IMPROVEMENTS IN. RAILWAYS, AND IN CARRIAGES TO BE USED THEREON
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jeffries Kingsley at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th July
1860.
I, JEFFRIES KINGSLEY, of 52, Great Coram Street, in the County of Middle-
sex, Lieutenant on Half-pay, of Her Majesty's Third Regiment of Dragoons,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
RAILWAYS, AND IN CARRIAGES TO BE USED THEREON," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of the following arrangements, which may enable
Her Majesty's mails to be conveyed with greater certainty, and at a rate per-
haps exceeding fifty miles per hour, no alteration being required to be made
in the railway. Where the above carriage may be stationed in front or in the
rear of the mail train. When in cases of accident, it may proceed to the next
station house, from whence a locomotive may be despatched to the van, of
which the Post Office guard and the mail bags may be transferred. The
carriage is suitable for such railways as are not provided with the "two
bottom" telegraph wires, by means of which such disasters are notified to
the station houses.
Under another arrangement Her Majesty's mails, expresses, and passengers
may travel at a speed approximating to 100 miles per hour, caused by improve-
ments taking effect on the arterial railways leading from London to-the-remote
extremities of the postal districts within the United Kingdom; for the afore-
said arrangements, four very light wheels may be laid on the irons of one of

page_text: ments.
the above railways, from the axles of which the above carriage may be
suspended, being propelled by the aid of the main spring within the brass box,
similar to that of a watch, main springs being supplied to the carriage whilst
proceeding onwards. A locomotive impelled by steam, heated air, or by gas,
may be applied with such machinery as may be suitable for these arrange-
The wheels may be ten feet in their diameter, which may assume the
oblique direction so that their upper circumference may not be damaged by
the walls of tunnels. A construction which admits of the carriage being
situate much below the centre of gravity preventing its hopping off the railway
to the detriment of the superintendent who may be seated within the carriage
The flanges of the wheels may be in a plane perpendicular to that of the
horizon. Instead of the flanges being situate inside the circumference of the
wheel they may be consolidated with the outside thereof contributing to pre-
vent the lighter carriages in a train jumping off the line. The fixing of the
flanges on the outside of the wheel may be applied to such railroads as have
not been constructed (as especially for Hindostan) where an extensive system of
railways cannot have taken root. The axles of the carriage may be in a plane
parallel with that of the horizon, their extremities being elongated about two
inches beyond the circumference of the lower extremity of the wheels from
both of which extremities the carriage may be suspended, also contributing
to place the centre of gravity in the best position of which circumstances
might admit.
In furtherance of the second arrangement two strong iron wires may be
secured longitudinally along the outer sides of the rails, each being situate
about one foot beyond the same. The aforesaid wires becoming guides for
the two or the four pendent rods, which may be attached to the sides or to
the four angles of the platform of the carriage herein-after to be described.
By means of such wires or guides, Her Majesty's mails, expresses, and pas-
sengers may travel with a speed, certainty, and security greater than ever,
caused principally by the carriage being prevented tilting over the railway,
that is to say, the lower extremities of the pendent rods may be bent inwards
in the horizontal direction passing underneath the two longitudinal wires.
By the aid of the aforesaid and of similar contrivances the carriage itself
and whatever vehicles may be attached thereto cannot hop off the railway,
bidding defiance to a strong side wind, which might upset such light carriages;
of course channels similar in purpose may be grooved in the irons of
ordinary railways, the pendent rods being applied to the carriages.
The
carriage may be suspended far below the centre of gravity, by means of
three wheels, the spokes of the third one being in the perpendicular direction,

page_text: namely, apertures may be bored in both extremities of two shafts of wood
which may be received by the extremities of the axle of the two wheels,
their other extremities being attached to the axis of the perpendicular wheel,
the carriage being suspended either from the wood or from the axles.
In this construction a longitudinal bar may be laid along the middle of the
railway on which the single wheel may travel. Pendant rods may be attached
to the front and to the rear of the carriage, their lower extremities being
severed in twain and bent inwards in the horizontal direction, passing under-
neath the aforesaid longitudinal bar, preventing the carriage hopping off the
Oline. Of course the longitudinal wires may be dispensed with. The carriage
may be also suspended from the axle of two wheels, the latter being in an
oblique direction as tending to preserve life and property.
With a view to economy I propose to make the rails in general use with
longitudinal channels or grooves in their upper surfaces, within which steel
rods or iron of superior manufacture and quality may be secured without the
expensive aid of chairs and compensators, regarding the contraction or expan-
sion of the rod either in its width or in its length; as soon as a rod is worn
by traffic it may be removed, a new one being substituted in its place,
causing the line of railway to endure the "wear and tear" of many years;
should a rod be not sound in its manufacture the imperfect portion may be
cut by a machine, being replaced by a perfect one.
In process of time the
inside of the rail may be worn by the flange of the wheel when it may be
turned outwards, a new surface being presented to the flange. The proposed
rail might partake of the functions of the chair in so much (in the manufacture
of the rail) that a chair may be incorporated in one extremity or in both ex-
tremities of each rail. In order to secure the rails in a firm permanent
position by means of which the expense attendant on their superintendance
might be saved, two new ones may be provided, one chair being applicable
to the middle of the rail, the other chair being adapted for the extremities
thereof.
A third provision may be essentially requisite, namely, the securing of the
nuts of the bolts and of a cross railway on which carriages may pass by means
of which switches may be dispensed with, & by means of which the chairs are
fitted to the longitudinal and transverse timbers. Regarding both extremities
of a rail; they may be rounded by means of a file as might admit of the
flange of the wheel moving onwards without being obstructed by an abrupt
projection. In addition to the aforesaid precaution part of the sides of the
inside of the chair and of the rail adjacent thereto may be also cut away by a
round file. For example, the chair for the extremities of two rails may as-

page_text: sume the form of letter U (reversed) the legs being elongated. Two slits
about four inches in length may be cut in the wood at each side of the
extremities of the two rails into which slits both legs of the chair may be
driven, the curve of the letter U being on a level with the upper surfaces of
both rails, admitting of the wheels passing over unobstructed. The round file
may be then applied to both sides of the leg of the chair and to the rails
adjacent thereto, thus securing a free passage for the flange. The legs of the
chair may project three inches or more below the timber, two slits being made
in the aforesaid legs, through which steel springs or other suitable compensa-
tors may pass admitting of the timber contracting or expanding by drought
or by moisture.
Finally, the excavation which was made in the earth beneath the timber
may be filled up with bricks or clay, the whole being hammered compact. By
means of the aforesaid chair fastenings & compensators, the serious expense
incurred in the superintending of chairs may be in some measure saved. Tho
outsides of the above and of other chairs may be strengthened by buttresses,
similar in principle to those observeable in the walls of cathedrals, which might
successfully resist the lateral pressure of the flange, which tends to force
the rail outside of the line. In some cases the more effectually to secure the
rails firmly in their position molten lead may be poured amongst the nuts
and bolts, also between the chairs and the rails, compensators being interposed,
lead being also applicacle to "fishes" or to other jointing plates or pieces.
In some cases the details of this Invention might be varied or altered in
practice.