AN IMPROVED WAGGON OR TRUCK TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Marcel Bournique, Mechanician, and Jean
Baptiste Vidard, Engineer, both of Paris, in the French Empire, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED WAGGON OR TRUCK TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Marcel Bournique
and Jean Baptiste Vidard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 14th July 1863.
We, LOUIS MARCEL BOURNIQUE, Mechanician, and JEAN BAPTISTE VIDARD,
Engineer, both of Paris, in the French Empire, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED WAGGON OR TRUCK TO BE USED ON
RAILWAYS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
Our Invention has for its object the use of a new system of jointed waggon.
The waggon consists of an under frame and body with floor. The under frame
is jointed and entirely separated from the body. The centre of this under
frame is jointed, and it is placed upon axle boxes with bearings inside of the
wheels; upon the axle boxes are placed under sills or cross trees, protected
with friction plates, upon which floor is placed in an inverted position a top
sill or tree similarly protected. There is but one buffer at each end of the
frame on the centre bar. The joint in the centre of the frame permits the
wheels to adjust themselves to curves of any radius, so that the waggon may
be made of any desirable length without increasing the number of wheels.

page_text: Any kind of body may be placed upon this jointed frame. The platform of
the body may be of the ordinary construction, but is independent of the
under frame permitting the latter to move right or left, or the frame itself
may be entirely changed after the removal of the body when the frame is
available for timber, iron, or other weighty material. The top and sides may
be of iron, wood, or other suitable material strengthened with uprights fixed
to the frame.
Having now given an outline of our Invention we would have it clearly under-
stood that we do not confine ourselves to the exact details as described, as the
same may be varied without departing from the principle of the Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Marcel Bournique and Jean Baptiste Vidard in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, .LOUIS
MARCEL BOURNIQUE, Mechanician, and JEAN BAPTISTE VIDARD, Engineer,
both of Paris, in the French Empire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Louis Marcel Bournique and Jean Baptiste Vidard, Her special licence
that we, the said Louis Marcel Bournique and Jean Baptiste Vidard, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,.the said. Louis
Marcel Bournique and Jean Baptiste Vidard, our executors, 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED WAGGON OR TRUCK TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said, Louis Marcel Bournique and
Jean Baptiste Vidard, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
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.

page_text: the middle of the length of each train. Above each axle, and in the interval
between its two wheels, the pole bears a set of four wooden cross beams or
perches parallel and in juxtaposition to one another, two above and the other
two below the pole, all four strongly bound. The lower cross beams bind the
pole to the axle towards each wheel by means of axle boxes of a new type;
the upper ones attach it to the platform, which we shall now describe.
The platform or body is merely a board or table destined for the reception
of goods, and bears a certain analogy to that of an ordinary dray or cart.
Two strong cross pieces fixed underneath throughout its whole breadth
guarantee its solidity and serve to make it rest on the two upper parallel cross
beams, both in the fore and the hinder under frame. It is independant of the
under frame to which it is applied merely by two iron pole bolts u (see the
annexed Drawing, Fig. I.), the one in the fore and the other in the hinder
under frame, these being introduced into the middle of each of the cross
beams and sinking into the longitudinal pole or beam. These pole bolts,
adapted so as to leave the cross pieces of the platform a certain faculty of
movement; allow these latter to describe an arc of a circle whenever the train
is bent out of the right line in passing a curve of the road. It is by thus
adapting itself to all the movements of the under frame without encumbrance
that the platform combines all the advantages of the new system of jointed
under frame, and makes them available in the loading of the goods. The
bending of the under frame is limited, as is also the flexion which that bending
is intended to facilitate. It is produced by a hinge or joint composed of one
male branch r and two female branches ¹, 71, terminated in cramp irons, and
solidly bolted to the pole which they envelope, namely, the male branch
towards the fore under frame and the female branches towards the hinder
under frame. These three branches are united by the pole bolt s keyed
underneath. The three parts of the joint of the hinge are not so high as the
corresponding branches, and the result is that when the joint acts the male
branch resting on the female branches stops at this point the play of the joint,
and prevents it from being carried further than necessary. The movement or
play of the moveable cross pieces t of the platform around the axis u takes
place on the braces of the fore and hinder under frames by means of the iron
circular parts v, v³, concentric with the axis, which moderate the friction by
sliding the one over the other. The parts of the upper circle are fixed to the
moveable cross piece, those of the lower circle to the braces which they serve
to unite and consolidate. These latter are terminated to the right and to the
left by strong abutments destined, like the bending joint above described,.
which they aid moreover to limit, according to the curve, the bending of the

