IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION ENGINES AND APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THERE- WITH, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LOCOMOTIVES OR VEHICLES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Bernard Lefébure at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 20th January 1876.
BERNARD LEFÉBURE, of 123, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION ENGINES AND APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THERE-
WITH, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LOCOMOTIVES OR VEHICLES."
In connection with the front or small wheels of the engine, carriage, or vehicle, a
cylinder made of cast iron, cast steel, or malleable iron is employed, the under part
of which cylinder is open, the upper part being closed and having fixed or cast
therein a boss, said cylinder being fastened with or without flanges and bolts or
rivets to the boiler or any other part or parts of the engine, and turned, or left
black on, in, and outside as the case may require. In the boss before mentioned a
shaft is fixed by a cotter, key, or any other means in order to prevent it from
turning, and a second cylinder turned or left black on, in, and outside, is fitted,
exactly or with a little spare room in the first-mentioned cylinder. The upper part
of the second cylinder is left open, the lower part having a bottom with or without
flanges and boss, and through which the before-mentioned shaft passes. The second
cylinder is fixed with or without flanges, bolts, screws, straps, or any other means to
the axle of the small wheels; the inside of the bottom of said second cylinder being
turned, and the lower part of the second cylinder on the outer and under side may
be of a rounded or globular form to fit in a hollow globular basin of the same
diameter, which is fastened with or without flanges and bolts, or otherwise to the
axle of the small wheels. This arrangement allows one wheel to move higher than
the other, for which purpose an oblong slot or hole is made in the axle of the small
wheels, the breadth of which slot is equal to the diameter of the shaft described as
fixed in the first cylinder, and of a length (in the direction of the centre line of the
axle of the small wheels), equal to once or more of this same diameter; the hollow
globular basin has a hole of like shape and size. When this arrangement is
employed one or more keys are fastened in the bottom of the second cylinder in
order to prevent it from turning round the above-mentioned shaft, in which a
keyhole or keyholes are made.
The said second cylinder is made of any desired material as also is the hollow
globular basin, and is placed in the first-mentioned cylinder so as to slide up and
down, and turn in it when fastened directly to the axle of the small wheels, and
only sliding up and down when the loose basin is used.
A boss with a large flange made of cast steel, cast or wrought iron, through which

page_text: passes the shaft described, as fixed in the boss on the first-mentioned cylinder has
one or more keys fixed in it to prevent it from turning with the second cylinder,
and one or more keyholes are made in the shaft to allow this boss to slide up and
down; said boss being placed on the inside bottom of the second cylinder and left
black, or entirely or partled tooled as the case may require.
One or more steel springs of a square, round, or any other section, and of a
cylindrical, conical, or spiral shape are placed on the flange of the loose boss last-
mentioned, but when this boss is not used said springs are placed directly on the
inside of the bottom of the second cylinder and press against the inside of the first
cylinder, and said spring or springs are placed round the shaft described as fixed in
the boss on the first-mentioned cylinder. This said axle or shaft, which is of round
or any other section, and of steel, or wrought iron is fixed in the boss of the first
cylinder by a cotter, key, or any other means, and passes through the spring or
springs through the loose boss with large flange, also through boss and bottom of
second cylinder, and through the loose basin and axle of the small wheels. It has
long keyholes slotted therein to allow the parts in which keys are fixed to slide up
and down, and at the under end is cut a thread on which a nut is screwed, said nut
being used to prevent the spindle or the shaft from jumping out of the hole in the
axle of the small wheels, and a fixed collar on said shaft is placed against the
inside of the bottom of the first cylinder. A brass plate or disc of the samo
diameter as the touching parts of the loose boss, and of the second cylinder is placed
between these two and is provided centrally with a hole of equal or larger diameter
to that of the shaft fixed in the boss on the first-mentioned cylinder. An india-
rubber ring is placed, fastened or not, against or on the inside bottom of the first
cylinder, its outside diameter being equal to that of the inside of the first cylinder,
and its inside diameter equal or larger than that of the shaft fixed in the boss on
the first-mentioned cylinder, and it is used to break the concussion of the second
cylinder and the first cylinder against each other.
