. The sides of the valve a are supported
by flanges 6, on the tube A; the piston B carries wheels C, C, C¹, C', the
wheels C, C, being of the same height as the tube A, while the upper
urface of the wheels C, C', is somewhat higher than the tube A, in order
hat as the piston descends inside the tube they may raise the valve a. The

page_text: piston B also carries a forked upright D, to which longitudinal plates or bars
E, E, are secured; the plates E, E, carry wheels F, F, which, as the piston
descends inside the tube, ride on the valve a, so as to hold it between them
and the other wheels C, C. The wheels F, F, may be held down by springs
if required. The piston B fits the tube A tightly at each end, while the body
of the piston or the space between the two ends contains water or other liquid
in which the wheels C, C, C¹, C', F, F, revolve, and in which the valve à is
received as the piston descends, whereby the valve is surrounded by water
and air is prevented from entering the tube A behind the piston. In order to
make the closing of the valve a after the piston has passed more hermetic, I
fit at the sides of the tube A troughs containing water, the tops of which are
on a level with the valve; the troughs have lips which overhang the valve a,
so that in their normal position the water may completely cover the valve.
The bottoms of the troughs are made of india-rubber or other flexible material
in order that before the piston reaches each trough an apparatus connected to
some part of the train or of the piston may act on mechanism connected
with the bottom of the trough so as to increase the capacity thereof, whereby
the water sinks in the trough and leaves the valve a free, at the same time
any convenient apparatus connected to the train or piston moves. back the
overhanging lips to allow the wheels F, F, to pass clear and the valve to rise.
As soon as the train has passed and the valve has descended, the overhanging
lips resume their normal position, the bottoms of the troughs are forced up to
their original capacity, and the water again flows over the valve a. The tube,
constructed and arranged as before explained, is fitted midway between two
lines of rail on which the carriages run, one of the carriages being connected
to the forked upright; the connection must be such that when the carriages
reach the bottom of the inclined tube any convenient mechanism may discon-
nect the carriages from the forked upright. The action is as follows:-The
piston in descending inside the tube A (the descent being accelerated by the
weight of the carriages, aided, if required, by steam or other power) produces a
vacuum inside the tube, the top of which is closed in order to exclude the air;
when the piston reaches the bottom of the tube, it is held by any convenient
locking apparatus until required to drive a train up the incline; as soon as the
piston is released, atmospheric pressure acting against its lower side, drives it
and the carriages connected thereto to the upper end of the incline. The tube
is carried beyond the top of the incline, and when the piston reaches the end
the piston compresses spring or other buffers, and is immediately locked by
When a return train
any convenient apparatus; the train is then released.
approaches, the piston is unlocked and the buffers start it before the train

page_text: comes in contact with it. When the train overtakes the piston, the end of
the tube is immediately closed by the valves to exclude the air.
Figure 4 represents another arrangement in which the piston ascends while
the train descends, and vice versa. The train in coming down is connected
to a carriage B running on the outside of the tube A; this carriage has
rods C, C, connected to it, with racks on their under surfaces gearing into
pinions D on a transverse shaft E at the top of the incline; the shaft E
carries another pinion F in gear with a rack on a rod G, attached to the
piston in the tube. As the train descends the racks on the rods C turn the
pinions D and F, whereby the piston by means of the rack on the rod G is
made to ascend to the top of the tube, creating a vacuum behind it; it is
there locked until required to propel a train up the incline. When the piston
is unlocked and the train is connected to the carriage B, and pressure of
the atmosphere above the piston drives the piston down the tube and through
the pinions and racks, the train is propelled up.
A second part of my Invention consists in the employment of a continuous
atmospheric tube, one part carried from the top to the bottom of an incline or
upright, and the other part from the bottom to the top. A piston connected
to a carriage or weight starting from the top of the incline or upright drives a
similar piston connected to a carriage or weight from the bottom to the top of
the incline or upright, the one descending in one part, the other ascending in
the other part of the continuous tube. As in the former case the movements
must be assisted by steam, horse, or other power.
Another part of my Invention consists in the employment of an atmospheric
tube extending from the bottom of an incline to the top and down another
incline. In fitting pistons therein and in connecting weights or carriages to
such pistons in such manner that one carriage or weight shall be at the top
of the incline and another carriage or weight at the bottom of the opposite
incline, then, on the carriage or weight descending one incline, the other
carriage or weight will be caused to ascend the opposite incline, the pressure
of the atmosphere being allowed to act on the back of the piston of that
carriage or weight at the bottom of the incline. As before, the movements
may be aided by steam, horse, or other power.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the means herein-before described of opening and closing the valve a, or of
making the fitting of the valve tight by water, or to the particular arrange-
ments shown in the Drawings.
I claim propelling carriages and weights up and down inclines and uprights

page_text: by means of a piston in a tube worked by the gravity of carriages or weights
descending an incline and producing a power for such propulsion, whether aided
or not by steam, horse, or other power.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Marsland Marsden, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
E. M. MARSDEN. (L.B.)