IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCOMOTIVE STEAM CARRIAGES, APPLI- CABLE TO RAILWAYS AND COMMON ROADS
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BUTTERS BACON, of Sidmouth Street, Regent Square, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of March, in the fifth
year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Joshua Butters Bacon, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Joshua Butters Bacon, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joshua Butters Bacon, my
exors, admiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein ex-
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCOMOTIVE STEAM CARRIAGES, APPLI-
CABLE TO RAILWAYS AND COMMON ROADS," communicated to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Joshua Butters Bacon, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The frame seen at a, Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the machine, is in the usual
form, except that it extends to the rear sufficiently for a convenient fuel room
and engineer's stand. The wheels are of common structure, being made of
cast or wrought iron, with arms, flanges, rims, and fixed hubs. They are
attached to their axles respectively, and these made of iron projecting through
the naves and run in boxes, as seen at Figures 1 and 3 at b, these boxes
being capable of exact adjustment, so as to level the engine. The driving
wheel is attached to the frame and works in boxes, but its rolling friction on
the railway is regulated by a spiral spring and lever, and the pressure of the
roller d, as herein-after described. This driving wheel, as seen at c in Figures
1, 2, and 3, is moved by the rolling friction produced by applying the roller d
to its periphery, as seen at e, Figures 2 and 3, the larger periphery of the
roller & being in contact with No. 3 of the concentric set of rollers, as seen at
f, this set of rollers being put in motion by the pinion at g, in Figure 3,
which takes into the teeth cut in the periphery of the wheel h, attached
firmly to the set of rollers, and revolving with them upon the same axis,
so that when the pinion at 9 turns under its axis towards the smoke pipe
the wheel hand the set of rollers turn over their axis in the same direction,
whereby the roller d turns under its axis in the same direction, and the
driving wheels over their axis forward, the driving wheels being firmly
fixed to the same axis. It will be perceived that the roller d is sustained in
its position, bearing upon the top of the driving wheel by a perpendicular
standard, seen at i, which descends to the boxes of the driving wheels, as seen
at j, and is so connected with the axle of the driving wheels, by means of
bearing on its axle, or by means of two pairs of screws attached to the frame
and bearing on its axle, by plates connecting each pair of screws together, the
screws taking into boxes fixed upon the frame in any convenient mode; and
these plates being pressed down by the screws upon the roller axis as that the
friction surface of the roller d shall always be kept closely in contact with the

page_text: friction periphery surface, or the periphery of the flange of the driving wheels, and
thereby force this to turn on the railroad, it being seen in Figure 3 at k that the
driven roller k, on the same axis with the roller d, is forced to turn by the
driving roller 1, being No. 3 of the set of rollers seen at m, which are in the
same axis as the toothed wheel n, that takes into the pinion g in Figure 3, or as
seen at o in Figure 4, which is turned by the arms of the engine p in Figure
4, within the encasement q in Figures 1 and 3; the steam being let into the
said arms, which are hollow, as seen at r in Figure 4, by means of the hollow
space seen in the nave or shaft scen at s in Figure 4, by the pipe seen at t in
Figure 1, leading from the steam chambers seen at u. The steam entering by
said hollow nave or shaft, and passing along the hollow of the two arms,
issues by the holes at the extremities on opposite sides of the arms, scen at v in
Figure 5, and by the force with which the steam so issues within the encase-
ment, this being air-tight, except at the opening seen at w in Figure 5,
the arms are made to revolve upon their shaft, fixed on the centre of the
circular encasement aforesaid, the steam passing from said encasement into
the smoke pipe, or into the reservoir of water, so as to save the heat and warm
the water in the reservoir or tank, seen at a in Figures 1, 2, and 3, this tank
being cylindrical in form, and placed across the carriage, as seen in Figure 2,
and forming part of the flue, as seen at z in Figures 1 and 3. To the shaft of
the revolving arms and the end thereof opposite to the induction hole, seen at
y in Figure 4, is attached the pinion g and o, before mentioned, which
takes into the wheel upon the axis of the set of rollers. Here it is to be
observed that this axis is suspended by the arm A, which is adjusted to and
is moveable upon the axis or shaft of the revolving arms, this arm A being
attached at its lower extremity at B to one end of the arm C, whose other end
is attached to the upright arm D, thereby making this a lever of the second
order, whose power end is at E, and its fulcrum at F, so that when the
engineer who is stationed in rear of it draws it towards him the set of rollers
aforesaid is pressed forcibly against the roller on the same axis as the roller d,
which axis of the roller is held in its position by the horizontal bar G, and the
perpendicular standard aforesaid, and the lever of two pairs of screws, before
mentioned, applied to the axis of the roller d. This standard is so con-
structed that as by means of any mechanical force the roller d is made to bear
with encreased power upon the driving wheels, this standard may permit the
axes of the roller d and the axes of the driving wheels to approximate mathe-
matically and mechanically, as may be needful to give effect to such encreased
force or closer contact. This mechanical force may be by a lever of the first

