IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING THE MOVEMENT OF TRACTION ENGINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING THE
MOVEMENT OF TRACTION ENGINES."-A communication from abroad by
William Sprague, of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States
of America.
Sealed the 1st July 1873, and dated the 15th May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th May 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR FACILI-
TATING THE MOVEMENT OF TRACTION ENGINES," a communication, to be as
follows:-

page_text: wheel a series of sections constituting a suitable track in such a manner
that by the rotative movement of the wheel the said sections are suc-
cessively laid at a tangent in front of its tread, and afterwards when the
wheel has passed over them successively taken up at the rear of the
wheel and carried over to be laid in front again, the objects being to
afford a broader and more tractive and permanent surface for the face of
the wheel, and to prevent the wheels burying themselves in the earth by
their own surface action in revolving.
The rotation of the driving wheels' face upon the surface of the earth
over which the engine is required to travel is calculated to hollow out
and remove the earth beneath the tread of the wheel, and bury the
wheel rim without making any progress. In like manner the character
of the soil or its condition from recent cultivation is calculated to let
the wheels of a traction engine cut into it so deeply as to render its
efforts to draw a load, or operate mechanism for ploughing, or other
purposes of a similar character, unavailiug and useless, however well
devised and successfull the machinery may otherwise be. This Invention
is calculated to remedy these difficulties with regard to the traction
wheel, and make its power available on all kinds and conditions of soils
where its service is desirable or likely to be required for drawing loads,
for cultivation, or for other useful purposes.
According to the said Invention the wheel has a series of flat plates of
wood or metal forming sections of a plane surface, on which, when
they are laid together in front of it, the wheel can rotate as on a railway,
and draw a load or plough, or perform other similar useful service.
These plates are attached by ears or projections and by means of screws
or bolts to each side of the rim of the said wheel with sufficient latitude
of motion to lay each plate or section flatly on the ground in advance of
the "tread" of the wheel to permit the wheel to move thereon as on a
track, and afterward to take up the section or plate at the rear of the
"tread" when it has performed its service, and carry with it part of the
wheel rim to be again in its order laid for the track of the wheel in its
regular progress.
If necessary the traction of the two surfaces, the wheel and its track,
is ensured by furnishing the same with cogs or projections, which will
enable the two surfaces to act in concert. Also in cases where the
ground to be travelled over is a sandy highway, or a swampy tract, or a

page_text: well broken field of ploughing, in which the wheel rim itself and also a
simple plain track is likely to be ineffectual for the steady progress of
the machine. The said track may be constructed with a tie or bridge
between and supporting two contigious sections from beneath. The said
bridge may be broader than the surface of the sections, so that both the
bridge and the sections of the track shall serve to sustain the wheel rim,
and prevent its sinking into the soil. The bridge breaks joints with the
two abutting sections, and prevents by the under support it affords the
tilting and sinking of the sections directly beneath the "tread" of the
wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 2nd July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING THE MOVEMENT OF TRACTION
ENGINES," a communication to me from abroad by William Sprague,
of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert
Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly

page_text: 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 William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, forming a part of this Specification :—
This Invention relates to the combination of a portable self-laying
track for the wheels of traction engines, and consists in arranging upon
the rim of the wheel a series of sections constituting a suitable track,
and in such a manner that by the rotative movement of the wheel the
sections are successively laid at a tangent in front of its tread, and after-
ward, when the wheel has passed over them, successively taken up at
the rear of the wheel and carried over it to be laid in front again, the
objects being to afford a broader and more tractive and permanent surface
for the face of the wheel, and to prevent the wheel's burying itself in the
earth by its own surface action in revolving.
The rotation of the driving wheel's face upon the surface of the earth
over which the engine is required to travel is calculated to hollow out
and remove the earth beneath the "tread" of the wheel, and bury the
wheel rim without making any progress. In like manner the character
of the soil, or its condition from recent cultivation, is calculated to let
the wheels of a traction engine cut into it so deeply as to render its efforts
to draw a load, or operate mechanism for ploughing, or other purposes
of a similar character, unavailable and useless, however well devised and
successful the machinery may otherwise be; but this Invention is cal-
culated to remedy these difficulties of the traction wheel, and make its
power available on all kinds and conditions of soils where its service is
desirable or likely to be required for drawing loads, for cultivation, or
for other useful purposes.

page_text: another feature of the said improvements; Figure 4 is a front elevation
of the same.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of a section of the said wheel showing a
modification of Figures 1 and 2.
Similar letters indicate like parts throughout the Drawing.
The wheel W has a series of flat plates I of wood or metal forming
sections of a plane surface on which, when laid together in front of it
the wheel W can rotate as on a rail track and draw a load, or plough,
or perform other similar useful services. These plates are attached by
ears or projections L, and by means of screws or bolts e to each side of
the rim R of the wheel, with sufficient latitude of motion to lay each
plate or section flatly on the ground in advance of the tread of the wheel
to permit the wheel to tread thereon as on a track, and afterward to tako
up the section or plate at the rear B of the "tread" T when it has per-
formed its service, and carry it with its part of the wheel rim over
forward to be again in its order laid for the track of the wheel in its
regular process.
If necessary the traction of the two surfaces, the wheel and its track,
may be insured by furnishing the same with cogs or projections n, as
shown in Figures 3 and 4, which will enable the two surfaces to act in
concert. Also in cases where the ground to be traveled over is a sandy
highway, or a swampy tract, or a well broken field of ploughing in which
the wheel rim itself, and also the simple plane track I, I, shown in
Figures 1 and 2, is likely to be ineffectual for the steady progress of the
machine, the said track may be constructed with a tie or bridge H
between and supporting two contiguous sections I, I, from beneath, as
shown in Figure 5, and the said bridge may be broader than the surface
of the sections, so that both the bridge first and afterward the sections of
the track shall serve to sustain the wheel rim from sinking into the soil,
and the more effectually so because the bridge "breaks joints" with the
two abutting sections I, I, and prevents, by the under support it affords
the tilting and sinking of the sections directly beneath the "tread "T of
the wheel as would under some circumstances be the effect on such
ground without the tie or bridge.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to

page_text: me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,―
First. The sectional wheel track for traction engines and the like in
which the several sections are combined with the wheel, as described,
and by the rotation of the wheel laid tangentially in front of the same
for a track, and afterwards taken up in the rear and carried forward
over the said wheel to be laid in front of it again, as herein set forth.
Second. In a traction wheel, the cogs or projections » interposed
between the surfaces of the wheel and track, as herein described.
Third. In a traction wheel the tie or bridge H in combination with
the sectional wheel, as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here.
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
JAMES EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)