IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING MATERIALS FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ROAD CUTTING AND EMBANKMENTS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GODEFroy
CAVAIGNAC, of Tavistock Row, Covent Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixth day of December, in the second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Godefroy Cavaignac, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Godefroy Cavaignac, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Godefroy Cavaignac, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make; use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING MATERIALS FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES FROM ONE PLACE
TO ANOTHER, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ROAD CUTTING AND EMBANKMENTS,"
communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Godefroy Cavaignac,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as

page_text: in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Godefroy Cavaignac, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
It is well known.that to have water in any chosen place at a large distance,
where it cannot naturally arrive, it must be raised by mechanical means to a
certain height, and that it is brought thence to any required place by means
of tubes and of a facticious declivity, on the principle of its own gravitation.
Such is the origin and principle of the Invention. I, by a series of mechanical
arrangements hereafter described, first raise earth or whatever may be to be
transported, and then, by its own gravitation descending upon inclined planes,
it will pass to the place required. The first principle of action is to raise the
earth to the required height, and the second to deliver it at the required place, on
the sole principle of its own gravitation, in every case and every place without
exception. To transport the materials the author of this system has invented a
waggon of a peculiar construction, which shall be hereafter described. To
carry out this application of a well-known principle I have arranged a system
of machinery which can be easily transported from place to place, and which
is represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed, with the necessary descrip-
tion of the mode of working the same.
Figure 1, in Plan 1, represents a lateral and longitudinal elevation. Figure 2
is a plan. F is the place from whence the earth is first taken, and G the
place of delivery. The waggons containing the earth are carried up the
inclined plane I by means of an endless chain L, having attached to it a
series of catches or projectionals L', which take hold of similar projections
fixed to the waggon, and thus impel it forward. This chain is put in motion
by a small steam engine, or by any power.
When raised to the top of the
plane I it will descend along the line of transport H, whose declivity is of one
or one and a half per cent. by its own gravitation. I have also an ingenious
plan for raising the waggons up the inclined plane, which I will now
describe. Figure 17, Plan 2, represents a lateral elevation. It consists
of a lever a fixed upon an upright, with a sliding weight b, of a part of
rails c, joined to the line of transport by a hinge and attached to the lever
by a strong bolt. The loaded waggon d is placed at. the bottom of the rail c,
and the weight fis, by a mechanical arrangement, carried to the end of the

page_text: lever b, and by its weight it raises up to g the rail c and the waggon d, which
is carried along the rail; and when beyond the rail c it falls on the line of
transport, and the lever returns to its original position, in order to take
another waggon. These levers may be encreased to any number, according
to the quantity of work required to be done, but it complicates the system, so
that the mechanical inclined plane is. to be preferred, and I will continue to
describe it. The rails of the inclined plane I, Figures 3 and 4, Plan 1,
correspond with the rails of the railroad H. The waggons are raised up these
inclined. planes by the chain L, which is supported by two wheels R placed
the one at the lower end and the other at the upper end of the inclined
plane. The diameter of these wheels should be less than fifteen inches. On
the extremity of these wheels are projections, and which take into the rings
of the chain L; they are fixed upon the iron axis S; to the end of the lower
axis S is a wheel T, which may be driven to any power to set in motion the
endless chain L. This chain is kept in its proper position, that it is parallel
to the inclined mechanical plane, by means of small rollers V. These rollers
are shewn in Drawing No. 1, Figure 4. This inclined plane is moveable
altogether, and it is readily adjusted to the line of transport H by means
hereafter described, and also to the rail laid on the ground and on which the
loaded waggons are brought to the lower part of the inclined plane I to be
carried up by the means before described to the road H, and from thenco
to its destination. These chains L may be made of various forms and
materials. The one shewn in Drawing No. 1, Figure 4, represents a strong
band; but the plan I prefer, and which I have described, is composed of
pieces of flat iron cut in equal lengths and pierced with a hole at each end, six
inches distant from centre to centre (shewn in Figures 10 and 11, Sheet 2).
These pieces are jointed together by bolts (shewn at Figure 14), which give a
play of three inches, Figure 10, that is, the chain is three inches wide, and the
joined pieces of-flat iron are six inches long (Figures 10 and 11). They are
joined together in lengths of about five feet by pin bolts L", Figure 10; by
this construction there is no fear of the chain breaking when in operation.
The Figures 12 and 13 shew one of the projecting pieces L which is attached
to the chain L; they are fixed to the chain by the pin bolts L".
I place
one to every ten feet of chain, but this may be varied according to the
steepness of the plane. Figure 13 shews the piece E attached to the waggon,
and the projecting piece L as in operation. In Drawing No. 1, Figure 1
shews the mode of supporting the railroad. These supports are of a peculiar
construction; the parts are shewn in detail at Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5,
Drawing No. 2. Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2 a side elevation.

