Improvements in Locomotives for Single Rail Elevated Railways.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 10th June, 1886.
Complete Left, 9th Mar., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 15th Apr., 1887.
[Communicated from abroad by A. MALLET, of 128bis, Boulevard de Clichy, Paris, in
the Republic of France, Engineer.]
Improvements in Locomotives for Single Rail Elevated Railways.
I, FRITZ BERNHARD BEHR of No. 10 Drapers Gardens in the City of London,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the construction of locomotives for railways of that kind
in which there is a single rail elevated at some height above the ground, and the vehicles
that run thereon consist of two compartiments hanging like panniers one on each side
of the line from an upper wheeled framing. According to this invention a locomotive
suitable for such a railway is made in two equal and symmetrical parts, each consisting
of a boiler, a cylinder and their adjuncts, one part suspended on each side of the line
from the upper framing in which are mounted the driving wheels. The two boilers
are connected by steam and water pipes which arch over the line in the form of
inverted U's, and water tanks, which may be arranged at the sides of the two boilers
when they are of the vertical cylindrical form, or under the barrels of the boilers when
they are of horizontal locomotive form, are also connected by pipes arching over the
line. For obtaining sufficient tractive power, it is generally necessary to couple two
or more driving wheels. When two wheels are coupled they are on parallel shafts
having at their ends cranks connected by coupling rods, but as the curves for which a
single rail is adapted are often of small radius, it is necessary to provide for one of
these coupled wheels taking an oblique attitude on its shaft, and also shifting along its
shaft. This is effected by fitting to slide lengthwise on the shaft, while it revolves
with it, a spherical boss engaged within a spherical socket in the boss of the wheel,
this spherical boss having projecting studs which can turn and oscillate in slots within
the socket. Thus the wheel, while it is caused to revolve with the shaft, is free to
accomodate itself to sharp curvatures. When four driving wheels are required, it is
generally preferable to mount a pair of them on each of two coupled frames, each
frame having a pair of cylinders for driving its pair of axles. In this case, the steam
from the boiler is supplied to a pipe joint capable of turning immediately over the

page_text: coupling of the two frames, from which joint pipes lead the steam to the four cylinders.
Two of the cylinders may be larger than the others, so that the two sets may work
together as compound engines, the steam after performing work in the smaller
cylinders being led to perform farther work in the larger cylinders. When this
arrangement is adopted, a valve box is provided at the junction of the pipes whereby
the discharge from the smaller or high pressure cylinders can be allowed to escape,
while the larger cylinders are supplied with steam from the boilers. This is often
desirable at starting or when a steep gradient demands additional power. In this valve
box there are two valves on one stem on which is fixed a piston working in a cylindrical
cavity of the valve box. By turning a cock to one position the driver can admit steam
to the valve box and this, while it supplies the low pressure cylinders, also presses on
one side of the piston and so closes the valve in the communication from the high
pressure to the low pressure cylinders and opens the valve for direct discharge from
the high pressure cylinders. When the driver turns the cock so as to cut off direct
supply steam to the low pressure cylinders, he at the same time admits steam to
press upon the other side of the piston in the valve box. This piston, moving in
obedience to the pressure closes the valve allowing direct discharge from the high
pressure cylinders, and opens the valve which allows the steam discharged from the
high pressure cylinders to pass to, and perform work in the low pressure cylinders.
By this valve arrangement the two sets of cylinders can be worked either as simple or
compound engines. For very steep gradients a toothed driving wheel is employed
gearing with a rack fixed at the sides of the rail. It is generally preferable in such
cases to employ a separate engine as an auxiliary, this engine with its toothed driving
wheel being attached where necessary to give additional traction for ascending a
gradient, or to give additional braking power is descending, and being detached in
other parts of the line where its aid is not required. Instead of employing steam to
work locomotives such as are described above, compressed air may obviously be used.
In that case reservoirs containing the compressed air are substituted for the boilers
arranged as described.
ABEL & IMRAY,
28, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: 25 an end view of a double boiler locomotive
adapted for comparatively light traffic.
Fig. 3. is a side view and Fig. 4 is an end view of a double boiler locomotive
adapted for comparatively heavy traffic.
Fig. 5 is a side view, Fig. 6 an end view and Fig. 7 a plan of an auxiliary
locomotive for moving or retarding a train on steep gradients.
Figs. 8 and 9 are plans partly in Section shewing arrangements of coupled driving
wheels to work on curves.
Fig. 10 is a plan showing two pairs of coupled driving wheels each pair worked by
its own engines.
Fig. 11 is a section of valve box interposed between the high and low pressure
cylinders of the locomotive arranged to work as a compound engine and Fig. 12 is a
section of the controlling cock in the position suited for compound working.
In all these figures similar letters of reference are as far as possible employed to
indicate corresponding parts. The main rail R is supported usually on triangular
frames F having fixed on their sides guide rails G. The running or driving wheels W
which are grooved to run on the rail R are mounted in an upper framing from which
the principal weight of the locomotive is suspended part on each side of the rail R
these parts being arranged so as to balance each other as nearly as possible, but to
maintain steadiness each of the suspended paris has at a low level wheels or rollers
running along the guide rails G.
