AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND ARRANGEMENT OF ENGINE FOR TOWING OR HAULING BARGES AND OTHER VESSELS, WHICH ARRANGEMENT OF ENGINE IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER TRACTIVE PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left, by Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1866. A communication from abroad by Urbain
...André. Chauveau and Henri Marie Joseph le Nepoon de Carfort, both
of Paris, France.
. I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF AND ARRANGEMENT OF ENGINE FOR TOWING OR HAULING BARGES AND OTHER
VESSELS, WHICH ARRANGEMENT OF ENGINE IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER TRACTIVE
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is the employment of steam locomotives
upon the towing-paths of rivers and canals without any rails for the loco-
motive to run upon.
The Invention comprises for this purpose a system of mechanical towing or
hauling by steam or other motive agent for effecting the towing of barges or
other vessels.
One arrangement of apparatus for carrying this Invention into effect is as
follows:-The apparatus consists of a steam generator, from which the steam
issues by a pipe furnished with a cock, which conducts it to the driving
cylinders; these cylinders are four in number, are coupled in pairs, and form
two driving apparatuses distinct from and independent of each other; they
impart rotary motion to two cranked shafts, each of which carries a small

page_text: chain wheel; a chain passes round each of these chain wheels and round a
larger chain wheel attached to each of two bearing wheels, which are
sufficiently wide to produce perfect adherence and a point of support without
damaging the path; these two wheels thus become the driving wheels of the
apparatus, and they are independent of each other. By means of two hand
levers, which are arranged so as to change the rotary motion of the apparatuses
forward and backward; one wheel can be made to travel forward and the
other backward, and vice versa, or the motion of one of them can be stopped,
slackened, or increased, while the other continues its regular movement; the
apparatus can thus be turned in all directions at the will of the attendant.
The back frame carrying the generator is supported by two bearing wheels of
the same width as the driving wheels, and it finds its other point of support
on a pivot situated in front of the furnace of the generator and near the driving
apparatuses; this pivot is placed behind the axis of the driving wheels in order
to render the motion less sudden when a change of direction is effected, or
the pivot may be placed on the axis of the driving wheels. When it is placed
behind the driving wheels it is necessary to employ a small wheel pivoted to a
bracket behind the driving wheels and following their movement, so that the
Equilibrium of the apparatus may be maintained. The towing ropes or chains
may be attached to any convenient part of the locomotive. This engine,
although chiefly intended for towing barges or other vessels, may also be
employed upon ordinary roads, and for tractive purposes generally. Some-
times to diminish the length of the locomotive, and bring all the weight upon
the driving wheels, the generator may be fitted upon the same frame as the
cylinders. Instead of four cylinders two may be employed, or any other
convenient arrangement adopted, and instead of steam any other motive agent
may be used.