page_text: order, with a weight at the power and bearing down the axle of the roller d
upon the periphery of the flanges or friction surface of the driving wheels, or
by other convenient means. The pressure of weight upon the driving wheels
may be varied as follows:-Let the after bearing wheels be raised by moving
the arm H, which is a bent lever, towards the front of the engine, till the
weight of the engine is chiefly sustained upon the forward bearing wheels, and
the driving wheels being placed sufficiently in rear of the centre of gravity to
sustain the weight in all ascending planes, when it is essential the weight
should be thrown upon the driving wheels. When turning a bend in the
road the bearing wheels are made to turn by means of the arm or lever I and
the bars K, the longer one of these bearing upon the extremity of the forward
axle shoulder, and the shorter connecting the end of this compound lever, as
seen at L, so that when the lever or arm I is drawn towards the front by the
engineer the longer bar is moved forward and the shorter back, and thereby
the wheels are turned conformably to the bend of the road, if the bend is to
the left hand of the locomotive's course, and by a contrary movement of the
lever, if the bend is to the right, the wheels are turned conformably to the
bend. At M is seen the bellows wheel, which is turned by a band from one
of the set of rollers, as seen at N. By this means the air is thrown with
force into the fireplace of the furnace at O, in Figure 3. The construction of
the smoke pipe, as seen at P, is designed to prevent the cinders from flying
out of the pipe. It is so constructed as that there shall be within it, as at the
bottom thereof, a space where there is no current, but into which the cinders
are thrown by force of the furnace; then, ceasing to be impelled by this
force, they settle by their own gravity, while the smoke which has not
been and could not be impelled into a space where, from its structure,
there can be no current, ascends by the continued force of the furnace.
This improvement in the structure of smoke pipes is applicable to steam-
boats and to standing engines, and is of great value, from the security it
affords against fire by cinders. The tank is connected with the boiler by a
steam tube, as seen at Q, and a water tube, as seen at R, so that by the
former the pressure of steam in both vessels may be equalized, while the
water is drawn or allowed to run through the latter into the boiler. The
steam chamber, with its safety valve, is constructed in the usual mode. A
crank, seen at S, governs the valve which lets the steam into the revolving
arms. The framework and covering, seen at T, is the fuel house, and the
space U is the engineer's station, who by means of the fuel door, seen at
V in Figure 2, may supply the furnace with fuel, and by means of the turning

page_text: arms, governing cock in the tank, steam, and water pipes, seen at W, which
may be turned by the handles seen at X, the engineer may let in water
from the tank at pleasure while the locomotive is in action. The encasement
should be constructed of cast iron, and of sufficient solidity, so that it may be
held firmly in its position by means of braces from each side thereof, secured
to the frame on each side of the boiler, and be capable of sustaining tlic
action and reaction upon the pinion attached to the shaft of the revolving
arms as aforesaid.
:
The improvements claimed under the present Patent are as follows (all
other parts, both separately and combined, constituting no part of the Inven-
tion; that is to say):-
First, I claim the combination of rollers d with a pinion on the shaft
of the revolving arms, said rollers communicating the force of the arms to the
driving wheels of the locomotive, in the mode substantially above described,
together with the mode of encreasing or diminishing the rolling friction of
said rollers upon each other and upon the driving wheels, and of the driving
wheels upon the railroad, substantially as above described.
Secondly, the combination with a locomotive engine of a smoke pipe con-
structed with a recess out of or aside from the current, substantially as above
described, but so that the cinders passing froin the furnace towards the smoke
pipe will be thrown therein by the force of the furnace draft, and remain
there, as they needs must, if there be a space suflicient below or beside the
current from the furnace, and the current be directed across the space and
into the smoke pipe without sufficiently agitating the air in said recess to
raise the said cinders into the smoke pipe.
Thirdly, the combination of a lever with the rear bearing wheels on each
side to throw the weight of the engine upon the driving wheels, substantially
as aforesaid. And,
Fourthly, the combination of levers with the bearing wheels to change the
direction of the bearing wheels, conformably to the bends of the road. The
motion of this carriage may be stopped, and its direction reversed by inverted
gearing or other convenient means, and it will be evident that, in order to
apply the improvements to locomotive carriages on common roads, it will only
be necessary to apply wheels without flanches.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Butters Bacon, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
JOSHUA B. (L.S.) BACON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of September, in the
year of our Lord 1835, the aforesaid Joshua Butters Bacon came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.