CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND REPAIRING ROADS OR WAYS, AND WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WHITWORTH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Let-
ters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Fifteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and forty, in the
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Whitworth, Her especial license, full power,
sole privilege and authority that I, the said Joseph Whitworth, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph Whitworth,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND
REPAIRING ROADS OR WAYS, AND WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO
OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Joseph Whitworth, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Whitworth, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say :-
My Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Cleaning and Re-
pairing Roads or Ways consist in the application of the rotary motion
of locomotive wheels to raise the loose soil or other substance from the
surface, and deposit it in a vehicle attached. The apparatus employed has
also a tendency, in its mode of acting, to repair the road by reducing the
irregularities on its surface. In the Drawings accompanying this Speci-
fication are various views of a machine constructed on the principal above
described.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, the same view in section; Fig. 3, an
end elevation; Fig. 4, a plan of the machine. A is a covered cart or carriage
suspended from the axle B in the most favourable position for loading by the
bearings C, C, and springs D, D. The axle is of wrought iron, and is made
to revolve by being fastened to one of the locomotive wheels; the other
wheel is put on loose to preserve facility in changing the line of motion given
to the carriage. The spur wheel E is keyed on the axle and gears with the
wheel F on the crank axle G working in bearings H, H. Attached to the cart
I is a clutch keyed on the crank axle G; it may be slided into gear with
the wheel F by the handle K. Motion is thus communicated to the crank L
from the axle of the carriage. M is a lever fixed to the axis N working in
bearings O, O, attached to the cart. The lever M is connected by a loose
joint P to the arm Q of the scraper R. The connecting rod S communicates
the motion of the crank to the lever M, and causes the scraper R to rise up
the inclined plane T at the back of the cart, bringing with it any soil, &c. it
may have taken from the road. If its own weight is not sufficient to keep it
in contact with the incline T, it may be weighted for the purpose. When at
the top of the incline, the soil, &c. falls into the cart through the opening at v,
and the scraper begins to descend with the return of the crank arm. In the
descent it is guided by the rollers V, V, along the rods W, W, from the ends
of which it falls upon the road, and is then drawn forward as before up the
incline T. In passing up the incline, the rollers V, V, raise the rods W, W,
which work on studs X, X, on bearings attached to the cart. The rods
W, W, afterwards fall back by their own weight into their proper places. The
incline T at the end of the cart is continued to the road by the iron plate Y,
having a hinge Z at the line of junction to allow it to rise or fall as the

page_text: state of the road or the action of the cart may require. The sides a, a, of
the plate V project forward to form guides for the rollers V, V, of the scraper
after it has fallen from the rods W, W. These guides prevent the edge of
the scraper from catching against that of the plate as the former passes from
the road to the incline. While the scraper is moving up the incline and
down the guide rods, the loose soil, &c. on the surface of the road is collected
behind the cart ready to be taken up by the scraper at its next descent, as
shewn in red lines, Fig. 2. The apparatus for this purpose is shewn attached
to the cart at Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4. 6 is a strong iron frame carried on rollers c, c',
and connected to the cart by arms d, d, fixed on the axis e working in
bearings f, f. 9, 9, 9, are scrapers working in the frame b. To each scraper
is attached a spring h (or weight) whereby it is made to bear against the
road, and at the same time to accommodate itself to the irregularities of
the surface by rising and falling, as the case may require. This action is
facilitated by placing the scrapers at a considerable inclination to the surface
of the road; they should also be slightly inclined to the line of draught
to prevent their coming in contact at the same instant with the edge of a row
of "sets." Each scraper is made to lap over the one adjoining, so as to form
a continuous surface. The progress of the cart drawn by a horse or other
power causes an accumulation of loose soil, &c. before the scrapers g, g, which
is taken up at intervals in the manner before described. j is a handle for
raising the frame b with the scrapers from the ground, as occasion may require.
If any difficulty should be found in emptying the cart from behind, I propose
that the bottom should be made to slide, and the contents be thereby deposited
beneath. Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation of an apparatus which I propose
to substitute for the frame b and scrapers 9, if it should be found better
adapted to certain states of the road or way. The parts having the same
letters are the same as those already described in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4. k is a
circular brush or broom, the centre part of which is of wood or iron, and the
beard formed of any suitable elastic material, such as birch or whalebone.
The axis of the brush has its bearings in the arms d, d, before described.
Rotary motion is given to the brush from the axle of the cart by the crossed
chain m passing over the pulley n, o. The plate Y forms an angle with the
inclined plane T, and also a curve corresponding with that of the brush. It
swings as before on the hinge Z, and rests on the surface of the road. The
rotary action of the brush carries the soil, &c. from the road up the curve of
the plate into the recess of the angle. A fixed bar p, commonly called a
doctor, serves to clean the brush as it revolves, and cause any adhering particles
of soil, &c. to fly off into the recess. The soil, &c. thus accumulated in the

