IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING THE TRAFFIC ON OVER HEAD RAILWAYS, AND APPLIANCES AND APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd May 1879. A communi-
cation from abroad by Eugène Pècher, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. " IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING THE TRAFFIC
ON OVER HEAD RAILWAYS, AND APPLIANCES AND APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR."
[A communication from abroad by Eugène Pècher, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium.]
33°
The object of this Invention is to provide means for working with facility and
safety what are known as "overhead railways."
The Invention is intended to apply more particularly in cases where the tractive
force is communicated to the vehicles through an endless chain or rope, and consists,
firstly, in means for securing and disconnecting the vehicle to or from the endless
chain or rope without interrupting the onward movement of the rope; and secondly,
in a means for preventing the vehicle getting off the rails in case of an accident
occuring to the wheels or axles or from any other cause. This part of the
Invention is also applicable to other systems of overhead railways.
In carrying out the first part of the Invention, each carriage is provided with a
guide pulley or wheel mounted on an axle carried by a forked bracket secured to
the head stock of the vehicle.
The driving rope or chain passes over this guide pulley or wheel, and is thereby
raised into a position where it may be readily gripped between a pair of rollers
mounted on the lower ends of a pair of tongs pivotted to a pendent bracket also
secured to the head stock of the vehicle. The gripping action is effected by forcing
apart in any suitable manner the upper ends of the tongs. If the driving rope be
round, the gripping rollers will be made of a shape to correspond thereto; or if a
flat rope be used, the rollers will be made plain.
If the rope used be flat in a horizontal sense, the tongs with their pair of rollers
may be dispensed with, and in lieu thereof a single roller, conveniently carried and
capable of being raised or lowered in any suitable manuer from or on to the guide
pulley may be used. In this case the guide pulley will be made wider to receive
the flat rope, and will form one of the gripping rollers.

page_text: By the above described arrangements the gripping of the rope will be gradual,
and consequently the movement given to the vehicle will be gradual, and will not
cause any disagreeable shock to the passengers.
When it is desired to stop the vehicle, the conductor will unloose by any suitable
mechanism the gripping arrangements, and will put on the brake, which may be
connected with the unloosing mechanism.
At or near the end of the journey, suitable aaparatus may be placed for automat-
ically, opening the gripping arrangements, and means may be provided for moving
the vehicles as they arrive at their destination from the up to the down line.
In carrying out the second part of this Invention, which is to obviate the
possibility of the vehicles getting off the rails through the breaking of an axle or
from any other cause, and to prevent the vehicle from falling over on its side, each
vehicle is provided at either end with a pair of (safety or reserve) wheels suitably
carried just clear of the rails, and which do not touch the rails while the vehicle
is perfect, but will come into action immediately in case of an axle breaking or a
wheel giving way.
In addition to these safety wheels, each vehicle is provided with strong hooks
which, without touching, slide along underneath the flanges of the rails. These
flanges may be somewhat extended on one side of the rail to present a greater
obstruction to the rising or jumping of the carriage off the rails from any cause.
Rollers will be placed at suitable distances apart between the rails to support
the endless rope and prevent its sagging.