IMPROVE- MENTS IN STEAM CARRIAGES FOR COMMON ROADS, AND IN PART APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES.
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Nairn, of Leith, in the County of Mid
Lothian, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM CARRIAGES FOR COMMON ROADS, AND IN PART APPLICABLE
TO RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES.'
Sealed the 20th May 1870, and dated the 23rd November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Nairn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd November 1869.
I, ANDREW NAIRN, of Leith, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CARRIAGES FOR COMMON ROADS, AND IN PART
APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates partly to a steam carriage more particularly
designed for passengers, but some of the improvements are also
applicable to steam carriages for goods or for traction purposes on
common roads, whilst others are applicable to railway locomotives.

page_text: The principal framing of a passenger carriage or omnibus constructed
according to this Invention consists of two parallel longitudinal frame
bars of iron or steel with iron or steel frames rising therefrom to form
the skeleton of the omnibus, and which is partly covered with wood or
sheet metal, and partly fitted with windows. A space for an upright
steam boiler with coal bunker and accessories is divided off at the front
end by a double bulkhead sufficiently deafened to prevent any noise
from being heard inside. The smoke funnel of the boiler is carried
backwards along the top of the omnibus beneath the outside passenger
seats, and emerges from the end of the cover of the guard's stand. The
smoke funnel is passed through an outer tube or funnel with an
intervening space, and a continual current of air is induced through
this outer tube by the action of the heat, and by the ejector action of
the issuing exhaust and smoke at the back end, so as to remove all
objectionable heat from the neighbourhood of the funnel.
The carriage is mounted on three wheels, two driving wheels at the
rear and a steering wheel at the front. The axle of the driving wheels
has the connecting rods from two or three cylinders coupled directly to
it, these cylinders being fixed at the rear beneath the main frame, whilst
.the water tank is under the middle of the carriage, or the cylinders
and water tank may be transposed. The steering and leading wheel is
carried by a fork, each side of which is fitted with a pendent volute
spring and rubber washers; or in some cases each side of the fork is
opened up to receive a spiral or volute bearing spring and rubber
washers; or in other cases a spiral or volute bearing spring is applied
round the central spindle of the fork.
The main bearing springs comprise ordinary flat laminated springs,
from the ends of which are suspended volute springs and rubber blocks
connecting the springs to the main framing. The bearings of the
working parts are made curvilinear to allow of the carriage swaying on
the springs.
To facilitate turning and steering the driving wheels are not rigidly
fixed on their axle, but are connected to discs fixed on the axle by
frictional straps or clutches, which whilst having sufficient grip for
driving still allow the wheels to adapt themselves to curves by moving
unequally. The same thing may be applied in carriages in which
gearing is introduced between the steam cylinders and the wheels.
The wheels are made with an iron rim or frame and with a channel or

page_text: groove circumferentially to receive wood, hemp, flax, or other fibrous
substance, in order to impart increased. adhesion; or the treading face
of the wheel may be covered with leather for the same purpose. When
applying wood it is used in the form of blocks, which are held by screw:
bolts entered from the inside of the metal rim or frame, and screwed
into nuts previously fixed in the blocks, or the bolt heads may be fixed
in the wood, and the nuts be applied inside the rim. Screw bolts may
also be fixed across the blocks and side flanges.
Wheels with tires of wood or any of the other materials herein-before
indicated may be advantageously applied to railway locomotives to
enable them more easily to ascend steep gradients, such tires being at
the sides of the ordinary tires, or on separate wheels, and running upon
flat rails or trams provided for the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andrew Nairn in the Great Seal Patent Office-
on the 21st May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
NAIRN, of Leith, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain,
Engineer, sond greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Andrew Nairn, Her special licence
that I, the said Andrew Nairn, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Nairn, 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM CARRIAGES FOR COMMON ROADS, AND IN PART APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY
LOCOMOTIVES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Andrew Nairn, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should

page_text: 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 Andrew Nairn, 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
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates partly to a steam carriage more particularly
designed for passengers, but some of the improvements are also
applicable to steam carriages for goods or for traction purposes on
common roads, whilst others are applicable to railway locomotives. The
term "common roads" is herein used to designate any roads (whether
laid with tramways or not) other than what are usually termed
"railways."
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended two
Sheets of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and
representing modifications of my improved arrangements. Wherever..
the same reference numerals are repeated in the Drawings they.arc
used to mark the same or like parts.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal
vertical section, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section of a steam omnibus
or passenger carriage as constructed according to my Invention.
The principal framing consists of parallel longitudinal frame bars 1 of
iron or steel, with iron or stecl frames 2 rising therefrom to form the
skeleton of the omnibus, and which is partly covered with wood or sheet
metal 3, and partly fitted with windows 1. A space for an upright
steam boiler 5 with coal bunker 6 and accessories is divided off at the
front end by a double bulkhead 7. The smoke funnel S of the boiler 5
rises to the top of the carriage, and is then led backwards along the top
(beneath the outside passenger seats if there are any), and emerges from
the rear end of the cover 9 over the guard's stand 10. The smoke
funnel 8 is passed through an outer tube or funnel 11, with an inter-
vening space, and a continual current of air is induced through this outer
tube by the action of the heat and of the motion of the carriage, and by

