IMPROVED MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR HEATING OR WARMING RAILWAY CARRIAGES, VANS, AND OTHER ROLLING STOCK
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Tomkins at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
February 1871.
I, EDWARD TOMKINS, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR HEATING OR WARMING RAILWAY
CARRIAGES, VANS, AND OTHER ROLLING STOCK," to be as follows:-
For heating pipes, foot warmers, or other receptacles I use steam
which has passed through the cylinders of the locomotive engine, or
pass the exhaust steam into a tank or vessel containing water, so as to
condense or partly condense the steam, and then using the heated water
for the purpose of heating or warming; or I shut off either of the fore-
going arrangements and use steam from the boiler of the engine for
the same purpose, this latter arrangement being adapted for operation
when the engine is at rest, as at a station waiting for the time to start..
When exhaust steam only is used it may be collected immediately after
its exit from one or both of the exhaust ports of the locomotive engine-
or it may be collected from the blast pipe, and then conveyed by pipes

page_text: having suitable couplings to the foot warmers or receptacles in the
several compartments of the carriages which make up the train, there
being valves for regulating the quantity of steam as required. If hot
water and steam be used, that is, if the exhaust steam is condensed or
partly condensed by passing the steam into cold water, as in use on
the Metropolitan Railway, this water and any steam that may be mixed
with it is led by pipes having suitable couplings and valves to the foot
warmers or receptacles in the several compartments of the carriages.
By using steam direct from the boiler of the enginé, for instance, when
the engine is waiting at a station, it is only necessary to shut of either
of the modes before described and open the valve communicating with
the boiler and the pipes of the heating apparatus, and allow a quantity
of steam to pass through the foot warmers and receptacles in the
carriages before the train starts, but when the train is started this com-
munication with the boiler is cut off and the temperature kept up to
any required extent by the passage of the exhaust steam or heated
water.
For heating foot or other warmers I employ in the compartment of
the carriage a series of metal pipes placed either transversely or longitu-
dinally, the pipes being enclosed in perforated metal cases or chambers.
One pipe of each series communicates by means of a vertical pipe to a
horizontal one extending nearly the length of the carriage below the
framework, and at each end of this pipe there is a hollow joint and tap
communicating with an elbow pipe, which can be turned from one side
of the carriage to the other, as required, the horizontal pipe being in
the centre. On the ends of each elbow pipe there is a hollow swivel
joint carrying a pipe, which by means of the swivel can vibrate up and
down, and it is the ends of these pipes that are coupled together when
the carriages are coupled by their ordinary couplings, and as the pipes
can vibrate up and down they are suited to all the positions of the
carriages with respect to each other. I modify this arrangement by
attaching to the ends of the central horizontal pipe swivel pipes, which
can vibrate to and fro horizontally, these pipes being jointed to the
coupling pipes, and by the vibration of these swivel pipes the carriages
can be at different distances from each other without breaking the
joints.
In another arrangement I employ elbow pipes at the ends of the

page_text: barrels or cylinders, in which are placed pipes which can be coupled
together by a coupling box of india-rubber, leather, or other suitable
material in connection with ordinary union joints, and when the pipes
are coupled together the coupling box yields according to the curves of
the rails, and the barrels or cylinders enable the carriages to be nearer
or farther apart, there being stuffing boxes to keep the parts tight. I
also employ coupling pipes made of india-rubber, leather, or fabrics
made steam proof, there being at the ends of the pipes ordinary union
joints, and the pipes when coupled yield to the varying positions of the
carriages.