Improvements in Apparatus for Starting Tram Cars and other Vehicles or Rolling Stook.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 17th Oct, 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Starting Tram Cars and other
Vehicles or Rolling Stook.
I, STEPHEN LESLIE NORRIS, of 23 Clareville Grove, in the County of
London, Captain Royal Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the Specification to Letters Patent No. 6632 of 1885 I described a construction
of apparatus for starting tram cars and other vehicles wherein the horse or other
motor in exerting a pull on starting, was made first to move a lever which by
means of a cam or exentric effected the turning of a disc fixed on one of the wheel
axles and thus turned the wheels partially round so as to start the vehicle with a
lever action instead of by a dead pull..
My present invention relates to improved arrangements of mechanism for carrying
out the mode of action described in the said Specification which I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 shews a longitudinal section of the lower part of a tram car with my
improved starting mechanism applied thereto.
Figure 2 shews a sectional plan and
Figures 3 and 4 shew respectively a part longitudinal section and part plan to a
larger scale.
On the axle A of the road wheels is fixed a disc B. having a V groove and on
each side of this disc is a lever C, the end of the two levers being connected by a
holt and link to the arm D of a T shaped lover D D' D', which turns loose on in
axis Ds carried by brackets F from the car frame.
To the arm D' of this lever, which is of the same length as D, are attached wire
cords E E passing along the centre line of the car to each end thereof and
constituting the traces to which the horse or other motor is attached, so that on
exerting a pull, say on E on starting the vehicle from the right hand end, the
levers D D D and C will be moved from the positions shewn in full lines to those
shewn in dotted lines, while when a pull is exerted on E on starting the vehicle
from the left hand end, the levers would be moved from the dotted position into
the full position. The levers C carry between them a cam G fixed on an axis H
that passes loose through holes in the levers and carries at one end a weighted
arm 1 and at the other end a sprocket wheel J. The cam G engages with the
groove of the disc B, and it is of such a form that it can be reversed in position so
as to grip the diso either when the double lever C is moved from the full to the
dotted position, as shewn on the drawing, or when it is moved from the dotted to
the full position, the weighted arm I, in being reversed with the cam, tending to
bring it into action in either case. To the arms D' D' of the lever are attached,
at equal distances from the centre of its axis, the ends of two springs K K¹, the
other ends of which are attached to the ends of a double ended lever L fixed on an
axis M carried by brackets N and having at one end a hand lever O working
against a notched quadrant P, while at the other end it carries a sprocket wheel
round which, and round the sprocket wheel J, passes an endless chain R. From
this arrangement it will be seen that when the parts are in the position shown in
full lines in Figures 1 and 3, which is the position for starting the car from the
right hand end, and a pull is put upon the trace cord E, the lever C in being moved
into the dotted position as described, will by means of the cam G drag the axle A
of the road wheel round with it, and will thereby start the car. On relaxing the
pull on the trace cord on stopping, the upper spring K, which has previously been

page_text: extended by the movement of the lever D D D from the full to the dotted
position, will, in contracting, draw this lever, and consequently also the lever C
back into the full position, ready to be operated upon again in the manner described
on again starting the car. In order to facilitate this, backward' movement of the
levers the grip of the cam G on the disc B is previously released by the following
device.
To the axis of the cam, are fixed' the ends of two opposite blade springs SS,
such ends being coiled partly round the axis in opposite directions, and then
extending with their free ends in a radial direction as shewn. When the lever C
is moved into the dotted position as described, the projecting end of the spring S
is brought in contact with a stop T projecting from a brackot U on the car frame,
whereby the coiled end is somewhat tightened, or wound up, and in tending to
unwind assists the grooved wheel B in turning the axis of the cam so as to make
this release its grip on the disc, and also continues to hold the cam out of contact
during the time the car is running.
When the car is to travel in the opposite direction, so that a pull exerted on the
trace cord E' has to move the lovers from the dotted to the full position on starting,
the lever is moved over into the left hand position Figures 1 and 3, thoreby
turning, axis M and lever L so as to cause the springs K. K" to move the
levers D D D³, and C into the dotted position, and at the same time to cause the
sprocket wheel Q chain R and sprocket wheel J to turn the cam G, weighted arm I
and springs S S¹ into the opposite position, so that the cam will now grip the
disc B when the lever C is moved in the upward direction by the pull on E, and
this grip will then be released on the spring S" coming in contact with the under
side of a stop T on a bracket U' and placed in a correspondingly higher position
than T.
On exercising the pull on the trace cord E or E on starting as described, the
bar V to which the hook at the end of the cord E E' is attached, slides forward' in
the loop or hook W, and by the time the above described motion of the lever C
has been completed, the bar V will butt against the end of the hook, which will
then take the pulling strain of the motor.
It will be seen that as the lever C is, according to the present improved arrange-
ment, made to extend more or less horizontally instead of vertically, the requisite
amount of leverage can be obtained without inconvenience to the general con-
struction of the car.
Although I have described the starting gear as applied to only one pair of road
wheels, it will be evident that it may also be applied to both pairs.
The brake apparatus described in combination with the starting apparatus in the
Specification to my said Patent No. 6632 can also be applied in precisely the same
manner to the above described apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In apparatus for starting tram cars and other vehicles by lover and cam action,
arranging the lever or levers carrying the cam in a more or less horizontal position,
and actuating it by the trace cords through the intervention of a T shaped lever,
acted upon by springs in such manner, that the T shaped lever and cam lever are
moved from the one position into the other for starting the vehicle, the springs tend
to bring them back into their original position on the pull on the trace cord being
relaxed substantially as described.
2. In apparatus for starting tram cars and other vehicles by lever and cam action
such as is referred to in the preceding claim, connecting the springs that effect the
return motion of the cam lever to a double ended lever on an axis, on reversing the
position of which by a hand lever, the springs are made to reverse the position of
the cam lever for starting in the opposite direction, while at the same time, the
position of the cam carried by the said lever is reversed by means of an endless'

page_text: chain passing round sprocket wheels fixed respectively on the axis of the double
ended lever and on the axis of the cam substantially as described.
3. In-apparatus for starting tram cars and other vehicles by lever and cam action,
the combination of the disc B, levor C with cam G, lever DD' D' springs K K¹
double ended lever L, reversing hand lever O, sprocket wheels J and Q and endless
chain R, arranged and operating substantially as described with reference to the
accompanying drawings:
4. In combination with the cam G referred to in the preceding claim, the use of
springs such as S S', so arranged in combination with stops T T that on the
lever C being moved from the one position to the other, the said springs in coming
in contact with the said stops, cause the cam to turn so as to release its grip on the
disc B, substantially as described with reference to the drawings.
Dated thio 26th dor of A vo 1801
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.