Improvements in Apparatus for Starting Tramcars and similar Vehicles.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 29th June, 1886.
Complete Left, 29th Mar., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 13th May, 1887.
RESERVE
I THOMAS CHARLTON Haddricks Mill near Newcastle on Tyne Agent do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The axle to be tapped at the end & fitted with a left hand screw there should be left
projecting 4 or 5 ins. long by 2 ins. diar. on this a key way would have to be cut. To
fit on to this there would be a lever with a ratchet inside of which a key is fixed
corresponding to the groove.
The lever to be so made as to leave say 1 inch on each side of the ratchet-the end
of the lever to be bored to 2+ ins. so as to be able to adjust it on to the end of the
projecting axle-to the lever is attached a pall so balanced that immediately it (the
lever) gets beyond the centre after starting the pall falls clear of the ratchet on the
lever being reversed (or put back) the pall at once falls into gear for the next start.
Dated this 28th day of June 1886.
THOMAS CHARLTON.
Improvements in Apparatus for Starting Tramcars and similar
Vehicles.
I, THOMAS CHARLTON of Haddricks Mill, Gosforth in the County of Northumberland
do hereby declare the nature of said invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Since filing my provisional specification I have found it desirable to modify the
mode of application of the various parts especially by fixing the ratchet upon the

page_text: body of the axle between the wheels instead of on the outer end as then proposed
and on the sheet of drawings herewith I have illustrated the manner in which I con-
sider my invention will best be practically applied to an ordinary tramcar without
interfering with the structural arrangements of the car.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the gear on one end of a car.
Fig. 2 is a plan of same.
Fig. 3 an end view of treadle stirrup.
A is the axle upon which the car wheels are secured the arrow indicating the
direction of revolution when the car is running forward. B is a ratchet wheel in two.
parts keyed upon the axle. CC are two pieces forming a frame each clipped and
working freely upon the axle A as a fulcrum. Between these at the forward end. the
starting lever D is secured by a pin the shorter end of lover being joined by a link E
to the opposite end of the two pieces CC; or the shorter end of lever D may be
continued as shewn by dotted lines so as to dispense with the link E. The "pawl" F
is carried between the two pieces C C and takes into the teoth of the ratchet B on
axle A and provision may be made by a spring catch for keeping it out of gear with
the ratchet when the car is required to run the opposite way.
The long end of the lever D extends forward under the foot board upon which the
driver stands and a connecting link G carries a stirrup piece H above the foot board
on to which the driver's foot is placed and his weight applied when the car is to be
started from rest the lever thus acting through the pieces CC on their fulcrums on
axle A to cause the "pawl" F to push round the ratchet wheel B and cause the car
wheels to move forward on the rails, a sufficient distance to take the dead weight of
starting the car off the horses The drawing shews the lever D in its normal position
before it is acted upon by the driver and it may be retained in this position by a light
spring in the case in which the stirrup piece H works the guido J preventing the
lever rising above a proper point.
Each end of the car will be fitted with the apparatus so that the driver can operate
it from either end and in either direction.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :
For the purpose of starting tram cars, or similar vehicles, from rest and thereby
relieving the horses from excessive strain, the application of a lever worked by the
driver having its fulcrum upon the axle and acting by a pawl upon the teeth of a
ratchet wheel keyed upon the axle to give a sufficient movement to the wheels to
overcome the inertia of the car substantially as described and shewn.
Dated the 28th day of March 1887.
THOMAS CHARLTON.
Per L. W.