IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF RAILWAYS AND IN THE WHEELS FOR RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John James Turner, of 19, Salisbury Street,
Strand, London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF RAILWAYS AND IN THE WHEELS FOR
RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK."
Sealed the 15th January 1875, and dated the 3rd November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John James Turner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition,
on the 3rd November 1874.
I, JOHN JAMES TURNER, of 19, Salisbury Street, Strand, London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF RAILWAYS AND IN THE
WHEELS FOR RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK," to be as follows:-
The rails or running surfaces of railways and tramways upon which
the engines and carriages or the cars are to run are intended to be either
of iron or of wood and capable of being reversed, so that the used and
worn surface or edge can be replaced by the unused or unworn surface
or edge from time to time as required.

page_text: For outside driving wheels the central boss for receiving the inner ends
of the "end-grain-on" pieces forming the body of the wheel may have
a boss cast upon it, in which the driving pin is secured, though in most
cases the crank may be fitted on the outer end of the axle in the ordinary
way, or the axle may be cranked.
The driving wheels are fitted in every case with india-rubber ties held
between the corrugated or grooved surfaces of the rings or plates of the
wheel, so as to retain the ring of vulcanized india-rubber (or other
equivalent elastic material) forming the tire and bearing surface firmly
and securely to its work.
These elastic rings are formed of a convex cross section on their
periphery, so that when the load is rolling over the rail or bearing surface
the compression takes place thoroughly within the side plates of the
wheel.
•
Where wheels wholly of iron are employed, whether of dished plate
iron section or of other form, the india-rubber or elastic ring forming the
bearing surface is similarly held and secured from slipping by radial or
circular grooves or channels, and the outer plate or ring of each wheel
is bolted and secured to the inner ring whether it is a flanched or
projecting ring or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent;
filed by the said John James Turner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JAMES TURNER, of 19, Salisbury Street, Strand, London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Third day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John James Turner, Her
special licence that I, the said John James Turner, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John

page_text: James Turner, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF RAILWAYS
AND IN THE WHEELS FOR RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John James Turner, my
exccutors 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John James Turner, 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:-
The rails or running surfaces of ralways and tramways upon which
the engines and carriages or cars are to run arc intended to be either of
iron or of wood, and in most cases (if not in every case) capable of being
reserved, so that the used and worn surface or edge can be replaced by
the unused or unworn surface or edge from time to time as required.
"
For agricultural lines of railway or tramways I employ longitudinal'
timbers of suitable section and character according to the strength
required to resist the weight and wear and tear, and these I frame
together (to guage) by means of iron stretchers or shouldered or collared
tie-bars, or shouldered timbers or connecting pieces interposed between.
the inner faces of the two longitudinals, or in some cases partly between
and partly under them, and from which the latter may by unbolting or
unscrewing be detached and reversed.
Where iron rails or bearing surfaces are necessary or desired I mount
them on the upper face of these longitudinals and employ channel iron
or iron rolled of section Л within which I fit by compression a
longitudinal strip of timber suitably prepared, and I then bolt or screw a
the rail down by its flanches. Transverse sleepers or bearers may be;

page_text: These elastic rings may be formed of a convex cross section on their
periphery, so that when the load is rolling over the rail or bearing
surface the compression takes place thoroughly within the side plates of
the wheel.
Where wheels wholly of iron are employed, whether of dished plate
iron section or of other form, the india-rubber or elastic ring forming the
bearing surface is similarly held and secured from slipping by radial or
circular grooves or channels, and the outer plate or ring of each wheel is
bolted and secured to the inner ring, whether it is a flanched or projecting
ring or otherwise.
In cases where it may be necessary to adapt the above-described forms
of wheels to existing lines of railway laid with iron rails I apply or add
a wooden rail on the outside of the rails, such, for instance, as the bridgo
rail, and the driving wheels of the engine should have an extended
breadth of tire surrounded by an elastic ring secured and fitted to
them to work on the wooden rail, and thus secure increased adhesion.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings I have shewn several modifi-
cations in the mode or method of combining together the parts of and
constructing cheap railways and tramways, more particularly suitable for
agricultural purposes and for use in countries where the construction of
chcap railways is of primary importance.
I have shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 several modifications in
the mode of combining the materials together securely so as to form
timber tracks or lines of wooden permanent way which shall be inex-
pensive to makec, easily combined together or formed and laid, and which
readily admit of their parts being replaced and portions of the road
relaid.
Figures 1 to 6 inclusive show arrangements of materials for a heavy
road.
Figure 1 is a plan view of a road constructed with longitudinal timbers
of a depth exceeding the cross-tics sufficient to allow of the clearance of
the wheel flanches, the latter being secured to the combined longitudinal
sleepers and rails or "tracks" by means of bolts and nuts in manner
shewn, the nuts being let into or morticed into the cross or transverse
pieces, which from distance pieces and stretchers for keeping the tracks
in guage. Figure 2 shows the arrangement and disposition of the parts
of Figure 1.

page_text: Figures 13 to 18 inclusive show the rails held together and to guage
by means of stretcher bars or stays, having collars thereon, with various
slight modifications in the mode of securing the parts together.
In the Figures 19 to 21 inclusive thin rolled channel iron rails are
combined together, as therein shewn, flanch to flanch, or with the inter-
position of a slab or plate as in Figure 19, or with two plates as in
Figure 20, for increasing the width of the bearing surface or (as in
Figure 21) where the one rail is rolled with the broad flanch and the
other is rolled with a narrow flanch and bolted together, and the two
rails thus formed are held together (to guage) by means of stretcher bars
or stays having forked ends or jaws and a pin or cotter passing there-
through. In Figures 20 and 21 wheels with convex section india-rubber
ties are shown.
In Fig. 22 a thin-rolled channel iron rail of similar (or somewhat
similar) section to those shown in Figures 19 to 21 is shewn as mounted
upon longitudinal timber and bolted thereto, and a longitudinal strip of
timber is inserted (under compression) within the rolled rail, so as to
increase the bearing surface of the rail upon the longitudinal sleeper and
assimilate the nature or character of the larger proportion of the bearing
surface to that of the longitudinal sleeper.
'
Figure 23 is similar to Figure 22 so far as the rail and the longitudinal
sleeper are concerned, but I have there shewn an addition of a hard wood
rail, fitted outside the iron rail so as to enable increased frictional surface
to be obtained for enabling inclines to be ascended with greater facility;
and I have also shewn a portion of a wheel having the additional breadth
of tire, which may be of india (vulcanized) rubber or of other perma--
nently elastic material.
In Figures 24 to 29 inclusive I have shewn views of my improved
wheels, in which the wooden bodies are constructed of radial pieces of wedge
shape, the fibres of which pieces are disposed radially, and the several
parts or portions thereof are held and secured together by iron side plates
or rings connected with the boss, and arranged and combined together in
manner shewn by means of grooves turned in the wooden body, as shewn
more particularly in Figures 24, 25, 26, and 28, into which circular
groove a projection on the outside ring or the boss piece or plate takes
into and so binds the whole together with the aid of bolts and nuts.
:

page_text: section of such rail), together with the use of india-rubber tired driving
wheels, for the purpose and in the manner set forth.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-five..