IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC PROPULSION, AND THE STRUCTURES, m.
Year: 1859

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Thomas Webster Rainmell, of No. 16, Spring
Gardens, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC PROPULSION, AND THE STRUCTURES,
m.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Webster Ram-
mell at the Office, of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd January, 1859,
I, THOMAS WEBSTER RAMMELL, of No. 16, Spring Gardens, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC PROPULSION, AND THE STRUCTURES,
TUBES, MACHINERY, AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE THERETO," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in the means of propelling car-
riages containing passengers or goods, and piston carriers containing letters,
parcels, or goods, from place to place by atmospheric agency, and relates
more particularly to the structures upon which the carriages or trains of
carriages are to run, which are to be of iron, and so arranged that they might
conveniently be erected in towns along the central lines of wide streets and
thoroughfares. One line of railway is placed above the other, and both are
supported upon a single row of columns, the upper line resting immediately
upon arched ribs springing from the tops of the columns. Wrought-iron
Price 8d1

page_text: girders span the spaces between the columns, each pair containing and
supporting between it the rails and tube constituting a complete line
of way.
Also, to an arrangement of the termini of such railway, in such manner that
a portion of the line at each terminus, with a train of carriages upon it, may
be raised or lowered bodily between the limits of the upper and lower lines,
so that the trains of carriages arriving at one end of such railway may be
raised vertically from the level of the lower line to the level of the upper,
and those arriving at the other end be similary lowered from the level of the
upper line to the level of the lower, with a view to their being worked
generally on the principle of endless succession.
Also, in the case of an atmospheric railway laid out in two parallel lines on
the same level, to an arrangement whereby the same object of an endless
movement of the trains may be effected by a horizontal transverse movement
of each end portion of such line, together with the train of carriages upon it,
so that the trains arriving at one end by the up line of rails may be in
such wise passed over to the down line, and those arriving at the other end
by the down line may be similarly passed over to the up line.
Also, to the form of the propulsion tube of any atmospheric railway, such
tube having cast or cut in. it a longitudinal groove or grooves, and to the use
at the stations of any atmospheric railway of a continuous propulsion tube
containing valves so placed that a separate chamber is formed, in which the
travelling piston may be received and brought to rest, and from which it may
be again started.
Also, to the construction of the longitudinal valve of the propulsion tube,
which valve is to have a parallel slide movement, and that of the apparatus
for opening and closing such valve.
Also, to an apparatus at the stations of any atmospheric railway, for closing
automatically on the approach of the trains, and, by the action of the trains,
the valve in connection with the exhaustion pipe, so that the propelling power
may be shut off at the proper moment.
And, as regards the improvements in the means for propelling piston
carriers, containing letters, parcels, or goods, this Invention relates parti-
cularly to the use at the stations on a line of pneumatic tube of a particular
form and arrangement of fixed terminal chamber for receiving the piston
carriers arriving.
Also, to the use, at intermediate stations on a line, of tube of double ter-
minal chambers, closed and mechanically moveable for receiving the piston
carriers, and facilitating their passage from section to section.

page_text: Also, to an arrangement of the ends of the two sections of tube meeting at
such intermediate stations, by which they are brought into convenient juxta-
position for communication with the double terminal chambers described.
Also, to the ase, at any station on a line of atmospheric tube, of a particular
self-acting, apparatus for closing the valve in connection with the exhaustion
pipe, and shutting off at the proper moment the power from the conveying or
propulsion tube, and in suchwise that the piston carriers arriving may be
gradually brought to rest in the receiving chambers.
Also, to the form of the conveying or propulsion-tube, such tube having
cast or cut in it a longitudinal groove or grooves, and to the mode of joining
together the separate lengths of such tube.
Also, to a form and arrangement of pillar post in and from which piston
carriers containing letters or parcels may be received and despatched.
And further, as regards any system of atmospheric propulsion, this Invention
particularly relates to a form and arrangement of air-pumping engine, in which
the exhaustion or compression required is produced by the descending stroke
of a loaded piston, such piston being lifted in its up stroke by steam
power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Webster Rammell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WEBSTER RAMMELL, of No. 16, Spring Gardens, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Webster Rammell, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, my exe-
cutors, 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 ATMOSPHERIC PRO-

