IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPULSION BY ATMOSPHERIC
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sir John Scott Lillie, Knight and Companion
of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath, late Lieutenant-
Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and Major-General in the Portuguese
Service, of 104, Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPULSION BY ATMOSPHERIC
Sealed the 1st August 1864, and dated the 5th February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sir John Scott Lillie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th February 1864.
I, Sir JOHN SCOTT LILLIE, Knight and Companion of the Most Honorable
Military Order of the Bath, late Lieutenant-Colonel of the Grenadier Guards,
and Major-General in the Portuguese Service, of 104, Pall Mall, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPULSION BY ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE,'
to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the construction of tunnels or covered ways
of a triangular form; on the base of this triangle I propose propelling goods
and passengers, by means of pistons of the same form attached to carriages
or trains, and by atmospheric pressure on one side of such pistons,
and by the removal of the air on the other by any means heretofore in use
for that purpose. In order that the upper portions of passenger trains may

page_text: move in the open air, I propose having the upper sides of this triangle so
constructed as to admit of being opened at the apex by means of horizontal
wheels attached to the sides of such carriages. I effect this by making the
sides of the tunnel separate, so that these upper sides of such tunnel, after
being opened, will fall into their original position, and the tunnel will resume
its triangular form, the portion of this tunnel or curved way through
which the piston passes remaining always closed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sir John Scott Lillie in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Sir JOHN
SCOTT LILLIE, Knight and Companion of the Most Honourable Military
Order of the Bath, late Lieutenant-Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and
Major-General in the Portuguese Service, of 104, Pall Mall, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Sir John Scott Lillie, Her special licence that I, the said Sir John
Scott Lillie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Sir John Scott Lillie, 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 APPARATUS FOR PROPULSION BY ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
These improvements consist in the construction of tunnels or covered ways
of a triangular or other convenient form, on the base of which I propose to
propel goods or passengers by means of pistons of the same form attached to
carriages or trains, and by the removal of the air on one side of such piston
by any means heretofore in use for that purpose, and by atmospheric pressure
on the other side of the pistons. I also propose to propel carriages on the
exterior of tunnels of a rectangular or other convenient shape of such capacity
as to afford ample room for the free admission of air to the back of the piston.
These tunnels should moreover be of such magnitude as not only freely to
admit the air, but the carriages, when required to be moved on the base of
triangular tunnels. This can be effected by the two other sides of this triangle
acting as valves by means of hinges or joints at the base, such sides being
formed of flexible materials, sheet iron, for instance, supported by iron ribs
at convenient distances apart. These sides to be opened for the passage of
the carriages by horizontal wheels or rollers attached to the sides of the
carriages, after which they will fall back into their original position, the ends
of these tunnels in front of the pistons being closed by folding doors and
opened by buffers attached to the pistons on arriving at stations, so as to
enable the trains to move in the open air, and to stop for the ingress
or egress of passengers, as locomotives do at present, the pistons supported by
wheels having entered in the meantime a fresh segment of tunnel, so as to
move on again when required. The windows of the carriages moving through
the open portions of these tunnels are to be elevated above these flexible
sides, to enable passengers to continue in the open air as heretofore by
ordinary railway trains. Trains thus propelled will not have to encounter
that degree of atmospheric resistance which is well known so materially to
impede carriages and all bodies moving rapidly through the open air.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings represents a transverse section of the triangular
tunnel closed, and Fig. 2 a similar section of the tunnel open and a carriage
therein. Should trains moving altogether in the open air be preferred,
tunnels may be constructed of iron with perpendicular sides and an angular
top to serve as valves for the connecting link between the piston and trains,
as well as for the free admission of air to the back of the piston, which is in
all cases to move in the closed portion of the tunnel, this connecting link
being of a length to correspond with the distance between the closed and
open portions of the tunnel. The perpendicular sides of this tunnel to be
strengthened by iron girders for the trains to run on, such iron girders on

page_text: elevated viaducts would be, moreover, preferable for metropolitan lines to sub-
terraneous tunnelling or crossings on a level, as there would be no such inter-
ruptions to traffic or dangers in crossings as in railways on a level.
represents a side view of a carriage running on the exterior of a rectangular
tunnel.
Fig. 3
a, the piston; b, the connecting rod; and c, supporting wheels; Fig. 4 is
a transverse section of the same; and Fig. 5 a section of a rectangular
tunnel closed, the dotted lines shewing the open valves.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would remark that I do not limit
myself to the precise details and configuration of parts herein expressed and
shewn, as the same may be modified or varied without departing from the
principles on which my Invention is based; for example, the section of the
tunnels may be other than triangular or rectangular, if found preferable; but
what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited
Letters Patent are, the methods of propelling carriages on the base of
triangular or other formed tunnels, and on the exterior of rectangular tunnels,
or tunnels of other convenient forms, by atmospheric pressure, substantially
as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
L. J. WETHERELL,
Clerk to Messrs. Prince & Co.,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
J. S. LILLIE. (L.S.)