IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR TIPPING AND UNLOADING RAILWAY WAGGONS AND OTHER VEHICLES.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cockburn Francis Lee, of 22, Great George
Street, in the City of Westminster, and County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND
IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR TIPPING AND UNLOADING RAILWAY
WAGGONS AND OTHER VEHICLES.'
"
Sealed the 10th November 1871, and dated the 8th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cockburn Francis
Lee at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th June 1871.
I, JOHN COOKBURN FRANCIS LEE, of 22, Great George Street, in the
City of Westminster, and County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF AND IN THE MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR "" TIPPING
UNLOADING RAILWAY WAGGONS AND OTHER VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
"
AND
This Invention relates to and has for its object improvements in the
present mode of "tipping" and unloading railway and other waggons

page_text: or vehicles by inclining or tipping them on one side instead of endways
as heretofore in use, and in the machinery or apparatus by which this
is attained, which I propose to effect by means of gravitation or hydraulic
power suitably disposed and arranged as hereafter described.
"
The waggon to be unloaded having been run on to the table of the
"tipping" apparatus as hereafter described and referred to and the
machinery being set in motion the table and waggon are made to lean
over or incline sideways to the proper angle at which the load will
slide or fall instead of the waggon being "tipped" endways as here-
tofore in use.
In performing this operation by means of gravitation, that is to say,
by fixing the centre of motion of the table in such a position in relation
to the longitudinal axis of the table that on releasing the locking
apparatus the loaded waggon will overcome the inertia of the machinery
and so cause the table to be inclined or "tipped" in the manner stated
and the load to be deposited in the place appointed to receive it, the
motion of the table being controlled either by a brake wheel and
curved racks and pinion or by other suitable mechanical means. The
return of the table and waggon to their normal position is effected by
means of counterbalance weights or by the gravity of water acting as
such, which bring the centre of gravity of the empty waggon and the
moving parts of the table below the centre of motion of the table. The
concussion of the table and waggon incurred when "tipped" or returning
to its normal position is received by four or any other suitable number
of buffers or springs, which may be made either of steel or india-rubber
or other material applicable thereto and arranged as may be found
advisable; these buffers are attached or fixed to the non-movable or
stationary frame or portion of the apparatus, and which frame or frames
may be made either of cast or wrought iron, or of both combined, but it
is preferred that the standards and bed plate shall be of cast iron, and
the table and hangers of wrought iron or any other suitable material.
Where the specific gravity of water is employed as a means for counter-
balancing the weight to effect the return of the table and waggon to their
former position it may be found necessary to vary the centre of motion to
suit the different circumstances of position, the hydraulic apparatus acting
at the same time as a brake to regulate the motion of the machinery.
The brake apparatus being placed either in a horizontal, vertical, or.
other position, the power is either transmitted to the table by means of

page_text: rackwork, consisting of the ordinary rack, wheel, and pinion, by direct
attachment or by other suitable well known mechanical means. In this
arrangement of "tipping" apparatus as herein described it will be
found necessary in practice to vary the centre of motion of the apparatus
to suit the different centres of gravity of the load for which the apparatus
may be designed or intended.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
•
filed by the said John Cockburn Francis Lee in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
COCKBURN FRANCIS LEE, of 22, Great George Street, in the City of
Westminster, and County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Cockburn Francis Lee, Her special
licence that I, the said John Cockburn Francis Lee, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Cockburn
Francis Lee, 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 METHOD OF AND IN THE MACHINERY AND APPARATUS
FOR TIPPING AND UNLOADING RAILWAY WAGGONS AND OTHER VEHICLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Cockburn Francis
Lee, 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 John Cockburn Francis Lee, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, and accompanying Sheets of
Drawings:-
This Invention relates to and has for its object improvements in the
present mode of tipping and unloading railway and other waggons or
vehicles by inclining or tipping them on one side instead of endways as
heretofore in use, and in the machinery or apparatus by which this is
attained, which I propose to effect by means of gravitation or of hydraulie
or other power suitably disposed and arranged as hereafter described.
The waggon to be unloaded having been run on to the table of
the tipping apparatus, as hereafter described and referred to, and the
machinery being set in motion the table and waggon are made to lean
over or incline sideways to the proper angle at which the load will slide
or fall, instead of the waggon being tipped endways as heretofore in use.
In performing this operation by means of gravitation, that is to say, by
fixing, the centre of motion of the table in such a position in relation
to the longitudinal axis of the table that on releasing the locking appa-
ratus the loaded waggon will overcome the inertia of the machinery, and
so cause the table to be inclined or tipped in the manner stated, and the
load to be deposited in the place appointed to receive it, the motion of
the table being controlled either by a brake wheel and curved racks and
pinion, or by other suitable mechanical means. The return of the table
and waggon to their normal position is effected by means of counter-
balance weights, or by the gravity of water acting as such, which bring
the centre of gravity of the empty waggon and the moving parts of the
table below the centre of motion of the table. The concussion of
the table and waggon incurred when tipped or returning to its normal
position is received by four or any suitable number of buffers or springs,
which may be made either of steel or india-rubber, or other material
applicable thereto, and arranged as may be found advisable. These
buffers are attached or fixed to the non-moveable or stationary frame
or portion of the apparatus, and which frame or frames may be made
either of cast or wrought iron, or of both combined; but it is preferred
that the standards and bed plate shall be of cast iron, and the table and
hangers of thought iron or any other suitable material. Where the
specific gravity of water is employed as a means for counterbalancing
the weight to effect the return of the table and waggon to their former
position it may be found necessary to vary the centre of motion to suit