page_text: PULSION, AND THE STRUCTURES, TUBES, MACHINERY, AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE
THERETO" upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Webster Rammell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Webster Rammell 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 :-
This Invention consists in improvementsin the means for propellingcarriages
containing passengers or goods, and piston carriers containing letters, parcels,
or goods, and transmitting them from place to place by atmospheric agency, the
carriages during the transit being placed upon railways and the piston carriers
within tubes constructed for the purpose.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, (Sheet 1) givé a plan, elevation, and section of one
division of the proposed railway. a, a, are main supporting piers or columns
of cast iron, resting on the foundation b, they are arranged in a single row and
at such a distance from one another that the street traffic may conveniently
pass between them; c,c, are arched ribs of cast iron supporting the upper line
of railway; d, d, are wrought iron girders, spanning the space between column
and column; e, e, are transverse bearers carrying the atmospheric tubes f,f,
and the rails g, g, laid on the longitudinal sleepers h, h.
In adapting the termini of this railway for the passage of the trains from
one line to the other, in order that they may perform a complete circuit, I
discontinue altogether the arched ribs and the upper line of way at the com-
mencement of each terminus, extending the columns and lower line to a
sufficient length beyond for the accommodation of the trains, with proper
lateral supports for the requisite platform. The extended lower line of way at
each end is laid immediately upon the cross-heads of a series of pistons
working in cylinders (single or double) placed within the columus, and having
a length of stroke equal to the height of the upper line of rails above the
lower, and by this arrangement, combined with the application of the hydraulic
lift, the portion of line at each terminus, with the train of carriages upon it,
may with great facility be vertically raised and lowered between the two levels
in practice, the trains arriving at one terminus by the lower line of way being
always raised to the level of the upper line, and those arriving at the other

page_text: terminus by the upper line of way being always dropped to the level of the
lower line, so that an endless traffic may be carried on.
In the case of an atmospheric railway laid out in two parallel lines on the
saine level, I make use, in order to attain the same object of continuity of
traffic of similar means, the terminal portions of line being laid upon platforms
having a horizontal movement at right angles to the line of way, and the
hydraulic cylinders being also placed horizontally.
For any atmospheric railway I prefer a propulsion tube with a longitudinal
groove cast or cut in its lower part for the wheels of the piston to travel in ;
and I make use throughout of a continuous propulsion tube with a separate
valved chamber at each station for the reception of the travelling piston,
which I bring to rest in the mode herein-after described for bringing to rest
piston carriers containing letters and parcels transmitted through pueumatic
tube, or by a trigger apparatus acted upon by the wheels of the train and in
connection with the exhaust valve at each station.
For the longitudinal valve of the propulsion tube, I use thin metal plates
about 8 inches in width, and of convenient length (say, from 2 to 3 feet),
each having a pair of arms for parallel motion working on pins fixed in the flat
upper and outer surface of the tube. The under surface of the metal plates and
the upper flat surface of the tube are made true, but to secure an air-tight
joint a narrow strip of india-rubber or other elastic material is inserted in the
latter on either side the longitudinal slit. The plates are laid close together,
and their meeting ends thinned down to a knife edge, the transverse joint
being made tight by a strip of india-rubber fixed to one plate aud lapping over
the other. Motion is given to the plates by wheels fixed diagonally to the
carriage attached to the travelling piston and working in diagonal grooves
formed across the upper surface of the plates, and this arrangement of diagonal
wheels and grooves is so contrived that by it the valve is opened and shut
immediately before and after the passage of the connecting iron.
As regards the improvements in the means for the pneumatic transmission of
letters, &c., Figure 4 shows in section the proposed form of terminal chamber
at the end of any line of pneumatic tube. A is such a line of tube terminating
in the station B, wherein is placed the box piece C, the upper part of which is
similar in section to the tube, while the lower contains the valve a in con-
nection both with the tube and with the exhaust pipe b; Dis an intermediate
piece of tube constituting the terminal chamber, and fitting accurately into the
space between A and the upper part of C. It has an air-tight lid c, c, (which
may be of any form) kept closed while the carriers are being drawn into the
chamber and afterwards affording access to them. The terminal chamber 1)

