IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WARMING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Henri Weibel, of Geneva, Switzerland,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WARMING
RAILWAY CARRIAGES.”
Sealed the 10th October 1872, and dated the 14th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Henri Weibel at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th May 1872.
I, JULES HENRI WEIBEL, of Geneva, Switzerland, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
WARMING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:—
My Invention consists in the improvements which I have introduced
into the system of warming by the circulation of hot water with a view
to its application to the warming of railway carriages of different classes,
and which are divided into compartments.
The improvements which constitute my Invention are as follows:-
First. The employment of a boiler with an internal cylinder, in which
the fuel is piled up to a great depth. The cylinder is made large enough

page_text: to hold the quantity of fuel needful for from 6 to 8 hours' consumption
or more, and the draft is regulated by a valve similar to those used for
Arnott's stoves or any other known self-acting valve, so that the com-
bustion may not extend quickly to the whole mass, which causes it to
burn for 6, 8, or more hours without requiring to be recharged. In this
boiler the discharge of the cinders is ensured by the oscillation of the
carriage in travelling, so that the fire may be left to itself for the time
stated above, without being recharged or cleaned.
Second. The employment of a circulation of water at low pressure.
The water heated in the boiler ascends by a rising pipe and traverses a 1
horizontal pipe, called the distributing pipe, placed at the upper part of
the carriage. At each of the transverse partitions which separate the
compartments there is a descending pipe branching out of the dis-
tributing pipe. These descending pipes ramify in such a manner that
the water circulates in pipes placed near the floor of the carriage, and ]
so arranged that they nowhere cross the passage which separates the
seats. These pipes may according to the degree of heat to be attained
return upon themselves once or more times to present a greater surface.
After this circuit they pass through the floor of the carriage and connect
with a longitudinal collecting pipe, which receives the water from all
the partial circulations, and reuniting them leads them back to the
bottom of the boiler.
Third. The distributing pipes, the heating pipes, and the collecting
pipes need not be inclined, the circulation and distribution of the hot
water to each of the branches taking place regularly, without any incli-
nation being given to these pipes. The escape of air which would
interfere with the circulation is brought about by the various inclinations
of the road over which the carriage travels, facilitated by the oscillation
of the carriage in travelling. These conditions permit the abandonment
of that inclination of the pipes which is usually essential in hot water
warming apparatus to ensure a good circulation.
Fourth. The escape of the air takes place at the upper part of the
distributing pipe by one or more expansion vessels communicating
freely with the atmosphere. These vessels are partly filled with liquid,
and are of sufficient capacity to compensate for the variations of volumn
of the liquid as it is influenced by the heat.

page_text: Fifth. The expansion vessels are provided with an arrangement to
prevent the liquid being thrown out of them by the oscillation of the
train.
Sixth. The boiler is filled by means of a funnel placed upon the
carriage. It communicates by a pipe with the lowest point of the
circulation, so that the liquid enters, first, at the bottom of the apparatus,
and in filling it drives the air upward to the expansion vessels, where it
is free to cscape. The filling consequently takes place rapidly and
efficiently, which would not be the case if the apparatus were filled
from above, because then the air could not escape except by checking
at intervals the flow of the water.
Seventh. The boiler, which is of small capacity, is placed by preference
at the end of the carriage on the outside. It is suitably clothed to
avoid loss of heat. The products of combustion rise by flue pipes,
and are discharged above the roof of the carriage. The cinders and
ashes fall upon the road.
Eighth. Variations in the intensity of the heat may be obtained :-
•
A. By regulating the combustion by means of a valve placed in the
smoke pipe. This valve is so arranged, that even when closed it allows
sufficient air to pass to prevent the extinction of the fire, whilst the
combustion is retained to a minimum.
. B. By placing on the circulating pipes taps at the points where
these pipes join the collecting pipe. On closing these pipes the circulation
ceases in the pipe on which the tap is. The heating surface in the
compartment is thus lessened by the amount of the surface of the pipe
in which there is no circulation.
C. The active heating surface in all the compartments of a carriage
can be varied at once by a single cock. For this purpose in place of a
single collecting tube two are then employed. In each compartment
the pipe placed under one of the seats terminates in one of the collecting
pipes, and that under the other seat in the other collecting pipe. On
closing by a valve one of the collecting pipes, half of the heating pipes
cease to have an active circulation, and the heating surface is diminished
in proportion in all the compartments.
By employing screw or similar taps the force of the circulation can

page_text: pipes, and a corresponding reduction of the activity of the heating
surface will ensue.
D. The acting heating surface may be varied by combining different
circuits of greater or less length of pipes of different diameters.
Ninth. To avoid risk of injury by frost I employ when this incon- t
venience is to be feared mixtures of liquids having a very low freezing
point, as for example, a mixture of water and glycerine or salino
solutions.
Tenth. This system, in which each carriage carries its own heating
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jules Henri Weibel in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULES 1
HENRI WEIBEL, of Geneva, Switzerland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give:
and grant unto me, the said Jules Henri Weibel, Her special license
that I, tho said Jules Henri Weibel, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Jules Henri Weibel, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR WARMING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Jules Henri Weibel, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 Scal Patent Offico within

