A GAS LOCOMOTOR FOR THE LOCOMOTION OF CAR- RIAGES, TRAMWAY CARS, WAGONS, AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Beck at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th December 1881. A communi-
cation from abroad by Jean Marie Armand Montclar of Paris in the Republic
of France, Civil Engineer.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK of 139 Cannon Street in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer and Patent Agent. "A GAS LOCOMOTOR FOR THE LOCOMOTION OF CAR-
RIAGES, TRAMWAY CARS, WAGONS, AND OTHER VEHICLES." [A communication from
abroad by Jean Marie Armand Montclar of Paris in the Republic of France, Civil
Engineer.]
This Invention relates to the application of gas motor engines, and special
arrangements combined therewith, to all kinds of vehicles for the purpose of
substituting such engines for horses or other cattle and for steam and compressed
air engines hitherto used for the locomotion of carriages, omnibuses fire engines,
tramway cars, railway carriages, and such like.
Gas motor engines acting by explosion as at present constructed do not allow of
an automatic motion and are not adapted to be used as locomotors in the same way
as steam engines.
The arrangements and combinations comprising the Invention hereinafter
described allow of the application of gas motor engines for this purpose.
Either of the arrangements hereinafter described may be easily and cheaply added
to gas motors of any kind which are thereby rendered easily manageable so as to
be set in motion or stopped instantaneously.
Gas motor engines modified or transformed in accordance with this Invention
solve in a satisfactory way the important question of which is the most convenient
method of locomotion in towns. They are silent and are provided with arrange-
ments which make the exhaust invisible, so that there is no risk of frightening
horses by whistling or any unusual noise. Gas being used instead of coal or other
fuel the engine is lightened as it has no fuel to carry; but the arrangements allow
the supply of gas to be renewed at any desired point of the journey.
The gas motors employed in the locomotors forming the subject of this Invention
may be constructed on the system known as Otto's, they may be arranged
horizontally vertically or inclined, and instead of constituting locomotors in them-
selves which draw passenger or other carriages, they may be placed in, on, or under

page_text: such carriages, so as to move them direct. They may be constructed single acting
with one explosion for four half revolutions or two double strokes of the piston,
with one explosion for two half revolutions or one double stroke or otherwise, or
they may be double acting with one explosion for one, two, or more single strokes
of the piston.
According to one arrangement of the locomotor the gas motor is arranged with
a starting apparatus consisting of a supplementary compressed air engine which
acts when required by friction or other suitable gear, on the periphery of a fly
wheel. The gas motor may be of the ordinary construction but by preference with
two or more working cylinders with connecting rods and crank shaft as usual, the
valves for the admission of gas and for the exhaust are operated by cams driven by
shafts actuated by certain novel arrangements of gearing from the crankshaft.
The slide valves for the distribution of air and gas and for ignition are operated by
cranks and connecting rods.
The gas stored in a receiver is conducted therefrom by a pipe to a box, from
which it is distributed by two valves, acted on by cams, so as to admit the said
gas alternately to the two cylinders. This box is furnished with a cock which
can be operated by the driver by means of a lever in order to stop the engine or to
set it in motion.
All these arrangements are similar to those employed in the Otto gas engine,
except as regards the aforesaid box, and the novel arrangements in connection
with the shafts for operating the valves.
On the crank shaft is a sliding clutch box operated by a lever and handle, for
the purpose of connecting or disconnecting an eccentric with or from the said
crank shaft. The said eccentric communicates motion to the piston of an air pump
which draws in and compresses air into a receiver.
This air may be compressed during the journey or preferably during stoppages or
while going down hill, and serves to actuate the beforementioned supplementary
air engine. The latter acts upon the circumference of the fly-wheel by means of
friction or other suitable gear, in order to diminish as much as possible the
resistance to be overcome. When it is required to start the locomotor the supple-
mentary air engine is caused to turn the fly wheel of the gas motor three or four
times until effective explosions are produced in the cylinders thereof, after which
the air engine is disconnected from the fly wheel and left at rest.
The compression of the air costs little because its generation may be utilized
as a brake or resistance for effecting stoppages, or while going down hill.
For the purpose of moving the locomotor out of the shed, for instance, compressed
air may be generated by hand or otherwise.
According to a second arrangement of the locomotor, the pistons of the gas
motor may themselves be arranged so as to compress the air for the supplementary
engine.
For that purpose the slide valves are operated by one shaft driven by gearing
from the crank shaft, and the cams for moving the other valves receive their
motions from another shaft driven by other gearing from the crank shaft.
The exhaust may take place either into the atmosphere (as is customary in
gas engines) or into a receiver in which case the engine works without gas by
virtue of the speed already attained.
The distribution of air and gas may be stopped simultaneously in the cylinders
by stopping the slide valves springs being arranged to bring them into one of
their closed positions.
A two way cock into which the exhaust passages open directs the exhaust either
into the air or into the receiver as may be desired. This cock is operated by
means of a lever and handle which at same time move two cams which raise at
proper times by means of levers or other connections, air inlet valves for the
admission of air into the cylinders.
The manipulation of this arrangement during stoppages or while going down
bill is as follows. Firstly, the slide valves are stopped shutting off the gas, secondly

page_text: the exhaust is conducted into the receiver, and thirdly the cams are placed in
position to operate the air inlet valves.
According to a third arrangement of the locomotor the compressed air is generated
in the manner described in reference to the second arrangement but it is utilized
by being allowed to return when required into the cylinders of the gas engine.
For this purpose these cylinders are furnished with suitable valve gear which
may be put into or taken out of operation by means of a link motion.
At the moment of stopping, the acquired speed may be utilized as a brake and
to store up the power in a spring which would be liberated at starting again to
give a sufficient impulse to the locomotor to produce effective explosions in the gas
engine.
The three arrangements abovo described are dependant upon the principle of
generating and storing up a volume of compressed air by the movement of the
engine itself, and of utilizing this compressed air for starting the locomotor.
The novel features in the first described arrangement are. First, the single gas
distributing box. Second, the air pump arranged so as to be worked or not at
will. Third, the application of the starting engine to the rim of the fly wheel by
frictional or other gear, and Fourthly, the special gearing for driving the cam
shafts.
The novel features in the second described arrangement are, First, the employ-
ment of the gas cylinders for generating the compressed air. Second the stopping
at pleasure of the slide valve for the distribution of air and gas. Third, exhausting
either into the atmosphere or into a receiver and, Fourth, arranging inlet air valves
so that they may be operated or not at pleasure.
The novel features in the third described arrangement are, First, the employment
of the gas cylinders for generating the compressed air, Second, the arrangement of
suitable valve gear, and Third, the starting or stopping the said valve gear by means
of a link motion.