IMPROVEMENTS IN ENDLESS, TRAVELLING, OR ROLLING RAILWAYS, AND IN TRACTION AND RUNNING WHEELS FOR THE SAME, PART OF WHICH IMPROVE- MENT IS APPLICABLE TO WHEELS OF CARRIAGES GENERALLY
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jonathan Aldous Mays at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th April 1878.
JONATHAN ALDOUS MAYS, of 223, Gresham House, Old Broad Street, in the City
of London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENDLESS, TRAVELLING, OR ROLLING RAILWAYS,
AND IN TRACTION AND RUNNING WHEELS FOR THE SAME, PART OF WHICH IMPROVE-
MENT IS APPLICABLE TO WHEELS OF CARRIAGES GENERALLY."
This Invention (the principal part of which I propose to call a "rolling railway'
or "wheelway") has for its object in part the furnishing of traction and portable
engines, road rollers, wheeled vehicles, and such like apparatus intended to run or
be moved without the use of fixed railways or tramways (as upon common roads,
for instance) with improved endless travelling or portable tramways or "rolling
railways."
.
My Invention has for other objects in part also the effecting of improvements in
the gripping or treading surfaces of driving or traction, wheels, and further to
diminish noise and concussion arising from the use of traction and running wheels,
either upon portable tramways or "rolling railways," or upon common roads.
My improved rolling railway or wheelway is composed of a number of rails made
of wood or metal or other suitable material, hinged separately upon or jointed to
feet or chairs, so that such rails form a continuous belt or chain, within and upon
which the traction or running wheel or wheels travel.
In travelling or portable railways of this description, as hitherto constructed, the
separate rails have been hinged or jointed to each other at their ends, or to the
chairs or feet upon which they rest, by means of single hinges or joints having
common centres.
Now in my present Invention the rails are not jointed to each other at all, and
they are hinged or jointed to the feet or chairs upon which they. rest each by a
separate hinge or joint at each end; and, further, the ends or parts of the rails so
jointed or hinged to the chairs or feet are made to cross each other so that they
fork or tongue or "break joint" with or into each other. The ends of the rails are
in fact hinged or jointed to the chair or foot at points beyond the centre of the chair

page_text: or foot, or at points beyond the middle of the length of the tonguing of the rails the
one into the other.
"
The rails may be flanged, or grooved, or recessed lengthwise, so that the running
or traction wheel or wheels may run therein, or the peripheries of the running or
traction wheels may be made with a groove or channel, within which the rails shall
be retained, that is to say, either the rails or the wheels may be grooved, or flanged,
or provided with lips or flanges for the purpose of preventing the wheel from running
off the rails.
.
By joining the rails to the chairs or feet in the manner already referred to, by
making each rail of such a length that the length of two of the rails when jointed
or hinged to the feet, measuring from the inner joints of the endmost feet shall be
about equal to the diameter of the wheel to which the set of rails (by preference
eight in number) are to be applied, or thereabouts; and by making the distance
between the joints or hinges upon the chairs or feet (or the length of the tonguing
of the rails) to be, say, one-sixth of the length of a single rail or thereabouts, I
ensure that the rails shall "break joint" with each other, and that they shall fold
or hinge in such a way that there shall be a proper presentation of the feet or chairs
towards or on to the ground, that is to say, that the chairs or feet shall not come
towards the ground-" end on," but flatwise.
* 1
For the purpose of affording a grip or bite between a traction wheel and the rails
whenever the latter may happen to be laid down at inclinations which would be
likely to reduce the adhesion between the plain surfaces of the wheel and the rails
by reason of the weight of the wheel and its load upon the rail, the periphery
of the wheel and the surfaces of the rails may be wholly or partly provided with
'cogged or corrugated surfaces, so that the cogged or corrugated parts shall engage
with each other after the manner of a rack and pinion; or slots and pins or a V
shaped groove or grooves in the direction of the motion of the wheel and in the line
of the rails, or other like suitable mechanical devices may be used with the like
objects.
In order that the feet or chairs may be self-adjustable to suit inequalities in the
surface of the ground, they may be made with spring or elastic bases, or they may
be made in two or more parts, so that the principal upper and lower parts respec-
tively may have a rocking or oscillating motion upon each other in all directions,
as by means of a ball-and-socket joint or attachment, or there may be a such like
universal or ankle joint or bearing surface between the upper and lower parts, so as
to permit of the canting or bending or leaning over of the upper part or parts of
the chair or foot (which may be called the ankle) upcn the lower part or parts of
the chair or foot (which may be called the shoe or sole) in all directions.
