IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COVERING RAILWAY TRUCKS AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Howarth, of No. 80, Budge Row, Cannon
Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR COVERING RAILWAY TRUCKS AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Howarth. at.
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th March 1864.
I, RICHARD HOWARTH, of No. 30, Budge Row, Cannon Street, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR COVERING RAILWAY TRUCKS AND OTHER CARRIAGES," to be as
follows:-
.This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for covering.
railway trucks and other carriages.. For these purposes a roller is used, and
the canvas or other flexible cover is wound on and unwound from such roller
in a somewhat similar manner to a roller blind.;. but in this. arrangement the
canvas or cover is wound double on the roller. It is preferred to employ
spring rollers, but this is not essential, as the rollers may be caused to rotate,
in order to wind up the flexible cover, by a crank handle or by gearing.
The necks or axes, at the ends of a roller are mounted on the upper ends of
two radius rods applied one at each end of a railway truck or other carriage..
The radius rods turn on axes at their lower ends, and the axes are capable of
being raised or lowered to accommodate the apparatus for a higher or lower
loading of the truck or carriage. When a truck or carriage is about to be
loaded, the roller with the flexible cover wound thereon is at one side of the
carriage or truck, and consequently out of the way. When the truck

page_text: or carriage has been loaded, then the simple act of drawing on one end of the
cover will cause that part of the cover to be unwound, which at the same time
will unwind a like quantity of the other part of the cover, and raise the roller
so that it will come directly over the load, whilst the two parts of the cover
will come on either side of the load, or the roller may be first raised to a posi-
tion over the load in the truck or carriage, and then, by pulling on the one
end of the cover it will cause both parts to be simultaneously unwound.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Howarth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HOWARTH, of No. 30, Budge Row, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Howarth, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Howarth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Richard Howarth, 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 APPARATUS FOR COVERING RAILWAY TRUCKS AND
OTHER CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Howarth, my executors. or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Richard Howarth, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say:―
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for covering

page_text: railway trucks and other carriages. For these purposes a roller is used,
and the canvas or other flexible cover is wound on and unwound from such
roller in a somewhat similar manner to a roller blind, but in this arrangement
the canvas or cover is wound double on the roller. It is preferred to employ
spring rollers, but this is not essential, as the rollers may be caused to rotate in
order to wind up the flexible cover by a crank handle or by gearing. The
necks or axes at the ends of a roller are mounted on the upper ends of two
radius rods applied one at each end of a railway truck or other carriage. The
radius rods turn on axes at their lower ends and the axes are capable of being
raised or lowered to accommodate the apparatus for a higher or lower loading
of the truck or carriage. When a truck or carriage is about to be loaded the
roller with the flexible cover wound thereon is at one side of the carriage or
truck, and consequently out of the way. When the truck or carriage has
been loaded, then the simple act of drawing on one end of the cover will
cause that part of the cover to be unwound, which at the same time will
unwind a like quantity of the other part of the cover and raise the roller so
that it will come directly over the load, whilst the two parts of the cover will
come on either side of the load. Or the roller may be, first raised to.
truck or carriage, and then by pulling
on the one end of the cover it will cause both parts to be simultaneously.
unwound.
a position over the load in the
.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed, more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an end elevation of a railway truck or carriage having a
flexible cover and apparatus applied thereto according to my Invention, and
Figure 2 is a side view partly in section of one end of the truck or carriage;
Figure 3 shows the manner in which I prefer to fasten the two parts of a
cover to the roller on which the cover is to be wound, particularly when the
cover is to be wound on by mechanical means, but the manner of fixing a
cover to its roller may be varied. In each case, whether it be for a railway
truck or other carriage the roller may be a spring roller or it may be caused to
wind up the flexible cover by mechanical means.
In Figures 1 and 2 the roller is intended to be a spring roller of an
ordinary construction but made of sufficient strength for this purpose. The:
roller is to be provided with ratchets at each end, and clicks or catches to
retain the roller from turning when in a desired position.. a is the radial;
arm turning on an axis at one end of the railway truck, or carriage. A similar