page_text: The upper cross piece A, Figure 1, is moveable; it can be raised or lowered
by means of two stirrups of wrought iron B, which sustain it, the other end of
which stirrup rests in the teeth of a rack C', placed on the top of the
upright C. It is upon this cross piece A that the rails A¹ are laid, as shewn
at Figures 1 and 2. They are held in this position by means of pieces fixed
with screws A² to the cross picce A. Figures 3 and 4 shews the form of this
cross piece with the two screwed pieces A². Figure 5 shews the stirrup B,
and the uprights are shewn placed upon A (shown in Figures 1 and 2). I
will only further remark upon this, that this system to be complete wants
uprights of different heights, varying from three to twenty-one feet. In
arranging these supports to the rails, they must be placed at certain distances
and certain heights, according to the inclinations required, and disposed so as
to receive the pieces of rails on which the materials are to be carried. These
pieces of rails which are fixed on the cross piece A may be made in lengths of
about eighteen or twenty feet, and joined together end by end, forming what-
ever length of line may be required. Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, shew these parts
separated and joined together. I would remark, that there are various modes
of joining the pieces of rails together. Figures 6 and 7 shew a mode of joining
them together by means of a piece of iron D fixed with bolts with the lining
of wood D'; and Figures 7 and 8 shew a mode of joining them together with
the piece of wood D¹ only; the reason of this difference will be explained
afterwards. These pieces of rails are jointed together by means of fire, while
I place them upon the upright, and the inclination is regulated by the cross
piece A, which may be raised or lowered as required. The rails of the
inclined mechanical plane I are jointed and fixed solidly together in the same
way to the top end of the transport ways H, Figure 3, Drawing No. 2. The
chain L which raises the wagons up the inclined plane I is put in motion by
a small steam engine of about two or three horses power, but any power may
be used.
I will now describe the waggon that I use, and which I consider a part of
my system. Figure 6, in Drawing No. 1, represents a front view, and
Figure 5 a side view. It differs from ordinary waggons in its mode of its
unloading. It has placed on its end a bent serrated piece of iron q, into
which works a small wheel D, having a handle attached to it, which, by being
worked, turns the waggon over when required and when the catch q¹ is
removed. One handle is sufficient for all the waggons. The mode of its
action is shewn by dotted lines at K', but you must first remove the catch P
to allow the front board P to move under the pression of the earth and
to let it fall when the waggon is unloaded. The front board P (by raising

