IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Alexander Maxwell, of No. Seven, Park
Avenue, Sandymount, in the County of Dublin, Ireland, Gentleman, for
the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS.”
Sealed the 3rd August 1866, and dated the 7th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Alexander Maxwell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th February 1866.
I, JOSEPH ALEXANDER MAXWELL, of No. Seven, Park Avenue, Sandymount,
in the County of Dublin, Ireland, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS," to be as
follows:-
My improvements relate to a tunnel or covered way of any dimension in
which rails are laid for the running of carriages impelled by a stationary
engine, and the Invention consists in the application thereto of a guide
carriage having a sail or piston filling the cross section of the tunnel or covered
way fixed to it, said sail or piston being under the control of the driver in
charge, and furnished with an air valve and brake. The carriage or train of:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Alexander Maxwell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ALEXANDER MAXWELL, of No. Seven, Park Avenue, Sandymount, in the
County of Dublin, Ireland, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her 'most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Alexander Maxwell, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Alexander Maxwell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Alexander Maxwell, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Alexander Maxwell, 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 per-
formed, 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 Joseph Alexander Maxwell, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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)':--
The propulsion of carriages for the conveyance of passengers and goods
traffic on railways is usually effected by locomotives, and has been so also in
some degree by the pneumatic system, that is to say, by the application of
tube throughout the railway in which the fore tube has been exhausted of ai

page_text: by a stationary engine and a piston thereby moved along, which piston being
in communication with a carriage propels the same. As well known trains.
are so propelled equally in the open atmosphere and through tunnels.
.
Now according to my Invention the carriages will always. travel in an
enclosed or covered passage or way; such passage or way may, of course, be
on the surface of the ground or in tunnels underneath or through it. I make
my covered way, whether of iron, brick, stone, wood, or other material, of any
convenient shape, such as round, square, or oval; in tunnelling it may be best.
constructed of brickwork and of oval or square form in cross section, but
above ground it may be made of wood, iron, or other material, square in cross.
section, as being a convenient form to build and to receive a carriage. I form.
the interior of this. covered way as smooth and uniform as possible, and I
provide glazed surfaces to admit light throughout the length; these glazed
portions may either be on each side or in the upper surface or roof, as it may
be termed, which will best admit light to the carriages, which may or may
not be roofed, and if lighted: from above partially glazed for that purpose.
Doors may also be attached or furnished to the tunnel or tube where deemed
necessary. The glazing in either case I so fit and apply as to present a surface
flush or level with the interior surface of the covered way or passage. This
covered way is to be furnished with rails and permanent way like an ordinary
railway on which the carriages. are to travel as on an ordinary, railway, but
within the covered way described one of the carriages of a train, that is to say,
the guide carriage is. provided with a surface consisting of a piston or sail
which as near as may be corresponds to the internal cross section of the covered
way without necessarily touching at any time during its transit through such
covered way. In order, however, to make this disc or piston fit as nearly air-
tight as possible in the covered way, I provide the circumference thereof with
a soft pliant or elastic material as may be sufficient to project therefrom a
brush-like surface of bristles or other material which might effect contact or
slightly rub along the inner surface of the covered way without absorbing
power or entailing any great wear of the surface; or leathers might be
similarly applied. In any case absolute air-tightness is not required, as any
slight passage of air would not affect the propulsion, as the degree of pressure
or vacuum used would be very slight. The disc or piston is further provided
with a large valve and a brake apparatus, the valve to allow the free passage
of air through the disc or piston, consequently preventing any pressure of air
or vacuum affecting it, while the brake facilitates the stoppage of the train
when necessary..

page_text: At intervals at distances apart suitable for stations or otherwise I dispose
and erect stationary engines, driven either by steam, air, water, electric,
magnetic, or other motive power, by which I give motion to suitable rotary
fans or pumps to be used as exhausting or compressing or blowing or with-
drawing air apparatus, with which to exhaust the covered passage constituting
my pneumatic railway; this exhaustion or pressure or withdrawal of air will
eause the external air to act on the disc or pistón before mentioned, and will
impel the carriage to which it is attached along the rails and in the covered
way before described, it may be by the pressure generated on one side of this
disc or piston by the partial vacuum or withdrawal in the covered way on the
other side of such piston, or it may be by partial vacuum on the one side in
addition to pressure in excess of that of the atmosphere on the other; and' such
as may be generated by a rotary fan, screw, or other free working apparatus,
pumps may of course be substituted for rotary fans, but I believe such to work
less economically for this purpose, being subject to considerable friction in their
action, as although capable of producing vacuum and pressure to greater
extent, such is not required; for propulsion according to my Invention the
great area of the piston renders slight pressure only necessary.
In order to stop the piston carriage and train it is only necessary to open
the valve in the disc or piston, which allows the pressure on each side thereof
to equalize itself when the carriage and train come to a standstill, to facilitate
this the brake may be used if necessary. To start the train again it is simply
necessary to close the valve in the piston, when the train proceeds on its
journey. It is of course evident that for a double line of rails a separate
covered way may be provided for each, one for the up and one for the down
line, as readily understood. The motive power being by a sliding or slipping
coupling rendered capable of acting in either or both cases or directions.
Each station is to be furnished with tooth and pinion screw or other gear
to act on the guide car or travelling piston when stopping, ascending, or
descending an incline, the turning tables and other railway appliances would
be under the impulse and control of the stationary engine, and capable of
being put instantly in or out of gear. The guide car or person in charge
thereof should be provided with telegraphic or other means of communication
to actuate a lever shutting off or putting on motive power.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the application
of a covered or enclosed way or passage provided with rails and carriages for

page_text: the conveyance of passengers or goods traffic, one or more carriages having a
piston disc or sail on which the pressure of air acts for the propulsion of the
carriages, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Alexander Maxwell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Signed in presence of
RICHARD SMITH,
HENRY H. CORLEY,
Probate Office,
Dublin.
JOSEPH A. MAXWELL. (L.B.)