IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MEANS OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR WORKING RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sylvester Hughes, of Port Madoc, in the
County of Carnarvon, Civil Engineer, and Charles Easton Spooner,
of the same Place, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MEANS OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR WORKING RAILWAYS
AND TRAMWAYS."
Scaled the 29th October 1872, and dated the 1st May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sylvester Hughes
and Charles Easton Spooner at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 1st May 1872.
We, JOHN SYLVESTER HUGHES, of Port Madoc, in the County of
Carnarvon, Civil Engineer, and CHARLES EASTON SPOONER, of the same
Place, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR WORKING
RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improved mode of obtaining and
applying motive power for working railways and tramways. For this
purpose we fix a turbine wheel or reaction wheel on an axle which we
attach to a specially constructed engine, or to a locomotive, tender,

page_text: carriage, or truck, bogie, or otherwise such as those in general use. The
motion will be carried from such axle to the driving wheels by means
of cranks and connecting rods or by wheel gearing. The turbine wheel
or reaction wheel may be fixed on the axle of the engine, locomotive
engine, tender, carriage or truck.
To work the turbine wheel or reaction wheel we lay along the railway
or tramway one or more pipes (pressure pipes) which contain water
under pressure. The pipe containing the water under pressure is
supplied with valves for opening and shutting. Another pipe or hollow
stem (called the junction pipe) is inserted into a longitudinal slit made
in the pressure pipe, and through this hollow stem or pipe the water
forces itself into the turbine wheel or reaction wheel, and imparts
motion to the same. The junction pipe or hollow stem opens the valves
in the pressure pipe as it passes along, and then these valves close
behind it. A valve is fixed in the junction pipe or hollow stem for
regulating the flow of water into the turbine wheel or reaction wheel.
The water flows out of the turbine wheel or reaction wheel into a
trough or pipe laid parallel with the pressure pipe, and across which
trough at certain distances is fixed a sluice for stopping the water
which, when it attains a given hydrostatic pressure, opens a valve in the
pressure pipe and runs into it. By this means the pressure pipe is
refilled with the same water which will thereby be available for further
usc.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Sylvester Hughes and Charles Easton
Spooner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
SYLVESTER HUGHES, of Port Madoc, in the County of Carnarvon, Civil
Engineer, and CHARLES EASTON SPOONER, of the same Place, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto us, the said John Sylvester Hughes and Charles Easton
Spooner, Her special licence that we, the said John Sylvester Hughes
and Charles Easton Spooner, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said John Sylvester Hughes and Charles
Easton Spooner, our 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 THE MEANS OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR WORKING
Railways and TRAMWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that wo,
the said John Sylvester Hughes and Charles Easton Spooner, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Sylvester Hughes, on behalf
of myself and of the said Charles Easton Spooner, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention has for its object an improved mode of obtaining motive
power from the pressure of water, and of applying the motive power so
obtained for working railways and tramways.
In the accompanying Drawings we have shewn several plans of
effecting the object of our Invention. Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a diagram
illustrating in sectional elevation a mode of obtaining motive power by
the action of water under pressure or a turbine wheel; Fig. 2 is a cross
section of the same.
The turbine wheel or reaction wheel is enclosed in a case a, and is
mounted on an axle or cross shaft b. The turbine may be adapted to
a specially constructed engine or to a locomotive, tender, carriage, or
truck (bogie or otherwise), such as those now used in hilly districts.

page_text: The rotary motion of the turbine will be communicated from the axle 6
to the driving or running wheels c, c, of the carriage or truck, either
by means of cranks and connecting rods, or by wheel gearing as shewn
by red lines in the Drawing. The turbine wheel or reaction wheel a
may be used as an auxiliary power, and may then be adapted to one of i
the axles of the engine, locomotive engine, tender, carriage or truck;
and for double bogies two turbine wheels or reaction wheels may be
used if desired.
In order to work the turbine wheel or reaction wheel we lay along
the railway or tramway between the rails one or more pipes d (pressure
pipes), which contain water under pressure. The water is supplied to
the pipe d from an elevated position so as to obtain considerable
hydrostatic pressure. The pipe d containing the water under pressure
is provided with a longitudinal continuous valve d', whereby the water
inside the pressure pipe may be allowed to pass up a pipe or hollow
stem e into the turbine. This pipe or hollow stem (called the junction
pipe), shewn in sectional plan and elevation drawn on an enlarged scale
at Figures 3 and 4, is inserted into the longitudinal slit made in the
pressure pipe d, and this slit is closed by means of elastic lips or other
equivalent device, as shewn in the sectional views drawn on an enlarged
scale at Figures 4, 5 and 6, which represent three different plans of
closing the longitudinal slit in the pressure pipe. Through this hollow
stem or pipe e the water passes into the water chamber e', Fig. 1, and
from thence into the branch pipe a¹, and then forces itself into the
turbine wheel or reaction wheel a, and imparts motion to the same.
In order to supplement the supply of water in the pressure pipe d it
is proposed when necessary to lay down a water main d³, see Fig. 6,
Sheet II., of any required diameter, either immediately below or at the
side of the pressure pipe d, as may be most convenient, and to connect
the same with the pressure pipe by branch pipes d³ at suitable distances.
The junction pipe or hollow stem e opens the elastic lips or longitudinal
valve in the pressure pipe d as it passes along, and then these lips close
behind it. A valve a² is fixed in the junction pipe or hollow stem e or
in the branch pipe a', as shewn by dots for regulating the flow of water
into the turbine wheel or reaction wheel.
.
Fig. 7, Sheet III. is a side clevation, and Fig. 8 an end view of an
engine in which the piston of an oscillating cylinder is actuated by the
pressure of water supplied from the pipe d. In this instance a, a, are