page_text: rests upon the chairs d, d, fixed upon the platform E, which may itself be
fixed or moveable, but if the platform E be made of sufficient width and have
a horizontal transverse movement given to it (by ordinary gearing) several
terminal chambers similar to D may be placed upon it, and be successively
brought into communication with the end of the tube A, much facility being
thus given to the working of the line. I sometimes make use of an open
cradle for the reception of the piston carriers, such cradle (oneor more) being
placed beyond the valve box upon a table having a horizontal movement at
right angles to the line of tube, but I only adopt this arrangement where there
isuo intermediate close chamber between the valve box and the end of the line
of tube. The end e of the valve box is in this case made to act as a valve
opening on the near approach of the piston carriers, and allowing of their
emission into the open receiving cradle.
Figure 5 shows (in plan) the form of double terminal chamber I prefer at
intermediate stations for receiving the piston carriers, and facilitating their
interchange from section to section. A,A', are the ends of two sections of a line
of tube brought into the intermediate station ZB, B1, the box pieces in which
are contained the valves, and C,C¹, the interchanging receiving chambers fitted
with air-tight lids. Both chambers are held loosely in the lunettes d, ², fixed
to the spindle e, working in the bearings f, f. f, and in such wise that by a
half revolution of the spindle, the chamber C before in communication with
section A and the box piece B is brought into communication with section A¹,
and the box piece B³, and simultaneously and by the same movement the
chamber C¹before in communication with section A'and with the box piece Blis
brought into communication with section A and the box piece B. The
movement is shown in section in Figure 5, where A, A¹, are the ends of the
section of tube, C, C1, the interchanging chambers, d one of the lunettes, and
e the spindle. The chambers fitting loosely in the lunettes and being weighted
underneath, do not alter their position as regards horizontally during this move-
ment. By the arrangement described piston carriers and short trains-of-piston
carriers maybevery conveniently and expeditiously passed fromsectiontosection,
but where the trains of carriers are very long a corresponding length of terminal
chamber becomes requisite for their accommodation, and in this case I prefer to
use even at intermediate stations the arrangement shown in Figure 4, so fixing,
however, the chambers upon the moveable platform that they correspond in
distance apart to the distance apart of the ends of the sections of tube meeting
at the station.
The proposed arrangement of the ends of any two sections of tube meeting
at an intermediate station is shewn in plan at Figure 6, where A, A', are two

page_text: such ends brought round in the form of a quarter curve into the intermediate
station B,and in convenient juxtaposition for communication with the moveable
terminal chambers C, C¹.
Figure 6 also shows on plan an arrangement providing for the through
passage, when desired, of the carriers between the sections D and E, without
their being brought into the station B; F is a straight piece of tube in line
with the sections D and E; G, G, are tables sliding in the frames a, a, a¹, a²,
and upon which are fixed separate portions (F1, F",) of the straight piece of
tube F, and other portions A", A", of the curved ends A, A¹; c, c¹, are rods
in connection with gearing in the station B, for giving motion to the tables
G, G¹. It is obvious that by putting, by means of such gearing, the tables G, G¹,
into the position shewn by the firm lines the carriers may be brought round
the curves into the station, and that by putting them into the position shown
by the dotted lines they may be passed on direct from section to section without
stopping at station B.
The self-acting apparatus for closing the exhaustion valve on the approach
of the piston carriers is also shown in Figure 4; f is a raised aperture on the
tube A, established at a proper distance from the terminal chamber D, and
having a seating upon which the hinged cover g fits air-tight; h is a cord or
chain of proper length attached to the cover and passing over the pullies i,ii,i,
into the station B, where its other end is attached to the vertical rod k, in
connection with the handle of the valve a ; at mare moveable weights on the
rod k, overbalancing to any degree required the weight of the cover g. The
handle of the valve a, when opened, is held in position by propert mechanism,
and so contrived that it will be liberated by the fall of the rod k, and the valve
wholly or partially closed.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When it is desired to draw a
train of piston carriers from some other station towards the station B, the
weighted rod k is raised and the cover g (previously open) allowed to fall upou
its air-tight seating; the valve a is then opened, and a partial vacuum being
established in the tube A, a sufficient force is thrown upon the cover g to
overbalance and hold up the rod k; and this state of things continues until
the near approach of the train and its passage past f, when the atmospheric
pressure on the inner and outer sides of the cover g being equalized, or nearly
so, the rod k again overbalances the cover g,and by its fall allows of the closing
or partial closing of the valve a.
I prefer so to arrange the mechanism in connection with the handle of the
valve a, that the descent of the pod k shall have the effect of nearly closing the

