AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Inman, of Susannah Street, Poplar, in
the County of Middlesex, Joiner, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE."
Sealed the 29th January 1858, and dated the 31st July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Inman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
July 1857.
I, GEORGE INMAN, of Susannah Street, Poplar, in the County of Middlesex,
Joiner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to economise motive power when applied to
locomotion. This I propose to effect by causing high-pressure steam or other
motive power to expand a series of hollow discs or steam chambers arranged
around the axle, and carried by each of the wheels of the locomotive. These
discs or chambers are connected by radial pipes to the boss of their respective
wheels, and have attached to their outer or moveable ends radial rods, which
pass through slots in the periphery of the wheels, and carry feet, which bear
upon the ground in succession, for the purpose of pressing the engine forward.

page_text: The steam is generated in a boiler mounted on the frame of the engine, and it
is conducted through the hollow axle of the driving wheels to the boss of the
wheels, whence it passes through the radial steam pipes to the several hollow
discs or steam chambers. Between the boss of each driving wheel and the
axle is an annular valve, which admits and discharges the steam at the proper
time to and from the several steam chambers in succession, and by an arrange-
ment of shifting gear the position of this valve may be changed at pleasure,
so as to reverse the motion. I prefer to make the steam chambers of discs of
india-rubber, joined together at their outer edges by a ring of metal, which
will prevent them from expanding in the direction of their diameter; but
when great power is required to be exerted, the expanding and contracting
chambers may be made of metal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Inman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
INMAN, of Susannah Street, Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Joiner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Inman, Her special licence that I, the said George Inman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Inman, 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 "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Inman, 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 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 George Inman, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
(I.) The nature of the said Invention, as hath been already set forth in the
Provisional Specification left and recorded on application for the said Letters
Patent, consists in economizing motive power when applied to locomotion, in
the manner and by the means hereafter described, that is, I cause high-
pressure steam or other motive power to expand a series of hollow discs or
chambers arranged around the boss of the driving or motive wheels of the
locomotive. These discs or chambers are connected by radial pipes to the boss
of the wheel, and have attached to the outer or moveable ends radial rods,
which pass through the periphery of the wheel, and may carry feet, which
bear upon the road or way in succession, for the purpose of pressing the
engine forward. The steam or other motive power is conducted through a
hollow axle of the driving wheel to the boss of the wheel, whence it passes
through the radial steam pipes to the several hollow discs or steam chambers;
or the steam is conducted through pipes passing through the boss, and con-
nected to and communicating with the radial steam pipes and working discs
or cylinders. At the inner end of the boss of each driving wheel is an annular
valve, which admits and discharges the steam at the proper time to and from
the several steam chambers in succession; and by an arrangement of shifting
gear, the position of this valve may be changed at pleasure, so as to reverse
the motion. I prefer to make the working chambers of discs of india-rubber,
joined together at their outer edges by a ring of metal, which will prevent
them from expanding in the direction of their diameter; but when great
power is required to be exerted, the expanding and contracting chambers may
be made wholly of metal, and of any suitable construction.
(II.) Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I now proceed
to describe in what manner the same is to be performed, wherein I shall
resort to the aid of the Drawings accompanying this Specification.
Fig. 1, an elevation, part in outline and part in section, of a driving or
motive wheel, for the improved construction of locomotive engine.
Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section, taken through the middle of the wheel
aforesaid.

