IMPROVE- MENTS IN CARRIAGES FOR TRANSPORTING LOADS ON RAILWAYS, COMMON ROADS, AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CARRIAGES FOR TRANSPORTING LOADS ON RAILWAYS, COMMON ROADS,
AND OTHER SURFACES."-A communication from abroad by Nicolas de
Maklakoff, of 8, Rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris, France.
Sealed the 19th September 1862, and dated the 14th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th April 1862.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES FOR TRANSPORTING LOADS ON RAILWAYS, COMMON
ROADS, AND OTHER SURFACES," (communicated to me from abroad by Nicolas
de Maklakoff, of 8, Rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris, France,) to be as
follows:
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the transport of loads over
railways, common roads, and other surfaces, and it consists,-
First, in the employment of an elongated hollow drum with rounded edges,
which are made to serve as rails to guide the rollers, hereafter described.
Second, in the employment of a platform or truck for receiving the load,
which is fitted above or inside the hollow drum.

page_text: Third, in the employment of rollers, arranged in pairs or separately, and
held together by movable iron or steel links forming closed or endless chains
of movable rollers, which are free to rotate round the drum, and support it
and the load, all as hereafter described.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are views in side elevation, plan, and end view of a
carriage fitted with an endless chain of movable rollers for running on
common roads, uncultivated or rough ground. In this arrangement the
Invention is shown in its simplest form, not requiring external rails to run
upon; the carriage shown being intended to be substituted for carts and
ordinary carriages supported upon wheels and axles. The same. letters of
reference refer to like parts in Figures 1 to 5. A is a drum made of thick
planks of wood laid vertically on one another, having iron rods passing through
them secured by bolts; b is a space or aperture left inside the drum for
reducing the weight of the apparatus, and for containing articles required to be
carried. The ends of the drum A are made semicircular. Round the drum
and at each side thereof there is a flange or rail c, shod, if required, with iron,
and forming an internal rail for the endless chain of movable rollers d to
revolve against during their motion, and thus the rails c, c, act as supports and
guides for the said rollers. Each pair of rollers consists of two wooden
cylinders, hooped or not with iron, and having a fixed shaft e passing through
the axis of each. The two semicircular ends of the drum A have two beams
or supports B, B, passing through them, carrying four vertical uprights C, C,
secured at the sides by bars f, f, supporting at top a floor g, and carriage or
cart h. The shafts e, e, of each roller d pass through eyes in connecting links
i, where they are secured by screws or bolts. These links i, i, are made of
bars of thin iron, each extending from centre to centre of each drum, having
holes formed at each end to receive the ends of the shafts e, e. When these
links are all in proper position they each form a movable joint, and are
intended to preserve at equal distances apart the shafts e, e, as well as the
rollers d, d, in order to form round the circumference of the drum a closed
circuit capable of revolving, and which is herein-before designated as an endless
chain of movable rollers. The Invention is based on the employment of an
endless chain of rollers to constitute a new and complete system of rolling
stock. By the application of any motive power, whether it be horse or engine,
it receives a regular and continuous progressive motion. To complete the
description of this carriage for common roads in its simplest form, the rear end
of the drum A has an aperture formed in it, which receives a lever D free
to turn about a vertical pin l, to make as easy as possible the turning of the
carriage, care being taken that the action of the chain is not interfered with

page_text: The lever D is united to the bars
placed in the rear of the carriage,
by being driven against the pins or bolts.
