CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN HANSON, of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Plumber and
Brazier, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of August, in the first year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said John Hanson, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, is especial licence that 1, the said John Hanson, my exors,
adiiors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS ON LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that if 1, the said John Hanson, should not particu-
larly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery written six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent, then the said Letters
Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso 1, the said
John Hanson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into
effect, is described and clearly shewn by the Drawings hereto annexed,
and the following descriptions...
In the annexed Drawings the same letters and figures in the different
sections and views represent the same parts throughout, and the scale
to which the several sections and views are drawn is marked on each
Sheet.
Before I refer to the annexed Drawing, I shall state that my Inven-
tion of "Certain Improvements on Locomotive Carriages" does not con-
sist in any peculiarity in the construction of the engine, or of the manner
in which the power of such engine is applied for the purpose of propelling
the carriage, but in the construction and arrangement of parts herein-
after described, by which the power of the engine, after it is conveyed
to the axletree, is more efficiently applied for the purpose of propelling
the carriage, and also certain difficulties obviated which have been felt
in carriages of a different construction. The engine I have used for
the carriage herein-after described has been of the high-pressure con-
struction, in, which the steam is allowed to escape without condensation.
after having passed through the cylinder, and the application of the
powor to the axletrees of the carriage has been effected by one of those
well-known arrangements for this purpose, which I have chosen in con-
sequence of it enabling me to place the engine on the same springs as
the body of the carriage.
I shall now proceed to describe my "Certain Improvements in Loco-
motive Carriages," in reference to the annexed Drawings, in which Fig. 1,
Sheet 1, represents a perspective side view of the framing, and two of
the wheels of a carriage, the body, engine, and other parts being
omitted to make the description of my certain improvements
more clear; Fig. 2, Sheet 1, is a view of the same side of a
carriage, in which the wheels are omitted also to make the
description of my certain improvements more clear; and Fig. 4,
Sheet 2, is a plan of the same, in which the springs and chains
shown in Fig. 2 are omitted for the purpose of exhibiting more clearly
other parts connected with the guiding or directing the carriage as herein-
after described. In Fig. 1 the position of the engine is immediately
above the cranked shaft A, which receives a rotatory motion in the
ordinary way from its connection with the piston rod of the engine; and,

page_text: on referring to the same letter in Fig. 2, it will be seen how the motion
of the shaft A is conveyed by means of the studded wheel B and
chain C to the wheel D, which is fast on the axletree E. On the shaft A
there is also placed a larger studded wheel F, which is connected by a
chain to a similar wheel on the axletree E; these two driving wheels B
and F may be respectively connected or disconnected with the shaft A
by means of a clutch box and lever; and it is by means of this arrange-
ment that the number of revolutions of the axletree E, and consequently
the speed of the carriage, is determined, as it is obvious that the revolu-
tions of the axletree must depend on the relative diameters of the studded
wheels B and F, the diameters of the fast wheels on the axletree E being
equal to each other. On the axletree E is also fastened a third studded
wheel, of the same size as the wheel D, over which the endless chain G
passes to a similar wheel fast on the axletree H, and thereby imparts
the motion received from the engine to both axletrees alike. It will
be observed, in reference to Fig. 2, that the axletrees E and H are not
fixed or fastened to the general frame of the carriage, but merely kept at
an equal distance from each other by means of the perpendicular slots
or guides h, h, h, and h, h, h, which slots or guides are firmly con-
nected with the framing below. This framing, along with the carriage
and engine, are supported by the springs I and I, which rest on the
axletrees, and are bolted to the framing and at their extremities, as
seen in Fig. 2, thus allowing the whole weight of the carriage and
engine to vibrate in a perpendicular direction without interfering with
communication of power from the shaft A to the axletree E.
Fig. 3, Sheet 1, represents a detached view of one of the iron guides
or slots h, h, h, shewing a section of the axletree E, upon which the
springs I, I, are supported by means of steps in which it revolves.
Having described the means by which the rotatory motion of the
shaft A is transferred to the axletrees E and H, I shall proceed to
describe my improved method of attaching or connecting the wheels to
the axletrees. And here I would remark, that in this construction of
carriage it is only to two of the wheels that the power is applied, viz*,
those represented at K, K, Fig. 1 and Fig. 4, the opposite wheels seen
at K', K', 'Fig. 4, running loose on their respective axletrees, as herein-
after described, my object in the arrangement being to obviate the cross
winding or twist on the axletree, which has been found so inconvenient
when the two opposite wheels have been fixed on the same axletree to
which power was applied. That this cross winding or twist of the axle-

