IMPELLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES UP ASCENTS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine Regazzoli, of the City of Milan, in Lombardy,
for the Invention of "IMPELLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES UP ASCENTS."-A
communication from Dr. Joseph Grassi, also of the City of Milan..
Sealed the 15th January 1856, and dated the 16th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine Regazzoli at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
July 1855.
:
I, ANTOINE REGAZZOLI, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPELLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES UP ASCENTS," a communication from Joseph
Grassi, of Milan, to be as follows:-
In order to assist the locomotive and consequently the carriages of a rail-
way train up ascents, I propose where the gradients are sharp to place equi-
distant (between the rails) short circular posts, and under and attached to the
locomotive a cylinder, having thereon a projecting helical; this cylinder is to
be worked by steam from the locomotive, and the helical impinging on the
posts will screw (as it were) the locomotive up ascents, and by a reverse
action will "brake" or retard the progress of a train in descending similar
gradients.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Antoine Regazzoli in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTOINE
REGAZZOLI, of the City of Milan, in Lombardy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Antoine Regazzolo, Her special license that I, the said Antoine Regazzoli, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Antoine
Regazzoli, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPELLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
UP ASCENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Antoine
Regazzoli, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Antoine Regazzoli, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereto annexed, and
to. the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
'This Invention consists in improved machinery or means for enabling a
locomotive with its train to ascend steep gradients on a line of railway. For
this purpose, a cylinder having on its circumference two helices, which form
a double-threaded screw, is placed under and parallel to the axis of the boiler,
and when put in motion by steam from the engine gears with a series of
circular posts or horizontal pulleys placed between the line of rails of steep
gradients, which pulleys or posts act as a female threaded screw. By the
above arrangement, the locomotive with its train is propelled or screwed up
the incline, and when descending the same it acts as a "break."
The same letters on the Drawings refer to the same parts.

page_text: Figure 1 represents an elevation of the locomotive and the screw cylinder
or propeller, part of the framing being removed to shew it more clearly.
Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 is an end view, both in partial section) of
the improved locomotive.
A is a cast-iron framing, with buffers B of the usual construction; it is
also provided with axle boxes C, for supporting the wheels, of which there are
eight. The driving wheels D and hind wheels E have an ordinary axle, but
the middle bearing wheels F, G, have each a separate axle, fitted in a suitable
framework, in order to allow space for the screw cylinder with its driving gear,
and for the fire box. H is the fore, and I the hind boiler; they are united
together by the fire box J, in which are two furnaces, communicating with
each other by boiler tubes; K are the furnace doors. The fuel and water
are placed beside the fire box in suitable receptacles. Each boiler is provided
with the usual fire tubes, which convey the smoke to the smoke boxes K' and
the chimneys K". Partitions or diaphragms are also placed in each boiler to
the height of the steam pipes, in order to prevent an undue level of the water
when ascending or descending gradients. Above the fire box is placed the steam
dome L, from the interior of which proceed two steam feed pipes L' to the
two smaller domes M, M¹, where each pipe is made with two branches M², for
supplying the four cylinders N', N", N, N, with steam. Each cylinder is
provided with a piston, slide valve, and box. The slide valves may be worked
by excentrics fixed to the crank shafts, herein-after described. The piston rods
0, 0, are attached to cross heads P, P', provided at each end with antifriction
pulleys Q, Q', which work in a slot in the vertical guide frame R. Long
connecting rods S, S¹, are attached to the cross heads P, P¹, and to the cranks
T, T', for giving motion to the latter. The arrangement of the cranks and
framing is shewn in detail in Figure 4, representing a plan. U, U, U", U,
U, is the framing, provided with suitable bearings for supporting the crank
shafts V, V1; W, W₁, W", W, cranks, which are placed so that the piston
of W is at the end, while that of W' is at the commencement of its stroke,
and the other pistons W", W, are at half stroke. At each end of the crank
shafts is secured a metallic disk X, on the face of which and near its circum-
ference is a short stud pin Y. A connecting rod Z is attached to each stud
pin, and to the crank of the screw propeller a. This is composed of cast
iron, the threads being faced with steel. It is provided with a shaft b, work-
ing in suitable bearings in the framing U, U", UV. At each end of the
shaft is a crank c, which receives motion by the connecting rod Z. d are the
iron rails and chairs fixed to a wooden base supported by the sleepers e; part
of the rails are removed to shew the pulleys f, in section.

page_text: In Figure 2 the screw propeller is shewn in section. It has two square
screw threads, which gear with the horizontal pulleys f, which work loosely
on steel pivots fixed in a suitable bearing secured to the sleeper by bolts
and nuts. These pulleys are placed slightly out of the middle of the rails, in
order that the force of the screw propeller may act against the pivots of the
pulleys in a line through their centre and parallel to the rails.
In the end view, Figure 3, the red circles shew the throw of the propeller
crank and the stud pins Y.
For a heavy train to ascend an average gradient under the present system
requires a locomotive of immense power and weight, on account of the centre
of gravity being removed from the base or point of contact of the wheels with
the rails; consequently on steep inclines the angle of resistance is greater;
but by the adoption of the mode herein-before described, a locomotive with
a train of two hundred tons weight is enabled to ascend a gradient of seven
per cent. at a velocity of twelve miles and a half per hour, taking into calcula-
tion friction and the resistance of the air.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that what I
claim is,
First, the general arrangement and combination of machinery for ascending
steep gradients on railways, as herein-before described, and referred to in the
annexed Drawing.
Secondly, I claim the application of a screw propeller attached to the loco-
motive in combination with circular posts or pulleys, for the purpose and in
the manner herein-before described, and referred to in the accompanying
Drawing.
Thirdly, the arrangement of apparatus or machinery for giving motion to
the screw cylinder or propeller, as herein-before described, and shewn in the
annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Regazzoli, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
A. REGAZZOLI. (L.S.)