page_text: the "ejector" action of the issuing exhaust steam and smoke at the
back end so as to remove all objectionable heat from the neighborhood
of the funnel 8. The ejector action referred to is obtained by carrying
the outer tube or funnel 11 a little beyond the outer end of the smoko
funnel 8.
The carriage is mounted on three wheels, two driving wheels 12
towards the rear, and a steering wheel 13 at the front. The axle 14 of
the driving wheels 12 is cranked to receive the connecting rods of two
(or as I prefer and have shown of three) steam cylinders 15, these
cylinders being fixed at the rear beneath the framing 1, whilst the water
tank 16 is under the middle of the carriage; or the cylinders 15 and
water tank 16 may be transposed. The steering and leading wheel 13
is held by a fork 17, each side or leg of which is fitted with a pendent
volute or spiral spring 18 and rubber washers 19. A volute or spiral
spring may be applied on the central spindle 20 of the fork in addition
to or instead of those on the legs. The steering is effected by means of
a nearly vertical spindle 21, with a hand wheel at its upper end, and at
its lower end a worm gearing into a toothed sector 22, connected by a
lever 23 and link 24 to the fork 17. The spindle 20 of the fork turns
and is held in a socket in a bracket or bridge 25 fixed upon the front
end of the frame. The main bearing springs comprise sets 20 of
ordinary flat laminated springs, from the ends of which are suspended
volute springs 27 and rubber blocks 28, connecting the springs to the
main framing.
To facilitate steering and turning the driving wheels 12 are not rigidly.
fixed on their axle 14, but are arranged as shown in the enlarged
sections, Figures 3 and 4 on Sheet 2 of the accompanying. Drawings,
A grooved pulley or disc 29 is keyed. on the axle 14, and has applied to
its circumferential groove frictional blocks and a strap 30, fitted upon
a pin 31 fixed in the wheel 12. A screw 32 is provided for adjusting
the nip of the strap and consequent frictional hold, so that there may
be enough for driving whilst still allowing the wheels to adapt them-
selves to curves by moving unequally. If preferred, the friction wheel
or disc 29 may be fixed or formed in one piece with the wheel 12, the
pin 31 of the friction strap 30 being fixed in a driving disc or arm 33
keyed on the axle, as shown in Figure 5. This frictional arrangement.
of the wheels may also be applied in carriages in which wheel gearing
is introduced between the steam cylinders and the wheels.
7

page_text: The wheels 12, 13, are made with an iron rim or frame, and with a
channel or groove circumferentially to receive wood, hemp, flax, or
other fibrous substance, in order to impart increased adhesion; or the
treading face of the wheel may be covered with leather for the same
purpose. When applying wood it is used in the form of blocks 34, as
shown in Figures 3 and 4, which are held by screw bolts 35 entered
from the inside of the metal rim or frame, and screwed into nuts
Or the bolt heads
previously entered into cross mortices in the blocks.
may be fixed in the blocks and the nuts be applied inside the frame.
Screw bolts 36 may also be fixed across the blocks 34 and the side
flanges of the metal frame. When using a fibrous substance for the tire
or treading surface it may be applied in the form of ropes 37, which
are, by preference, wound or laid upon a bed 38 of cork, rubber, or other
clastic substance, as shown in section in Figure 6, or upon a series of
steel blade springs 39, as shown in section in Figure 7. In some cases
the tires made of wood or fibrous substance, as described, may be pro-
tected by bolting on or otherwise fixing across the treading surface
and G,
narrow plates 43 of metal, as shown in Figures 3,
Wheels with tires of wood or any of the other materials herein-before
indicated may be advantageously applied to railway locomotives to
enable them more easily to ascend steep gradients. Such tires may be
applied as shown in the sectional view of a locomotive, Figure 8, being
held upon bosses or wheel frames 40 upon the outer sides of the
ordinary wheels 41. They are made of smaller outside diameter than the
ordinary wheels, so as to have increased power for ascending inclines,
and special additional rails 42 are provided for them to run on. The
surfaces of such rails 42 may be slightly corrugated, as shown in
Figure 9, to give increased adhesion.
Having now particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated;
but that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
1. The combining together of the parts of steam carriages, substantially
in the improved mode herein-before described.
2. The leading of the smoke pipe backwards along the roof and
through an air current pipe, as herein-before described.

page_text: 3. The applying of three cylinders arranged and connected sub-
stantially as hercin-before described for propelling steam carriages on
common roads.
4. The applying of frictional clutches in connection with the driving
wheels of steam carriages for common roads, substantially in the manner
and for the purposes herein-before described.
5. The combining of laminated, volute, and rubber springs in con-
nection with the wheels, substantially as herein-before described.
6. Fitting and fixing the blocks composing the wooden tire, sub-
stantially in the improved manner herein-before described.
7. Making the tires of the wheels of hemp, flax, or other fibrous
substance, or leather alone or combined with springs or elastic materials,
substantially as herein-before described.
And, 8. Applying such tires to small wheels upon railway locomotives
to facilitate the ascent of steep inclines, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Nairn, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 20th day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
ANDREW NAIRN. (L.S.)