page_text: oscillating cylinders in which work pistons which by their rods 6 com-
municate rotary motion to the running wheels c, c, by means of the
cranks c. The water under pressure passes from the tube d up the
hollow stem e into the water chamber e', and from thence through the
branch pipe a¹ to the valve chamber a*, in which there are suitable
inlets and outlets to and from the cylinders a, a. When the water is
admitted to the cylinders a, a, it forces back the pistons and thereby
moves round the cranks a certain distance. In the meantime the inlet
pipe is closed and the outlet pipe is opened, and an inlet communicating
with the other side of the piston is opened; the water that has already
driven the piston forward will then be expelled through the outlet by
the induction water on the other side of the piston, which will be driven
back, thus causing the crank to complete its revolution and impart con-
tinuous rotation to the running wheels.
The junction pipe e, shewn at Figures 3 and 4, Sheet II., is mado
of a lentil shape at its lower end, as best seen in the sectional plan
view, Fig. 3, so as to enable it to enter the longitudinal opening of
the pressure pipe d. The lower end of the hollow stem is surrounded
by an oblong loop or pad of metal or other suitable material f, suspended
by chains e³, shewn at Fig. 1 (from the water chamber c¹), and is
capable of moving freely up and down the stem of the junction- pipe e.
It is pressed and held down to the face or top of the pressure pipo d
to prevent any escape of the water therefrom except up the hollow
stem. This adhesion of the parts is effected by means of the spiral
springs e. The upper portion of this junction pipo e enters into the
water chamber' e' through a stuffing box with which it is provided.
When it is necessary to lower the junction pipe for the purpose of
connecting the apparatus with the water in the pressure pipe the
hand wheel g is operated, and by means of the rods or links g¹ the
hollow stem e will be forced by springs h, see Fig. 7 (acting on lugs
upon the stem e), into and through the continuous valve of the pressure
pipe, when the water will rise into the water chamber e¹ and may then
be admitted into the turbine or other engine by the regulator or cut-off
valve a³. In raising the junction pipe and severing the connection with
the pressure pipe the springs h will be compressed and the chains e
will raise the pad or loop f.

page_text: the hollow stem e may be provided with a leather or india-rubber or
other elastic cushion, as shewn at k, Fig. 8, Sheet III.
It will be obvious that in place of connecting the piston of the
cylinders a, Figures 7 and 8, with cranks upon the driving wheels,
we may sometimes find it convenient to interpose a train of gearing for a
the purpose of gaining speed, as shewn by red lines in the Diagram
Fig. 9, Sheet I.
The water flows out of the turbine wheel or reaction wheel of Fig. 1,
or out of the oscillating cylinders a, Fig. 7, through suitable pipes into
a trough or pipe laid parallel with the pressure pipe d, and across which 1
trough at certain distances is fixed a sluice for stopping the water which
when it attains a given hydrostatic pressure opens a valve in the
pressure pipe d and runs into it. By this means the pressure pipe
of a lower section of the line can be refilled with the water which
has passed out of the pressure pipe at a higher level, and has already 1
excrted its pressure on the turbine or oscillating cylinder. This water
will thereby be made available for further usc.
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in the Means
of Obtaining Motive Power for Working Railways and Tramways," and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we claim 2
as the Invention secured to us by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, the mode
herein set forth of obtaining motive power from the pressure of water,
and applying the same for working engines or propelling carriages on
railways and tramways.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sylvester Hughes, have here- 2
unto set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
E. WILLIAMS.
J. S. HUGHES. (L.S.)