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jules Henri Weibel, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the improvements which I have introduced
into the system of warming by the circulation of hot water with a view
to its application to the warming of railway carriages of different classes,
and which are divided into compartments. The annexed Drawings shew
the general arrangement of the apparatus.
The Drawings on Sheet 1 represent a third-class carriage, and those
on Sheet 2 a first-class carriage.
Figures 1 and 6 are elevations partly in section; Figures 2 and 7 are
side views; Figures 3 and 8 are plans; and Figures 4 and 9 are
transverse sections; Figure 5 shows the expansion vessel in section.
A. is a boiler with an internal fire; B is a distributing pipe in which
the water rises and circulates on leaving the boiler; C, C, are descending
pipes supplying the several compartments; D, D, are circulating pipes
placed upon the floor of the carriage; E is a collecting pipe leading the
cooled water back to the boiler; F is the expansion vessel, serving also
to allow air to escape from the pipes; G is a funnel for filling the
apparatus; H is a draw-off cock.
The improvements which constitute my Invention are as follows :—
First. The employment of a boiler A with an internal cylinder in
which the fuel is piled up to a great depth. The cylinder is made large
enough to hold the quantity of fuel needful for from six to eight hours
consumption or more, and the draught is regulated by a valve (similar to
those used for Arnott's stoves or any other known self-acting valve), so
that the combustion, may not extend quickly to the whole mass, which
causes it to burn for six, eight, or more hours without requiring to be
re-charged. In this boiler the discharge of the cinders is ensured by the
oscillation of the carriage in travelling, so that the fire may be left to>
itself for the time stated above without being re-charged or cleaned.
Second. The employment of a circulation of water at low pressure.
The water heated in the boiler ascends by a rising pipe and traverses the

page_text: horizontal pipe B, called the distributing pipe, placed at the upper part
of the carriage. At each of the transverse partitions which separate
the compartments there is a descending pipe C branching out of the
distributing pipe B. These descending pipes C ramify in such a manner
that the water circulates in the pipes D placed near the floor of the
carriage, and so arranged that they nowhere cross the passage which
separates the scats. These pipes D may according to the degree of heat
to be attained return upon themselves one or more times to present a
greater surface. After this circuit they pass through the floor of the
carriage and connect with a longitudinal collecting pipe E, which
receives the water from all the partial circulations, and re-uniting them
leads them back to the bottom of the boiler.
Third. The distributing pipes B, the heating pipes D, and the
collecting pipes E need not be inclined, the circulation and distribution
of the hot water to each of the branches taking place regularly without
any inclination being given to these pipes. The escape of air which
would interfere with the circulation is brought about by the various
inclinations of the road over which the carriage travels, facilitated by
the oscillation of the carriage in travelling. These conditions permit the
abandonment of that inclination of the pipes which is usually essential :
in hot water warming apparatus to ensure a good circulation.
Fourth. The escape of the air takes place at the upper part of the
distributing pipe B by one or more expansion vessels F communicating
freely with the atmosphere. These vessels are partly filled with liquid,
and are of sufficient capacity to compensate for the variations of volume 2
of the liquid as it is influenced by the heat.
Fifth. The expansion vessels F are provided with an arrangement to
prevent the liquid being thrown out of them by the oscillation of the
train (see Figure 5, Sheet 1).
Sixth. The boiler is filled by means of a funnel G placed upon the 3
carriage. It communicates by a pipe with the lowest point of the
circulation, so that the liquid cuters first at the bottom of the apparatus,
and in filling it drives the air upward to the expansion vessels F, where
it is free to escape. The filling consequently takes place rapidly and
efficiently, which would not be the case if the apparatus were filled from 3
above, because then the air could not escape except by checking at
intervals the flow of the water

page_text: outway
Seventh. The boiler, which is of small capacity, is placed by preference
at the end of the carriage on the outside. It is suitably clothed to avoid
loss of heat. The products of combustion rise by flue pipes and are
discharged above the roof of the carriage; the cinders and ashes fall
upon the road.
Eighth. Variations in the intensity of the heat may be obtained,-
(A.) By regulating the combustion by means of a valve placed in the
smoke pipe, but not shewn in the Drawings. This valve is so arranged
that even when closed it allows sufficient air to pass to prevent the
extinction of the fire, whilst the combustion is reduced to a minimum.
(B.) By placing on the circulating pipes D, taps I, I, Sheet 2, at the
points where these pipes join the collecting pipe. On closing these taps
the circulation ceases in the pipe on which the tap is. The heating
surface in the compartment is thus lessened by the amount of the
surface of the pipe in which there is no circulation.
(C.) The active heating surface in all the compartments of a carriage
can be varied at once by a single cock. For this purpose in place of a
single collecting tube E two are then employed E and E', Sheet 1. In
cach compartment the pipe placed under one of the seats terminates in
the collecting pipe E, and that under the other seat in the collecting
pipe E¹. On closing by a valvo K, Sheet 1, the collecting pipe E, half
of the pipes cease to have an active circulation, and the heating surface
is diminished in proportion in all the compartments.
By employing screw or similar taps the force of the circulation can be
regulated at pleasure by throttling one or both of the collecting pipes,
and a corresponding reduction of the activity of the heating surface will
ensuo.
(D.) The active heating surface may be varied by combining different
circuits of greater or less length of pipes of different diameters.
Ninth. To avoid risk of injury by frost I employ when this incon-
venience is to be feared mixtures of liquids having a very low freezing
point, as for example, a mixture of water and glycerine or saline
solutions.
Tenth. This system, in which each carriage carries its own heating
apparatus complete, has the advantage of not interfering in any way with

page_text: the coupling of the carriage and the arrangement of the trains. The
position of the boiler may be changed by placing it under the carriage
between the end of the bed frame and the axle, so that the boiler may
be less exposed to the risk of blows. This modification is shewn in red
on the Drawings. In this case the cover of the furnace is prolonged in 5
a hopper-like form to the outside of the car to receive the charge of fuel.
I claim, the general arrangements substantially as described for
warming railway carriages by hot water.
In witness whercof, Jules Henri Weibel, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our 1
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.