IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PNEUMATIC, HYDRAULIC, STEAM, AND OTHER MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR PROPELLING, PUMPING, HAULING, DRIVING, OR TRACTION PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Collingridge, of Buckingham Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PNEUMATIC, HYDRAULIC, STEAM,
AND OTHER MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR PROPELLING, PUMPING, HAULING,
DRIVING, OR TRACTION PURPOSES."
Sealed the 4th May 1875, and dated the 9th March 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Collingridge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th March 1875.
I, AUGUSTUS COLLINGRIDGE, of Buckingham Street, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PNEUMATIC,
HYDRAULIC, STEAM, AND OTHER MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR PROPELLING, PUMPING,
HAULING, DRIVING, OR TRACTION PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
:-
Hitherto the process of propelling inert bodies in a horizontal or
inclined direction by utilizing the known inherent principle of the
weight of the atmosphere pressing against the obverse side of a piston,

page_text: working within a tube or cylinder in combination with the existence of a
more or less complete vacuum in the tube or cylinder on the reverse side
of such piston has usually been effected by the agency of a stationary
pumping engine employed for the purpose of exhausting the air con-
tained in a continuous tube extending over the entire length of distance
to be traversed, and by attaching the piston to such body which is
impelled through the tube with a force and velocity proportionate to the
rate at which the exhaustion of the air in that section of the tube which
is in advance is effected by the pumping engine, or such other
analogous mechanical contrivance, always resulting practically in con-
fining the possibility of pneumatic propulsion or traction, within the
limits of certain fixed points on land only.
Now such part of my Invention as is specially applicable (1st) to the
pneumatic traction or propulsion of inert bodies generally, whether by
land or water, admits of the steam engine or other appliance necessary
for the generation of sufficient power to create the requisite vacuum in
the cylinders hereafter described, being (instead of stationary) borne in or
upon, and affixed to the main body to be propelled, in conjunction with
the pneumatic apparatus for propelling; by which means also, almost
any desired direction, whether horizontal, right, or curvilinear, can be
imparted to the mass. In direct connection with such engine are also
affixed to the main body to be propelled certain cylinders conveniently
disposed, but always so that the final direction of the line of resistance
offered by their pistons when working to the presure of the atmosphere
may be, as nearly as circumstances admit, coincident with the line
of the axis of the carriage, or other movable body to which they
pertain.
The cylinders are hermetically closed at one end by means of an
ordinary covering plate, but are left open at the other end by not being
provided with the usual foot plate ordinarily affixed to steam cylinders.
Each cylinder is internally fitted with a steam-tight piston arranged
to work to and fro, and furnished with duplex piston rods (hereafter
described), either working through ordinary stuffing boxes raised on the
covering plate by thrust strokes communicated to the rod heads by
means of intermediate gearing from the engine itself, or by a hauling
movement communicated to them in like manner from the open ends of
the cylinders, the object and result of either motion being the creation
of as complete a vacuum as possible in the space comprised between the

page_text: inner surface of the covering plate, and the reverse or inner side of tho
piston at each successive stroke or haul of the piston towards the open
ends of the cylinders.
The power of the engine being sufficient for the duty it is intended to
perform in starting the pistons (or in other words creating a vacuum),
and the sum of the surface areas of the pistons multiplied by the amount
of atmospheric pressure expressed in pounds weight to the square inch,
adequately representing the extent of dynamic force required to convert
inertia into motion, by the action of the pistons receiving the weight of
the pressure of a column of air, a rectilineal plane horizontal movement in
advance will be imparted to the entire mass. And by the continuation
of such action under proper regulation and guidance the possiblo
maximum velocity attainable in proportion to the engine power
employed can be speedily arrived at and permanently maintained in the
case of land carriages without involving the necessity of any mechanical
connection between the driving power and the wheels, and in the case
of floating bodies without any portion of the machinery being brought
of necessity in contact with the water.
In order to ensure effective working the pneumatic cylinders above
described should be provided with external valves working over a small
port, and so constructed that any air leakage penetrating into the space
comprised between the inner surface of the covering plate and the
reverse side of the piston may be expelled from the cylinder, as the
piston after cach stroke outwards recedes inwards towards the closed
end. The valve after opening to allow the escape of the air closing
again hermetically as the piston is withdrawn.
In certain cases steam, gas, or other matter of expansive nature may
be admitted direct into the propelling cylinders between the pistons and
the covering plates, by a modification in the construction above set forth
in matter of the valves, consisting in the conversion of their "clapper"
action into that of ordinary slide valves.
The remainder of my Invention refers (2ndly) to providing additional
strength and security to certain parts of, not only the above pneumatic
machine, but also to similar parts in common use in hydraulic, steam,
and other machinery employed, as described in the title, which are
frequently exposed to risk of sudden fracture by reason of the excessive

