IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CATTLE TRUCKS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Benjamin Mead at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 17th April 1878.
BENJAMIN MEAD, of Aylesbury, in the County of Bucks, Coach Builder.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CATTLE TRUCKS."
The object of this Invention is the construction of railway cattle trucks in such
manner as to prevent the cattle conveyed therein suffering from hunger and thirst,
as is now very frequently the case, and also by the addition of my improved buffer
springs to greatly decrease the jolting, and thereby add to the comfort of the cattle.
For this purpose I furnish to both of the outer sides of the truck an apparatus
which combines both a hay rack and drinking trough. I make such apparatus in
two equal parts or lengths for each side, each of such parts being half the length of
the side of the truck. The apparatus on being pulled slides backwards and forwards
in grooves or slides fixed to the outside of the truck.
When the truck is in use for the conveyance of cattle the two portions of
combined feeding and drinking apparatus meet at the middle of the side of the
truck, and close the upper part of the doorway. To keep the apparatus firmly
fixed a bolt is provided at each of its outside ends, which bolt into the side of the
truck.
At each end of the truck I provide and fix a tank, which I connect with a pipe
leading from the top of the truck on the outside of the roof of which it is furnished,
with a large mouth or inlet. At the lower part of each of the tanks I fix a tap or
cock, communicating by means of suitable tubing with the troughs on either side of
the truck forming part of the combined feeding and drinking apparatus. The upper
part of this latter is provided with a lid working on hinges, through which hay or
other food may be placed in the rack.
The method of working this part of my Invention is as follows:-The truck fitted
with my Invention is run under the water supply pipe, when the tanks at the ends
of the truck are filled with water through the pipe leading from the outside of the
roof of the truck. When the tanks are supplied the troughs on either side of the
truck may be provided with water by turning on the tap or cock (before-mentioned,
which is fitted to the lower part of each of the tanks) until a sufficient quantity

page_text: has entered the troughs, the said tap or cock being operated from the outside of the
truck.
When the feeding apparatus is to be provided with fodder the lid of the same is
opened on its hinges, and a sufficient quantity placed in the rack.
The cattle to be conveyed may be admitted to the truck either before or after
the provision of water and food has been made. In order to admit them the bolts
at the ends of the combined apparatus must be withdrawn, and the two portions of
the apparatus slid away from across the upper part of the doorway. After their
admission the two parts are slid or pushed back again until they meet at the
middle of the doorway, when the bolts are again fastened, and the apparatus firmly
fixed.
When it is requisite to clean out the water trough, or run the water out of the
same, a screw or other plug is withdrawn from the bottom for that purpose.
The whole of this part of my Invention is operated preferably from the outside
of the truck, so that the attendant need not be brought in contact with the cattle
conveyed therein.
The other part of my Invention consists in the fixing underneath the framework
or floor of the truck of india-rubber springs, which I prefer to make solid, about five
feet long, and about one square foot in area or cross section, to which the buffers of
the truck are connected by means of suitable rods in such manner that the usual
effect of collision, jolting, or other unevenness of motion are much diminished.