IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING RAILWAYS, AND PROPELLING CARRIAGES THEREON
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Webster Rammell, of Trafalgar Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING RAILWAYS, AND PROPELLING CARRIAGES
THEREON."
Sealed the 17th March 1857, and dated the 20th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Webster Rammell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th September 1856.
I, THOMAS WEBSTER RAMMELL, of Trafalgar Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING RAILWAYS, AND PROPELLING CARRIAGES THEREON,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing railways and
propelling carriages thereon, and the improvements are directed to the con-
struction and working of railways in such manner that they may with great
convenience and advantage pass into and through cities and towns, and
relieve the streets thereof from the effects of crowded traffic. For these
purposes the railway in each case is to be constructed on and supported by
pillars or columns (by preference of iron) at such a height that the carriages
thereon may be above the heads of persons walking on the ordinary foot

page_text: pavements. Each line of rails is made endless. The pillars which carry the
lines of railways, by preference, are to be fixed ucar and follow the lines of the
kerb stones of the footways, each line of railway being carried by a single line
of columns or pillars. At uniform distances along the lines of railways there
are to be stations, which will in most cases conveniently be the present houses,
arranged for passengers to enter from the foot pavements, and to ascend
suitable stairs and pass out at the first floor on to a platform. The object of
having the stations at uniform distances apart is that the carriages or trains of
carriages may never come nearer together on the same line than the distance
between two stations, and that all the carriages or trains of carriages on the
line of railway may each start from its station and stop at the next station at
the same time.
The means of traction or propulsion preferred is the atmospheric, but so
arranged that the traction pipes or tubes may be carried by the columns or
pillars of the railway, and be divided into sections corresponding in length
with the distance between the stations, so that a carriage or a train of carriages
having arrived at a station, it cannot proceed on to the next till the succeeding
section of the traction pipe or tube is again rendered vacuous. The several
sections of the traction tubes or pipes are in connection with one or more
pipes below, which are in connection with the pumping engines. By these
arrangements the several carriages or trains of carriages on a line of railway
will start and come to rest at the same time, and will constantly move onwards
from station to station, and by so doing will proceed completely around the
endless line of railway. In some cases the endless line of railway will be
arranged to pass up from the two most distant places on one side of a line of
streets and down on the other side of the same streets, there being at the two
most distant places curved continuations of the two lines of the railway. In
other cases the two endless lines, of which a line of railway is composed, will
in passing between the two most distant places go along one line of streets,
say, from north to south, and by other lines of streets in proceeding from south
to north; and whilst the carriages or trains of carriages on the inner line of
railway will be going in the opposite direction to those on the outer line of
railway passing through the same line of streets, and as the only stoppage will
be at stations, there will be a constant progress in both directions between the
two most distant places, interrupted only by the time allowed for the stoppages
at the stations, by which means a very extensive passenger traffic may be
carried on in streets at comparatively high speeds. And these lines of endless
railways may be arranged to pass from point to point on all the main lines of

page_text: passenger traffic to and through cities and towns. Electric telegraphs are to
be combined with the stations, in order that the starting of all the carriages or
train of carriages may be simultaneous.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Webster Rammell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WEBSTER RAMMELL, of Trafalgar Square, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Webster Rammell, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Webster Rammell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, 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 CONSTRUCTING RAILWAYS, AND PROPELLING CARRIAGES
THEREON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Webster Rammell, 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 Thomas Webster Rammell, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing railways and
propelling carriages thereon, and the improvements are directed to the con-
struction and working of railways in such manner that they may with great

page_text: convenience and advantage pass into and through cities and towns, and relieve
the streets thereof from the effects of crowded traffic. For these purposes the
railway in each case is to be constructed on and supported by pillars or
columns (by preference of iron) at such a height that the carriages thereon
may be above the heads of persons walking on the ordinary foot pavements.
Each line of rails is made endless. The pillars which carry the lines of
railways, by preference, are to be fixed near and follow the lines of the kerb
stones of the footways, each line of railway being carried by a single line of
columns or pillars. At uniform distances along the lines of railways there are
to be stations, which will in most cases conveniently be the present houses,
arranged for passengers to enter from the foot pavements and to ascend
suitable stairs and pass out at the first floor on to a platform. The object of
having the stations at uniform distances apart is that the carriages or trains of
carriages may never come nearer together on the same line than the distance
between two stations, and that all the carriages or trains of carriages on the
line of railway may each start from its station and stop at the next station at
the same time.
The means of traction or propulsion preferred is the atmospheric, but so
arranged that the traction pipes or tubes may be carried by the columns or
pillars of the railway, and be divided into sections corresponding in length with
the distance between the stations, so that a carriage or a train of carriages
having arrived at a station, it cannot proceed on to the next till the succeeding
section of the traction pipe or tube is again rendered vacuous. The several
sections of the traction tubes or pipes are in connection with one or more
pipes below, which are in connection with the pumping engines. By these
arrangements the several carriages or trains of carriages on a line of railway
will start and come to rest at the same time, and will constantly move onwards
from station to station, and by so doing will proceed completely around the
endless line of railway. In some cases the endless line of railway will be
arranged to pass up from the two most distant places on one side of a line of
streets and done on the other side of the same streets, there being at the two
most distant places curved continuations of the two lines of the railway. In
other cases the two endless lines, of which a line of railway is composed, will
in passing between the two most distant places go along one line of streets,
say, from north to south, and by other lines of streets in proceeding from south
to north ; and whilst the carriages or trains of carriages on the inner line of
railway will be going in the opposite direction to those on the outer line of
railway passing through the same line of streets, and as the only stoppage will