page_text: .
under frame and the inclination of the axles and wheels. (See that inclination
in the plane view of the waggon indicated by the axis lines in blue ink.)
These circular parts constitute a part of two armours, each composed of two
iron borders soldered to the circles and solidly fixed, those of the lower armour
to the braces, and those of the upper one to the moveable cross pieces. The
object of the iron borders is to receive the sliding or friction of the platform
when after having lowered the axis of the moveable cross pieces by means of
the fly wheel x, whose nave forms a nut in the axis, it is wished to detach the
platform from the train in order to bring the latter to the quay. or loading
place by means of the mooring pins. This movement, executed with the view
of breaking the loading in order to begin a new one, has the effect of rendering
the under frame available at any time, and of allowing it to be employed
immediately under another platform previously loaded. . In the buffing pad at
the extremity of the pole the shock. is received on the seat or box k, which
deadens it by means of a spring against the plunger l, which serves at the
same time as a hoop round the extremity of the pole.
The swing bar, draw gear, or coupling apparatus is received into a groove
situated in the end of the pole. It is composed, 1st, of a double-hooked rod m
solidly bolted on to the pole; 2nd, of the swing bar n, bearing two chains, one
at each end; one of these is terminated by a coupling hook o, and the other
by a twisted ring p, so as always to receive the coupling hook which faces it
in a vertical position, and to allow this latter the least possible facility of
getting undone when not wished. The swing.bar is attached to the bridle m
and consequently to the pole by an iron ring g closed while hot between the
two collars or circular projections destined to receive it, at the same time
allowing the swing bar sufficient moving space. The axle boxes here employed
serve at the same time as axle boxes, as suspension springs, and as axle plates.
They are each composed of a box consisting of two parts united by two double
bridles applied to the bottom by a bolt screwed into one of them. The lower
part of the bottom of the box bears.the reservoir of oil and the introduction
cup f; the upper part g bears a round or square plunger seat or box, in which
is placed the suspension spring h, the said plunger box. being cast of the same
piece as that upper part. The box is fixed to the train by the guiding bolt i,
but in such a manner as to leave sufficient room for the oscillations of the
suspension spring, and also by the cast iron guidej, which is solidly fixed to
the cross beams; this guide is a substitute for the axle plate whose office it
performs. The wheels are mounted on axles, whose journals or fusees, instead
of being outside the wheels and in bearings like those of the common axles,
are inside the wheels and as near as possible to the nave. This arrangement

page_text: being équivalent to an increase of the resisting power of the axles, allows them
to receive a greater load without increasing the diameter.
However simple, according to our model of platform, may be the principle
of the vehicle destined to the loading of goods on railroads, it may nevertheless
in certain cases be still further simplified by taking away the platform
altogether, leaving merely the two moveable cross pieces which support it.
These two cross pieces resting on the main beam or pole will be alone sufficient
to transport unsawn wood, deals, rails, pig iron, and other goods of this
description. The platform properly so called may be reserved for such goods
as specially require a receiving board. It is composed of six girders garnished
with iron, of which those on the outside being higher than the others form a
border. All these girders rest on the moveable cross pieces to which they are
fixed and bound; they are connected moreover by intermediate and end cross
or tie pieces, also iron bound and bolted. The intervals between the girders
are occupied by thick planks, and the remaining spaces between the girders
and the planks are closed by rods which complete. the board of the platform
by rendering it sufficiently close for the conveyance of miscellaneous goods.
Upright poles fixed by bridles are disposed all round the platform in order to
sustain the goods. When it is wished to load miscellaneous goods these poles
sustain borders more or less elevated according to the nature of the goods, and
formed of plates bolted on the poles. Two windlasses y furnished with clinks
are placed at each end of the waggon, in order to press the parcels together
by means of lashing or binding ropes, and thus effect the loading with greatest
compactness and solidity. When the length of the waggon exceeds six yards
the packing and pressing must be done with four binders instead of two. In
this case the binders are attached to two double mooring hooks z, z³, fixed to
.the middle cross piece of the platform as is indicated by the blue line, which
represents at the same time the limits of the load; the other ends of these
binders wind round the windlasses which effect the pressing by means of iron
levers fixed to the waggon by a chain. It is evident that in every case it will
be easy to construct with the platform such model as may be desired of the
special waggons in use on railways, even covered waggons and vans, by
using the sides of these sorts of waggons as a substitute for the poles or the
boarders.
As our model of jointed waggon requires a sort of coupling draw gear
different from that of the waggons at present employed on railroads, it
would be difficult to employ it in the same train with ordinary waggons, and
consequently to make immediate use of it, until a sufficient number of the
new waggons be constructed to allow complete under frames to be formed on

