IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER, AND APPLYING THE SAME TO VEHICLES ON COMMON ROADS, AND TO OTHER USEPUL PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Conolly at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th June
1867.
I, JAMES CONOLLY, of Ramsgate, in the County of Kent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER, AND APPLYING THE SAME TO VEHICLES
ON COMMON ROADS, AND TO OTHER USEPUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the arrangement or
combination of machinery or apparatus for obtaining motive power chiefly
applicable to the traction of carriages and vehicles on common roads, but
also applicable to driving paddle wheels or propellers in ships and vessels.
I propose to employ a series of cog wheels set on shafts and in bearings
in the sides of a fore carriage which may be made with a carriage or truck
behind for the conveyance of passengers or goods, or it may be made
separately and attached to such carriage or truck. The series of cog wheels
are placed in the same plane when required to gear into each other, and they
are made of varying diameters to suit different speeds. Their shafts are-
capable of sliding in their bearings, so that any wheel may be removed. or..
set in gear with the others according to the load, thus if a heavy load is to be
moved a slow motion only can be effected and a small diameter of wheel is.
brought into gear. Each shaft is furnished with a square head for a driving
bandle to be applied, and each side of the carriage is provided with corre-
sponding series of work so that the two handles being united by a hollow tube

page_text: they may be simultaneously turned, or if desired only one handle may be
worked. The respective shafts when properly adjusted are secured by hinged
catches which fall into grooves on the shafts, and are further secured by
bolts or other equivalent fastenings.
The driving axle is on each side and within the driving wheels supplied
with a pinion wheel, into which a large toothed wheel gears corresponding
with a similar wheel within the carriage and on the final or ultimate shaft of
the series of gearing.
The driving handle or handles are to be turned by manual power, and the
speed of the carriage is to be checked by means of breaks applied to the
wheels of the hind carriage; the breaks are actuated by rods and bell cranks
in connection with levers in the fore carriage, which are controlled by the
driver, who also has the control of them by cords passing through pullies.
The steering apparatus consists of a large drum wheel under the fore carriage,
around which an endless cord passes in a groove in connection with cords in
the upper part of the fore carriage which the driver regulates; they actuate
a lever fixed to the square head of the stem of the steering wheel, which is
in front and in centre of the carriage. A lever is also employed fixed on a
centre on the floor of the carriage and attached to the cords after the
manner of a rudder steering apparatus; breaks may also be applied to the
driving wheels of the engine or fore carriage by vertical levers and friction
blocks. The steering apparatus may be underneath the fore carriage, if
desired, for the sake of convenience. The floor of the fore carriage rests on
springs on the main frame to avoid jolting on uneven roads.
The upper part of the sides of the carriage are provided with sliding
windows by preference of colored glass to keep the rays of the sun from the
sight of the driver. The door is in front and is similarly glazed.