A METHOD OF APPLYING LOCOMOTIVE POWER TO THE WORKING OF INCLINES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Ball Mannix, of Westminster, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A METHOD OF APPLYING LOCOMOTIVE
POWER TO THE WORKING OF INCLINES "A communication
Sealed the 12th December 1856, and dated the 16th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Ball Mannix at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th June 1856.
I, JAMES BALL MANNIX, of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A METHOD OF APPLYING
LOCOMOTIVE POWER TO THE WORKING OF INCLINES," to be as follows (that is to
say) :-
My Invention, which has for its object the working of trains up or down
inclines, through the intervention of suitable mechanism in connection with the
locomotive engine (or otherwise) worked by steam or any other motive power,
consists in causing a rope or chain to be secured on each side of the rails or
metals (through the medium of tightening screws and fixed piers at each end
of the incline of the permanent way), in such manner as to pass round and
impinge tightly upon the peripheries of the driving wheels or duplicate wheels,

page_text: attached to the driving shaft for that purpose, the slipping or imperfect adhe-
sion of the wheels upon the rails, as at present, being thereby prevented by
the circumferential friction of the ropes or chains upon the peripheries of tho
said wheels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Ball Mannix in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BALL MANNIX, of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Ball Mannix, Her special licence that I, the said James Ball Mannix,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Ball Mannix, 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 "A METHOD OF APPLYING
LOCOMOTIVE POWER TO THE WORKING OF INCLINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Ball Mannix, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 James Ball Mannix, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement, and the Drawings therein referred to (that is to say) :-
My Invention, which has for its object the working of trains up or down
inclines, through the intervention of suitable mechanism in connection with the
locomotive engine (or otherwise), worked by steam or any other motive power,
consists in causing a rope or chain to be secured on each side of the rails or
metals (through the medium of tightening screws and fixed piers at each end

page_text: of the incline of the permanent way), in such manner as to pass round and
impinge tightly upon the peripheries of the driving wheels or duplicate wheels,
attached to the driving sbaft for that purpose, the slipping or imperfect
adhesion of the wheels upon the rails, as at present, being thereby pre-
vented by the circumferential friction of the ropes or chains upon the peripheries
of the said wheels.
:.
But in order that this my said Invention may be more fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I now proceed to describe it by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters and figures thereon
marked (that is to say):-
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of an engine and tender, showing the
application of my improved method of working inclines; Fig. 2, a top or plan
view of the incline, with the engine and tender removed; Fig. 3, an enlarged
front elevation of the driving and duplicate wheels, separately shown; Fig. 4,
a side elevation of the same, showing the bight of the chain upon the duplicate
wheel; and Fig. 5 a corresponding view, with the flanges and part of the chain
removed. In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar cor-
responding parts.
A, A, gradient or incline; B, B, engine and tender; C, C, running wheels;
D, D, driving wheels; E, E, cranked axle to driving wheels; F, F, duplicate
wheels firmly keyed to the said cranked axle or driving shaft; G, G, chains
extending from end to end of the incline on each side of the line; G', G', bight
of the chain round the grooved peripheries of the duplicate wheels on both
sides of the engine; II, II, piles ог piers, to which the ends of the chains are
attached or otherwise made fast.
In conclusion to the foregoing description, I would here briefly remark, that
in place of the chains as aforesaid, ropes of any suitable construction may be
substituted with similar advantages, and made fast, or otherwise, to the fixed
piers or buttresses at each end of the incline or gradient in like manner to the
chains as above mentioned; and I would further note, that, in order to obtain
the necessary uniformity in the tension or bight of the chains or ropes, and
succesful working of the inclines, I cause any suitable reacting mechanism, such
as springs or weights, to be inserted between the ends of the chains or ropes
and the fixed piers or buttresses, in such manner as to insure the necessary
grip of the chains or ropes on the peripheries of the duplicate wheels while
working, or to facilitate their removal when required.
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would have it clearly understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein before set forth and

page_text: described, as the same might be varied without departing from the general
principle of this my said Invention; but that which I do claim as new and of
my said Invention is, the employment of duplicate wheels, and chains or ropes
in connection with fixed piers or buttresses and reacting mechanism, in the
manner and for the purposes herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Ball Mannix, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JAMES B. MANNIX. (L.S.)
F. R. DARKIN CAMPBELL,
Clerk to Mess" Weatherdon & Co.
77, Chancery Lane.