IMPROVEMENTS IN INLAND CONVEYANCE
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Barnabas Daft, of the Isle of Man,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INLAND CONVEYANCE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Barnabas
Daft at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 12th October 1859.
T. THOMAS BARNABAS DAFT, of the Isle of Man, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INLAND CON-
VEYANCE" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object a new system of railways and
carriages to be moved thereon, and consists of constructing railways of
wood, suitable for sledges, preferring that the width between the rails
should not exceed two feet six inches. The carriages are to be sledges
suitably arranged to be propelled by steam, and connected into a train.
and are to be made to convey at most two passengers on each seat.
The under surfaces of the carriages are to be shod with glass or other
hard substance, and provision is to be made for supplying water to the
surfaces of the rails. The propelling carriage is to be made with a
single wheel with projecting teeth on its periphery to take into_the__

page_text: open fixed rack. By these means as great or even greater speed may
be obtained than is now common on railways where carriages are used
with wheels and axles, and, further, far greater case and safety will
result than at mesent enjoyed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thoufas Barnabas Daft in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 12th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS BARNABAS DAFT, of the Isle of Man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year of Her icign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said
Thomas Barnabas Daft, 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 INLAND CONVEYANCE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Bar-
nabas Daft, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal,
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 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 Thomas Barnabas Daft, 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):

page_text: This Invention has for its object a new system of railways and
carriages to be moved thereon, and consists of constructing railways of
wood, suitable for sledges, preferring that the width between the rails
should not exceed two feet six inches. The carriages are to be sledges
suitably arranged to be propelled by steam, and connected into a train,
and are to be made to carry at most two passengers on each seat. The
under surfaces of the carriages are to be shod with glass or other hard
substance, and provision is to be made for supplying water to the
surface of the rails. The propelling carriage is to be made with a
single wheel with projecting teeth on its periphery to take into the
open fixed rack. By these means a great or even a greater speed may
be obtained than is now common on railways where carriages are used
with wheels and axles, and, further, far greater case and safety will
result than are at present enjoyed. And in order that my said
Invention may be more fully understood, and readily carried into effect,
I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
I construct the permanent rails of railways of wood employing
various sections, according to circumstances; where I can obtain a flow
of water I make the upper surface a sort of gutter, see Figure 1, so as
to retain the water, or allow it to pass along at a slow rate, according
to the inclination of the line; in other cases I have the section rect-
angular, see Figure 2, and then the surface being level and even 1
employ means to keep it wet or moist, the same means being more or
less suitable. when I construct rails of a section formed by dividing a
square diagonally, see Figure 3, and bolting down or otherwise fixing
the same to the sleepers, see Figure 4. I do not confine myself to any
particular section of wood rail shown, as others may be employed; in
all cases I fix them to transverse wood sleepers similar to those now
generally employed for iron railways, at gauges, say, of about two feet
six inches apart, but wider according to the nature of the traffic, pre-
ferring two feet six to three feet for passengers. I construct carriages
for the conveyance of passengers and merchandise after the fashion of
sledges, doing away with wheels, axle trees, springs, and their accessaries.
I fix to the under frame work of the sledges skates, made of glass or
other hard substance, of a figure on the under surface to suit the rail it

page_text: has to travel upon, sec Figures 5, and 6. I employ flanges to the skates
to keep them on the rails when they are not moving upon the angula
rails, but when they are the flanges are useless, as the skate is made
to clip or receive the upper part of the rail, and so to keep the sledges
steadily in their proper position while moving on the rails, see Figure 7
and in order to attain great speed, with comparatively little friction
I attach water tanks to one or more of the carriages, with apertures
made so as to allow the water, with which in some cases I mix soap,
to flow upon the rails and wet them; the glass or other hard substance
forming the skate then passes over the rails with very little friction.
.
The propelling power being steam, I construct a suitable engine for
this description of railway to a boiler, in principle of the ordinary
locomotive construction. I arrange the cylinders at the end in
advance of the smoke box, and again in advance of the cylinders. I
place the driving wheels so that when a narrow gauge is used the
boiler may be fully as wide as the outside of the rails, and the cylinders
may occupy the same width, and the .driving wheels also, without the
necessity of placing any part of such machinery above or under the
other, and the trailing wheels or skates in the rear are to be so
arranged as to allow of a water tank and stoker's stage to be placed
between and about them. In all cases where I use wheels, as is
necessary to apply the motive power, I have them made wide enough
in the tire to cover at least four inches of the wood rail, which is,
whether plain on the surface or gutter shaped, always provided with
width enough to receive four to five inches of skate or wheel bite or
bearing, and the tire of such wheels I cover with vulcanized india-
rubber of about one inch thick. firmly attached to a metal hoop of
about three quarters of an inch thick by four inches wide, and made in
its diameter to fit the periphery to the engine wheels, to which it is
secured by screw pins passing from the inside of the felloe or tire of
the wheels; when I have to ascend a steep incline I construct in the
centre between the rails an open fixed rack, and make a wheel with
projecting teeth on its periphery, to be a part of and turned by the
engine, and to gear into the fixed rack.
.
When the rails are laid angularly, then the tires of the engine

page_text: wheels are made to correspond, and the vulcanized india-rubber put on
to the shape accordingly.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is, the combination and mode of constructing the parts as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
CALEB WALKER.
THOMAS B. DAFT. (L.S.)