IMPROVEMENTS IN ENDLESS RAILWAYS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gilbert, of Church Street, Old Kent Road, in
the County of Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ENDLESS RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 11th April 1862, and dated the 15th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gilbert at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
. October 1861..
I, JOHN GILBERT, of Church Street, Old Kent Road, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ENDLESS RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
My said Invention is intended to facilitate the transport of locomotive
engines and carriages over commou roads or irregular land. Firstly, in order
to obtain this object, rails and sleepers are connected by brackets to an endless
elastic steel band passing over two guide wheels placed on the inside of the
driving or other wheel. The said guide wheels are less in diameter than the
carriage wheels, and are carried on short axles supported by beams resting
on the axle of the carriage wheel. The clogs or sleepers forming the bearings
of the endless way overhang the said elastic band, and the rails which are in
short lengths bear at their joints on the said sleepers, and form the tramway
on which the carriage wheels run.
Secondly, the said elastic steel band may be connected by means of arms
ונ..

page_text: to an inner elastic and endless band which passes over pulleys supported by
beams resting on the carriage axles, as before described.
The said arms
would be connected to the said outer and inner bands by joints at their ends,
thus allowing them to assume a radial position.
Thirdly, the endless elastic band may have the clogs or sleepers fastened
directly to it, in which case the carriage wheel would carry a spur wheel at
its side,gearing into a rack placed at the side of the rails, and a wheel mounted
over the carriage wheel pressing on the elastic band must be used to keep
the rack in gear with the spur wheel, or the said rack and spur wheel inay
be dispensed with by using a V-section of rail and the tire of the driving
wheel of a corresponding section.
Fourthly, the said elastic band may work in a horizontal position, passing
round two horizontal riggers on the lower ends of two vertical shafts, one
placed in advance of and the other in rear of the carriage wheel. In this
case three courses of rails in short lengths (of a rectangular section) are
arranged so as to break joints, and are connected each length at its centre to
the said endless band. The carriage wheel runs on the top course of said
rails, and the sleepers are secured to the bottom course. The said horizontal
riggers are raised sufficiently above the ground to prevent the endless way
from touching it except when under the carriage wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Gilbert in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JOHN
GILBERT, of Church Street, Old Kent Road, in the County of Kent, Engineer
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Gilbert, Her special licence that I, the said John,
Gilbert, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I
the said John Gilbert, 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

page_text: and Ireland,the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN ENDLESS RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I
the said John Gilbert, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
shold 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 Gilbert, 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 follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
It
My Invention consists of an improved endless railway,so constructed that
it can be worked at a high speed without noise. It can be applied to all
common road vehicles, weather such vehicles are drawn by horses or pro-
pelled by steam or other power,and can be made available not only for heavy
goods and passengers, but likewise for ploughing
or cultivating land.
consist in so constructing an endless railway, that each short piece of rail
shall be moved in regular succession,so that at least one length is at rest on
the road for the wheel to roll upon, and when the wheel has passed over, it.
is then taken up and carried over the top of the wheel, and again placed in
position under the running wheel. The rails, chairs, and sleepers are so con-
nected together that no depression can take place at the joints of the rails
when the wheel is passing over them,bat form one continuous and unyield-
ing rail.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed I have given an exemplification of the
manner in which I carry my Invention into effect.
Figure 1 of Sheet No. 1 of the Drawings represent a side view of an
ordinary omnibus; and Figures 2 and 3 on Sheet No. 2, an end view and
plan, Figure 2 being the end view, and Figure 3 the plan shewing the im-
proved endless railway attached to the same.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed similar letters of reference indicate
similar part in all the Figures.
Figure 1. A, A, represent the body of the omnibus with the front axle B
and hind axle C mounted on springs with the ordinary locking frame in
the front forguiding or steering the carriage; the running wheels are groved
on their circumference to keep them on the rail. D,D,are two groved riggers
with flanges on each side; around the circumference of these riggers I fix
vulcanised india-rubber tyres or bands for the steel band or chain E, E, to

page_text: work on F, F, are pieces of metal fastened to the metal band or chain, and
also to the wooden sleepers G, G, which are shod with iron; H, H, are the
metal chairs for connecting the wood sleepers and the ends of the short pieces
of rails by means of the pins I,I,; J, J, are two light metal beams keyed on
to the axle at K,K. At the ends of these beams there are two spindles L, 1,
upon the ends of which the riggers D, D, revolve, and by that means carry
forward the short pieces of rail; M, M, are the springs fixed in the usual
way.
Sheet 3, Figure 1, shews a steam passenger carriage with the endless rail-
way applied thereto. In the front end of the carriage I place an upright steam
boiler with a centre fire-box, which fire-box I surround with small desending
flues, so that no chimney is required, the waste gases being withdrawn by a
fan, and projected downwards on to the roadway; on each side of the boiler
I fix a small steam cylinder B, B, which communicate motion to a crank
shaft fixed under the floor of the carriage,on which is placed a pinion D, which
gear into a wheel E,keyed on the fore main axle of the carriage; F,F,are the
cranks to which the bottom ends of the connecting rods are attached. At
G is the steering wheel for guiding the carriage; by the aid of this wheel
the pair of bevil wheels at H motion is communicated to a shaft under the
body of the carriage, which has a pinion I fixed on the end, which gears into a
bevil wheel K, which moves the hind axle,and with it the riggers D,D,and by
that means the carriage is gvided wherever required. The waste steam from
the cylinders I project into the ash-pit under the fire-bars after passing it.
through a heater for heating the feed water for supplying the boiler; by this
means I shall have neither steam or noise to frighten horses. The driving
wheels are groved to work on a V-rail, as shewn on a larger scale at Figure 6*,
so as to prevent the wheel slipping on the rail.
Figure 5 shews another method of carrying the rails round the driving
wheel. A is the axle of the carriage; D,D,is a steel band, to which the rails and
sleepers are attached, as before described; by the side of the plain driving
wheel I use a spur wheel which work into short pieces of rack fixed by the
side of the rails,and at F is a small wheel to keep the short pieces of rack in
in gear with the running wheel. The jointed arms may be dispensed with by
using a V-rail and a groved driving wheel.
Figure 6 represent a side elevation of another method of carrying the end-
less railway round the ranning or driving wheels. A is the axle of the carriage,
on which is fixed a beam I, I, as before, only somewhat shorter; this beam
carries two pins,one at either end, on which the riggers or drums B, B, revolve,
and over the periphery of which works a strap or metal band C; on this

page_text: band or strap I fix twelve or any other suitable number of arms D,D,
which are jointed at each end, as shewn at G, G. The outside ends of
these arms arms are jointed to a metal band E, E, and the distance from
centre to centre of the riggers B, B, regulate the ellipticity of the metal
band E, E, so as to allow the rails and sleepers to be laid down on the road
before the running wheel F, F, comes upon them in succession, as before
stated.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby further state, I do not confine
myself to the precise details nor the exact proportions herein-before set forth
and described, as they may be varied considerably without departing from
the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gilbert, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two
JNo. GILBERT. (L.s.)