IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Armand Jean Baptiste Louis Marcescheau, Civil
Engineer, of Paris, France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES."-(Partly a communication from Charles Baron de
Berchtold, of Vienna.)
Sealed the 8th August 1854, and dated the 11th February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Armand Jean Baptiste
Louis Marcescheau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 11th February 1854.
I, ARMAND JEAN BAPTISTE LOUIS MARCESCHEAU, Civil Engineer, of Paris,
France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," which Invention is partly a communication from
Charles Baron de Berchtold, of Vienna, to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of certain mechanical arrangements, by which the
tractive force of a locomotive is increased, and is applicable also to ordinary
railway carriages. Fig. 1 on the accompanying Drawings represents an
elevation of a locomotive, with my improvements applied thereto; Fig. 2
is a vertical section through the line x, y; and Fig. 3, a plan of the same.
A, A', are two auxiliary wheels, which I term ground wheels; these are so
arranged that they may be caused to roll upon the ground and sustain a
portion of the weight of the locomotive, or they may be lifted up, so as not to
interfere with the action of the driving wheels B, B'. The ground wheels are

page_text: fixed to an axle E, the journals of which are lubricated by the boxes a, a¹, u, u';
the boxes a, a¹, are attached to the connecting rods b, b', and are supported by
the rods c, c¹, which terminate in the rod d, hinged at e to the framing f. The
axle E passes through the plates F; in each of these plates a slot is made, in
which the axle E travels, and motion is given to the axle E by means of the
handle k, which works the screw j in gear with the pin i, to which is secured
a chain, fixed to the bar d. When the handle k is turned in one direction it
lifts the bar d and axle E, carrying the wheels A, A'; the reverse motion of the
screw causes the wheels to descend and roll upon the ground within the rails,
or a level path may be prepared for them. The ground wheels A, A¹, are con-
nected to the driving wheels B, B', by the rods z, z', and being of the same
diameter as the driving wheels, make a like number of revolutions. The
requisite degree of pressure is produced upon these wheels as follows:―s, s¹,
are two connecting rods attached to the crutch pieces t, t¹, which rest on the
axle boxes u, u'; the upper ends of the rods s, s¹, are jointed to the rods r, 1³¹,
and these again to the levers q, q', which are secured to the piston rod of the
cylinder o, which is supplied with steam from the steam chest m by the pipe n.
p is the valve indicator by which the steam is turned on or shut off; the
upward pressure of the steam upon the piston will force the connecting rods
downwards, exerting a corresponding pressure on the axle of the wheels A, A¹.
To remove this pressure, the steam in the cylinder is let off by turning the
cock of the pipe v; the descent of the levers 9, q¹, attached to the piston rod
raises the rods s, s¹. By these means the tractive power of a locomotive may
be increased, to enable it to drive a greater load or lessen the difficulty of
ascending inclines. If desired, a portion of the weight of the tender may be
brought to bear on the wheels A, A¹, either in addition to that of the loco-
motive or in place of it; this may be effected by prolonging the bar d, so as
to reach beneath the tender, and having a similar or equivalent mechanical
arrangement fitted to it, as before described, for the purpose of elevating and
depressing the wheels. The same principle may also be applied to ordinary
railway carriages, in which case it would be requisite to apply a cylinder
similar to o to each carriage so fitted. The details of my Invention may be
greatly varied, and I reserve a right to modify the same; the foregoing is
substantially a description of what I wish to protect.