page_text: Fig. 4, vertical section, shewing working disc or steam chamber.
Fig. 5, a similar view, exhibiting a working disc or chamber of a different
form.
Fig. 6, view of the inner end of the boss of the driving wheel, against which
is the annular valve.
Fig. 7, edge view of what is shewn at Fig. 6.
Fig. 8, view of the inner or working face of the annular valve.
Fig. 9, edge view of same.
In all the above figures wherever the same letters appear they denote the
same parts.
A, the boss of the driving or motive wheel, which in this case consists of a
tube (A, A,) to which are secured by nuts screwed on to the outer threaded
surface of the said tube two thin circular plates X, X, and X, X, at the outer
ends of the boss, and one thicker circular plate X, X, X, X, in the middle,
secured to the tube (A, A,) in the same manner, the periphery of which
thicker plate (x, x, x, x,) receives the ends of the radial tubes (B), which
join at right angles the horizontal tubes (C), which terminate at or just beyond
the plate X, X, which is at the inner end of the boss, against the face of
which plate (x, x,) is an annular valve, the plan and edge view of which is
given at Figs. 8 and 9; it consists of a centre orifice (D), through which the
axle (D) passes, and a curved groove E, which is about ths of a circle, with
an orifice F, which receives the end of the exhaust pipe. Also another orifice
G, which receives the end of the supply pipe. This annular valve is connected
to the plate X, X, by being pressed to it by the screw nut H, H, on the
axle D. The action of this valve is this, as the wheel rotates, one of the pipes
(C) is brought opposite to the supply pipe G, setting the whole mechanism in
motion. After which, this pipe (C) is brought against the groove (E), which
forms a passage to the exhaust pipe F, thus one of the pipes (C) is always
filling, and the rest of the pipes, if not emptied, are emptying themselves.
The radial tubes or pipes (B) connected with the horizontal tubes or pipes C
as aforesaid, communicate with the interior of, and are secured at one end to
working discs or chambers (I), which, as delineated in Fig. 1, are composed
of india-rubber dises or annuli, secured together by metal rings at the outer
edges thereof, such metal rings being attached by binding them tightly on the
material, these rings being grooved rings, and the india-rubber being placed
in the groove, when the rings are closely compressed on the india-rubber. The

page_text: upper disc is secured to the radial steam pipe (B), and the lower end is.
secured to the radial rod (K) which passes through it, the end of which radial
rod acts upon the road or way as before described, and effectuates locomotion.
As shewn at Fig. 3, the disc is a steel disc, which is slit from the centre to
the outer edge at a, so that when the pressure of the steam or other power is
exerted on the flat surface of the disc, it will assume a conical form (as shewn
at Fig. 4), from being confined at the outer edges by a ring M, which consists
of two angular flanges bolted together, as shewn. N, dotted lines, shews the
discs contracted. Inside these discs is a disc of india-rubber, or other similar
elastic material, extending to the outer edges of the flanges, and secured to
the pipes and radial rods by screw nuts, &c.
Upon the discs L and L* straightening, they bring themselves back on the
inside of the inclines of the angular flanges of the ring, and thus withdraw the
radial rod from the road or way.
As shewn at Fig. 5, the working chamber is a conical cylinder with a flat
top (O), with one steel disc (L**) at the bottom; this steel disc (L**) slides
up the incline of the conical chamber when the chamber is exhausting.
As will be seen by the Drawing (Figs. 1 and 2), the spokes of the wheel
consist of rods of iron or other metal, which are brought from the nave or
boss and returned through the rim of the wheel to the other side, and there
secured to the nave or boss, thus suspending the nave or boss from the rim of
the wheel.
I have thus shewn and described the arrangements which I prefer for very
light engines, such as might be made to carry 6 persons, but for heavier
engines I would recommend a solid boss, through which the necessary passages
corresponding to the pipes herein-before described should be constructed, also
that the whole construction of the wheel should be stouter and stronger.
In large engines there may be feet jointed to the ends of the radial rods,
suitable for the kind of work, road, or way, and these feet might be sufficiently
large to travel on marsby ground, and form what might be termed a portable
railway.
These driving wheels might be attached to an ordinary locomotive engine,
in pairs or otherwise, by simply connecting the supply and exhaust pipes with
the boiler, removing the said supply and exhaust pipes from the present
cylinder to the boss of the wheel.
Instead of the disked chambers before described, I could use short cylinders
with pistons and piston rods, spring or springs attached, for instance, coiled
or other springs acting from the insides of the rims of the wheels.
(III.) Having now particularly described the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do
not intend to restrict myself to the precise arrangements of parts shewn and
described; but I claim the Invention, the nature whereof is set forth in the
outset (marked I.) of this my Specification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Inman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Signed and sealed in my presence,
F. W. CAMPIN, Patent Agent,
156, Strand.
G. INMAN. (L.S.)