page_text: recess is drawn up the incline T by the scraper R in the manner before
describe. The apparatus shewn at Figs. 6 and 7 is intended as a substitute
for the scraper R, as well as the frame b. Fig. 6 is a sectional side elevation,
and Fig. 7 an end view of the apparatus. The parts already described retain
the same letters before used. The sides of the cart A are produced to form
the outline. q, r, s, t, u, v, is an endless brush or broom, or it may be described
as a series of brushes fixed in the chains w, w, stretched over the cylinders x, y.
The axis of the cylinder has its bearings in the sides of the cart. The
iron bars 1, 1, swing loose on the axis z, and form bearings for the axis 2 of
the cylinder y. They are introduced to balance the irregular action of the
cart, and to keep the broom in contact with the ground. The cylinder x is
driven from the axle of the cart by the crossed chain 3 passing over the
pulleys 4, 5. The rotation of the pulley 5 gives motion to the endless broom v,
causing it to sweep the surface of the ground, and carry the loose soil, &c. up
the plate Y (described Fig. 4), and up the incline T* into the cart at U. The
incline T✶ swings on pivots 6, 6, and is held in contact with the endless brush
by links 7, 7, connected to the iron bars 1, 1. Without this provision the broom
would be liable to be drawn from the incline by the irregular motion of the
cart acting on the bars 1, 1. A doctor is stationed at 8 to clean the broom.
Fig. 8 is a sectional side elevation of an apparatus similar to that shewn in
Figs. 6, 7. In Fig. 8 the endless broom is moved the contrary way by the
open chain 9. It acts in conjunction with a circular broom 10, revolving on
its axis in bars 11, 11, loosely connected to the axis 2 of the cylinder y.
Rotation is given to the circular broom 10 from the axis 2 by the crossed
chain 12 passing over the pulleys 13, 14. The loose soil, &c. is carried up
between the two brooms; the portion adhering to the circular broom is
thrown off by a doctor at 15, and afterwards carried on by the endless broom
to a second doctor at 16, where all that was taken up is deposited in the cart.
Instead of chains for connecting the series of brushes an elastic cloth 17 is
employed, and the soil, &c. thereby better held in passing upwards. The
parts in Fig. 8 having the same letters as in Figs. 6 and 7, are similar in
construction. The machinery I have described will, while cleaning the road,
have a tendency to repair it. The scrapers and brooms having their line of
traction in the direction of the length of the road will bear more strongly
against the higher ridges and less on the hollow parts, and the tendency will
be to reduce the irregularities. From the same cause will arise another
advantage, in the opportunity afforded of cleaning crowded thoroughfares
without disturbance to traffic. The apparatus, as described, may be applied to
other purposes besides those of cleaning and repairing; for example, it might

page_text: be employed to load a cart with sand or other loose substance, when the
purpose is not to clean or repair but to transport. By substituting rakes or
other instruments for scrapers or brooms, the application of the apparatus may
be still farther extended. Though in the foregoing description and Drawings
I have shewn various parts of machinery already known and used, I do not
intend to include such parts in my present claim, except in so far as regards
the novelty of their combination or use.
I claim first the parts described for raising the soil or other loose material
from the surface of the ground, and depositing it in a vehicle attached.
Second, in connexion with the parts included in my first claim I claim those
described for collecting the soil or other loose material before it is transferred
to the cart.
Third, I claim the use of a scraper or broom, or other instrument moved up
an inclined plane, by the action of the locomotive wheels of a carriage to
which that plane is attached, for the purpose of loading the said carriage with
soil or other loose material from the surface of the ground.
Fourth, I claim the application of the rotary motion of locomotive wheels
to raise soil or other loose material from the surface of the ground, and deposit
it in a vehicle attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Whitworth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
JOSEPH (L.S.) WHITWORTH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fourteenth day of October,
5 in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Joseph Whitworth came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.