page_text: strain to which piston rods and the heads of the piston rods are subjected
under certain conditions.
Hitherto it has been the practice to fit up pistons or plungers working
in cylinders (when piston rods are required to be used) with only one.
piston rod to each piston; and it generally happens that the fracture of
a piston rod or rod head is succeeded by the splitting of the foot plato
of the cylinder from the sudden and unchecked descent of the piston
itself.
Now by my improved construction every piston is fitted with mani.
fold, say at the least duplex piston rods, working through duplex stuffing
boxes (in cases where stuffing boxes are required) raised upon the
covering plate of the cylinder. Such piston rods may be so constructed
as to screw into countersunk wormed sockets, wrought or tapped in the
body of the piston, so that without the removal of the covering plate as
at present a piston rod may be shifted by sufficiently slackening the
screws of its stuffing box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Augustus Collingridge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Augustus
COLLINGRIDGE, of Buckingham Strect, Strand, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Augustus Collingridge, Iler special licence that
I, the said Augustus Collingridge, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Augustus Collingridge, my 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, thic
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: '
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PNEUMATIC, HYDRAULIC, STEAM, AND OTHER MACHINERY
EMPLOYED FOR PROPELLING, PUMPING, HAULING, DRIVING, OR TRACTION PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Augustus Colling.
ridge, executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing, under
my, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Augustus Collingridge, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
*"
Whereas heretofore the process of imparting movement and continued
propulsion to inert bodies in a state of rest by means of utilising the
known inherent principle of the weight of a column of atmospheric air
pressing or impinging against the obverse surface of a disc or piston
working within a tube or cylinder in combination with the existence of
a more or less complete vacuum in such tube or cylinder existing on the
reverse surface of the disc or piston has usually been effected by the
agency of a stationary pumping engine employed for the purpose of
exhausting the air in the cylinder or tube, extending either continuously.
or in sections over the entire length of distance to be traversed, and by
attaching the disc or piston to such body which is impelled through the
tube with a force and velocity proportionate to the rate at which the
exhaustion of the air in that section of the tube which is in advance is
effected by the pumping engine or such other analagous contrivance,
always practically resulting in confining the possibility of locomotion by,
pneumatic propulsion or traction within the prescribed limits of certain
fixed points, and upon land only.
Now my Invention consists as follows:-Such part of it as is specially
applicable (first) to imparting movement and continued locomotion to
inert bodies generally, whether on land or water, by pneumatic action
and reaction of the force employed to produce a vacuum being brought:
to bear on some fixed point contained within such bodies serving as a
fulcrum admits of the steam engine and boiler or other appliance
necessary for the generation of sufficient motor power to create the

page_text: requisite vacuum in the cylinders (hereafter termed the pneumatic
cylinders, being, instead of stationary at some fixed point borne in or
upon or affixed to so as to form a quasi integral part of the main
body to be propelled in conjunction with the pneumatic machinery for
imparting locomotion, by which means also almost any desired direction
consistent with the laws of mechanics and of gravitation, whether hori-
zontal, right, curvilinear, or inclined at steeper gradients than are usually
capable of being ascended at present can be imparted at the will of the
driver to the mass. In direct connection with such motor engine I affix
within the main body of the land vehicle or floating vessel to be propelled
certain pneumatic cylinders (constructed of metal or other suitable
material capable of withstanding pressure) conveniently disposed in
accordance with the structural form of the land vehicle or floating
vessel, but always so in effect that the final direction of the line of
resistance offered by the obverse side of their pistons when working out-
wards against the pressure of the atmosphere may be, as nearly as
circumstances admit, coincident with the line of the axis of the moveable
body to which they pertain.
The pneumatic cylinders are hermetically closed at one end by means
of an ordinary cover, but are left open at the other end by not being
provided with any foot or sole plate. Each pneumatic cylinder is
internally fitted with a steam-tight piston arranged to work freely to
and fro from end to end of the cylinder, and furnished preferentially
with duplex or multiple piston rods screwed into their respectivo pistons
as hereafter shewn. These piston rods, whether single or multiple, are
worked either by thrust strokes communicated by means of intermediate
gearing from the steam or other primary motor engine itself, or by a
hauling movement communicated to them in like manner from the open
ends of the pneumatic cylinders, the object and result of either motion
being the creation of as complete a vacuum as may be possible to obtain
in the vacuum space comprised between the inner surface of the cover
and the reverse or inner surface of the piston at each successive stroke
or haul outwards towards the open ends of the pneumatic cylinders.
The power of the primary motor engine or generator being sufficient
for the duty it is intended to perform in starting and driving outwards
the pistons of the pneumatic cylinders (or in other words creating a
vacuum) and the sum of the surface areas of the pneumatic pistons
multiplied by the sum of the amount of atmospheric pressure expressed