The arrangement in connection with the large or back wheels, consists in one or
two springs placed as near as possible to and on the inside of the road wheels.
These springs are made of steel and of ordinary form used for railway carriages, and
are secured under or above the axle of the road wheels, and midway their length
with or without wrought iron, strap, and brass fittings. When two springs are
used for each wheel, they are then placed with their hollow sides to each other,
one of them secured at its middle to the axle, and the other to the boiler frame or
any other part or parts of the engine, said springs being joined at their extremities
by a bolt.
If one spring is used it is secured at both its extremities to the boiler
frame or any other part or parts of the engine.
The springs may also be secured indirectly on the axle of the road wheels by
fastening them to bars, rods, or beams placed on each side of the engine and
fastened with one end on the axle of the road wheels, and the other end on the axlo
on which a pinion or spur wheel is fixed, and works on the spur wheel or pinion
fixed on the axle of the road wheels. The length of these bars are equal to the
distance of the centre of the above-mentioned axles. This arrangement compels the
distance of the axles to remain the same, so that there is no danger of breaking the
teeth of the spur wheels and pinions. The length of these bars may be a little more
or less if required, and may be secured to the springs, or the naves or bosses of the
spur wheel and pinion. If the axle of the pinion or spur wheel working on spur
wheel or pinion fixed on the road wheels does not extend entirely from one side of
the engine to the other, a separate arrangement must be made for the end of the
bar not fixed on the axle of the road wheels. A bolt or small shaft fixed to the
frame, boiler, or any other part or parts of the engine will fulfill this duty if placed
in the same centre line as the axle of the pinion or spur wheel working on the spur
wheel or pinion fixed on the axle of the road wheels. This arrangement is particularly
applicable if the axles are placed in a horizontal line or with a slight inclination,
but if they are placed vertically above each other or with very much inclination,
then these two axles are connected by two bars, rods, or beams, and is entirely

page_text: independent, and loose from the boiler frame or other part or parts of the engine.
The second axle (on which the pinion or spur wheel is fixed, that turns the spur
wheel or pinion fixed on the axle of the road wheels), is now connected with a
third axle by a connecting rod, the same in every respect as the one first mentioned.
The length of this rod is equal to the distance of the centres of the second and third
axles, and replace the first-mentioned rod, the length of which is equal to the
distance of the second axle and the axle of the road wheels.
The above mentioned third axle is the axle on which a pinion or spur wheel is
The
fixed, working on the second spur wheel or pinion fixed on the second axle.
last two connecting rods placed as near as possible to the beams (one for each
wheel), are fixed directly or indirectly on the second and third axles.
The springs
are casily fixed to or under the beams.
Besides the two rods connecting the third and second axles, two other rods are
fixed directly or indirectly with one end on the axle of the road wheels, and placed,
cach of them as near as possible to the beams, and the other end of these rods is
fixed to the boiler, frame or otherwise in the same direction as the rods connecting
the second and third axles, and preferably of the same length and parallel with
them; these rods are made of any kind of iron or steel and have brass fittings and
keys if required.
A loose collar on each side of the frame or boiler is fixed with a screw or screws
on the axle of the road wheels and against the frame or boiler (with or without
spare room) in order to prevent the axle and road wheels from going too much out
of the centre of the engine.
A wrought, malleable, or cast iron or steel bracket is fixed with bolts, screws,
rivets, or any other means to the boiler, frame or any other part or parts of the
engine, in which bracket is fixed a bolt or small shaft with or without nuts and.
collars, and which may be fixed separately with or without the bracket to the
boiler, frame or any other part or parts of the engine. Two of these brackets and
shafts are used for each spring. If only one spring for each wheel is secured to the
axle, and one bracket and one shaft or bolt; if two springs are used together for
each wheel and connecting rods, one for each bracket and shaft are used for
connecting said shaft with the extremity or the middle of a spring.