IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederic Des Voeux at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th October 1881. A communication
from abroad by Jacques François Edmond Roy, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.
FREDERIC DES Vœux, of Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER RAILWAY AND
TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK." (A communication from abroad by Jacques François
Edmond Roy, of Paris, in the Republic of France.)
This Invention relates, firstly, to a novel arrangement of the furnace of locomotive
boilers. It consists in forming the partition of the furnace at the side of the
cylindrical body of the boiler (instead of wholly vertical) partly vertical and part
of a truncated cone, which, whilst not interfering with the rectangular shape of the
hearth, considerably increases the capacity of the combustion chamber and the
direct heating surface, and diminishes the length of the tubes in long boilers.
This increase of the capacity of the combustion chamber could be made even more
considerable by dispensing with the vertical portion reserved at this part of the
furnace and by causing the truncated cone to commence at the point where the
lower part of the hearth begins.
Secondly. To a multitubular boiler which presents a large direct heating surface
and leads the greater portion of the gases of combustion back to the side of the
furnace door, where an arrangement, hereinafter described, is provided for directly
furnishing the quantity of air required for the complete combustion of the
said gases.
Thirdly. To a hood of sheet metal or cast iron placed in front of the hearth
underneath the furnace door, the length of which is equal to the width of the
furnace. It is intended for receiving the charge of fuel by small trapdoors. This
hood is closed at its lower part by a moveable plate which carries the charge of
fuel, and is caused to pivot on its axle by means of a lever fixed on the said axle

page_text: and a hand-rod for throwing the fuel, which, whilst remaining in the hood and in
direct contact with the fire of the furnace, is almost entirely transformed into coke,
and is thrown, as stated, upon the fire-bars, the upper level of which is not beyond
that of the moveable plate. At the upper part of the hood and as near as may be
to the wall of the furnace against, which it is placed, there is a series of holes
which can be opened and closed by means of a sliding plate pierced' with holes
so as to allow the air to enter the furnace when desired. The plate may be
lowered by the same mechanism as has been described for raising it and will also
serve for drawing the fire. The object of this manner of feeding in the fuel is
to obtain as complete a combustion of the gases as possible and also to burn
the smoke.
Fourthly. To a novel arrangement of stays for the roof of the furnace, which is
effected by means of cross pieces which connect the furnace with the outer bar of
the boiler in the same way as is practised with regard to the lateral parts. To
obtain this result so as to ensure the requisite safety I proceed as follows:-
Longitudinal stays are provided, their upper faces being cut out so as to present
horizontal (or nearly horizontal) faces for enabling the stays to be well riveted;
between these salient horizontal faces there are parts parallel to the lower surface
of and bearing on the boiler to allow the stays to be well riveted to the under
surface of the boiler. One or several separate stays are provided-according
to the size of the furnace roof and-of--the-declivity of the lower part of the boiler
_ which-the-stays of the furnace roof terminate and-which-must always be nearly
perpendicular to-the-latter.
The
Fifthly. To a novel arrangement of tender rigidly connected with the engine.
The longitudinal girders or beams of the tender extend along the furnace and bear
against those of the engine, with which they are firmly connected by means of a
series of bolts which can be removed without in any way interfering with the
engine itself. This tender has only one axle mounted with bearings having
oblique slides which not only facilitate passing over curves but guide the engine
in such curves by means of a transverse strain which the bearings exert, tending
constantly, and without shearing strain on the rails, to conduct the front of the
engine towards the inside of the track by means of double inclined planes with which
such bearings are provided and which are hereinafter mentioned. With a tender.
of this construction it will be found most convenient to travel tender in front.
axle of this tender acts partly as a carrying axle for the engine to relieve that
axle of the locomotive which is near the furnace from the excess of weight which
would be laid on the same by reason of the unequal distribution of load caused by
the furnace and the fuel feeding hood herein before mentioned. This arrangement of
the tender renders it as if it were one with the locomotive proper during normal
working, but allows of separation for repairs, and renders such repairs more easy
and the engine less cumbersome. An important point in working with the tender
in front is a considerable increase in the activity of the furnace without aid from
the flue, as the whole of the lower part of the vertical partition of the furnace
below the door is dispensed with in consequence of the hood being provided, this
causing an aperture through which the air crowds in under the furnace with all
the speed of the train, the lower part of the furnace being closed by a plate.
Sixthly. To the application to the bearings and to my improved grease boxes
with oblique slides in their vertical direction (for the purpose of causing the axles
to converge) of two planes or forces inclined to a horizontal plane in an opposite
direction. This has for its object to counteract the facility of lateral movement
of the axles fitted with oblique slides; a very simple leading part would thus be
produced which would impart a convergency proportionate to the curve of the
track when horses are used for draught, whether they are harnessed in a fork or to
a shaft fixed to arms connected with a collar on the axle and extending rearward
to the centre of oscillation. The sliding box in which the axle works and upon
which the spring rests slides vertically in the horn plates of the frame like the