J, J, connected by a cross bar m, which is
and acts as a swing bar for the pole or other draw gear. As soon as sufficient
power is applied to the pole so as to act in the front in a horizontal and lon-
gitudinal direction, the drum A, which sustains the whole of the load, will be
put in motion, and in its turn it will impart motion simultaneously to the
lower rollers which form a support for it, and themselves rest on the soil. From
the time this motion commences, the chain on account of the progressive
motion of the drum, becomes relaxed at the rear, and undergoes a tension in
front; the result of which is that the drum, and consequently the load it
sustains, will always advance by the continuous circulation of the endless chain
of rollers around the drum A. Three things will be noticed during the motion
of the apparatus:-First, as the apparatus proceeds those of the rollers which
press on the soil move in the contrary direction to that of the drum, that is,
from the front to the rear. Second, the whole of the chain advancing with
the rest of the apparatus in a common and progressive manner; the upper
rollers turn with a speed double that of the lower. Third, when the chain has
made a complete circumrotation, the drum with the load will have advanced
just twice the perimeter of the chain, and consequently would have moved in
comparison with the lower rollers, which act as supports, also at a doublo
speed. On the other hand, in carriages mounted in the ordinary manner upon
wheels and axles, there is a considerable resistance to be overcome in the
axle boxes, which increases in direct proportion with the pressure exercised
by the load. Now this resistance does not exist in this Invention, for there are
no axles, and the weight is laid on the circumference, and not on the centre ;
whereby the resistance offered by sliding is transformed into that of rolling.
The axes of the rollers are by no means axles, they do not receive the load,
and only act as a medium whereby the links and endless chain of rollers are
united, at the same time preserving the rotary motion thereof. The apparatus
does not require lubrication, the rollers can work on a very bad soil where
wheels would sink in, and at the same time greater loads can be carried with the
same amount of power than is the case in carriages constructed in the
ordinary manner. For the transport of heavy loads the centre of gravity is
lowered by placing the platform in the interior of the drum. The form,
dimension, and method of construction of such carriage may be varied,
provided the arrangement of the chains of endless rollers is preserved.
Figure 4 is a side elevation, and Figure 5 is a plan of a carriage intended
for the transport of all kinds of merchandize and baggage on railways. A is a
platform made firm with wood of any desired length and width in conformity

page_text: with the distance between the rails. This platform forms a base to the wood
columns C, C, C, which are placed at the corners and sides of the frame sup-
porting another platform g. The columns are strengthened by cross bars f,f
The space is the position the door of the carriage would occupy; each end of
the platform is continued.in a solid arc, which is cut semicircular with a radius
equal to half its height, so as to correspond with the corresponding end of the
upper frame or platform. Around the circumference of this frame a flange or
continuous rail cis fitted similar to the bed rails h, to act as a guide for the
chain of rollers d, d, which are made of wrought or cast iron. A com-
partment is made inside the apparatus for the reception of articles requiring
care during transit. The rollers d, d, are, as in the case preceding, arranged
in pairs by means of fixed axles e, e, and maintained at a certain distance apart
by links i, i, which are united in the form of an endless chain where lightness
is required; the cast-iron rollers d, d, may be made with felloes, naves, and
arms, each pair must be carefully turned, and have exactly the same radius
must be in relation to the
as all the others. The length of the axes e, e,
respective distance which the rails are apart. With this system of endless
chains of rollers, the roller is spread over a greater number of pairs of rollers
than in ordinary carriages, where there are only two or three pairs of wheels,
consequently each pair of wheels is subjected to a less weight than that of a
pair of wheels in any ordinarily constructed carriage. The platform A may
support a carriage on springs to receive passengers, but in this case each
carriage is supported by two endless chains of rollers, one of which must cor-
respond with the rear half of the carriage.
For going down inclines a mechanism shown at Figure 6 is added to the
endless chain of rollers. A is the rear end of the drum; d, d, are the rollers;
m, m, are racks, or toothed rods jointed, and free to move about the axes e, e;
o is a toothed wheel. These racks may be put in motion either by the power
of the horse through a cord n fixed to the pulley P, or by an attendant by
means of the lever r. In the first case it is necessary to have a stop wheel
with oblique teeth, and a spring capable of making the pulley re-ascend; and
in the second case a stop wheel only. Carriages constructed according to this
Invention are provided with breaks, and all other accessories required and
generally adopted in carriages constructed in the ordinary manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters, Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman 'in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,. the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence, that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES FOR TRANSPORTING LOADS
ON RAILWAYS, COMMON ROADS, AND OTHER SURFACES," (a communication from
abroad by Nicolas de Maklakoff, of 8, Rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris, France,):
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald.
