Improvements in the Mode of Suspending and Propelling Carriages on Railways.
Year: 1895

page_text: C
Date of Application, 16th July, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 18th May, 1896-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Mode of Suspending and Propelling Carriages
on Railways.
I, JOSEPH CRESTEY of 28 Rue Frileuse Gentilly in the Republic of France
Priest do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the mode of suspending and propelling carriages on
railways and is more particularly intended to be applied to railways in which there
are very steep gradients and its purpose is to maintain the horizontal position of
each carriage when running either on a level or on a gradient.
For this purpose the carriage or carriages that is to say the separate carriage
bodies containing in each one or more compartments are carried by a framing based
upon the principle of a parallelogram with hinged joints, in which compensation is
made for the variation in perpendicular distance between the upper and lower sides
due to the greater or less obliquity thereto of the lateral sides which latter are
intended to remain always vertical.
Each carriage body rests upon a single axle carrying at each end a wheel running
on the rails and these wheel axles are connected by a member of the frame afore-
said which member is parallel to the upper and lower members of the parallelogram
before mentioned and is guided upon the vertical members of the parallelogram.
The upper member of the parallelogram is also connected to each carriage body in
a line displaceably to and from the axle of that carriage body parallel to the
lateral members of the parallelogram. The lower member of the parallelogram
embraces the rail or a parallel rail so that it is always parallel to the gradient of
the railway over which the combined carriage is passing at the time. By providing
means for controlling the perpendicular distance between the upper and lower
members or if desired the lateral members, the vertical position of the latter
may be at all times preserved and the carriage bodies will each remain.
horizontal.
On the wheel axles of the carriage bodies are loosely fitted arms perpendicularly
fixed to a rack bar of convenient length presented towards the ground between
the rails and consequently always lying parallel thereto. In the track of this bar
are located a series of motors operated for instance by compressed air the entrance
and cut off of which is operated by a suitable device on the car. These motors
are preferably arranged. so that there are always three in engagement by their
driving pinious with the aforesaid rack bar. The device on the car by which the
air valves are operated may be made. adjustable in order that the conductor or
official in charge of the car may vary the speed or the power exerted by causing
the said device to open the air cocks more or less fully.
To prevent congelation at the time of the expansion of the compressed air, the:
air should be dried before compression and should also be heated at the moment of
its expansion. This may be done by a gas jet heating a spiral pipe through which
the compressed air passes to the motor from the air main. A mixture of hydrogen
and oxygen may also be burnt in a closed vessel for the same purpose. The air:
first expands in a chamber surrounding the cylinder of the piston of the motor;
thence it enters the cylinder through a port controlled by a slide having a plurality.
of orifices and attached to the piston with which it moves. This, slide may also.
have an.interior slide for adjusting the effective area of its orifices and so adjusting “

page_text: the amount of air that passes into the cylinder. This piston rod drives a crank
revolving a spur wheel which engages with and revolves the pinion which is at the
time in engagement with the rack on the car.
°
An automatic or hand operated brake or detent may be fitted to the car consisting
of a sector adapted to be released automatically or by hand so that it will fall into
the path of devices fitted to the railway. This sector is fitted with teeth also in
sectorial form.
For providing an automatic speed controlling and notifying gear, a clock is
provided and adapted to depress a lever at certain intervals of time; a similar
contrary lever is depressed by movement of the car at intervals more or less
frequent according to the speed of the car. These levers govern respectively
springs which if both are actuated at the same time tend to neutralize each other.
But if the speed increases or decreases the movements of the levers tend to operate
a ratchet wheel which after a predetermined amount of revolution brings the brake
automatically into action. The springs also then operate to produce a signal by
which the official in charge of the car may be warned of the excess or decrease of
speed in order that there may be opportunity to restore it to the normal speed if
so desired before the brake enters into action. The ratchet wheel may be provided
with a spring to return it to its starting position when the ratchet is released by
the official in charge through suitable connecting gear.
Dated this 16th day of July 1895.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicant.
Improvements in the Mode of Suspending and Propelling Carriages
on Railways.
I
I, JOSEPH CRESTEY of 28, Rue Frileuse, Gentilly in the Republic of France,
Priest, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
This invention relates to the mode of suspending and propelling carriages on
railways and is more particularly intended to be applied to railways in which there
are very steep gradients and its purpose is to maintain the horizontal position of
each carriage when running either on a level or on a gradient.
The invention is illustrated in the annexed sheet of drawings' in a series of
diagrammatic views.
I. SUSPENSION OF CARRIAGES.
In any given parallelogram ABCD (Fig. 1) two sides A B and CD of which
are always maintained at a constant distance by a rod FE fixed perpendicularly at
one of its extremities E to one of the said sides CD and adapted to let the other
said side slide between rollers at its other extremity F, it is only possible to distort
such parallelogram (that is to say by lengthening one of its diagonals so that for
instance its sides cease to be perpendicular to each other) by. lengthening the two
remaining sides A, C and B, D, of the parallelogram.
For this purpose it is necessary to joint the angles and provide such joints with
rollers or sliding connections.
:
By thus lengthening the sides of the parallelogram the projecting extensions of
such side bars C, G, and D, H, become shorter.
Now if A, B, and C, D, are always parallel to the railway and A, C, and B, D,
are always to be vertical whatever the inclination of the railway, this can only be
.

