IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION ENGINES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Shanks and James Gordon Lyon, of Arbroath, in
the County of Forfar, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TRACTION ENGINES."
Sealed the 8th June 1880, and dated the 18th December 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Shanks and James
Gordon Lyon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th
December 1879.
JAMES SHANKS and JAMES GORDON LYON, of Arbroath, in the County of Forfar,
Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION ENGINES."
Our Invention relating to improvements in traction engines consists in the
employment in the fire box of an inner tube extending across the same, and an
outer tube or casing surrounding the inner tube, but also within the fire box, the
two tubes being so arranged as to form between them a water space which is in
communication with the water space of the boiler, whilst through the inner tube
the axle of the rear or driving wheels passes. These tubes may be secured to the
outer and inner shells of the fire box by bending over their ends so as to form lap
joints, and connecting the parts by rivets, or by welding the parts together, or in
any other suitable manner.
By means of our Invention the driving axle may be placed much further forward
than in other engines, thereby reducing the wheel base and enabling the engine to
be turned in a much sharper curve, whilst at the same time the heating surface in
the fire-box is considerably increased.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Shanks and James Gordon Lyon in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th June 1880.
JAMES SHANKS and JAMES GORDON LYON, of Arbroath, in the County of Forfar,
Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION ENGINES."
Our said Invention relating to improvements in traction engines has reference to
an arrangement for enabling the axle of the rear or driving wheels to be passed
through the fire box
The accompanying Drawings illustrate the manner in which our said Invention
is or may be carried into effect.
Figure 1 represents a vertical section of a traction engine having our said
Invention applied thereto, and Figure 2 is a corresponding longitudinal section of a
portion of the same; Figure 3 is a vertical section illustrating a modification.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A is the fire box, through which we pass an innor tube a extending across from one
side to the other of the outside shell b, and an outer tube or casing c surrounding
the inner tube a and united to the inside shell d, the two tubes being so arranged
as to form between them a water space e which is in communication with the water
space el of the fire box and boiler, whilst through the inner tube c the axle f of the
rear or driving wheels B, B, passes.
The tubes a, c, may be screwed to the outside and inside shells b, d, respectively
of the fire box A, either by bending over the ends so as to form lap joints, and
connecting the parts by rivets, as shewn at g, h, in Figure 1, or by welding the
parts, as indicated at g in Figure 3, in the case of the inner tube a, or the tubes
may be secured in place in any other convenient manner.
By means of our said Invention the driving axle may be placed much further
forward than in other engines, thereby reducing the wheel base and enabling the
engine to be turned in a much sharper curve, whilst at the same time the heating
surface in the fire box is considerably increased.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the hereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
Constructing the fire box of traction engines with a transverse tube through
which the axle of the rear or driving wheels passes, the said tube being surrounded
with water, all substantially as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Shanks and James Gordon Lyon,
have to this our Specification set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day
of June, One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
JAMES SHANKS.
(L.S.)
JAMES GORDON LYON. (L.S.)