IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE DRAUGHT CARRIAGES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Leahy, of 53, Hereford Road, Westbourne
Park, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE DRAUGHT
CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 8th November 1859, and dated the 14th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Leahy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th May 1859.
I, MATTHEW LEAHY, of 53, Hereford Road, Westbourne Park, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE DRAUGHT
OF CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus to be applied to carriages and waggons, or to agricultural and
locomotive engines, whereby greater facility of draught or transport over
ordinary roads, or over soft and marshy land, is obtained, than by the vehicles
at present adopted.
In carrying out this Invention it is proposed to fit on the axle or axles of
the vehicle, and on each side of the bearing wheels, an eccentric, upon which
eccentrics revolve freely a pair of disc wheels of rather larger diameter than
the bearing wheels. The centres of the disc wheels are maintained slightly
higher than the centres of the bearing wheels by the aid of the fixed eccentrics

page_text: before mentioned. These disc wheels serve to carry an endless chain of short
lengths of rail, the several lengths being connected together by metal or
vulcanized india-rubber links, over and upon which rails the bearing wheels
are intended to run. The object of the eccentricity of the disc wheels is to
prevent the endless chain of rails from coming in contact with the peripheries
of the bearing wheels, except at the actual bearing point, by which means a
great portion of the strain on the joint pins of the rails, and the friction
attendant upon the working of the rails round the wheels as the whole
advances, is prevented.
The peripheries of the bearing wheels may be either plain, that is, similar
to an ordinary carriage wheel, or flanged, and, if found desirable, india-rubber
bands may be applied to the peripheries of the eccentric disc wheels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Leahy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
LEANY, of 53, Hereford Road, Westbourne Park, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Matthew Leahy, Her special license that I, the said Matthew Leahy,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Matthew
Leahy, my executors, administrators, or 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 APPARATUS
FOR FACILITATING THE DRAUGHT OF CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Matthew Leahy, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Matthew Leahy, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and, in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
.
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus to be applied to carriages and waggons, or to agricultural and
locomotive engines, whereby greater facility of draught or transport over
ordinary roads, or over soft and marshy land, is obtained, than by the vehicles
at present adopted.
In carrying out this Invention, it is proposed to fit on the axle or axles of
the vehicle, and on each side of the bearing wheels, an eccentric, upon which
eccentrics revolve freely a pair of disc wheels. The centres of the disc wheels
are maintained slightly higher than the centres of the bearing wheels by the
aid of the fixed eccentrics before mentioned. Each pair of disc wheels carries
an endless chain of short lengths of rail, the several lengths being connected
together by metal or vulcanised india-rubber links, or links composed of a
combination of rubber and metal, or other materials of a flexible and yielding
nature. These endless chains support the bearing wheels, and serve as end-
less railways for the vehicle to run upon. The object of the eccentricity of
the disc wheels is to prevent the endless chain of rails from coming in contact
with the peripheries of the bearing wheels, except at the actual bearing point,
by which means a great portion of the strain on the joint pins of the rails,
and the friction attendant upon the working of the rails round the wheels as
the whole advances, is prevented.
The peripheries of the bearing wheels may be either plain, that is, similar
to an ordinary carriage wheel, or flanged, and, if found desirable, india-rubber
bands or rims, or felloes of wood, or other comparitively soft material, may be
applied to the peripheries of the eccentric disc wheels, to prevent the noise
and jarring of the endless chains of rails as they pass over them.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall refer
to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
sanie letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation of a waggon or truck
fitted with my improvements; Figure 2 is a corresponding end view of the
same; Figures 3 and 4 represent enlarged elevational details of one of the
bearing wheels with its accompanying pair of eccentric disc wheels; Figures

page_text: 5 and 6 are sectional views of the same; and Figures 7 and 8 are details of a
portion of one of the endless chains of rails.
A is the body or floor of a truck or waggon, shewn in the Drawing as
having no sides, and intended for the carriage of bulky articles of a ponderous
nature, such as large blocks of hewn stone. This waggon is provided behind
with a fixed axle B, and in front with a swivel axle C, and ordinary locking
or turning carriage D, or both axles may be made to turn on centres, if
desired. The actual bearing wheels E, E, (shewn more clearly in the details)
may be either flanged as in the Drawing, or left plain on their peripheries;
these wheels turn freely upon their axles B and C, upon which are keyed the
eccentrics F, F, one on each side of each bearing wheel. Upon these
eccentrics (the centres of which are above the centres of the axles) turn
loosely the discs G, G. A boss g in the centre of each disc fits behind a
shoulder in the eccentric, and an internal plate h is screwed to the inner side
of the eccentric, whereby the disc wheels are maintained upon their eccentrics,
while at the same time they are perfectly free to turn as required; or the
eccentrics may be made in two parts bolted together. The endless chains of
rails H, H, are entirely supported and carried by the disc wheels, and as the
upper edge of these wheels stand some distance above the periphery of the
bearing wheels, it follows that the endless chain will be kept entirely out of
contact with the periphery of the bearing wheels, excepting at the bearing
points beneath the bearing wheels, thereby considerably reducing the friction
of the chains over the wheels, and obviating the injurious straining on the
links, which occurs when the chains are simply passed over and carried by the
bearing wheels themselves. The endless chains of rails may be constructed of
different sections, according to the shape of the rim of the bearing wheels.
When applied to locomotives, the bearing wheels are fixed on their axles, and
the eccentrics are loose thereon, but are maintained in their proper position
by sliding in suitable guides or guard irons in which their bosses are made to
fit; or, in lieu of disc wheels, one or more rollers may be employed, carried
by arms fixed to the axles or framing, such rollers projecting over the upper
edge of the bearing wheels, and supporting the endless chains of rails which
pass over them. When flanged wheels are used, I prefer to use the bridge
form of rail shewn at Figures 7 and 8, each length of rail H being jointed to
its neighbour by a short link i of metal or vulcanized india-rubber, or other
yielding material. I do not, however, confine myself to the particular form of
rail herein described.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried

page_text: into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction and arrangement of apparatus for facilitating
the draught of carriages, as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of discs or wheels placed eccentrically to
the bearing wheels of carriages, or of rollers carried by arms fixed to the axles
of such wheels, for the purpose of carrying and supporting endless chains of
bearing rails, as herein-before described.
Third, the combination of endless chains of rails with eccentric wheels or
discs, for facilitating the draught of carriages, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Leahy, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
MATTHEW LEAHI. (L.S.)