page_text: done by lengthening A, C and B, D, in such proportion that the parallelogram is:
distorted as aforesaid sufficiently to bring the sides A, C, and B, D, vertical..
This lengthening of the sides A, C and B, D, is done by equivalent shortening of
their extensions C, G, D, H.
Let I, J, represent the surface of the rails and L and R the axes of the single
wheel axles on each car W, W. The distances L, X, and R, Y, are constant,.
therefore the line L, R, a prolongation of line C, D, is always at the same distance
from I, J. Now if there is placed alongside of rails I, J, a supplementary rail i¹,j.
(see Fig. 1A) embraced between the two upper wheels G, H, and the two lower
wheels P, Q. of the little carriage attached to the lower ends of the extensions C, G,.
and D, H, of the sides A C, BD, of the parallelogram, the distance C, G, D, H,.
will be rendered longer or shorter at will at different parts of the railway by
running the rail i,j, at a lower or higher level with regard to rail 1. J.
level ground the rail i, j, will be at its greatest distance below rail I, J, see Fig. 14,
and when on the steepest incline it will rise to the same level (Fig. 1) or may
even surpass the line I,J. Since the sides A, C and B, D, are thus always.
vertical, the centre lines K L. K' R, of the car frames U, V, L and U', V' R being
guided between rollers N and thus kept parallel to A, C, or B, D, are also always.
vertical. These frames support the floors S, T, S, T, of the cars, which floors are
thus always horizontal.
When on.
There may be any number of cars or compartments W, W₁ connected to
one frame having the governing parallelograms at each end as shown in Fig. 1 or
Fig. 2.
The propulsion of these carriages is performed as follows:-Let L, X¹, R, Y¹,.
represent two rods extending from the wheel axles L, R, or elsewhere perpendicularly
to the line C, D, L, R, and carrying at their ends X, Y, a bar M, N, forming a
toothed rack remaining parallel to the line C, D, L, R, therefore parallel to the
railway line I, J, between the two rails of which it lies in the centre (Fig. 3).
Along the centre of the track there are placed at intervals apart a number of
motors a, b, c, (Fig. 3).
The motors may be three meters apart and the bar M, N, nine meters long..
The latter is wide enough (see plan in Fig. 3) to be engaged by three motors at
a time even though the latter lie in a curved line corresponding to curves of the
railroad. The motors are of any suitable kiud adapted to be operated by com-
pressed air supplied to them from a main Q¹, R', extending along the track from a
central station where same is supplied to the main at a pressure of six to eight.
atmospheres. The supply of compressed air to the motors is controlled from the
car by the following means. Below the level of the rack bar M, N, is a bar G¹, H¹,.
Fig. 4 which may be raised or lowered by any suitable gear under control of the
conductor or guard of the car or train. The under side of the bar is inclined and
it is adapted to pass over and depress levers P' which control cocks for admitting.
compressed air from the main Q, R¹, to the respective motors. Springs O return
such levers P¹ to their raised position after such depression. It will be obvious.
that by depressing the bar G₁, H₁ the levers will be depressed for a greater.
distance, the cocks will be more fully opened and a larger supply of air will pass
into the motors, propelling the carriage more quickly and that if the bar is raised
so far that it does not touch the levers P₁ the motors will not be actuated and the.
carriage will not be propelled. The supply of force proportional to the weight of
the carriage and its load is then entirely under the control of the conductor.
:
I may remark that since compressed air in expanding produces great cold, it is
necessary to take precautions against freezing of the watery vapour that there
may be therein. To reduce the amount of this the air should be dried at its inlet
to the compressor at the central station and be heated at the moment of its
expansion into the motors. This latter function may be performed by passing the
air from the cock to the motor cylinder through a coil G2 surrounding a gas-burner
as shown in Fig. 5. To provide the gas, a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen may be
used and burnt from a closed vessel.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
In a system of traction by motors operated by compressed. air:
1. A method of suspension of the carriages upon parallelograms as hereinbefore
described, these parallelograms being combined with rods reaching under the
rackway and holding a toothed rack to be operated by the motors.
2. The method for heating the air before its arrival in the motors as hereinbefore
described.
Dated thig 18th day of May 1896.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents for Applicant.