IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES FOR TRAMWAYS OR COMMON ROADS, AND IN STEAM POWER APPARATUS FOR THE SAME, AND APPLICABLE OTHERWISE
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Leonard Jennett Todd at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th January 1875.
I, LEONARD JENNETT TODD, of Leith, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, Road Locomotive Engineer, do hereby declare tho naturo
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES FOR
TRAMWAYS OR COMMON ROADS, AND IN STEAM POWER APPARATUS FOR THE SAME,
AND APPLICABLE OTHERWISE," to be as follows, that is to say:→
This Invention relates to the system of working self-propelling
tramway or common road carriages by the ordinary and well known
means of steam generated in stationary boilers and stored in receivers
attached to the carriages. It comprises improved arrangements of such
carriages together with various improvements in the motive-power
apparatus, that are also applicable when such apparatus is operated for
any purpose by steam applied in the ordinary way.
In one improved arrangement, two cylindrical (or for the most part
cylindrical) metallic- vessels or receivers are placed side by side
longitudinally beneath the floor of a tramway carriage or omnibus, and

page_text: .
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at cach outer side near one end there are fixed a cylinder and piston, the
two being arranged to drive two coupled pairs of wheels. At the end
opposite to the engine cylinders the receivers are by preference formed
with lateral extensions to counterbalance the weight of the engine
cylinders, and domes or steam spaces are fitted to the receivers so as to
project up laterally under the seats. The engine cylinders are provided
with jackets which are in communication with the receivers so as to be
filled with water or steam therefrom, but by preference with water, the
action of which, particularly in high-pressure engines, is more advantageous
than that of steam. At each end of the carriage outside the ordinary 1
dash plate there is placed a brake handle with a regulator and reversing
lever on each side of it, both by preference working lengthways. There
is only one pair of levers which fit into spring sockets, and which are
transferred from one end to the other, of the carriage when the latter is
reversed. There is a buffer beam at each end with draw eyes, and
below each there is fitted a screw pipe coupling with a stop valve
connected to the receivers or to one of them. The exhaust pipes have
branches and three-way cocks, by means of which the waste steam can
be directed to whichever is the following end of the carriage, the steam
escaping through openings round the edges of the curtains above the roof
or by any convenient outlet pipe. This arrangement of double couplings,
levers, and pipes is also applicable to a detached engine and separate car
when these are worked together. Sand boxes are fitted below the seats
with their operating rods or handles connected together, and led to the
end foot boards. The motive-power mechanism is protected from dirt.
by.casings fitted with doors, and with their inner plates provided with
sliding pieces at the cranks or crank bosses.
It is an important practical advantage of the arrangement, herein-before
described, that the entire weight of the carriage as well as of the
propelling apparatus acts on the driving wheels so as to insure sufficient
bite for effective propulsion, particularly on inclined roads.
The charging boilers for the receivers are arranged in a boiler house
contiguous to but separated by a wall from a charging shed, into which
the carriages are run to be charged, the steam supplying pipe being
passed through the wall, and being fitted with a stop valve and coupling
branch opposite the end of each line of rails. Each branch pipe. is
formed with one or more loops or bends or with a sliding cnd piece
working through a stuffing box, so as to accomodate itself to differences

page_text: of position of the carriage pipe couplings. Each branch is also fitted
with a small cock between its stop valve and the end, to allow of the
steam in the pipe being blown off before disconnecting the coupling.
Buffer beams are fitted in the shed with coupling links by which to
secure the carriages when being charged.
In a second arrangement or modification of the locomotive carriage:
three single-acting engine cylinders with pistons are embedded in the
receivers (of which there may be one, two, or three longitudinally
arranged, or a greater number transversely arranged), and the pistons
are connected to a crank shaft placed transversely at the end of the
carriage, and connected by coupling rods to the wheel axles.
.P
When the improved carriage is to be used on steep inclines or for
traction purposes it is provided with one or more wheels having rubber
tires, which are by preference applied in a simpler and less costly manner
that heretofore, being put on in segments which are formed with lateral
ribs or projections for securing on the wheel frame by screw bolts, and
being made with a lateral enlargement at the tread to retain the metal
shoe bars without these requiring any special fastenings.
'
When the improved carriage is to be used for traction purposes, it is
connected to a following carriage by means of a draw link or hook
which has a vibrating rod and handle reaching to one side of the carriage,
so that the link can be lifted up and hooked from the side of the
carriage, and close on either side of this improved coupling are placed
two buffers of T iron or of other form.