IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING THE ADHESION OF THE WHEELS OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES TO RAILS WHEN MOIST."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frances Windhausen, of Duderstadt, in Hanover,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING THE ADHESION OF THE
WHEELS OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES TO RAILS WHEN MOIST."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frances Windhausen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th October 1857.
I, FRANCES WINDHAUSEN, of Duderstadt, in Hanover, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING THE ADHESION
OF THE WHEELS OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES TO RAILS WHEN MOIST," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in increasing the adhesion
of the wheels of locomotive engines to rails when moist, and consists in
drawing the heated products of combustion from the smoke box of the engine
and forcing them on to the rails, in order to dry them.
For this purpose the steam after it has acted on the piston of the engine,
instead of being allowed to escape direct into the chimney, is passed through a
pipe turning in bearings. On the end of this pipe there are curved lateral
pipes, through which the steam escapes into the chimney and causes the pipe

page_text: to rotate.
On the pipe below the lateral pipe there is a disc, which closes
the bottom of the chimney, and below this disc there is a fau or curved blades,
which work in a chamber opening into the smoke box of the engine. As the
pipe rotates the fan or curved blades draw the heated products of combustion
from the smoke box and force them down through pipes on each side of the
engine on to the rails. In these pipes there are valves, by which the passage
through them can be close, and at the bottom of the chimney there is a
valve to permit the products of combustion from the smoke box to pass off
through the chimney when the passage through the pipes leading down to the
rails is closed by the valves.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frances Windhausen in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, COME, I, FRANCES
WINDHAUSEN, of Duderstadt, in Hanover, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her inost Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Frances Windhausen, Her special licence that I, the said
Frances Windhausen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as 1, the said Frances Windhausen, 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 INCREASING THE ADHESION OF THE WHEELS OF
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES TO RAILS WHEN MOIST," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Frances Windhausen, 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 Frances Windhausen, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: is shewn
caused to rotate by the steam escaping through the branch pipes e¹, the blades
g draw the heated products of combustion from the smoke box through the
opening i, and force them down through the pipes ¹¹, on to the rails. In
the pipes, j, there are valves k, l,by which the passage through them may
be closed when it is not desired to force theheated products of combustion on
to the rails. And in order to let the heated products of combustion escape
into the chimney when the valves are closed, the bottom of the chimney is
made moveable, so that it may be lifted off from the disc j. In order to
ensure that the bottom of the chimney shall be lifted off from the discj when
the valves k are closed, the two valves are connected together by connecting
rods and levers, so as to be acted on by the same handle.
purpose
The arrangement of levers and connecting rods for this
clearly at Figure3, which is an outside side view of the chimney and front part
of a locomotive. Lis the moveable part of the interior of the chimney, which
is connected by a rod m on each side of the chimney to one arm of the bell-
crank levers n, the other arm of each of the bell-crank levers is connected by
a rod o to one arm of another bell-crank lever p; the centres of the bell-
crank levers p are attached to a rod which passes from one side of the engine
to the other; the other arms of the levers pare each attached to a rod q, on
one end of which there is a handle, the other end being attached to an arm r
connected to the centre, on which the valves k in the pipe j' turn. By this
means, by pushing either of the handles on the rods 9, the moveable part of
the chimney may be lifted off from the discj and the valves & closed, or by
pulling either of the handles on the rods q the valves / may be opened, and
the moveable part of the chimney lowered on to the disc j.
In order to prevent the axis d rotating too quickly and in consequence
drawing the air too quickly from the smoke box, the upper part of the pipe e
is closed by a valve, which, when the axis d is not rotating, closes the end of
the pipe entirely, but when the axis d rotates too quickly, the valve opens by
means of centrifugal force, and allows the steam to escape without turning
the axis d. This valve is shown at Figure 4, which is a section taken
through the dotted line C, D, Figure 1. This valve consists of a ring s,
which turns on the top of the pipe e, in which ring there are holes t, the
passage through which is closed when the axis d isnot rotating by projections
on the interior of the pipe e. To the rings are attached rods u, u, by means
of hinge joints, the other ends of the rods u being hinged to one end of the
rods, the other ends of the rods u being attached to the pipe e. By this
means, when the axis d rotates quickly, the centrifugal force of the rods u
causes the rings to turn and allow the steam to escape through the holes t;

page_text: and in order to regulate at what speed the axis d shall turn without the
valve opening, there is a spring v, which has a tendency to keep the rings in
such a position that the passage through the holes t is closed by the pro-
jections on the pipe e, the force of which spring may be varied.
Figures 5 and 6 shew an arrangement of apparatus for oiling the bearing
of the lower end of the axis d when the pipes b, b, instead of being connected
together, as shewn at Fig. 1, are connected together below the end of the
axis d. w is the oil cup, from which there is a pipe w!, the part of which
goes through the smoke box, being enclosed in a pipe w¹¹, the end of which is
open in order to prevent the pipe w¹ getting too heated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frances Windhausen, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of February,in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
5 Witness,
E. HEINSON HUCH,
of Brunsvic.
FRANCES WINDHAUSEN. (L.S.)