Brooman, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the transport of loads over
railways, common roads, and other surfaces, and consists,―
First, in the employment of an elongated hollow drum with rounded edges,
which are made to serve as rails to guide the rollers hereafter described.
Second, in the employment of a platform or truck for receiving the load,
which is fitted above or inside the hollow drum..

page_text: Third, in the employment of rollers arranged in pairs or separately, and
held together by movable iron or steel links forming closed or endless chains
of movable rollers, which are free to rotate round the drum, and support it
and the load, all as hereafter described.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are views in side elevation, plan, and end view of a
carriage fitted with an endless chain of movable rollers for running on common
roads, uncultivated or rough ground. In this arrangement the Invention is
shewn in its simplest form, not requiring external rails to run upon, the
carriage shewn being intended to be substituted for carts and ordinary
carriages supported upon wheels and axles. The same letters of reference
refer to like parts in Figures 1 to 5. A is a drum, made of thick planks of
wood laid vertically on one another, having iron rods passing through them
secured by bolts; is a space or aperture left inside the drum for reducing
the weight of the apparatus, and for containing articles required to be carried.
The ends of the drum A are made semicircular. Round the drum, and at
each side thereof, there is a flange or rail c, shod if required with iron, and
forming an internal rail for the endless chain of movable rollers d to revolve
against during their motion, and thus the rails c, c, act as supports and guides
for the said rollers. Each pair of rollers consists of two wooden cylinders
hooped or not with iron, and having a fixed shaft e passing through the axis
of each. The two semicircular ends of the drum A have two beams or
supports B, B, passing through them, carrying four vertical uprights C, C,
secured at the sides by bars f, f, supporting at top a floor g and carriage or
cart h. The shafts e, e, of each roller pass through eyes in connecting
links i, i, where they are secured by screws or bolts. These links i, i, are
made of bars of thin iron, each extending from centre to centre of each drum,
having holes formed at each end to receive the ends of the shafts e, e. When
these links are all in proper position they each form a movable joint, and are
intended to preserve at equal distances apart the shafts e, e, as well as the
rollers d, d, in order to form round the circumference of the drum a closed
circuit, capable of revolving, and which is herein-before designated as an
endless chain of movable rollers. The Invention is based on the employment
of an endless chain of rollers to constitute a new and complete system of
rolling stock. By the application of my motive power, whether it be horse
or engine, it receives a regular and continuous progressive motion.
complete the description of this carriage for common roads in its simplest
form, the rear end of the drum A has an aperture 1 formed in it, which receives
a lever D, free to turn about a vertical pin l, to make as easy as possible the
turning of the carriage, care being taken that the action of the chain is not
To

page_text: interfered with by being driven against the pins or bolts. The lever D is
united to the bars J, J, connected by a cross bar m, which is placed in the
rear of the carriage, and acts as a swing bar for the pole or other draw gear.
As soon as sufficient power is applied to the pole so as to act in the front in a
horizontal and longitudinal direction, the drum A, which sustains the whole of
the load, will be put in motion, and in its turn it will impart motion simul-
taneously to the lower rollers, which form a support for it, and themselves
rest on the soil. From the time this motion commences the chain, on account
of the progressive motion of the drum, becomes relaxed at the rear, and
undergoes a tension in front, the result of which is that the drum, and con-
sequently the load it sustains, will always advance by the continuous
circulation of the endless chain of rollers around the drum A.
Three things will be noticed during the motion of the apparatus,-
First, as the apparatus proceeds those of the rollers which press on the soil
move in the contrary direction to that of the drum, that is, from the front to
the rear.
Second, the whole of the chain advancing with the rest of the apparatus in
a common and progressive manner, the upper rollers turn with a speed double
that of the lower.
Third, when the chain has made a complete circumrotation the drum, with
the load, will have advanced just twice the perimeter of the chain, and con-
sequently would have moved in comparison with the lower rollers, which act.
as supports also at a double speed.