page_text: valve, leaving only so much power available as will suffice for the gradual
sucking up of the train into the receiving shoulder ID, in which, by a trigger
or other contrivance, the power may be finally shut off.
Another mode of effecting the same object of closing the exhaustion valve:
almost identical in principal, but less immediate in its action, is also shown in
Figure 4. Instead of the cord in connection with a covered aperture, a pipe m
is led from the tube. A into the station where it terminates in a large bell-
mouth o directly over the rod ¹, which in this case is surmounted with a flat
disc-shaped piece p fitting air-tight under the bell mouth.
By this arrangement, on the opening of the exhaustion valve, the rod k¹
being raised up to the bell mouth, is held in position by the power communicated
through the pipe », and maintained there until by the passage of the train past
the point of junction y, the vacuum is reduced or destroyed. The throttle
valve » gives the means of regulating the admission of airinto the bell mouth o,
and thus of accelerating or retarding the fall of the rod.
Figures 7 and 8 are transverse and longitudinal sections of the conveying
tube. I prefer to make use of only one longitudinal groove for the wheels or
slides of the piston carrier to travel in, and that of the form a shown, but
more may be used, and the groove or grooves may be of any form. If two
are used. I should place them as shewn at b, 6. For connecting together the
several lengths of tube, I prefer to make use of a flange joint faced and bolted
together with prepared canvass or india-rubber between, but if using a socket
joint I should have both bead and socket truly turned to fit.
In adapting the principle to pillar letter boxes, I make the conveying tube
terminate either vertically or horizontally in the lower portion of the pillar.
using the upper portion for the letter bag as at present; the reception and
discharge of the carriers being effected by modifications of the arrangements
previously described. Figure 9 shows in section_a_pillar_box,-in-which-the
conveying tube A terininates vertically; B being the receiving chamber,
to which access is had through the cover c; D is the exhaustion pipe com-
municating with B through the perforated side c, c, and valve f. The catch g
holds the carrier in position.
The proposed arrangement of air-pumping engine is shown in section in
Figure 10, A being the steam cylinder; B the air cylinder; and C the piston,
of the latter weighted to the degree required. The inlet air-valves are placed
at d, where the air is drawn from the system of exhaustion pipeage through.
the channels e, e'. The outlet valves through which the waste air is forced by
the up stroke are at f, f. I prefer to sink the air cylinder in the ground

page_text: within a cylinder of brickwork, as shown; the requisite play of air upwards and
downwards underneath the air piston being provided for by the channels y,g',
The details of the engine would be of the ordinary kind, and need not be
described. This form of engine is self-regulating its action ceasing altogether
when the fixed working maximum ofexhaustion has been attained and recom-
mencing instantaneously on the reduction of the vacuum by fresh admission
of air into, the system of exhaustion pipeage.
Flaving thus described the nature of my said Invention of "Improvements in
Atmospheric Propulsion, and the Structures, Tubes, Machinery, and Apparatus
applicable thereto," what I particularly claimisthe atmospheric railwaystructure
herein described,one line of waybeing placed vertically over the other,as shown,
and both being supported by a row of light piers or columns, offering but little
obstruction to street traffic; also the arrangement for carrying on a continuous
traffic upon such railway by raising and lowering vertically its terminal portions
with the trains upon them as described; and the similar means applied in a
horizontal direction with the same object to any atmospheric railway; also the
form of railway propulsion tube described, and the arrangement at the stations
of any atmospheric railway of a continuous propulsion tube, with separate
valved chambers for the reception of the travelling piston, as described; also
the metal longitudinal slide valve, and the self-acting apparatus for shutting off
the propelling power,and gradually bringing the trains to rest at stations, both
described.
And as regards the improvements in the means for propelling piston carriers
containing letters,&c., I claim the form and arrangement of terminal chambers
described; and any form of close receiving chamber placed between the valve
box and the end of the propulsion tube; and made moveable as well as any
form of open receiving cradle placed beyond the valve box and having a
horizontal movement at right angles to the line of tube; also the arrangement
shown of the ends of any two sections of tube meeting atintermediate stations;
and the arrangement providing for the through transit of the piston carriers
past intermediate stations; also the self-acting apparatus described for closing
the valve in connection with the exhaustion pipe, and gradually bringing the
piston carriers to rest in the receiving chambers; also any propulsion tube
having cut, cast, sunk, or formed in its body a longitudinal groove or grooves
as described, and the use of the joint for such tube described; also the arrange-
ment described for the conveyance of letters, &c. to and from, and their
reception at, pillar letter boxes by pneumatic tube; and for any system of
atmospheric propulsion I claim the arrangement of air pumping engine

page_text: described; the effect required being produced in the air cylinder by the
descending stroke of a properly weighted piston lifted in its up stroke by steam
power.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Webster Ranimell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
AS WEBSTER RAMM
LL. (L.S.)
ALEX PRINCE, Patent Agent,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.