IMPROVEMENTS IN SUSPENSION RAIL OR ROADWAYS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Lancaster Banks, of Kennington, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SUSPENSION RAIL OR ROADWAYS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
Scaled the 15th September 1859, and dated the 22nd March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Lancaster Banks
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd March 1859.
I, DANIEL LANCASTER BANKS, of Kennington, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SUSPENSION RAIL OR ROADWAYS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon my system of suspen-
sion rail or roadways by which I am enabled more readily to perform
various mechanical operations, and at much less cost than can at present be
attained.
For the purpose of illustrating my improvements, I will describe the samo
as applied to the cultivation of land.
Firstly, the buttresses or supports, and the suspension chains, rods, or bars, or
other lines or modes of suspension, and the rail or roadways between them,
which are arranged in such a manner in connection with each other that the
whole of the surface between such buttresses and the suspended ways is
traversed by the implements in any required direction.
Secondly, the motive power may be given to the implements or machines
in this illustration either from the buttresses or supports or from the suspended

page_text: roadways by any convenient mechanism, and the same power that is applicable
to the traversing the buttresses and supports may also be applied to the culti-
vating machines or implements, any travelling or hauling apparatus actuated
by stationary or portable engines, or other motive power, may by means of
chains, ropes, or other flexible connection be readily applied to the purposes
of this Invention. The wheels of the implements to be used in carrying out
this Invention may be made with flanges or grooves, and the attendants
executing the operations of culture may travel on the implement.
Thirdly, the buttresses or supports may be arranged so as to traverse across
the ground in any convenient manner, and may be kept in position as regards
each other, and as regards the suspension lines, by chains, anchors, or other
suitable mechanical attachments.
Fourthly, the suspension rods, chains, or bars, or other modes of suspension
may be arranged in any convenient manner to effect the required end, either
straight, diagonal, or latticed.
Fifthly, I propose to cover the travelling machinery by means of roofs or
sheds, and the ironwork connected with these arrangements may be galvanized
for the purpose of protecting the same from tho injurious effects of the
atmosphere, and such house or shed may be lighted with gas or any other
convenient light when required, so that the work may be readily carried on by
night as well as day.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Daniel Lancaster Banks in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
LANCASTER BANKS, of No. 3, Kennington Row, Kennington Park, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
:. WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Hor heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Daniel Lancaster Banks, Her special licence that I, the said Daniel Lancaster
Banks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Daniel Lancaster Banks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make

page_text: use, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SUSPENSION RAIL OR ROADWAY, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Daniel Lancaster Banks, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands 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 Daniel Lancaster Banks, 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
following statement :-
My said Invention relates to certain improvements of the Inventions for
which I obtained Letters Patent, dated the 18th day of January 1859, No. 112,
for "A Method of Constructing a Travelling Suspension Rail or Roadway,
applicable, among others, as a Bridge and Lifting Agent," and also for
another Invention for which I likewise obtained Letters Patent, dated the
15th January 1859, No. 131, for "Improvements in the Method of Con-.
structing a Travelling Suspension Rail or Roadway, to be used for the
Cultivation of Land."
My said Invention consists in laying down at any desired distance apart two
or more rails or other manufactured ways, roads, or the sward. Upon these
ways I place across from way to way at any desired distance apart two
travelling suspension ways constructed in the manner described in my said
Patont, A.D. 1859, No. 131; again, upon these travelling suspension ways
I set frames on wheels or carriages which serve to act as buttresses, and
between these carriages or buttresses I construct a suspension rail or roadway,
also of similar construction, and by preference with certain modifications.
Upon the travelling or suspension railways I place carriages to which I attach
implements or machines to be used for the cultivation of the land.
The motive power may be given to the implements or machines either from
the buttresses or supports by means of a steam engine attached to one or both
of the buttresses or supports by means of ropes or chains and winding drums;
or the motive power may be given to the cultivating implements or machines
by means of a locomotive or a portable steam engine travelling on the suspension
ways, either by direct attachment thereto or by a chain or dragging apparatus;
or the motive power may be given to the cultivating implements or machines.