On the other hand, in carriages mounted in the ordinary manner upon
wheels and axles there is a considerable resistance to be overcome in the
axle boxes, which increases in direct proportion with the pressure exercised
by the load; now this resistance does not exist in this Invention, for there are
no axles, and the weight is laid on the circumference and not on the centre,.
whereby the resistance offered by sliding is transformed into that of rolling.
The axes of the rollers are by no means axles: they do not receive the load,
and only act as a medium whereby the links and endless chain of rollers are
united, at the same time preserving the rotary motion thereof. The apparatus
does not require lubrication, the rollers can work on a very bad soil where
wheels would sink in and at the same time greater loads can be carried with
the same amount of power than is the case in carriages constructed in the
ordinary manner. For the transport of heavy loads the centre of gravity is
lowered by placing the platform in the interior of the drum. The form,
dimension, and method of construction of such carriage may be varied
provided the arrangement of the chains of endless rollers is preserved.

page_text: Figure 4 is a side elevation, and Figure 5 is a plan of a carriage intended
for the transport of all kinds of merchandise and baggage on railways. A is
a platform made firm with wood of any desired length and width in conformity
with the distance between the rails. This platform forms a base to the wood
columns C, C, C, which are placed at the corners and sides of the frame
supporting another platform g. The columns are strengthened by cross bars f,f.
The space b' is the position the door of the carriage would occupy. Each end
of the platform is continued in a solid arc, which is cut semicircular with a
radius equal to half its height, so as to correspond with the corresponding end
of the upper frame or platform. Around the circumference of this frame a
flange or continuous rail c is fitted, similar to the bed rails h, to act as a guide
for the chain of rollers d, d, which are made of wrought or cast iron. A com-
partment is made inside the apparatus for the reception of articles requiring
care during transit. The rollers d, d, are, as in the case preceding, arranged
in pairs by means of fixed axles e, e, and maintained at a certain distance
apart by links i, i, which are united in the form of an endless chain; where
lightness is required, the cast-iron rollers d, d, may be made with felloes, naves,
and arms; each pair must be carefully turned, and have exactly the same
radius as all the others. The length of the axes e, e, must be in relation to
the respective distance which the rails are apart. With this system of endless
chains of rollers the load is spread over a greater number of pairs of rollers
than in ordinary carriages where there are only two or three pairs of wheels,
consequently each pair of wheels is subjected to a less weight than that of a
pair of wheels in any ordinarily constructed carriage. The platform A may
support a carriage on springs to receive passengers, but in this case each
carriage is supported by two endless chains of rollers, one of which must
correspond with the rear half of the carriage.
For going down inclines a mechanism shewn at Figure 6 is added to the
endless chain of rollers. A is the rear end of the drum; d, d, are the rollers;
m, m, are racks or toothed rods, jointed and free to move about the axes e, e;
o is a toothed wheel. These racks may be put in motion either by the power
of the horse through a cord n fixed to the pulley p, or by an attendant, by means
of the lever 1: In the first case it is necessary to have a stop wheel with
oblique teeth, and a spring capable of making the pulley re-ascend, and in the
second case a stop wheel only.
Carriages constructed according to this Invention are provided with breaks
and all other accessories required and generally adopted in carriages con-
structed in the ordinary manner.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the precise arrangements herein-before described, or to the form or dimensions
of the various parts, or to the employment of single or double sets of endless
chains of rollers; but I claim as the "Improvements in Carriages for
Transporting Loads on Railways, Common Roads, and other Surfaces,"
First, the employment of an elongated hollow drum, with rounded ends, the
sides of which are made to serve as rails to guide the rollers, as herein-before
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the employment of a platform or truck for receiving the load, which
is fitted above or inside the hollow drum, as herein-before described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Third, the employment of rollers arranged in pairs or separately, and held
together by movable iron or steel links, forming closed or endless chains of
movable rollers, which are free to rotate round the drum, and support it and
the load, all as herein-before described, and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here.
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)