To facilitate lateral movement of the rolling railway, and to permit of the steering
or guiding of the vehicle in a curvilinear direction, the ankles may also be made to
have a lateral wheeling, rolling, or sliding motion upon their shoes or soles, and the
shoes or soles may be held or attached to the ankles by means of a suitable spring
or springs, the action of which will be to retain the two parts together, and to bring
the shoe or sole back to its normal position after the ankle has made a lateral
movement upon it.
To facilitate the lateral wheeling, rolling, or sliding motion of the ankle upon the
shoe or sole, the under surface of the latter may be made spheroidal, and the upper
or rolling or sliding surface thereof may be horizontal or less spheroidal than the
under surface, so that the lateral motion of the ankle upon the shoe or sole may
therefore also be in part a descending motion, and such lateral motion be conse
quently assisted and facilitated by the action of gravity.
The lateral motion of the chairs or feet may also be facilitated by providing them
with wheels or rollers resting directly upon the ground, and having a motion at
right angles to that of the running or traction wheel.
"
The shoes or soles of the chairs or feet may also be made readily removable, so
that they may be replaced by other shoes or soles of larger area, or by shoes or soles
with surfaces specially devised in respect to the object in view or to the nature

page_text: or character of the ground to be travelled upon, as in the cases, for instance, of
ploughing engines or of road rollers, or of snow covered or soft and yielding ground,
or of frozen surfaces; or the soles or shoes may be supplemented by additional
pieces to be attached to them for the purpose of extending the area, or suitably
altering the treading surfaces presented to the ground, as occasion may require.
In order to diminish wear and friction of the parts, and to exclude dirt and grit
from the joints or hinges connecting the rails and the chairs or feet together, to
prevent noise, and also to dispense with any necessity for lubricating such joints or
hinges, I either make such connections or hinges by means of springs, which will
readily permit of the flexion or folding of the parts upon each other, or I line or
bush the hinges or connections with india-rubber in such a way that the rubber
may grasp the pins and crowd into the sockets of the hinges or joints with suffi-
cient tightness to prevent dirt or grit from being carried into or upon the working
or moving surfaces or parts of the hinges or joints; or the india-rubber lining or
bushing of such hinges may be attached to the surfaces of the pins and sockets of
the hinges, and be made of such sufficient thickness as to afford the requisite
"
torsion.
In order further to prevent mud, dirt, grit, stones, or foreign bodies from getting
into the working parts, and impeding the proper folding and resting of the rails
upon the chairs or feet, the upper part of the chairs or feet, which I have called the
ankles," may be made as open and skeleton like as possible, that is to say, that
the surfaces thereof upon which the rails are to rest may be made narrow and ridge-
like, and as wide or far apart from each other as possible, so that dirt or stones
may not rest or lodge thereon.
To diminish the noise which would arise from the parts of the mechanism folding
rapidly upon each other, the surfaces which come into contact with each other or
with the ground may be packed or padded with elastic material, say, india-rubber,
or be partly faced or protected by springs. In like manner the surfaces of the rails
or the peripheries of the wheels themselves may be packed or padded with rubber
for the purpose of preventing noise, and also for the purpose of forming a gripping
or holding surface between the rails and the wheel, so that the rails may not slip or
slide upon that part of the periphery of the wheel which is uppermost while they
are being drawn or picked up at the rear of the wheel and carried forward by it to
be laid down again in front thereof.
For the purpose of diminishing the noise, jar, and concussion caused by the action
of the wheels upon the surfaces upon which they run, the peripheries or treading
surfaces of wheels, according to another part of my Invention, may be faced with
blocks of wood so fixed that the end of the grain shall form the treading surface.
The rims of the wheels for this purpose may be formed with a channelled groove,
and the blocks of wood may be wedged, glued, pinned, bolted, screwed, or otherwise
suitably fastened therein.
This last-mentioned method of reducing the noise, jar, and concussion of the
wheel upon the road or bearing surface is applicable to wheels running upon
ordinary roads, as well as to those working in or upon the rolling railway.