CERTAIN IN- PROVEMENTS ON RAILWAYS, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES TO BE EMPLOYED THEREON
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENBY JAMES, of Cobourg Place, Winson Green, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of March, in the sixth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Henry James, His especial licence, that I, the said William Henry James,
my exors, adiñors, or assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
James, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within Eng-
land, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IN-
PROVEMENTS ON RAILWAYS, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES TO BE EMPLOYED
THEREON;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said William Henry James, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Henry James, do hereby declare that the nature of my said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
My Improvements on Railways, and in the Construction of Carriages to
be employed thereon, consist, in the first place, in forming the rails, at those
parts of the road where curves or turns are to be made, with ribs of different
elevations, and adapting grooves of different diameters on the peripheries of the
carriage wheels to run upon these rails, so as to cause the two opposite wheels
on the same axle of the carriage to vary in their circumferences at those parts
of the rail where the carriage has to turn, and consequently to run in curves
instead of straight lines.
.
The second part of my Invention consists in the adaptation of rotatory
shafts with a peculiar kind of gear to railway carriages for the purpose of
actuating the wheels of the said carriages.
And, thirdly, in the employment of a peculiar kind of universal joint for
connecting the rotatory action of one shaft with the next shaft, so as to com-
municate from a steam engine or other moving agent rotatory power to the
wheels of all the carriages that may be connected together on the line of
railway.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed, Figure 1 represents the section of a
rail, with an elevation a in the middle for the periphey of the wheel (also
shewn in section) to run upon. If the diameter of the two opposite wheels
of a carriage were the same, then the carriage would move forward in a right
line; but if the diameter of one of the wheels be increased, then the carriage
would move forward in a curved line, because the circumference of the two
wheels were not equal. Now I propose to make the peripheries of the wheels
of my carriages variable in their circumferences by means of what may be
called steps, as shewn in the section Fig. 1, at b, c, d. If the surface of the
rails be so constructed in those parts where the turns are to be made as to
enable me to bring the larger diameter of one wheel into action, the carriage
will then move in a curve proportionate to the difference of circumference
between the two opposite wheels on the same axle. Let it be supposed that
it is desired to turn the carriage to the left in a curve that shall increase on
the outer line one inch in a yard, I should then introduce in the right-hand line
a rail, the section of which is shewn at Figure 2, having its rib, as at e, on the
side, when, by bringing the larger circumference of the wheel, as the step b,
into contact with the rail, the carriage would move forward in the above

page_text: curve, inclining to the left, because the circumference of the right-hand wheel
is so much greater than that of the left-hand wheel. Any other quantity of
curve may be given to the progress of the carriage by varying the diameters
of the wheels, as at Figure 3, where, by bringing the step d of the right-hand
wheel into contact with the right-hand rail at f, the curve would incline to the
left in the proportion of two thirds of an inch in a yard increase on the right-
hand rail.
1. Another variation is given at Figure 4, where the steps d and 6 of the
respective wheels are brought into contact with the rails at e, e, and produce
a curve to the left, increasing on the right-hand rail one third of an inch in a
yard. It must be obvious that this mode of forming the rail and the periphery
of the wheel may be varied so as to cause the carriage to run in any curve
either to the right or the left, which contrivance will prevent the drag and.
friction that must take place in carriages of the ordinary construction when
turning curves.
Figure 5 exhibits two carriages connected together upon a railway, in
which a, a, a, are the rotatory shafts for impelling the carriages, which are put
in motion by the power of a steam engine or other agent, communicated to
the toothed wheel 6 or otherwise, which rotatory shaft actuates bevel gear
enclosed in the boxes c, c, and also the universal joints d, d, by which the
action of the rotatory shafts are communicated from one to the other.
Figure 6 is an enlarged view of the box in which the bevel gear is placed
for actuating the running wheels of the carriages, the side of the box being
removed to shew the interior; and Figure 7 is a plan or horizontal view of
the same.
a, a, is the rotatory shaft; b, a bevel pinion upon that shaft,
taking into a bevel-toothed wheel c, which turns horizontally in cross bear-
ings. There is an upper and under rim of bevel teeth on the wheel c, and the
under rim takes into the toothed wheel d, affixed to the axle of the running
wheel. Thus, it will be perceived, the rotation of the shaft a turns the hori-
zontal wheel c, and that, turning the wheel d, gives rotation to the running
wheel, which propels the carriage forward.
Figures 8 and 9 are two different views of the universal joint by which I
connect the rotatory shafts together. a, a, are the extremities of the rotatory
shafts, one of which has a half-moon arm b, b, that receives the pivots c, c, of
the box joint. d, d, are two arms opening and shutting upon an axle joint
in the centre of the box, and at the extremities of these arms are links or any
other suitable contrivance for uniting them with other similar arms e, e,
moving upon an axle joint in the box f, at the extremity of the next rotatory
shaft. By means of these universal joints I connect the whole line of shafts

page_text: under the several carriages in train upon the line of railway; and supposing
the shafts should get into oblique position to each other, as they would do at the
turns of the road, then, by means of these universal joints, the rotatory action
of the shafts are continued throughout the whole line of the carriages.
I have herein described certain mechanical contrivances for which I do not
mean to claim the exclusive use, excepting as they may be adapted to rail-
ways, and carriages to be employed thereon, in the manner above described.
In order, therefore, to be more explicit, I wish it to be understood that my
claim of Invention consists,―
First, in the employment of wheels, the peripheries of which are formed
with grooves and steps of several elevations, and also in the employment of
rails corresponding thereto, as above described, when such carriage wheels arọ
actuated by rotatory shafts.
.. Secondly, in the adaptation to railway carriages of a peculiar kind of bevel
gear, to be actuated by a rotatory shaft for the purpose of turning the wheels
of the carriages, and thereby propelling them upon the line of rails.
Thirdly, in the employment of universal joints, as above described, for con-
necting and communicating rotatory motion to a series of shafts, which occa-
sionally form angles with each other as the carriages move along curves in
the line of railway.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry James, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-five.