page_text: the different circumstances of position, the hydraulic apparatus acting
at the same time as a brake to regulate the motion of the machinery.
The brake apparatus being placed either in a horizontal, vertical, or
other position, the power is either transmitted to the table by means of
rackwork, consisting of the ordinary rack, wheel, and pinion, by direct
attachment or by other suitable well-known mechanical means.
In this arrangement of "tipping" apparatus, as herein described, it
will be found necessary in practice to vary the centre of motion of the
apparatus to suit the different centres of gravity of the load for which
the apparatus may be designed or intended.
In the accompanying Drawings Sheets 1, 2, and 3 hereunto annexed
and in the following description having letters of reference thereto is
shewn the manner proposed for carrying this Invention into practical
effect, in which Figure 1 (Sheet 1) is an end elevation of the waggon
tipping apparatus for discharging the load and returning the table and
waggon to the normal position by the action of gravitation; Figure 2
(Sheet 1) is a side elevation of the same partly in section.
Figure 3 (Sheet 2) is an end elevation of an apparatus similar to
the foregoing but having a different arrangement of brake; Figure 4
(Sheet 2) is a side elevation of the same shewing the details of the
machine partly in section; Figure 5 (Sheet 2) is an end elevation of the
arrangement of the apparatus by which the table and waggon are tipped
to discharge the load by means of gravitation, but are returned to their
normal positions by the gravity, weight, or force of water or other
liquid acting through suitable machinery, which machinery also operates
as a brake for regulating the motion of the table; Figure 6 (Sheet 2) is
a side elevation of parts of the same apparatus.
Figure 7 (Sheet 3) is an end elevation of an apparatus similar to that
shewn by Figures 1 and 2 (Sheet 1), but exhibiting the positions of the
parts when tipped with a waggon in position on the table.
Figure 8 (Sheet 3) is an clevation of the apparatus constructed. to
tip or unload on both sides of a line of railway and provided with a
worm and wheel arrangement which acts as the motive power for
inclining the table, and also takes the place of the counterbalance
weights, and of positions of the brake gear as shewn in the previous
Figures referred to.
In each of the Figures herein referred to the following letters
have reference to like or corresponding parts in which A is the had

page_text: plate which supports the standards or frames of the table; B are
. the standards or frames to which the tipping or oscillating table is
suspended by means of axis pins around which it oscillates at its
centre of motion, the centre of gravity of the table and load being
thrown out of the vertical centre line of the table's centre of motion
more or less in proportion to the weight of the waggon and load to be
tipped; C is the tipping or oscillating table; D are its axis, pins, or
centres of motion; E are locking arms or levers to prevent the table
from being tipped while the waggon is being run on to or over the table;
E' are connecting rods which connect the locking levers E with the
.hand levers or handles E whereby they are actuated; E³ are the
fulcrum rods of E; E' are standards; F are the brakes and gear which
prevent the waggon and load from being tipped too suddenly; F¹ are
the surfaces against which the brakes operate; F are the hand levers
and rods by which the brakes are actuated; G are india-rubber or other
buffers for receiving the shock of the table and load when tipped; G¹
are the buffers for receiving the shock on the return of the table to
its normal position; H are the counterbalance weights for effecting
'the return of the table and waggon to their normal position by the
action of gravitation; H³, H³, are the levers and stays or rods which
carry the said weights; H³ (Figures 5 and 6) is the hydraulic cylinder
which takes the place of the weights H and other parts used in
previous arrangements; H' is the pipe which communicates with the
accumulator or water pressure main (Figures and 6, Sheet 2); H³
and H (Figure 8) denotes the worm arrangement for actuating the
table in the apparatus as constructed to tip on both sides; J are angle
iron safety rails for preventing the waggon from leaving the rails while
being tipped or inclined; K are the rails on which the waggons run;
Lis the waggon; M are screw couplings for holding the waggon on
the table.
.
In the arrangement shewn in Figures 1 and 2 (Sheet 1) and Figure 7
(Sheet 3) the motion of the apparatus both in discharging the load
and in the return of the table and waggon to their normal positions is
effected entirely by the action of gravitation. For this purpose the
centre of motion D of the table C is placed a little on one side of the
centre of gravity of the waggon and load, this causes the load to pre-
ponderate on the tipping side, which when the end of the locking arm
or lever E is moved from beneath the table by the handle E* will incline