page_text: by means of a locomotive or portable or stationary steam engine, stationed or
travelling on the ground, fixed ways, or sward, by means of chains, ropes, or
winding drums, or other known power, and mechanical means may be used for
the like purpose. The wheels of the implements, carriages, or locomotive
engines, or other travelling apparatus may be made plain or with grooves or
flanges on their edges, and the attendant or attendants executing the operations
of culture may travel on a platform or on the implement.
The standards or buttresses are arranged so that they may traverse across
the ground simultaneously with each other, and are kept in position to
each other, or parallel, by chains or other mechanical means, which may travel
with them.
The several suspension roads or railways may be constructed of any of the
known systems employed in the construction of suspension bridges, or they
may be constructed on the bow string, diagonal, or lattice girder principle, as
I do not confine myself to any particular mode of construction, so long as they
are constructed upon the suspension principle.
I cover in the travelling machinery with roofs or sheds or enclosures, or
house them in so that the machinery and attendants are protected during
operation from the heat of the sun or inclemency of the weather, the said
sheds or enclosures I construct of wood or iron or other known material used:
for similar purposes.
The whole or part of the ironwork used in the construction of the several
suspension ways, sheds, housings, or other apparatus herein described I would
have galvanized.
When desirable I light the several ways, sheds, or apparatus with lamps, and
when gas is used I lay mains along the ways, roads, or swards beneath the
ground, and fix at convenient interval stop cocks, to which I attach flexible
hose or pipes to convey the gas to the several travelling sheds, implements, or
apparatus.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood I have hereunto
annexed a Sheet of Drawings, with figures and letters of reference, the same
letters indicating corresponding parts throughout the several Figures.
The following is a description of the several Figures and their method of
construction:-
Fig. 1 represents the side elevation of the lower travelling suspension S
railway C, the covered carriage Q, and sections of upper railway B, showing
the rail or roadway D, upper rail E, suspension chain rod or rope F, pendands
links G to carry roadway, adjusting chains H to supports or buttresses I, frame
or carriage K to carry the suspension chains, rods, or ropes; guide or bearing

page_text: wheel L to run in a chase below level of ground; rollers or pulleys M, M,
over which the suspension chain or rope runs; crab engine N to tighten the
same; suspending frame O to carry supports of lower rail or roadway C;
railway wheels running on rails P, P₁, of upper suspension railway B;
pendant links g to carry upper rail or roadway B, and adjusting chains h,
implement R.
Fig. 2 represents a plan of a portion of the whole system, showing the fixed
rail or roadway A, the lower suspension travelling railway B, and upper
suspension travelling way C.
Fig. 3 represents the end elevation of the suspension travelling railway C,
and the method of carrying or suspending the same to the upper railway B,
part of which is shown.
Fig. 4 represents the end elevation of the upper suspension railway B.
Fig. 5 represents a general plan of the whole system to a small scale. The
engine S is fixed in the ground buttress i, and gives motion to the drum t,
and winds up the endless rope u. This gives motion to the drum T, which
winds up the rope or chain u, to which the carriage Q and cultivating imple-
ment R is attached, and draws the same backwards and forwards as desired by
reversing the engine or gear.
The iron tie rods W show beneath the suspension railway have their
standards X made adjustable so as to shorten and lengthen them when
required by means of a box and screw joint ; the outside of the box is made
square or octagonal for facilitating the screwing or unscrewing of the same by
a "spanner." The several buttresses or supports to the travelling suspension
railway may be made so as to be lengthened or shortened as required by
passing the upper end of the standard through a hole in the rail, and thereby
is kept in its place.
Supporting wheels are sometimes used and placed in adjusting frames, to
assist in carrying the travelling suspension railway; they are placed at any
required intervals and are made to rise and fall in slides projecting from the
bottom of the roadway, and secured in their places by screw bolts and nuts, they
are also made to swivel.
When convenient turntables may be placed in the end of the travelling
suspension ways.
In order to support the hauling chains I have a series of rollers, the ends
of which rollers roll or run on the rails of the way. I take two chains, each.
as long as the suspension way into the chains at the desired distance. I have
eyes; these eyes acted on by the chain serve to haul the rollers under the
hauling chain as the implement or machine is hauled from one end of the

page_text: suspension way to the other. In order to support from falling to the ground
the slack of the chains in which the axes of the rollers run, I have attached to
the end of the hauled carriage or implement a platform, which as the carriage
in its return presses the rollers together, receives the chain.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I make no
claim to the several parts above described and referred to when taken
separately; but what I claim is,—
First, the general arrangement and combination of parts forming the
travelling suspension rail or roadway as herein set forth and described.
Second, the general arrangement and combination of parts for hauling or
dragging an operating implement or machine upon a travelling suspension
railway by a portable or locomotive steam engine as herein set forth and
described.
Third, the general arrangement and combination of parts for hauling or
dragging an operative implement or machine upon a travelling suspension
rail or roadways by an engine attached to the buttress as herein set forth and
described.
Fourth, the general arrangement and combination of parts for covering the
operative implements or machines with a roof or enclosure when travelling on
the suspension railway as herein set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Lancaster Banks, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
DANIEL LANCASTER BANKS. (L.S.) 2
HENRY LAXTON, Patent Agent,
19, Arundel Street, Strand.