IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CARRIAGES FOR COMMON ROAD LOCOMOTION
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd May 1870. —A communication from abroad by Jean Baptiste
Gabriel Marie Fréderic Piret, Civil Engineer, of 13, Boulevart
St. Martin, Paris.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CARRIAGES FOR COMMON ROAD
LOCOMOTION," to be as follows :-
This Invention of improvements in steam carriages for common road
locomotion relates to the arrangement and combination of the various
parts and to the means employed for starting or stopping the vehicle.
The improvements are readily adaptable to common road vehicles
generally.
This improved steam carriage is illustrated in longitudinal section
in Figure 1, Sheet 1; in transverse section taking through the axis of
the driving wheels in Figure 2, Sheet 2; and also in transverse section
taken through the centre of the carriage and shewing the steam
cylinders in Figure 3, Sheet 2. The steam carriage is provided with two

page_text: steam cylinders A, A, disposed horizontally in the same plane with the
axis of the driving wheels B and firmly secured to two horizontal frames
C, carried at the one end on the rear axle, and at the other on the fore
carriage. The frames C also support the piston guides D and cross
bar E, on which are mounted the slides F, rods G, and levers H of the
reversing gear.
The motion of the pistons is transmitted by the aid of
connecting rods I, I, to the discs J, J, mounted on a shaft turning|
in bearings K, K, which shaft also carries the excentrics communicating
motion to the slide valves. The rotary motion is transmitted from discs
J, J, by means of crank pins L, L, to cones M, M, mounted loosely
one on each of the axles of wheels B, which cones are received or fit
in other hollow cones N, N, keyed on the axles, but capable of sliding
thereon, so that by the aid of coiled springs O contained within said
axles the cones N will be caused to rotate with the discs J while
immediately the cones M and N are released from their frictional
contact on compressing the one or other spring O by the aid of levers
and screws P, Q, the motion of one or both wheels B, B, will be at once
arrested although the driving mechanism continues in motion. If it
is desired to stop suddenly on disconnecting the wheels B, the springs
O should be still further compressed so as to cause the cones N to bear
against a curved brake surface R, fixed to the cross bar E, before referred
to. On either side of the cylinders A are placed the water tanks S
which extend beneath the cones towards the rear for ensuring as large
a water supply as possible, a space being left between the cylinders
for the feed pumps which are thus placed as near as possible to the
point of supply. The boiler, which is of rectangular form and provided
with small vertical tubes, may be heated by petroleum, coke, charcoal,
coal, or other agent, and is placed in front of the vehicle directly on the
fore carriage. The steam for supplying the cylinders is taken from the
steam dome and passes thence to the bottom of the furnace where it
is superheated, and so to the cylinders through a pipe T communicating
with a rectangular casing T placed below the apparatus, also receiving
the exhaust steam. The carriage is driven and steered in a ready and easy
manner, for which purpose the driver is placed at the front and facing
the boiler so that he may have under his observation and control at
once both the pressure guage, feed water level, and furnace, and can
readily turn on, regulate, or cut off the steam supply, a small hand
wheel placed in close proximity to the driver communicates by means
of gearing with an endless screw engaging with a crown wheel serving

page_text: to steer the fore carriage with facility and without great exertion on the
part of the driver. There are also 3 hand levers, 2 of which U, U, are
connected with the friction cones before described as being used for
stopping, starting, or controlling the speed, without interfering with the
motion of the apparatus. The third lever ✗ is used to operate the
reversing gear.