IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE CARS FOR TRAMWAYS OR LIGHT RAILWAYS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, retired Colonel
in the Army, of Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for
an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE CARS FOR TRAMWAYS OR
LIGHT RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Edward Blackett
Beaumont at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd March
1881.
FREDERICK EDWARD BLACKETT BEAUMONT, retired Colonel in the Army, of
Victoria Street, Westminster,, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOCOMOTIVE CARS FOR TRAMWAYS OR LIGHT RAILWAYS,"
In locomotive tramway or light railway cars worked by steam or compressed
air engines, it is most safe and convenient to arrange the engine and place for the
driver in front, and the access for passengers behind, and as the car has to travel
in both directions it is necessary to provide means for inverting it so as to maintain
the relative positions above mentioned. This Invention relates to an arrangement
for this purpose, which is of the following description:-The body of the car having
the engine fixed thereon is made to turn upon a pivot on the under framing in the
manner usually adopted in reversible tramcars. At each end of the underframing
is mounted a short transverse shaft, both of these shafts being close to the one
side of the framing, so that one of them would appear on the right hand side
looking at one end of the vehicle, and the other would appear at the left hand
side looking at the other end of the vehicle. These short shafts are connected by
bands, gearing, or cranks, and connecting rods with the driving wheels, so that
when either of these shafts is caused to revolve the vehicle is propelled. The
crank or main shaft of the engine is arranged so as to be in line with one of these
shafts when the car body is turned to one attitude on the underframing, and to be
also in line with the other shaft when the car body is turned round on its pivot to
the reverse attitude; and suitable clutches are provided on the short shafts, and on
the engine shaft, so that by the act of turning round the car body the engine shaft
becomes unclutched from the one short shaft and becomes clutched with the other.
A simple form of clutch for this purpose consists of a tapered polygonal part at
each end of the engine shaft which can enter a corresponding polygonal socket at
the end of either of the short shafts, but obviously clutches of other forms may be
employed; thus when the car arrives at its terminus the body is swung round
uncoupling the engine shaft from the short shaft at one end of the underframe
and coupling it with the other, and the engine then being started in the same
direction as before the car is propelled in the opposite direction.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th August 1881.
FREDERICK EDWARD BLACKETT BEAUMONT, retired Colonel in the Army, of
Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOCOMOTIVE CARS FOR TRAMWAYS OR LIGHT RAILWAYS."
In locomotive tramway or light railway cars worked by steam or compressed
air engines, it is most safe and convenient to arrange the engine and place for the
driver in front, and the access for passengers behind, and as the car has to travel
in both directions it is necessary to provide means for inverting it so as to maintain
the relative positions above mentioned. This Invention relates to an arrangement
for this purpose which is of the following description:-The body of the car
having the engine fixed thereon is made to turn upon a pivot on the underframing
in the manner usually adopted in reversible tram cars. At each end of the under-
framing is mounted a short transverse shaft, both of these shafts being close to the
one side of the framing, so that one of them would appear on the right hand side
looking at one end of the vehicle, and the other would appear at the left hand side
looking at the other end of the vehicle. These short shafts are connected by bands,
gearing, or cranks and connecting rods with the driving wheels, so that when
either of these shafts is caused to revolve the vehicle is propelled. The crank or
main shaft of the engine is arranged so as to be in line with one of these shafts
when the car body is turned to one attitude on the underframing and to be also in
line with the other shaft when the car body is turned round on its pivot to the
reverse attitude; and suitable clutches are provided on the short shafts and on the
engine shaft, so that by the act of turning round the car body the engine shaft
becomes unclutched from the one short shaft and becomes clutched with the
other. A simple form of clutch for this purpose consists of a tapered polygonal
part at each end of the engine shaft which can enter a corresponding polygonal
socket at the end of either of the short shafts, but obviously clutches of other
forms may be employed; thus when the car arrives at the terminus the body
is swung round, uncoupling the engine shaft from the short shaft at one end of
the underframe and coupling it with the other, and the engine then being started
in the same direction as before the car is propelled in the opposite direction.
The accompanying Drawings shew a locomotive tram car arranged according to
my Invention. Fig. 1 is a side view; Fig. 2 is an end view, and Fig. 3 is a plan
of the underframing, The car body A is mounted on a central pivot or perch pin
at B, so that it can be turned half round thereon, as indicated by the dotted semi-
circle in Fig. 3. At one end of the car body are fixed the engines, which may
have vertical cylinders as shewn, or may be of any known construction provided
that the crank shaft C driven by them is arranged to come exactly in line with
the short shaft D mounted at the one end of the underframing, and with the
similar short shaft D¹ mounted at the other end. The engine shaft C has at its
ends half clutches or couplings of any known kind which can engage with
corresponding half clutches or couplings provided at the inner ends of the shafts D, D¹,
so that when the car body is in one position as shewn in Fig. 3, the engine shaft
will drive the shaft D, and when the car body is swung half round the engine shaft
will engage with and drive the other shaft D¹. The shafts D, D', have cranks
which are linked to cranks on the axles E, E', of the driving wheels by connecting
rods according to the usual method of coupling pairs of driving wheels, or the
shafts D, D¹, may have on them pullies or toothed wheels driving the axles E, E¹,
by bands or gearing.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim in respect of locomotive cars for tramways or
light railways,
Providing at each end of the underframe a short shaft connected to the driving
axles, and so arranged in relation to the engine shaft that when the car body at
the end of which the engine shaft is mounted is turned half round on a central
pivot the engine shaft shall become coupled with either of the short shafts,
substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, have
hereunto set my band and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
F. E. B. BEAUMONT. (L.S.)