page_text: The mode of working
three of these in the
the waggon) will fall back and be fixed by the hooks P¹.
this waggon is so simple that one man may attend to
time he would devote to one of the ordinary construction. The mode of
operation is as follows:-The empty waggon is placed at F to be filled by the
workmen; it is then brought to the lower part of the inclined plane I,
the projecting pieces of the chain coming in contact with the projecting pieces
of the waggon, and the chain being set in motion draws up the waggon to the
top of the rail H, or it may be raised some short distance higher to give
a rapid motion to its descent, which depends entirely on its own gravitation.
This is shewn at M, when it arrives at the place of delivery G, where it
is unloaded, as explained above. The empty waggon is returned by the
employment of the same system which is shewn in Figure 1. At N I establish
the side of the transport way, and, in an opposite direction, a returning way
N, with a mechanical inclined plane, as above, to raise the empty waggon
when the distance to run is above one thousand five hundred feet. The
application of this system, shewn in the Drawing, Figures 1 and 2, is without
a mechanical inclined plane, the elevation being sufficiently high to allow of
the waggons to be returned empty at a suitable declivity, as shewn at N, but this
part of the rail need not be made so strong as the other, it not being required
to bear so great a weight; and it is here that the rails (Figures 8 and 9,
Sheet 2) are used which are not joined together by the iron piece D. The
moving the waggons from one line to the other is performed by means of the
bent pieces O, shewn at Figure 2, but it may be done also by turn-outs or by
embranchment. Turn-outs are substituted to the bent pinion o when the
place, being small, will not allow to use them. These bent rails are shewn
at o. The place at which the goods are delivered may be changed, without
altering the rail H or N, by having a series of rails from six to eighteen feet
long which are added to the end of the rail H, and if it be required to change
the direction a bent rail is put down in place of a straight one.
The same
changes can be made to the end of the way by which the empty waggons
come back.
If in the course of the operation the transport way is brought to
a much greater length than it was in the beginning, the inclination must be
changed, and the mechanical inclined plane disposed to rise the waggon must
of course be changed also, so that it is necessary to have mechanical inclined
planes of different heights. This system is more particularly applicable to
transporting earth in excavations from one place to another, but it will be
found also applicable to the transporting other goods from one place to
another, such as a canal or a navigable river.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING No. 3.
Figures 1 and 2 represent the gallery where the waggons are filled up,
which is a part of the rails marked F, O, O, between the lower end of the
return rail N and the inclined plane I. On to this gallery are placed the
empty waggons after they have delivered their contents, and they are carried
into the return rail N by means of an endless chain A of a length of about
four feet, which may be turned by a handle or by a system of treadles shewn
at Figure 3, and which will be afterwards described. This chain acts upon
the waggon on the same principles as those before described up the inclined
plane I", and forces the waggon on to the rail B. This gallery being but slightly
inclined towards the point G, they would remain in a state of rest, but they
are driven on in the following manner:-The chain A having brought a
waggon into the gallery leaves it there, and in its revolution brings up another
which, coming in contact with the one previously brought up, pushes it forward,
and so on until the waggons are carried on to the point G.
The speed
at which they are carried forward will be found to be sufficient. The
waggons are filled in their passage along this line by the workman employed
for that purpose, and in the time they are passing along to the foot of the
inclined rail I they become filled with earth to be carried on as before. The
dotted lines F, G, shew the position that the workman would occupy.
Figure 2 shews a view of this gallery with nine waggons in operation; their
movement is shown by the arrows. The number of waggons employed
depends upon the length of the rail, but sufficient number should be used to
keep it at all times covered.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM OF PEDALS which I use to Raise the Waggons
in the Line.
This system which in itself is not an Invention of mine, but of Mr. Georger,
patented by him in France, enables a man to exert three times the force that
he could with a common winch handle. Figure 3 shews a view of their
operation. The workman places his left foot upon the pedal A and his right
foot upon the pedal A'; by holding to the framing B he is enabled to add the
whole weight of his body to the muscular force employed, and continually
depressing the one and the other increases the power. Attached to these
pedals is a toothed wheel, which is driven round to their action by means of a
catch D. On to the axis of this wheel may be attached another wheel to
transmit the power, as may be required. This system of pedals may be

page_text: employed for work made on a small scale. In raising the waggons from the
earth on the cross gallery at the point of delivery, two men will be found
sufficient to raise a waggon up an inclined plane of about six or eight feet long.
In witness whereof, I, the said Godefroy Cavaignac, have hereunto set
my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.