page_text: the table O, and waggon L sideways, as shewn at Figure 7 (Sheet 3), to
the proper angle (which angle will vary with the kind of load) and
so discharge that load into the place prepared to receive it. The
motion and speed of the table O is regulated by means of the break
and gear F, F, otherwise in case of the load being heavy the table
might have a tendency to overrun and so cause injury to the waggon
and machinery. Any shock arising from the table C overrunning
when discharging the load or in returning to its normal position is
received by the india-rubber or other spring buffer G, two or more of
which are provided in each standard for that purpose. The return of
the table C to its normal position, as shewn at Figure 1 (Sheet 1), is
effected by the action of the counterbalance weights H (which are
attached to the table O by the levers H³ and stays H³) the centres
of gravity of the said weights H being so placed that when the load
is discharged their weight preponderates on the other side and so causes
the return motion of the table O.. Angle iron safety rails J and screw
couplings M provided and attached to the table C to prevent the waggon
leaving the rails or overturning on being tipped or discharged.
The tipping apparatus shewn in Figures 3 and 4 (Sheet 2) resembles
the foregoing, but has a different arrangement of brake gear F, F¹. This
consists, of two circular spur racks F, two spur pinions, a sharft, and`
the requisite levers and other parts, as indicated by the letter F.
In Figures 5 and 6 (Sheet 2) the action for discharging the load is
effected by gravitation, but the return of the table. O and waggon is
effected by the gravity, weight, or force of water or other liquid acting
through suitable machinery, which machinery also acts as a brake to
regulate the motion of the table O. In this machine the same arrange-
ment of parts is retained, excepting that the counterbalance weights H
and levers H¹ and part of the brake gear F are replaced by the hydraulic
cylinder H³ and spur rack H³, which takes the place of the counter-
balance weights in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, and of portions of the brake
gear F. This machine may be actuated both for unloading the waggon
and for returning the table by means of hydraulic gravity or pressure,
but it is preferred that the action of gravitation shall discharge the
load.
The apparatus represented in Figure 8 is arranged to tip or unload
on both sides of a line of railway and is actuated by a worm H³ and
wheel, which replace in this form of the machine the counterbalance

page_text: weights H and also portions of the brake gear F, acting at the same
time as the motive power for inclining the centre of gravity of the
load to either side of the centre of motion D of the table C, and thereby
causing the load to be discharged on either side of the machine. In
this arrangement of the machine the circular spur brake rack F¹ forms 5
the worm wheel, and the worm H³ replaces the spur pinions of the said
brake gear in previous arrangements, or hydraulic pressure as herein-
before described may be used.
In some cases the centre of motion may be placed at the edge or
near the edge of the moving table and lift the table, waggon, and load 1
by the other edge or from any other point preferred by means of
ordinary hydraulic pressure or power suitably arranged and disposed
or by other suitable means.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and illustrated
the same by the accompanying Sheets of Drawings I wish it to be 1
understood that what I clain is, substantially as herein described for
"improvements in the mode of tipping and unloading railway and other
waggons or vehicles by inclining or tipping them on a platform or table
on one or both sides instead of endways, or of tipping the body of the
waggon itself, and in the machinery or apparatus combined therewith 2
for effecting the same, either by means of gravitation or of hydraulic
or other power suitably disposed and arranged to suit the particular
object desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cockburn Francis Lee,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of 2
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-one.
Witness,
JOHN COCKBURN FRANCIS LEE. (L.s.)
HARRISON AYDON, C.E.,
22, Gt. George St.,
Westminster.