page_text: .
the new system, and even to permit its introduction into mixed trains con-
taining passenger carriages, we have adopted the following temporary method
of which a sketch is traced in red ink on the Drawing annexed to the present
Specification, Fig. We place before the end of the pole an extreme cross-
beam bearing the buffers and the ordinary coupling draw gear. This cross
beam attached to the pole in the middle point by hooks is consolidated at its
extremities by two tie pieces which unite at the other end of the pole near
the joint, after passing between the braces of the under frame at the spot
occupied by the boxes of the suspension springs.
i
The arrangement of our jointed waggon can evidently be varied in a great
many ways, thus, the platform may be composed merely of two moveable
cross pieces which in the Drawing, annexed to our Specification support the
loading board or apron. What essentially characterizes our waggon is the
combination of the cross beams of the platform on a central jointed tree or
pole by means of two pins or bolts, each passing through one of the parts of
that pole which becomes a substitute for the common frame, and of which
each of the two equal parts is supported by the wheels of the train.
We reserve to ourselves the faculty of varying the secondary arrangements
as well as the forms, dimensions, proportions, and materials employed. In
the goods' waggon the two moveable cross pieces of the platform being directly
over the wheels and overlapping them on both sides, the limit of the lowering
of the floor is obtained when the space left between the top of the wheels and
the bottom of the moveable cross pieces is only what is strictly necessary to the
sinkings and to the oscillations of the suspension springs.
There still exists one means of going farther; this means consists of, as
indicated by the annexed Drawings (Figs. 1, 2, 3).
1st, in uniting the two parts of which each moveable cross beam is composed,
forming of these two parts one single frame by binding them together with
cross tie pieces which will maintain them separated by the distance necessary
for allowing the upper part of the wheels to penetrate between them without
encumbering the action of this moveable frame. Below this frame is fixed at
four different points the complete superior or upper circle on which the
movement round the pole bolt takes place. This bolt is solidly fixed in the
centre of the frame by a strong central cross piece.
2nd, in separating by the same distance the upper cross beams of the train
bound on the pole so as to make them support, along with the wooden lining
which unites its extremities, the lower circle which is also completed for the
movement of each of the two moveable frames.
Having thus detailed the object of our Invention, what we claim is,―

page_text: 1st, the system of jointed waggon composed of an under frame and a
platform independant of each other, the under frame being represented by a
jointed tree or pole which is substituted for the ordinary frame; these two parts,
-the under frame and the platform, being united by iron bolts; and disposed so
as to allow the passage of the under frame along the curves, substantially as
herein-before described.
The general arrangements and combination of parts as herein-before
described and illustrated on Drawings, with any variations of forms, materials,
and dimensions necessary.
In witness whereof, we, the said Louis Marcel Bournique and Jean
Baptiste Vidard, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventh
day of January, in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four..
LOUIS MARCEL BOURNIQUE. (L.S.)
JEAN BAPTISTE VIDARD.
(L.B.)
-Witness,
EMILE BARRAULT,
Ingenieur Civil,
33, Boulevard St. Martin..