page_text: in pounds weight to the square inch adequately representing the extent
of dynamic force required to convert inertia into motion; then by reason
of the action of the pneumatic pistons being exposed to the resistance of
the weight of a column of atmospheric air on their outer surfaces a
rectilineal plane horizontal movement in advance will be imparted to the
entire mass, and action and reaction being equal by rapid and continual
working of the pneumatic cylinders under proper regulation and guidance,
the possible maximum velocity attainable can be speedily arrived at and
permanently maintained with great economy in the expenditure of
primary motor power in the case of land carriages without the
necessity of any mechanical connection between the driving power and
the wheels, and in the case of floating bodies without any portion of the
machinery being brought of necessity in contact with the water, as in
the case of the screw and paddle wheel.
In order the better to insure effective working the pneumatic cylinders
above described should be provided with external clapper valves working
over a small exhaust port, and so constructed that any air leakage
penetrating into the vacuum space comprised between the inner surface
of the cover and the reverse surface of the piston may be expelled from
the pneumatic cylinder, as the piston after each successive stroke out-
wards recedes inwards towards the closed end of the valve after opening
sufficiently to allow of the air escaping, closing again hermetically as the
piston is thrust or hauled outwards.
In certain cases steam, gas, or other matter of suddenly expansive or
explosive nature may be admitted direct into the pneumatic cylinders
into the "lead" between the reverse surface of the piston and the inner
surface of the cover, the pneumatic cylinder being furnished with an
exhaust port, as set forth in the Drawings.
The remainder of my Invention refers (2ndly) to affording, in addition
to increased security, additional facility in the removal and replacement
of piston rods (where a plurality of piston rods is employed) by the con-
struction of the ends and heads of such piston rods so as to permit of
the same being screwed into countersunk wormed sockets wrought
or tapped in the body or core of the pistons, and as the case may be, into
the cross heads, so that without the removal of the cover as presently
required a piston rod may be shifted in event of sudden fracture by
reason of the excessive strains to which it is frequently subjected under

page_text: certain conditions by the simple operation of slightly slackening the
screws and nuts of its stuffing box and gland.
As both in case of locomotive carriages and of floating bodies it
frequently happens that the structural conformation of the frame of such
carriage and the disposition of the steam boilers in both tend to limit the
space applicable to be devoted to engine purposes, I also where con-
venient or advisable construct cylinders, together with their pistons, of
an oblate or oval form, as shewn in the Drawings annexed.
Having described my said Invention as above in order that it may be
most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to 1
describe the Drawings as hereunto annexed.
A represents an ordinary steam cylinder with a port at a and exhaust
at X, admitting the supply of steam or other motor at a high pressure
greater than that yielded by the atmospheric pressure on the outer
surface of the piston of the larger pneumatic cylinder B, the cover of 1
which is furnished with a clapper valve b, to exhaust any leakage of air
by means of the simple back stroke of the piston expelling the same.
This figure shews the working by thrust movement, and also the
adjustment of duplicate or multiple piston rods fitted into the pistons by
means of screw ends.
C, D, shews the principle of pneumatic propulsion by means of a
hauling movement, the steam or other motor being admitted at the port
d, exhaust port observe at x.
2
E, F, represents a land vehicle furnished with the pneumatic propeller
working on the thrust movement, the machinery being quite disconnected 2
from and independent of the wheels, the motor power being admitted at
the port e exhaust at x.
G, H, illustrates a similar vehicle intended to be propelled by a
pneumatic cylinder worked on the hauling principle with a supply port
at fexhaust at x.
I represents a single direct acting pneumatic cylinder with its piston
rod working through a standard guide, the steam or other motor being
admitted at i and exhaust at X.
3
K, L, K, L, illustrate a pair of pneumatic cylinders with alternate
motion, so arranged that when one piston is at its least effective point the 3
other shall be at its most.

page_text: And, finally, I do not limit myself to the precise method of obtaining
locomotion by pneumatic action according to the details set forth, but I
claim to include any other substantially similar mechanical combination
of the material parts above described capable of producing the like
results.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Collingridge, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.