The light locomotive shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, has two vertical boilers B one on each
side of the rail R having the steam spaces connected by a large pipe band their water
spaces connected by a pipe 6. Behind each boiler is a water tank E and these are
connected by a siphon pipe e which arches over the rail. CC are the two cylinders
the piston rods of which work the coupled cranks on the axles of the driving wheels W,
the cranks on the one side being at right angles to those on the other side.
board D is provided on each side for a driver. The heavy locomotive shewn in Figs. 3
and 4 is similarly arranged except that it has horizontal locomotive boilers B with the
water tanks E arranged under the barrels of the boilers.
A foot
The auxiliary locomotive shewn in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 has its cylinder C supplied by a
flexible hose pipe P from the boiler or boilers of the main locomotives. By side
rods K are worked cranks on the shaft S. on which is a toothed wheel gearing with
another toothed wheel T. This toothed wheel T gears with a rack M. fixed by the side
of the main rail R. On each side a framing extends down to carry the guide wheels g
and a platform L on which can be placed loads or brake or other apparatus giving
considerable weight at a low level to ensure steadiness. It is intended that for
ascending steep gradients in which cases the line is to be provided with the rack M
the auxiliary locomotive shall be coupled to the train behind it so as to assist in pushing
it up the incline. In descending the incline being provided with powerful steam or
other brake apparatus it will serve to retard the train.
As the single rail R is well adapted for rapid curves it is necessary to provide
means of coupling driving wheels in such a way that they can accommodate them-
selves to such curvatures of the line. As shewn in Fig. 8 the axles A of a pair of
driving wheels WW1 are coupled by cranks and coupling rods in the usual way.
The one wheel W is fixed on its axle but the other wheel W has its boss hollowed
spherically to fit on a spherically formed boss N which is free to slide along but must
revolve with the axle A. From the boss N project two round studs n. n, which are
engaged in slots within the wheel W. These studs act as drivers causing the wheel
to revolve with the axle while it is free to accommodate itself to the curvature of the
rail R.
A modified arrangement is shewn in Fig. 9. In this case the one wheel W is not
grooved but flat on the face so that it can move laterally across the rail R and the
driving studs n. n, of the other wheel W₁ are in a fixed position on the axle A, having
on them rollers or guide blocks n¹ to work in the slots formed in the boss of W.
When it is desired to employ four driving wheels, it is preferred to arrange them as
shewn in Fig. 10, a pair of wheels W on one frame worked from cylinders C and

page_text: another pair W¹ on another frame worked from cylinders C, the two frames being
coupled together. The steam pipes PP supplying the cylinders may either receive
steam direct from the boilers B at a point V or one pair of the cylinders C, may
receive high pressure steam direct from the boilers, and the steam after performing
work in the cylinders C may be led to perform farther work in the cylinders C
which in that case are larger than the first cylinders C. In this manner the two pairs
of cylinders work together as a compound engine. When this compound arrange-
ment is adopted there is introduced at V the point of the pipes a valve box such as is
shewn in section in Fig. 11. In this valve box c communicates with the exhaust of
the high pressure cylinders C, and e¹ with the steam pipe of the low pressure cylinders C¹
and o is an outlet for exhaust, and are two valves fixed on the rod of a piston p,
e is a stop cock communicating by with the boiler and having a lateral communica-
tion by a pipe y with the space beyond the piston p. When the valves are in the
condition shewn in Fig. 11, the exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinders passes
as indicated by the arrows by e to the outlet o, while steam supplied from the boilers
by q passes by c¹ to supply the low pressure cylinder, the two pairs of cylinders thus
working as two simple engines. When the cock a is turned to the position shewn in
Fig. 12, cutting off the steam supply by c¹ to the low pressure cylinders then steam
passes by the pipe y to the space behind p and causes p to advance closing the valve v
and opening . The exhaust from the high pressure cylinders now passes from c pass
the open valve to c¹ to supply the low pressure cylinders and the two pairs of
cylinders work as a compound engine. Thus the driver by simply turning the cock.
to the one position or the other can cause the engines to work either as separate simple
engines or as connected compound engines.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The construction of light locomotive for a single rail elevated railway, with a
vertical boiler arranged on each side of the rail, substantially as described with
reference to Figs. 1 and 2.
2. The construction of heavy locomotive, with a barrel boiler arranged on each side
of the rail substantially as described with reference to Figs. 3 and 4.
3. The construction of auxiliary locomotive with toothed wheel gearing with gradient
rack substantially as described with reference to Figs. 5, 6 and 7.
4. The method, substantially as described with reference to Fig. 8, of mounting one
of a pair of grooved wheels having their axes coupled by cranks and side rods so that
it may accommodate itself to curvature of the single rail on which both wheels run.
5. The method substantially as described with reference to Fig. 9 of mounting a
grooved wheel having its axis coupled by cranks and side rods to that of a flat faced
wheel, so that it may accommodate itself to curvature of the single rail on which both
wheels run.
6. The arrangement, substantially as described with reference to Fig. 10 of two
coupled pairs of driving wheels and their respective engines for a single rail.
7. The construction and use of a valve box substantially as described with reference
to Figs. 11 and 12, whereby two engines for a single rail are worked either as separate
simple engines or as connected compound engines.
Dated this 9th day of March 1887.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.