WHEEL WITH ENDLESS RAILS
Year: 1886

page_text: I, WILLIAM FENDER of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic, Merchant do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for a "WHEEL WITH ENDLESS RAILS" and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and'
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
The object of the invention described hereafter and shown on the accompanying
drawings is to produce a wheel with endless rails by which the chain of rails
will be forced to be laid down in front of the wheel and raised at the rear
exactly in the same ratio as the wheel itself advances on the chain of rails, which
Burround it.
In the accompanying drawing N° 1
Fig. 1 shows a side view of the wheel.
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
""
13
vertical section
"
"
horizontal
"
"
"
Fig. 4 shows details of the link guiding the arms of the rails.
In the drawing No 2 a modified construction of the "
with endless rails" is carried out and shown..
Figure 5 shows a side view of this wheel..
"
over wheel or "wheel
"
6 shows a vertical section of this form of construction.
"
7 shows a horizontal section of the same.
"
8 shows part of the chain used with this wheel in detail.
I may however observe that this sort of chain may also be employed with
the construction of wheel shown by the figures 1-3 of drawing N° 1, the links
of the endless chain of rails requiring only to be connected to the arms L shown
by fig. 1.
Both arrangements are based on the use of two rings or discs placed outside
of the rim of the travelling wheel which prevent the chain touching the latter
& guiding it as desired.
The chain of rails consists of properly shaped short pieces of steel or iron-the
transverse rails-which are fixed to a band of steel or phosphor bronce, flat or
round wire ropes by any convenient means. Outside of the said band another
series of transverse rails is fixed to it in a similar manner, but these rails are in

page_text: such a position in respect of the inner rails that the middle of an outer rail
corresponds always with the ends of two adjacent inner rails and vice versa as
shown by the drawing.
The inner rails are grooved lengthways so that the endless band is embedded
in the grooves and no strain or pressure from the load on the wheel bears on
the band or rope. The latter serves merely to form the endless connection of
the rails.
With the boss of the wheel which is of ordinary design & turns loose round the
axle I connect armcrosses B, B¹ one outside and the other inside of the wheel.
Outside of each armcross respectively are keyed fast on the axle the eccentrics C, C¹
and attached to the latter, forming one piece with them are the guide cams D D¹.
Round the eccentrics C, C¹ are put the rings or discs E E¹ turning round the
eccentrics.
The latter are so fixed to the axle that the eccentricity stands upwards and thus
the discs E E¹ are always kept off the ground when they turn round. The object
of this is to prevent the discs, as said, to touch the ground so that they never
have to carry the load on the wheel and on the other side the discs so placed shall
prevent the chain of rails to be laid on the wheel at the upper side.
The turning of the discs E E¹ with the wheel is caused by their being coupled to
the arm crosses B B¹.
The latter are therefore provided with the slots F through which the bolts H
pass freely, whereas they are screwed fast to the discs as shown by the figures
1, 2 & 3.
The slots F allow for the radial motion of the bolts. The discs are also provided
with the links I which turn round the bolts N (see detailed figure 4) The links I
serve as radial guides for the arms L of the rails. These arms are connected to
every alternate inner transverse rail by hinge joints. At the inner end of the
arms L are fixed the guide rollers M, which, when they are in motion, roll on
the guide cams D D¹.
It will now be understood from fig. 1 that the force of gravity of the endless
rail chain tends to press the arms towards the centre of the wheel and consequently
the guide rolls M will not separate themselves from the guide cams D, D¹ exept at
the two positions of the arms marked X in fig. 1 because the links I can be turned,
especially so the rear arm where the chain is raised. To prevent this separation
of the guide rolls from the guide cams or rather to prevent that the links turn too
much there are fixed to the discs E, E¹ the thumbs K which limit the amount of
the declination of the arms of the rails from the radial direction.
The position of the thumbs K, the form of the guide cams D, D' and the length of
the arms of the rails L are so proportioned that the chain of rails is forced to take
always such a position in front and at the back of the wheel, that each single
transverse rail is placed down in front or raised at the back to be always in the
right position whether the motion of the wheel be advancing or going backwards,
to lay itself flat to the ground without any direct pressure from the wheel itself.
By. the arrangement of the transverse rails as described above the load on the
wheel will always be transferred to at least three single rails.
Drawing N° 2.
In giving now a description of the modified construction of the over wheel or
wheel with endless rails shown by fig. 5-8 we observe that here the chain is also
guided by two rings which force it to be laid down in front of the wheel in the
desired manner & prevent its being raised otherwise than so as not to hinder the
wheel in its rotary forward motion.
' In order that this object is obtained freely the chain is of somewhat different
construction from the chain shown by figure 1.
As will be seen from fig. 5 & 8 this chain consists of single links "a" which are
joint to each other by a double link joint b consisting of an eye and a pin
-passing through the same. The ends of the chain links are rounded alternately
Lone concave & the other convex in the corresponding circle. This is done to allow

page_text: the chain a lateral movement when turning round corners, as is indicated by dotted
lines in fig. 8.
The rings c have also an eccentric position in regard to the travelling wheel d,
but they are not fast and do not turn round an eccentric on the axis of the
wheel; they take that eccentric position by being larger in diameter than the
travelling wheel & by being forced to keep their relative position in respect to d
by guard plates ee which are bolted to the rim of the wheel & which hold the
rings between them and the rim as shown by fig. 6.-Therefore when the wheel
revolves and moves forwards or back wards the rings are taken along with it & they
roll forwards or backwards at the same ratio as the wheel itself on the rail.
Figure 6 now shows that if the endless chain of rails is laid round the wheel &
the rings so that they rest on the rails on the ground whereas the chain of rails
itself is carried by the rings on the top, the wheel together with the rings being
moved one way or the other will always roll on the rails and the rings will raise
the latter at the back and depose it in front.
This manner of carrying out my idea of an
" over wheel is simpler in con-
struction than the one shown by drawing N° 1 fig. 1-4, but it has the drawback,
that it does not allow such a long rail surface on the ground, i.e. never more than
one length of rail link to take up the load.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
The arrangement of a wheel with endless rails which I call "over wheel" & by
which the endless rail is carried round the travelling wheel in such a manner that
it is always forced to be raised at the back side and placed down at the front side
of the wheel in a definite manner by the aid of separate guide rings placed inside
and outside of the rim of the wheel & which object is obtained by
I. Using in combination with a chain of rails of double links (fig. 1) held
together by a band of saw steel, wire rope etc in such a manner that always two
upper plates meet at the centre line of the lower plates & vice versa, a pair of
guide rings placed on an eccentric on the axle & which are carried round with
the wheel by pins fastened to the wheel itself or to a separate arm cross, and also
a pair of guide cams keyed fast to the axle for the guidance of arms L of the chain
of rails (fig. 1-4).
II. By using in combination with a chain of rails of single links (fig. 8) held
together by a link joint allowing lateral angular movement for each link of rail
a pair of guide rings of larger diameter than the wheel placed at the sides of the
rim of the wheel and held in place by guard plates & bolts e and turning round
with the wheel, but indepently of it as it moves on.
The whole as described & specified.