Apparatus for Cooling Railway Carriages.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 13th May, 1899
Apparatus for Cooling Railway Carriages.
I, BERTHOLD FUCHS, of 142, Kantstrasse Charlottenburg, Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The present invention relates to an apparatus for keeping cool in summer
railway carriages and other vehicles that serve for the conveyance of passengers,
and which are more especially required to be protected from the action of the
sun's rays.
In using the railway in summer and travelling long distances, extreme exhaus-
tion is experienced, and it is even dangerous on account of the great liability
to sunstroke, because the black tops or roofs of the carriages do not reflect the
sun's rays, but absorb the same, so that, apart from the generally prevalent heat
in summer, often a really unbearable heat is radiated from the roof and penetrates
the interior of the carriage.
Now according to the present invention the roofs of carriages are cooled or
kept cool by allowing water to flow or trickle over the same so that the evapora-
tion of the water during the journey acts to absorb the heat which has been
absorbed by radiation. But in this manner, not only the heat produced by radia-
tion from the sun, is rendered uninjurious, but also in consequence of the in-
creased evaporation of the water due to the sun's rays, the air in the interior of
the carriage will be considerably cooled. The action of the sun's rays is conse-
quently converted into its opposite, that is to say, whereas hitherto the rays
produced an unbearable heat, they now serve, by the use of the present invention
to promote the evaporation of the water and thereby considerably increase and
accelerate the cooling effect.
This invention is shown carried out in one example in the accompanying draw-
ings in which :-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the roof of the carriage.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same.
Along the entire length of the carriage there is fixed upon the roof of the same
a large pipe a which may be provided at its ends with hose pipe unions and
may thus be connected to the adjacent carriage. This pipe a is formed on both
sides with fine holes c through which the water can pass out of the pipe.
If there should be any chimney cowls or ventilators situated in the line of the
water pipe, the pipe may at such places be made in the form of a loop 6 such
as shown in Figure 2.
and
The water may be pumped into the pipe a, say from the engine or from any
The
one of the carriages, and it flows over the roof of the carriage.
said roof is thus rendered: wet is kept cool by the evaporation
of the water, by which means the temperature in the carriage itself is lowered.
The supply and irrigation of the water may be effected continuously, or at deter-
mined intervals, and according to requirement either by pumping or in any

page_text: other suitable manner. The evaporation may be further increased by the pro-
vision of a porous material such as felt or the like.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Apparatus for keeping cool railway carriages and other vehicles, characterised
by the fact that by means of a pipe which is arranged on the carriage and is
provided with fine holes, the several carriages are irrigated with water, for the
purpose of effecting the cooling of the roof of the carriage by the evaporation of
the liquid.
Dated this 7th day of April 1899.
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., M.I. Mech. E.,
Chartered Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Associate Agent.