CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TURN- TABLES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
WOODS, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Pat under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the thirteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Woods, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Edward Woods, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Edward Woods, my exors, adññors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TURN-
TABLES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said Edward Woods, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: -NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Woods, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say) :-
My improvements in turntables have for their object the attaining great
lightness and durability in the framework of the tables, and consist in con-
structing the skeleton framework of the top or revolving part of the turntable
in the manner herein-after described and represented in the accompanying
Drawing, in which Fig. 1 represents the plan of the under side of the revolving
top; Fig. 2 is a plan view, looking down upon the table (half of the platform
being broken away, the better to shew the general construction of the turn-
table); and Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the same.
In the plan view, Fig. 1, M, N, O, is a circular horizontal bearing ring of
malleable iron of convenient section, serving as an exterior bond for the frame-
work, and forming the medium through which that part of the pressure of the
revolving top and its superincumbent load, which is not sustained by the
centre pin or socket of the turntable, is transmitted to the rollers; the under
surface of the said ring being truly formed and otherwise adapted to rest or
traverse upon the rollers in the ordinary manner. The iron composing the
said ring may be rolled straight in one or more pieces of suitable section,
length, and strength. The iron is bent to the requisite curvature in the
ordinary way of bending iron bars, and the ends are welded up or firmly
united by splicing and rivets, as is well understood. In order to render the
ring circular and true in form, after the ends are welded up I heat the iron
red hot, and cause it to be passed in that state between rollers, in the manner
frequently adopted for rendering the tyre bars of wheels truly circular. The
surface which is to traverse upon the rollers may be turned up true in the
lathe. The quality of the iron should be such as will permit of welding with-
out difficulty. B, B, and B', B', are two horizontal parallel bars of malleable
iron of suitable strength laid across and upon the ring. These are not only
an essential part of the top frame, but also constitute a line of railway across
the turntable, for which latter purpose it is necessary that they should be laid
at a distance from each other suitable to the gauge of the railway on which
the turntable is to be employed, and that their upper surfaces should be
adapted for the wheels of carriages to run over them. These bars are
supported by the exterior ring M, N, O, and are attached thereto by
knees and bolts, or other analogous means, as shewn at 2, 2, z, z, Fig. 1.

page_text: The said bars B, B, and B', B', are also united firmly to other bars, as A, A,
A, A, at their mutual points of crossing, as at r, s, t, and u, these latter
bars being themselves firmly attached at their ends to the ring, as at x, x,
x, x. A, A, and A', A¹, are two cross bars of malleable iron laid across
the ring at a suitable distance apart below, and in a direction transverse to,
the afore-described bars B, B, and B', B', in order to afford support thereto,
and to increase the general stiffness of the framework. The ends of the bars
A, A, and A', A', are firmly attached to the ring by iron knees and bolts or
rivets, or other equivalent means. Brackets for that purpose are shewn at
x, x, x, x. The bars A, A, A', A, B, B, B1, B', are firmly united together at
their mutual places of crossing, r, s, t, u, so as to enable the framework to
resist more effectually the action of both horizontal and vertical pressures. I
prefer to connect them by uniting each bar separately and in two places to a
common central frame F, F, F, F, although this particular mode of union is
not absolutely essential. I make the bars A, A, A1, A¹, of the same section of
iron as the bars B, B, B', B', but this is not essential, as in proportion that
the bars B, B, B1, B', are made stronger, the bars A, A, A', A', which give
support thereto, and additional stiffness to the ring and support to the covering,
may be made weaker, or they might even one or both be dispensed with in the
event of the bars B, B, B', B', and the ring M, N, O, respectively being made
strong enough in themselves for the required work; but I conceive that in
practice the greatest economy of materials consistent with a given required
strength and stiffness in the entire top frame, and the greatest degree of
durability, and the most convenient arrangement are attained by making all
the bars of similar section, and arranging the lower supporting bars, as shewn
in the Drawing. F, F, F, F, is an interior central frame of cast iron, attached
firmly to the bars A, A, A', A', and B, B, B', B', at their places of crossing.
This central frame is provided with an adjustable centre pin P in the usual
manner. The ends of the arms are suitably shaped to receive the bars. The
lower bars A, A, A1, A¹, rest on ledges 1, 1, 1, 1, Fig. 1, and are perforated for
screw bolts, and screwed firmly up to a shoulder. The upper bars B, B,
B', B', rest upon projecting brackets m, m, m, m, formed in the cross frame
F, F, each bracket being shaped to receive the bar and a tightening ridge
of dry wood, by which the bar is securely attached to the cross frame as
an ordinary railway bar is into its chair; I also pass a bolt through the rail
and bracket. The object of this frame is twofold; firstly, to transmit to
the centre pin any required portion of the weight of the revolving top frame
and its superincumbent load, thereby easing the load from the rollers;
and, secondly, to confine the revolving top frame to a fixed centre of

page_text: -claim thereto.
I do not confine myself either to the form of the interior cross frame
F, F, F, F, the material of which it is composed, the mode of construction, or
the mode of attaching the bars thereto, nor do I consider it absolutely necessary!
that it should be united directly to more than either the upper or the lower
series of cross rails, one or other of them; I only require it to fulfil the two-
fold object above mentioned in connection with the framework of malleable
iron bars heretofore described. T, T, is the covering or platform of the table,
composed of planks supported upon the upper surfaces of the malleable iron
ring and lower cross bars, and secured in their places by being bolted on to
pieces of cast angle iron secured to the ring; iron plates might be adopted for
the covering, but I prefer planks of timber as offering less liability to fracture,
greater facility to repair, producing less noise, and being better adapted for
horses to work over them. If the top face of the rails B, B', is not liigh
enough above the surface of the covering T, T, to allow the flanges of the
wheels of carriages passing over the turntable to clear the planking, care must
be taken to leave grooves for the flanges to run in. Other lines of railway
if required, be laid on the planking of the table, as is well understood!
The plan, Fig. 2, is shewn as divided into two halves; the left hand half
shews the table in its completed state with the covering boards in their places;
the right hand half of the revolving top is removed to exhibit the under-works,
as the supporting blocks of stone, the roller path, the rollers; the roller guides,
the centre socket. The left hand half shews the mode of placing a second or
cross line of railway over the turntable.
may,
The sectional elevation, Fig. 3, is taken through the centre of the turntable;
the parts corresponding with those of Fig. 1 are denoted by the same letters.
The arrangement of the foundations, external curb roller, path rollers, radial
arms, centre block and socket, &c., present no special features of novelty, but
their construction is familiar to practical men.
Having now described the nature of my Invention of improvements in turn-
tables, and the manner in which the same is to be carried into effect, I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein
shewn and described, as the same may be varied in many ways without depart-
ing from the peculiar character of my Invention, and I am aware that it has
been proposed before the date of the above in part recited Letters Patent to
employ a wrought-iron ring in the construction of- turntables in combination
with radial spokes, also other arrangements and combinations of some of the
parts herein-before mentioned, have been suggested; I mention this that I

page_text: may not be supposed to claim as of my Invention, or the exclusive use of such
parts, except when employed combined as herein described, and I hereby
declare that I claim as my Invention the constructing the skeleton top or
revolving part of turntables of a ring of malleable iron as an external bond
resting on rollers and firmly united to two of the lines of rails and combined
with an interior frame turning on a centre as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Woods, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine
HDERED,
the I wenty-sixth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Edward Woods came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.