AN IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES OR OTHER RAILWAY VEHICLES WHICH LEAVE THE RAILS FROM RUNNING OFF THE ROAD OR PERMANENT WAY, AND FOR PROTECTING SUCH VEHICLES FROM OTHER DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES THEREOF
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th December 1880. A communication
from abroad by Henri Ruelle, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR
PREVENTING LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES OR OTHER RAILWAY VEHICLES WHICH LEAVE
THE RAILS FROM RUNNING OFF THE ROAD OR PERMANENT WAY, AND FOR
PROTECTING SUCH VEHICLES FROM OTHER DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES THEREOF."
[A communication from abroad by Henri Ruelle, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer.]
When a railway vehicle or a train of such vehicles runs off the rails, and
especially when the vehicle is a locomotive engine, one of two things ordinarily
occurs, that is to say, it will either sink in the ballast and destroy the road, or it
will leave the road and descend the embankment, or run into the slope of the
cutting, according to the nature of the road at which the accident takes place.
Consequently serious accidents are likely to happen to persons in the train or
vehicle, and the rolling stock and permanent way are damaged, the line being
frequently blocked for a considerable time. For repairing the line a numerous
staff is required, and also special appliances are necessary for replacing the vehicles
upon the rails.
This Invention relates to a simple apparatus or device having for its object to
obviate the disastrous effects which frequently happen when railway trains or
vehicles leave or run off the rails, this being effected by providing means for
keeping on the road any vehicles which through any cause have left the rails, and
it differs from the apparatus hitherto devised for preventing vehicles or trains
leaving the rails (none of which have as yet proved practicable) in that it is not
devised for preventing vehicles leaving the rails, but provides means for maintaining
upon the road the whole weight of the vehicles that leave the rails, and for
utilizing this weight for obviating all the disastrous effects which might otherwise
ensue when two or more wheels leave the rails, the weight which they have
supported is taken up by my improved apparatus or device, which is constructed
as follows, that is to say:-
I provide either in front of or behind the end wheels a part of a cylinder of
sheet-steel which forms a slide or skate and extends across the rails. It is solidly
attached by means of a guard plate which is made in one piece either with the

page_text: longitudinal framing of the vehicle, or in the case of wagons or carriages with
the guard plate according to the construction and arrangement of the rolling stock,
and catches, projections, or flanges are provided upon the cylindrical surface so as
to keep the vehicles which leave the rails upon the road.
It will be readily understood that as soon as the wheels leave the rails this device
or apparatus transforms the vehicles so to speak into a sledge, which is guided by
the flanges above mentioned. I sometimes place this device in front, and sometimes
behind the wheels of each vehicle, but whatever may be the number of the wheels
of the vehicle two only of the said apparatus or devices will be required.
In a carriage or a tender it is as a rule more advantageous to arrange the apparatus
between the two axles. This arrangement allows the two apparatus to be connected
by tie-rods, and when so united they may be made smaller than would otherwise
be possible, and thus may be manufactured at less cost. For locomotive engines it
is preferable to arrange the apparatus at the ends, and this may also be adopted
with other vehicles if found desirable.
As hereinbefore stated the apparatus consists substantially of a partially
cylindrical metal skate or slide provided with catches, projections, or flanges placed
transversely to the line and forming part of the vehicle.
This apparatus may also be provided with two more or less strong screw-jacks,
by means of which a vehicle or engine that has left the rails may be replaced
thereon, a screw uniting the two screw-jacks allowing the vehicle to be replaced
upon the rails when it is brought to the level of the same. When a vehicle leaves
the rails the said apparatus or devices constructed according to my Invention carry
the weight of the same, the wheels do not act upon the road except by their weight,
and they become as it were loose or free. The inclined surface of the cylinder
causes the vehicle which has left the rails to be moved away therefrom sufficiently
so that the bolts of the fish plates will not be cut. An engine which leaves the
rails will at once slide on the said device, it will be held upon the road by the
flanges, and not being able further to deviate thus prevents the other vehicles of
the train from leaving the rails, which vehicles without the said apparatus might
all have run off and obstructed the adjacent rails. The weight of the vehicle or
locomotive engine in consequence of the sliding thereof assists in slackening the
speed of the train (or of the locomotive) which has left the rails. The driver and
stoker can in a few minutes by means of the screw-jacks which are placed in
readiness lift the engine, and by means of the connecting screw place it upon the
rails.