page_text: ordinary grease boxes of wagons and on the part where the collar engages with
the body of the axle being round, whether the axle be fixed or whether it turns
with the wheels; the end of the attachment for the shafts and of the point of
oscillation may have opposite vertical motion, one of these two points having
a vertical fixed position in a crosspiece of the frame without in any way
hindering the vertical motion of suspension of the frame and the body of
the vehicle.
In a modification of this part of my Invention the lower inclined planes of the
box of the bearing are placed at the underside of said box, with which they are
firmly connected by a round bolt entering the underside of this box. The object
of this arrangement is to allow these inclined planes a rotary motion together
with a rectilinear sliding motion whilst the box has a sliding motion describing
part of a circle for the purpose of preventing the bearings being jammed on the
bush of the axle or the inclined sliding planes (both upper and lower) being
jammed, which might be caused by the difference in travel of sidewise motion of
the box and the lower inclined planes.
The oblique slides of the box can be divided on either side into two parts.
The object of this arrangement is to make the boxes smaller.
I have before mentioned in this Specification the application of the principle of
oblique slides, not to the boxes or the bearings of the axles for the purpose of
forcing the latter to assume a converging position when railway or tramway
vehicles pass over curves, but to the body of the axle itself so as to allow the axles
to be mounted in ordinary boxes.
To complete the description relating to this new application of the principle of
oblique slides entirely outside of the axle boxes I will herein describe the
application of this principle to locomotive bogies.
At each side and in the centre of the longitudinal girder of the bogie frame is
very solidly fixed a block resting partly on the frame and partly on a strong
crossbeam. These blocks engage with two slides fixed underneath the frame of
the locomotive and the adjacent cross beam of said frame and the blocks are
laterally moveable in said slides. The blocks servo as bearing points for the frame
of the engine upon that of the bogie and connect these two frames in the direction
of their length. Studs are fixed on the slides for the purpose of limiting the
lateral motion of the frame of the bogie under that of the engine as they serve
as abutments for the blocks when the frame of the bogie is moved laterally to
the furthest extent of transverse motion required for travelling over curves of the
shortest radius.
In turning curves the simultaneous action of (1) the outside rail upon the coiled
springs of the wheels of the bogie would compel the latter to move sideways;
(2) the slides, which in consequence of the lateral motion and by reason of their
obliquity, will push one of the blocks forward and the other rearward and thus
compel the two axles of the bogie to assume the converging position.
The radius or the obliquity of the path of the slides, according to whether they
are made segmental or straight, will be determined by the displacement which
takes place between the centre of the rectangle formed by the end axles of the
frame of the engine and the end axles of the bogie. To give more unity to the
relative transverse movements of the two frames in case that the engine frame has
only two axles, the frame of the bogic may be provided with a bar whose end would
engage somewhat freely with a notch provided in one of the crossbeams of the
frame of the engine placed in such a manner as to pass through the point which
is the centre of the are described by the slides or of the intersection with the
axis of the machine of two perpendicular lines passing through the centre of the
slides in the case that the path of the sliding motion is a straight line instead of
being the segment of a circle.
If preferred the slides could be fixed to the frame of the bogie and the blocks to
that of the engine. The surfaces by which the slides bear upon the blocks may

page_text: if it is thought necessary be made on inclined planes. It will be seen by the
foregoing description that the operation of this bogie with oblique slides is
essentially different from that of ordinary bogies. The bogie with oblique slides
has only a suppositious axis placed outside of the rectangle formed by its axles
and its wheels, and it is connected with the frame of the engine in a longitudinal
direction only by the blocks engaging with the slides, whilst the ordinary bogie
has an actual centre of rotation called a "pivot," generally placed at the centre of
the rectangle formed by its axles and its wheels, which pivot connects in all
directions the two frames of the engine and of the bogie.
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