CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
SAMUEL RAYNER, of Ripley, in the County of Derby, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of September, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Samuel Rayner, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Samuel Rayner,
my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Samuel
Rayner, my exors, admors, or 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, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Henry Samuel Rayner, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
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..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Samuel Rayner, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-

page_text: tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly
described in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Figure 1 of the said Drawings represents a longitudinal side elevation of a
locomotive engine, embracing my said improvements, and Figure 4 an end
elevation of the same. A is an air vessel, of the form of a rectangular inclined
plane or wedge shape, and covering the whole length and breadth of the
carriage. It consists of two parts a¹, and a (see Fig. 2), the former of
which (a) is firmly secured to the bed of the carriage by bolts p, p, and the
latter (a) is supported within the other (without, however, touching its sides)
on ledges L, L, which rest on the bottom of a¹. B is a packing of caout-
chouc, gutta percha, asphalted felt, leather, or other suitable substance, which
is laid upon the top of the upper piece a², overlapping at both sides the top
edges of the sides of the under piece a', and is secured in its place by a
frame D and screw bolts f, f (see Fig. 3), which are passed through the frame
and through the packing, and also through the grooves G, G, in the sides
of a. A longitudinal section of the entire vessel A is given separately in
Figure 2, and a transverse section of it in Figure 3. A section on an enlarged
scale of the parts C, D, F, and a¹ is given separately in Figure 5. The join-
ings at the sides, that is to say, where the frame D, the packing B, and top
edges of the sides of a¹ come in contact, may be further made good with red
lead or other suitable cement, varnished over so as to render the interior space
included between a¹ and a³ perfectly air-tight. K is another air-vessel placed
immediately above.A, and of exactly the same form and construction in all
respects, only that the angle of inclination of its upper surface is in the oppo-
site direction, and that it is connected by separate and distinct bearings to the
bed of the carriage. Each of these air-vessels communicates by means of a
separate pipe and stopcock with an air-pump or exhauster R, common to
both. The vessel A is intended to act as a "forward" mover of the carriage,
and the vessel K as a "backward" mover of it, each acting by virtue of a
preponderance of atmospheric pressure upon it in the desired direction caused
by the exhaustion more or less of the air within, and by the wedge form
given to the vessel. It is necessary, however, to the production of these
effects, that a line drawn perpendicularly to the angle of inclination of the
upper surface of each of the vessels A and K shall make, with a perpendi-
cular line drawn to the horizontal plane of the carriage, an angle within what
is known in mechanics as the "angle of friction," or "limiting angle of
resistance" of the rail or road on which the carriage is to run and the axle
and wheel of the carriage; that is to say, that the perpendicular. pressure of the

page_text: atmosphere on the inclined surface of A or K (as the case may be) shall be so
balanced or neutralized by the angular reaction of the rail-wheel and axle as
to leave the carriage equally indisposed to move forwards or backwards..
Supposing the engine to have been constructed as has been thus directed, the
manner of its operation will be as follows:-The vessel A being more or less
exhausted of the air within it by means of the pump R, becomes immediately
pressed and acted upon by the surrounding atmosphere on all sides; but the
pressure upon the upper inclined surface of it is balanced or neutralized, as
aforesaid, by the angular reaction of the rail or road-wheel and axle, and the
pressure upon the bottom of the vessel is balanced or neutralized by the
gravity of the carriage, the force of gravity acting in a direction parallel to
and coincident with the line of atmospheric pressure. The pressure again
upon the equal sides of the vessel must obviously balance or neutralize one
another. The only antagonist forces therefore arising from the atmospheric
pressure remaining to be overcome are those acting upon the front and hinder
ends of the vessel A. Now in proportion as the area of the end I exceeds
the area of the end F (say by the quantity H-F). so will the pressure on H be
greater than on F, and a motive force be exerted in the direction H. F, equi-
valent to the difference between the two pressures. A like result takes place
when the vessel K is acted on, only that the line of motion is in the reverse
direction, that is to say, from F to H. A forward and backward motion is
thus obtained at the will of the engineer by merely exhausting (more or less)
one vessel or the other of its included air.
consequent friction on the sides of the vessels
shaping the bottoms in the manner indicated
being always taken not to alter by any such modification the shape or figure of
the upper and end surfaces of the vessels. I prefer making the vessels of cast
iron, but they may be made either of that or of any other suitable material.
The amount of pressure and
and K may be diminished by
by the dotted lines m, n, care
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as of my
Invention, is, the propelling of locomotive carriages by atmospheric movers
attached to and travelling with such carriages, and acting by virtue of a pre-
ponderance of atmospheric pressure in the direction of the line of motion
produced by neutralising or overbalancing that pressure in all other directions,
in manner before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Samuel Rayner, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
HENRY SAMUEL (L.s.) RAYNER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Henry Samuel Rayner came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord One