IMPROVEMENTS IN ROAD LOCOMOTIVES OR TRACTION ENGINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James. Edwards Wilson, of Spring Gardens, 'in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
D
"
Sealed the 18th July 1871, and dated the 21st January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edwards Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st January 1871.
I, JAMES EDWARDS WILSON, of Spring Gardens, in the County of
3 Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROAD LOCOMOTIVES OR TRACTION ENGINES,'
to be as follows:-
".
My improvements in road locomotives or traction engines relate to the
employment of endless circular railways in the form of large bearing
wheels or rings, which have on their inner peripheries circular rails upon
which the driving wheels of the engine travel.
The improvements consist in attaching to the frame of the engine
two pairs of rollers travelling respectively in the two bearing wheels
and pressing against the under side of the heads of the circular rails

page_text: which are of T form. The pressure of the rollers is adjustable in order
to increase the adhesion when required. To steer the locomotive I
work the two engines independently, and regulate the steam by an
arrangement similar to that used for steam hammers, and in some
cases two cylinders with cranks at right angles for each engine may be
employed.
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Edwards Wilson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDWARDS WILSON, of Spring Gardens, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty. Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-oue, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Edwards Wilson,
Her special licence that I, the said James Edwards Wilson, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Edwards Wilson, 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 ROAD LOCOMOTIVES OR TRACTION ENGINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Edwards
Wilson, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
'
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Edwards Wilson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
My improvements in road locomotives or traction engines relate to the
employment of endless circular railways in the form of large bearing
wheels or rings, which have on their inner peripheries circular rails upon
which the driving wheels of the engine travel.
The
The improvements consist in attaching to the frame of the engine
rollers which travel in the bearing wheels and press against the under
side of the heads of the circular rails which are of T form.
pressure of the rollers is adjustable in order to increase the adhesion
when required. To steer the locomotive I work the two engines inde-
pendently, and regulate the steam by an arrangement similar to that
used in marine engines where the engines are worked independently,
and in some cases two cylinders with cranks at right angles for cach
engine may be employed.
Figure 1 of the acconipanying Drawings is a side elevation; and
Figure 2 an end elevation, one half in section of a road locomotive con-
structed according to my Invention.
1
A is the engine, and B, B, are the driving wheels; C, C, are large
bearing wheels or rings which have on their inner peripheries circular
rails D, D, upon which the driving wheels B, B, travel; E, E, are two
rollers travelling respectively in the two bearing wheels, and pressing
against or gripping the under, side of the heads of the rails D, D. The
pressure of these rollers is adjustable by means of the gearing F, F, in
order to regulate the adhesion as required; G, G, are other rollers which
act as guides, these rollers may if desired be placed under the heads of
the rails D, D, at the side opposite to the rollers E, E; H, I, are two
levers one of which commands the valve motion of one cylinder and the
other commands the valve motion of the other cylinder.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
improvements in road locomotives or traction engines,—
First. The combination of circular travelling rails with gripping
wheels or rollers, substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: Second. The combination of circular travelling rails with gripping
wheels or rollers and with engines worked independently, substantially as
and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said James Edwards Wilson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.