page_text: be at stations, there will be a constant progress in both directions between the
two most distant places, interrupted only by the time allowed for the stoppages
at the stations, by which means a very extensive passenger traffic may be
carried on in streets at comparatively high speeds. And these lines of endless
railways may be arranged to pass from point to point on all the maine lines of
passenger traffic to and through cities and towns. Electric telegraphs are to
be combined with the stations, in order that the starting of all the carriages or
trains of carriages may be simultaneous.
Having thus stated that nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of part of a line of railway constructed
according to my Invention, shewing part of the traction tube and one of the
columns in section; Figure 2 shows a plan of the same parts which are shewn
in Figure 1, by which it will be seen that the traction tube is fixed between
the two rails of the line of railway; Figure 3 shews a transverse section of a
line of railway at a station; Figure 4 shews a longitudinal section of the parts
at a station; and Figure 5 shews a plan, partly in section, of the same parts as
are shewn in Figures 3 and 4. By these Figures it will be seen that there is
a valve at the upper part of the column, by which the connection between the
traction pipe and the vacuum pipe is shut previous to the arrival of a train at
a station, and by which the connection is again opened after a train has passed
in order to again exhaust the traction pipes for the next coming train. By
these arrangements two trains of carriages cannot at any time be in the same
section of the railway, and consequently one train cannot overtake another.
The railway is in its whole length carried on columns or uprights above the
footways and carriageways of roads and streets, so as to admit of the ordinary
traffic being carried on below the railway.
Figure 6 shews a transverse section of the upper part of one of the columns
at a station; Figure 7 shews a section of the upper part of one of the columns
between stations. The Drawings show in detail the manner in which it is
preferred to construct and to put the several parts together; but these details
may be varied, and in place of using cast iron columns in all cases, brick or
stone columns or supports may be employed, using suitable pipes of connection
between the traction pipes and the vacuum pipes. The construction and
working of atmospheric railways as heretofore resorted to being well under-
stood, it will not be necessary to enter into a particular description thereof in

page_text: this my Specification beyond what is necessary to explain the means of con-
structing a continuous or endless atmospheric railway carried above the foot
and carriage ways of ordinary roads and streets, in such manner that the
endless atmospheric railway may be divided into sections of similar lengths,
and in such manner that there may be one carriage or one train of carriages
constantly to each section or length, whatever be the number of sections into
which the whole line of railway is divided.
Figure 8 shows a plan of a line of atmospheric railway supposed to be
running through a straight line of roads or streets, the trains of carriages
passing from A to B on one side of the road and the train of carriages passing
from B to A on the opposite side of the way, by reason of the two lines of rails
at A and B respectively being connected by curves. I would remark that,
although the two lines of rails are in the Drawing shewn to be straight, they
may be arranged in a succession of streets or roads which depart considerably
from the straight line, and, where desired, an endless line of atmospheric
railway may be so constructed so as to pass from A to B along one line of
streets or roads and from B to A through another line of roads or streets.
The plan shewn by Figure 8 supposes the distance between A and B to be
three miles, which is divided into sixteen stations.
Figure 9 shows a portion of a plan of a line of railway on a larger scale
than that shewn in Figure 8, wherein it is supposed that two trains of
carriages are stopping at opposite stations, and that they are travelling in the
direction of the arrows on the respective lines of railway. In these several
Figures the same letters of reference are used to indicate the same parts.
a is the pumping station, which is connected to the vacuum pipe b, b, by
suitable branch pipes, and I prefer to have vacuous chambers c, c, at each of
the stations, in order that the extent of vacuous space presented to the traction
pipes d may be considerable, and may admit of the engines at the pumping
station being required to be kept constantly at work, and that the pumps may
work at as uniform a pressure as may be. 61, 6, are the branch pipes which
connect the vacuum pipe 6 with the columns at the stations. e is a valve at
the upper part of a column at a station, by which the connection between the
vacuum pipe 6 and the traction pipes d are shut off previously to the arrival of
a train of carriages at the station, and the piston of the coming train passes
through the end f of the section of the traction pipe, where there is a valve,
which at other times is closed, and such piston passes into the open end g
the next section of traction pipe, and is there ready when the valve e at the
other end of that section is opened to proceed to the next station. It may be
of

page_text: here remarked that, to insure regularity at all the stations in respect to the
opening of the valves e, an electric telegraph is to be combined with the
railway. The stations are arranged with platforms, supported by brackets or
by pillars, and such platforms project over the footways; and it is preferred
that such platforms should be arranged and fixed level with the first floors of
the houses on the sides of the streets or roads through which the line of railway
passes. From the above description it will be understood that all the trains of
the several sections with which an endless line of atmospheric railway is
divided will all start at the same time, and it will be understood that the time
of stopping will only require to be of short duration.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the parts separately, but what I claim is, the mode herein described of
combining the parts of an atmospheric railway, whereby the same is made
continuous or endless, is divided into sections of similar lengths, is connected
with a vacuum pipe below whilst the traction pipes and rails are elevated
above the ordinary foot and carriage ways, and whereby a carriage or a train of
carriages may be started simultaneously from one end of each section of the
railway, as herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
E. BARKER.
T. W. RAMMELL. (L.S.)