IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING OR ENDLESS OR PORTABLE RAILWAYS AND IN WHEELS TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jonathan Aldous Mays at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd October 1883.
JONATHAN ALDOUS MAYS, of George Street, Euston Square in the County of
Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING OR ENDLESS OR PORTABLE RAILWAYS
AND IN WHEELS TO BE USED THEREWITH."
This invention relates to that class of Railways known as revolving, endless,
travelling or self acting railways or tramways; that is to say to apparatus so
contrived and applied to the wheels of vehicles as that the revolving or rolling
action of the wheel causes an automatic revolving and articulating action of the
various parts upon and with the wheels and upon each other and effects a
continuous and successive laying down and taking up of the various parts of the
apparatus in front of and at the rear of the wheels, the apparatus as a whole
forming a jointed articulating and continuous railway upon which the wheel
travels.
An ordinary railway or permanent way generally consists of broad pieces of
timber called "sleepers" or "ties" which are laid upon the ground and afford the
primary support to the railway. Upon these sleepers are usually fixed other
supporting pieces called "chairs" and upon these chairs are laid or fixed the
"rails." forming the railway.
In like manner my revolving railway may be said to consist of sleepers, chairs,
and rails but instead of being permanently fixed to each other, as in the case of a
permanent way, these several parts are jointed together in such a manner as to
form an endless chain around the periphery of the wheel, and allow of the
articulation of the several parts upon each other.
My invention also consists in improvements in the construction of wheels to be
used with the above mentioned revolving railway and in various details which tend
to improve the efficiency and working of revolving railways.
In carrying out my Invention I form the sleepers of a rectangular or other
suitably shaped plate upon the upper surface of which are placed vertical lugs or
standards to receive a bolt or pin and afford support to the chair.
The "chair" is formed of a piece of metal somewhat in the shape of an inverted
isosceles triangle and upon the top or edge of the inverted base lugs or standards
.

page_text: are formed having faces set at right angles to the line of the top; these lugs are for
the purpose of receiving bolts or pins for connecting the chair to the rails.
The chair is provided with a bolt hole at a point near the middle of the inverted
base, and it is connected to the sleeper by means of a bolt or pin passing through
the vertical lugs or standards on the sleeper and through the chair itself in such a
way as to permit of a rocking or oscillating movement of the chair upon the sleeper
the axis of such movement being in the line of the motion of the vehicle.
The rails are formed with interlocking ends and with lugs depending from their
undersides at each end in such a way as to take into the lugs formed upon the
chairs, and the rails are connected to the chairs by means of bolts or pins the axes
of which are at right angles to and as nearly as possible upon the same plane as
that of the axes of the chairs upon the sleepers.
A series of preferably eight rails, chairs and sleepers being connected together in
this way so as to hinge and articulate upon each other, they form an endless
chain around the periphery of the wheel and the making of the connections of the
rails to the chairs and of the chairs to the sleepers at right angles to each other forms
a universal joint which permits of the sleeper canting or tilting to a plane at any
convenient angle within 60 degrees to the horizon, so that it may readily adapt
itself to the level of the surface of the ground upon which it happens to be laid for
the moment. By means of this universal jointing, this canting or tilting of the
sleeper is effected without disturbing in any way the lateral level of the rails to
which the sleepers and chairs give support, and without risk of fracture of any of
the parts.
In addition to the universal joint or axes above described I prefer that the
chairs shall have a lateral swinging or riding motion upon the sleepers, so that
when lateral pressure is applied to the rails as when the vehicle is being steered or
guided out of a straight line of motion the chairs may respond to such pressure and
ride or swing to one side or the other without disturbing the sleepers. This I
effect by interposing a sling or strap between the pillars or lugs upon the sleeper
and attaching the chair to the strap or link by a bolt or pin passing through the
lower part of the same and through the apex of the chair. The chair is thus
supported at its inverted apex and by means of the sling or strap connecting it to
the sleeper it has a swinging or riding movement at right angles to the line of
motion of the wheel.
In order to keep the swinging chair normally in a position about midway
between the extremities of its lateral or swinging movement I interpose a spring or
springs which prevent. the chair from moving upon the sling or strap, except in
response to lateral pressure applied to the rails.
I prefer to form the several parts of my revolving railway of malleable cast iron
and the shapes and outlines of the several parts are to be adapted to the require-
ments of the vehicle to which they are to be attached and to the nature of the
country in, or the conditions under which, the vehicle is to be used.
The rails may either be formed of a U or trough-shaped section, so that the
wheels of the vehicle will run within the same, or the wheels themselves may be
formed of a U or trough shaped section and the rails be provided with ribs which
take into the corresponding recesses in the periphery of the wheel.
For the purpose of preventing slip between the wheel and the revolving railway
where the wheel is employed as a traction wheel the periphery of the wheel and
the bearing surface of the rails may be serrated in correspondence with each other
so that the rails and the wheel may form a rack and pinion gearing into each
other.
For the purpose of disengaging the serrated surfaces of the rails from the like
surface of the wheel when the rails are being lifted or carried upwards from the
ground and carried forward with the wheel I interpose a carrying ring or rings of
larger diameter than that of the wheels.
Similar carrying rings may also be employed where the surfaces of the wheels
and the rails are not serrated as the use of such carrying rings secures the

page_text: additional advantage of ensuring that part of the revolving railway shall always
be laid upon the ground well in advance of the wheel itself.
For the purpose of preventing noise and diminishing wear at the points where
the several parts of the apparatus strike upon or come into contact with each other,
the opposing surfaces may be protected or padded with pieces of india rubber or
other suitable elastic substance, and to prevent noise and at the same time facilitate
the lateral movement of the sleepers upon the ground the undersides may be faced
or padded with blocks of india-rubber or other suitable elastic material.
In order to facilitate the lateral sliding movement of the sleepers upon the
ground they may be made curved or spheroidal on their undersides.
I usually make the rails of my revolving railway eight in number with a
corresponding number of chairs and sleepers but the number of the several parts
may be increased or diminished by lengthening or shortening the same as may be
desired.