page_text: radial arm is used at the other end of the truck or carriage. These radial
arms are framed together as is shown. At the lower ends the radial arms
are weighted so as to have a tendency when at liberty to stand in an upright
position as shown. a', a', are moveable weights, which can be raised into the
position shown by dotted lines on one side and be retained there catches, and
then the weight above the axes of the arms a will preponderate. The arms a
with the rollers and cover carried thereby may thus be caused to assume and
remain in a position away from the upper part of the truck or carriage.
Figure 4 shows the form of-flexible cover preferred. This cover is fixed
to its roller b in any convenient manner, so that one half of the cover will be
on one side and the other half on the other side of the roller, and the two
halves of the cover will be wound one on the other around the roller. The
angular parts 6', 6', of the cover are to be first folded on to, their respective
parts or halves of the cover before turning the roller. The spindles or axes
at the ends of the roller 6 have balls framed or fixed upon them which are
received in corresponding sockets in the upper ends of the radial arms; by
this means the roller is not only free to revolve, but the radial arms are also
allowed a certain amount of lateral play.
Figure 5 shows an end view, and Figure 6 a side view, partly in section, of
one end of a railway truck or carriage. In these Figures the roller carried by.
the ends of the radial arms is turned by mechanical apparatus applied thereto.
a, a, are the radial arms; 6* is the cover fixed to the roller b. The radial
arm from end to end is hollow, and a shaft passes through it. This shaft.
turns in suitable bearings fixed to the hollow radial arm. At the upper end
of this shaft is fixed a bevil wheel a', which takes into and drives a bevil
wheel a, fixed on the axis of the roller; at the lower end of this shaft is a screw
wheel a³, which is actuated by a screw on the axis a' of a cranked handle a³..
On turning the crank handle the roller will be caused to wind or unwind the
cover. On the lower end of the shaft is also affixed a bevil wheel a⁹, which
drives the bevil wheel a', fixed on the axle as, on which there is a wheel a³,
which gears into the rack a¹ in such manner that when the wheel a' is fixed
to the wheel a' (by a moveable pin or bolt) the turning of the cranked handle
will not only cause the roller to unwind the flexible cover, but will raise the
radial arm from the horizontal position into a diagonal or a vertical position.
At each end of the truck or carriage a like arrangement of apparatus is
applied, and the axis which passes through the hollow radial arm has motion
given to it by the rotation of the roller, thus both of the radial arms are caused
to move simultaneously. The pin or centre upon which each radial arm a
turns is carried by a sliding piece capable of sliding along the rod c, which

page_text: turns at its lower end on a fixed axis. When the radial arm is moved from
the position shewn in Figure 5 to a vertical position, the pin or axis of the
radial arm will be moved upwards along the rod into the position indicated by
the dotted lines by reason of the form of the rack a", and when the arm is
again turned down into a horizontal position the pin or axis will move down
into its former place. By causing the pin or axis of the arm to rise and fall
in this manner the whole of the parts of the radial arm will, when the arm is
in a horizontal position, be brought below the top of the end of the carriage.
This arrangement also has the advantage that the arms supporting the roller
around which the cover is wound in moving upwards from a horizontal to a
vertical position first move the roller upwards nearly in a vertical direction in
place of moving in the arc of a circle, as in the former arrangement.
a
Figure 7 shows an end elevation, and Figure 8 shows part of a side
elevation of another arrangement, wherein the axes of the radial arms are
caused to rise and fall. In this arrangement, as in Figure 1, a spring roller
is used. a, a, are the radial arms, and b, b, are racks, which at their lower
ends turn-on fixed axes. Carried by the lower ends of the radial arms are
sliding weights c, which can be moved towards or from the axes d of the
radial arms for the purpose of changing the balance of these arms, and giving
them a tendency to assume a horizontal or vertical position as required.
From the axles d, which carry the radial arms straps pass to the backs of the
racks b, by which the radial arms and the racks are connected, and are caused
to remain parallel to each other, but allow of movement longitudinally between
them. On each of the axles d is a crank handle d', also a pinion e, which
gears into the rack b, and also a pulley f, to which a cord g, passing from the
sliding weight c, is connected; hence, when the crank handles are turned the
axles d, d, will move along the racks 6, and by the cord being wound on to or
unwound from the pulley f, the weight c will be moved towards the axle, or
will be allowed to slide away from them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Howarth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
RICHARD HOWARTH. (L.S.)