Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Aug., 1886.
Complete Left, 5th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 8th Mar., 1887.
I, ARTHUR HERBERT WALLIS, of the Firm of Wallis and Stevens, of Basingstoke, in
the County of Hampshire, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
=
In traction engines of ordinary construction where there are no springs, the engine
is subject to very violent and detrimental vibrations on going over a rough road.
Attempts have been made to overcome this disadvantage, by use of spring, wheels, and
springs have also been employed in combination with complicated and expensive
arrangements for keeping the centres of the shafts at a constant distance from each
other.
I have discovered that in order to get rid of the violent vibrations it is sufficient to
afford the axle of the road wheels a spring action of a very slight amount, and that the
toothed gear can be allowed to ride in and out to the extent of such motion without
practical disadvantage, and according to my invention I arrange traction engines to
operate in this manner by adopting the following construction.
The axle of the hind road wheels has two journals running in axle boxes that can
slide in guides formed at the sides of the horn plates. Upon the axle boxes bear
strong springs either of steel or other elastic material, the upper ends of which bear
against plates which are adjustable in the guides by means of a screw screwing
through the top of the same, or by means of any other suitable adjusting device, so
that the weight of the back part of the engine is transmitted through the adjusting
screws or other devices, and springs to the axle. The amount of motion of the axle
box in the guide is limited to a very small extent by means of stops provided in
the guides, and the spring is so adjusted in strength that when the engine is at
rest the axle box shall be kept thereby close up against the bottom of the guide, and
that when the engine is running upon a good road the spring shall be strong enough to
prevent the vibrations from causing the axle box to come in contact with the stops.
In the case of any great strain being put on the springs, the weight of the engine is
taken by the said stops.

page_text: The toothed gear by which the road wheels are driven is so arranged that when the
axle box is at the bottom of the guide as described, the teeth of the wheels are slightly
drawn out beyond the pitch line, so that by the up and down motion to which the
wheels are subjected in working, the teeth will ride slightly in and out of each other to
either side of the pitch line. The teeth of the wheels are so formed that when the axle
box is in contact with the stops, a clearance is still left at the roots of the teeth.
With this arrangement I prefer to connect the draw bar directly to the axle or axle.
boxes of the road wheels, in order to avoid any upward or downward pull upon the
springs which would occur if the draught were taken from the tail of the tender.
ABEL & IMRAY,
28, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, ARTHUR HERBERT WALLIS of the Firm of Wallis and Stevens of Basingstoke in
the County of Hampshire, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
In traction engines of ordinary construction where there are no springs, the engine
is subject to very violent and detrimental vibrations on going over a rough road.
Attempts have been made to overcome this disadvantage by use of spring wheels and
springs have also been employed in combination with complicated and expensive
arrangements for keeping the centres of the shafts at a constant distance from each
other.
I have discovered that in order to get rid of the violent vibration it is sufficient to
afford the axle of the road wheels a spring action of a very slight amount, and that the
toothed gear can be allowed to ride in and out to the extent of such motion without
practical disadvantage, and according to my invention I arrange traction engines to
operate in this manner by adopting the following construction.
The axle of the hind road wheels has two journals running in axle boxes that can
slide in guides formed at the sides of the horn plates. Upon the axle boxes bear strong
springs either of steel or other elastic material, the upper ends of which bear against
plates which are adjustable in the guides by means of a screw screwing through the top
of the same, or by means of any other suitable adjusting device, so that the weight of
the back part of the engine is transmitted through the adjusting screws or other
devices, and springs to the axle. The amount of motion of the axle box in the guide
is limited to a very small extent by means of stops provided in the guides, and the
spring is so adjusted in strength that when the engine is at rest the axle box shall
be kept thereby close up against the bottom of the guide, and that when the engine
is running upon a good road the spring shall be strong enough to prevent the vibration
from causing the axle box to come in contact with the stops. In the case of any great
strain being put on the spring, the weight of the engine is taken by the said stops.
The toothed gear by which the road wheels are driven is so arranged that when the
axle box is at the bottom of the guide as described, the teeth of the wheels are slightly
drawn out beyond the pitch line, so that by the up and down motion to which the wheels
are subjected in working the teeth will ride slightly in and out of each other to either.
side of the pitch line.
The teeth of the wheels are so formed that when the axle box is in contact with the
stops, a clearance is still left at the roots of the teeth. With this arrangement I prefer
to connect the draw bar directly to the axle or axle boxes of the road wheels, in order
to avoid any upward or downward pull upon the springs which would occur if the
draught were taken from the tail of the tender.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing shews a part longitudinal section of a traction
engine with the arrangement of my before described invention applied thereto which I
prefer to employ, and Fig. 2 shews a cross section. A is the intermediate driving shaft
running in fixed bearings as usual, the toothed wheel B of which drives the axle C of

page_text: the road wheels through any suitable arrangement of toothed gear D. The axle Cruns
in axle boxes E which may be solid blocks as shewn, and are free to slide to a slight
extent vertically up and down between guides F carried by the engine and the rear
part of the engine rests upon these blocks through the medium of strong helical
springs G, so that the axle is free to slide up and down to a certain extent due to the
uneveness of the road, such motion being taken up by the elasticity of the springs G
without being to any inconvenient extent imparted to the engine framing, so that by
such relative motion of the parts the wheels B and D are caused to ride in and out
each other to a corresponding extent.
The guides are formed with a head piece F1 through which passes an adjusting
screw H screwing through a nut I contained in a recess in the head and bearing with
its lower end upon a washer J that rests on the upper end of the spring G, so that by
screwing the screw H more or less through the nut it is made to adjust the resistance
of the spring by compressing it more or less against the block E, which abutts at
bottom against the flange F' of the guide.
The springs G are by preference so adjusted relatively to the load upon them that
when the engine is running upon an averagely smooth road, the resistance of the
springs is sufficient to prevent the vibration of the blocks to such an extent as to cause
them to come in contact with stops F³ formed on the guides, but when the wheels are
subject to an exceptional shock, the blocks are brought against the stops and by this
means the ends of the teeth of the gearing B and D are prevented from coming in
contact with the bottoms of their spaces, the distance between these points being for
this purpose made somewhat greater than the distance between the tops of the blocks
and the stops.
The blocks E E are by preference kept in position in the guides by a tubular stay K
bolted thereto, and they are provided with brasses E' for the axle to run in. They are
also by preference extended through the openings of the guides so as to afford a bearing
close up to the road wheels as shewn. The spaces M between these extensions and the
top of the opening in the guides, should be slightly greater than the spaces between
the blocks and the stops F. The springs G are enclosed in the guides by means of
plates L bolted to the latter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. In traction engines the combination with an intermediate driving shaft running
in fixed bearing on the engine framing, of axle boxes for the road wheels capable
of slight vertical motion in guides on the engine frame, which rests upon the said
axle boxes through the medium of springs, the extent of motion of the axle boxes
being limited by stops in such manner as to prevent the tops and bottoms of the
teeth of the driving gear from coming in contact with each other, substantially as
herein described.
2. In combination with sliding axle boxes carrying the axles of the road wheels of
traction engines, the use of springs for supporting the engine framing upon the axle
boxes, the engine framing being provided with adjusting screws for adjusting the
resistance of the springs, and also with stops for limiting the upward motion of the
axle boxes, substantially as herein described.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.