A NEW METHOD OF RAILWAY TRACTION. TO BE CALLED A PONY RAILWAY
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Moseley, Architect, of No. 32,
Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, for the Invention of "A NEW
METHOD OF RAILWAY TRACTION. TO BE CALLED A PONY RAILWAY."
Sealed the 27th August 1853, and dated the 8th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Moseley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th April 1853.
I, WILLIAM MOSELEY, Architect, of 32, Cumberland Terrace, Regent's
Park, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
METHOD OF RAILWAY TRACTION, TO BE CALLED A PONY RAILWAY," to be as
follows:-
A contrivance for working trains backwards and forwards constantly,
on the same lines of rails, as the only mode of conveyance; it being
a condition of the pony railway that the limits of its length shall be
such as to enable the carriages to get from one end to the other in at
least as short a time as the interval is to be between the starting of each
and every train, so that but one train of carriages shall work on each
line of rails; and in case of a double line, the starting of each is to be

page_text: made interchangeably. And I claim, as my Invention for carrying into
effect the above object, the use of two or more tubes for the exhaustion
and pressure of the atmosphere, one of such tubes being continually,
and as a principle of traction, in the course of exhaustion by the engine
or engines in the usual way, while the parallel tube is, or tubes are,
being used for propulsion, and so on, in a reciprocating manner.
And
I also claim as my Invention the application of the method of con-
structing the apparatus for the disconnection of the train from the tube
so exhausted, and reconnection of antlier tube lying within and parallel
horizontally to the limits of the rails upon which the wheels of the train
are to run, such apparatus being in all cases made to apply to two tubes
at least, but to be formed of the application of any variety of a screw or
screws, screw bolt or bolts, sliding bar, and clutch or clutches, clutch
box or boxes, chains; hooks, staples, bolts, or other fastenings, as may
be most suitable for connecting one tube apparatus and disconnecting
another, (lying between the limits as beforesaid, and for the purpose
before described,) to trains of carriages on pony railways. And I further
claim as my Invention the application of the sliding or other connections
for shifting the trains to the different propelling powers in regard to
any other method of propulsion than the atmospheric mode, for the
purpose and under the conditions heretofore set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Moseley, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 6th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM MOSELEY, Architect, of No: 32, Cumberland Terrace, Regent's
Park, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto ine, the said William Moseley, Her special licence that I, the said

page_text: William Moseley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Moseley, 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 "A NEW METHOD OF RAILWAY
TRACTION, TO BE CALLED A PONY RAILWAY," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Moseley, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Moseley, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, that is to say:
My Invention has reference more particularly to lines of railways
the limits of whose length are such as will enable the carriages or trains
running thereon (where a single line of. rails is employed) to make the
journey to the terminus opposite to the one started from and back again
in as short a time as the interval between the starting of the trains.
In carrying out this system, I employ two or more tubes, known as
atmospheric tubes, laid parallel to and between the rails, for the pur-
pose of supplying traction power to the carriage or carriages composing
the train, one such tube being in course of exhaustion whilst the other
is employed in the propulsion of the train, so that on its arrival at the
termination of the line it may be set in motion on the back journey
without being turned round or removed from the rails, the connections
of the carriages with the tubes having been previously shifted from the
tube just used to the one which in the meantime has been exhausted.
The method of disconnecting the carriage or carriages from any one
tube, and connecting them with another, is as follows:-Attached to

page_text: the piston working in the tube, and acted upon by the pressure of the
atmosphere therein, is a coulter or rod, which passes through the
longitudinal valve or opening on the top of the tube; the end of this
coulter, outside the tube, has a socket formed in it, into which the rod
that connects the carriage with the propelling piston is dropped, and
secured therein by screws, or bolts, or staples, or catches, or other
fastenings. On shifting the "connection" from one tube to another, the
connecting rod is raised by a screw or lever from the socket; it is then
moved by a second screw, or by a sliding bar and blocks, or by a lever
or levers, to a position immediately over the similar socket of the
coulter of the piston in the tube by the atmospheric pressure in which
it is desired that the carriage should be propelled. The connecting rod
is then lowered or dropped into this socket, and secured therein; the
carriage is then ready to be propelled in the opposite direction, without
being turned or removed from its position on the rails.
Where intermediate stations are necessary, two other separate lines
of tubes are laid down for the traffic of cach of such intermediate
stations; these tubes are continued to the terminus in either direction
from the station. The carriages or trucks for conveying passengers,
goods, &c., to these intermediate stations, run upon the same rails as
the through carriages, and are arranged in the same serial order as the
stations at which they are to be dropped. For the purpose of expe-
diting the taking up and setting down of passengers, &c., the carriages
are liberated from the train, at their respective stations, without
impeding the progress of the general line of carriages.
In order to ensure perfect security in so separating the carriages,
(provided the usual mode of stopping at cach station and putting the
carriages in motion again be not adopted,) the apparatus for effecting
such liberation is situated at such distance from the station at which
the carriages are to stop as will enable them, when disconnected from
the propelling pistons, to gradually lose the momentum they have
acquired on their journey, and to be brought to rest by breaks, if
necessary, at the platform of the station. The arrangement of apparatus
for disconnecting the carriages from the pistons is as follows:-The rod

page_text: which connects the carriage with the propelling piston fits into a socket
formed in the end of the coulter of the piston, and is provided with a
pair of elevating rollers, having their axis or shaft parallel with the
axles of the carriages.
At such distance from the station at which the carriage or carriages
is or are to stop, as will by trial be found necessary, is placed a second
pair of rollers, working in bearings fixed above the tube. These two
pairs of rollers are so relatively adjusted as that, on the arrival of the
carriage at the liberating apparatus, the rollers attached to the con-
necting rod shall be elevated by their passage over the fixed rollers, and
consequently at the same time raise the rod to which they are attached
from out of the socket in the coulter, thus disconnecting the carriage
from the propelling piston, and allowing it to be stopped at the platform
of the station; or the carriage may be brought to rest by allowing the
vacuum to be gradually destroyed in front of the piston, by admitting
air through a valve in the tube at the station, acted upon by a balance
weight and lever, fixed at the requisite distance from the station, and
put in motion by the passing train; or the valve may be actuated by
the apparatus known as the lazy tongs, in place of the balance weight
and lever. In like manner, by the use of the lazy tongs or balance
weight and lever, acted upon by the coming train, the carriage or
carriages left at the station on the previous journey, and which has or
have in the meantime taken up passengers, &c., may be liberated from
their holdings, and allowed to acquire sufficient velocity before they are
overtaken by the coming train, of which they are to form a part, as
will prevent any violent impact or collision between them. By these
means no time is lost by the stoppage of the through train at the
intermediate stations, either for the setting down or taking up of pas-
sengers, &c.
Where two or more lines of tubes and rails are employed, the
starting of the trains may take place interchangeably.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I lay no
claim to any part of the machinery individually considered; but that

page_text: what I do claim as my Invention is the general arrangement and
combination of machinery or apparatus, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Moseley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
WILLIAM MOSELEY.. (L.S.)