IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORT AND DELIVERY OF Coals
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Donald Napier, M.R.C.S., of George
Street, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORT AND
DELIVERY OF Coals.”
Sealed the 2nd October 1874, and dated the 16th April 1874.
.PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Donald Napier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th April 1874.
I, WILLIAM DONALD NAPIER, M.R.C.S., of George Street, Hanover
Square, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORT AND
DELIVERY OF COALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for the
transport and delivery of coals.
At the present time much labour is expended in transferring coal
from the "tubs " in which it is brought from the mine first into railway

page_text: trucks, afterwards from such trucks into sacks, and again from the sacks
into the cellars of the consumers. This unnecessary labour I save either
wholly or in part. I employ boxes mounted on wheels suitable to travel
on a tramway. These boxes are of such a size that say four of them
form a load for a railway truck. Each of these boxes may hold two tons 5
of coal, so that that the truck will carry eight tons, which is about the
ordinary load. The boxes run on to the trucks on guide troughs or rails
which are laid transversely on the bed of the truck.
The boxes having been filled (by preference in the mine) are brought
to the railway trucks and run into their places upon them from a raised 1
staging or platform. The sides of the truck turn down to allow the
boxes to pass on to and from the trucks.
The weight of the boxes when they are on the trucks is not supported
by the wheels of the boxes but by bearers on to which, by any suitable
device, the weight of the boxes is transferred, so that boxes stand 1
steadily in the trucks, and their wheels and axles are not subject to wear
and tear in travelling.
When the boxes are in their places on the truck the sides of the truck
are turned up and locked to retain the boxes, and each box' has two side
bars which project beyond its ends and enter notclies in the sides of the
truck to hold the box steadily in its place whilst travelling.
For the delivery of the coals the boxes are removed from the trucks
on to two-wheel one-horse carts. The carts are provided with guide
troughs or rails for the wheels of the boxes to run upon, one box forming
a load.
At the depot where the boxes are transferred to the carts the rails on
which the trucks stand are raised higher on one side than on the other,
so that the bed of the truck may stand at an incline, which favours the
running off of the boxes on to the carts which back up to the truck, so
that the guide troughs or rails on the cart may correspond with those on a
the truck.
When in the cart the weight of the box is taken off from the wheels
of the box by bearers as when it is in the truck.
The delivery of the coal into cellars beneath streets is effected by
opening a door or slide in the end of the box, and by tilting the body of 3
2

page_text: the cart and the box upon it so as to cause the coal to fall out of the box
on to a trough which is attached to the cart, and which leads the coal
gently down on to the pavement in the vicinity of the hole into the
cellar or directly into the hole. The tilting of the cart is controlled by
the attendant by means of a lever and adjustable support, or by other
such like means, so that the attendant is able to regulate the descent of
the coal out of the box to suit the rate at which it will run (or at which
he may be able to direct and shovel it) into the hole through which it
falls into the cellar beneath.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Donald Napier in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DONALD NAPIER, M.R.C.S., of George Street, Hanover Square, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Donald Napier, Hor special
license, that I, the said William Donald Napier, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Donald
Napier, my executors, administrators, 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 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORT AND DELIVERY OF COALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Donald
Napier, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, or
them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Donald Napier, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for the
transport and delivery of coals.
At the present time much labour is expended in transferring coal
from the "tubs" in which it is brought from the mine first into railway
trucks, afterwards from such trucks into sacks, and again from the sacks
into the cellars of the consumers. This unnecessary labour I save either
wholly or in part. I employ boxes mounted on wheels suitable to travel
on a tramway. These boxes are of such a size that say four of them
form a load for a railway truck. Each of these boxes may hold two tons
of coal, so that the truck will carry eight tons, which is about the
ordinary load. The boxes run on to the trucks on guide troughs or rails
which are laid transversely on the bed of the truck.
The boxes having been filled (by preference in the mine) are brought
to the railway trucks and run into their places upon them from a raised
staging or platform.
The weight of the boxes when they are on the trucks is not supported
by the wheels of the boxes but by bearers on to which by any suitable
device the weight of the boxes is transferred, so that boxes stand
steadily in the trucks, and their wheels and axles are not subject to wear
and tear in travelling.
.
For the delivery of the coals the boxes are removed from the trucks
on to two-wheel one-horse carts. The carts are provided with guide.
troughs or rails for the wheels of the boxes to run upon, one box forming
a load.
At the depot where the boxes are transferred to the carts the rails on
which the trucks stand are raised higher on one side than on the other,
so that the bed of the truck may stand at an incline, which favours the
running off of the boxes on to the carts which back up to the trucks, so
that the guide troughs or rails on the cart may correspond with those on
the truck.
When in the cart the weight of the box is taken off from the wheels
of the box by bearers as when it is in the truck,

page_text: The delivery of the coal into cellars beneath streets is effected by
opening a door or slide in the end of the box, and by tilting the body of
the cart and the box upon it so as to cause the coal to fall out of the box
on to a trough which is attached to the cart, and which leads the coal
gently down on to the pavement in the vicinity of the hole into the
cellar or directly into the hole. The tilting of the cart is controlled by
the attendant by means of a lever and adjustable support, or by other
such like means, so that the attendant is able to regulate the descent of
the coal out of the box to suit the rate at which it will run (or at which
he may be able to direct and shovel it) into the hole through which it
ր 11
1

page_text: size as just to receive one of the boxes a between the uprights f, f, which
are placed on either side so that the box may not be able to tip off the
cart. The box is also similarly retained at the ends, and the weight is
taken off the wheels and axles of the box in the manner already
described. is a movable trough which can be hooked on to the tail
of the cart when it has been brought to the place where the coals are to
be delivered. The slide a¹ in the end of the box is then raised and the
coals run, aided more or less by manual labour, down the trough g
through the opening in the street pavement from which the coal plate
has been removed into the coal cellar beneath. h is a lever which is
received into a socket in the back of the cart, and by means of this lever
the driver of the cart is able to tip the cart body with the box upon it
gradually to facilitate the discharge of the coal, the fore part of the
cart body having first been unlocked from the shafts in the usual way.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I
claim is the arrangement of apparatus for the transport and delivery of
coal, so that the coal may be conveyed to the door of the consumer in
the same boxes in which it is carried on the railway, and when there
may, by tipping the body of the cart with the box upon it, be discharged
through an opening in the end of the box down an inclined trough which
leads it to the opening through which it is shot into the cellar, all sub-
stantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Donald Napier, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-