page_text: tree must arise when the two wheels are fixed on the same axletree from
which they receive motion is obvious from the inequality of distance
which each wheel necessarily travels where any turning of the carriage
is required, which renders, the uniform speed of the axletree from which
the wheels are driven too quick for one wheel or too slow for the other;
the consequence of which is, that one or other of the two wheels con-
nected with the same axletree must slip or slide over the ground quicker
than corresponds with its revolution, and the cross winding or twist of
the axletree ensue, which it is the object of this part of my plan to
supersede.
My improved method of attaching or connecting the wheels to the
axletrees will be more clearly seen by reference to Fig. 5, Sheet 2,
which represents a transverse section of one of the wheels K, with the
axletree E inserted into the bush or knave thereof. The interior of the
knave of each wheel consists of a cylindrical hole, into which the
spherical end L of the axletree E is admitted, and fits accurately. At
the exterior of this bush or knave is placed a metallic flange M, seen
in section at Fig. 5, and a front view at Fig. 7. This is bolted through
the knave to a corresponding flange marked N. on the opposite side.
These two flanges marked M and N, the latter of which is formed with
a conical aperture for the axletrec to pass through (and to allow of the
vibration of the wheel in the act of turning the carriage), hold the wheel
firm to the axletree, forming the well-known ball and socket or universal
joint. In constructing the interior bush of the knave in which the
spherical part L is inserted, the slot or opening into which the stud
is received has been made large enough to admit small plates or pieces
of steel on either side of the stud, as seen tinted red in Fig. 8. By this
application of the ball and socket joint the wheels are allowed to turn
independent of the motion of the axletree; but that the axletree may
carry such wheels as are designed to propel the carriage, a small stud L
projects from the two or more of the spherical parts L, see Fig. 5, and
fits into a corresponding slot or opening marked in the bush or interior
of such wheels as are designed to propel the carriage, by which means
those wheels are connected to the axletree at the ends where these
studs are placed, and carried along with the axletrec. It must here
be observed that the construction of this axletrec does not support or
hold any of the wheels in the requisite perpendicular position, but that
this is effected by a perpendicular guide or brace which is seen marked
in perspective at O, O, O, in Fig. 1, in connection with the wheels and

page_text: detached in Fig. 6. These guides, as will be seen at Fig. 1 and Fig. 4,
embrace and hold the two extremities of the knaves of their respective
wheels, and being themselves held in a perpendicular position by means
of a collar or loop attached to the carriage, hold the wheels also perpen-
dicular, independent of the axletrees. In connection with this per-
pendicular guide O, O, O, will be seen an horizontal guide of a similar
construction at P, P, P, Figs. 1 and 4, in connection with the wheels
and detached at Fig. 6. These horizontal guides, marked respectively
P, P, P, are firmly connected with the perpendicular guide, marked
respectively O, 0, 0, as seen in Fig. 1 and 4. In reference to Fig. 4
it will be also seen that each of the horizontal guides marked P, P, P,
are connected by means of the stud p, best seen in Fig. 6, to the slots
or openings at the respective extremities of a moving bar S, S, which
passes across the framing of the carriage. This bar S, S, is traversed
endwise or moved back and forth in an horizontal direction by means of
the lever Q, Q, which moves on its fulcrum R. This lever Q, Q, is for
the purpose of steering and directing the course of the carriage, and
the end q is placed under the direction of the guide or engineer. The
action of the steering or guiding apparatus now described will be more
clearly shewn by reference to Fig. 4, where the wheels and guiding
apparatus are shewn in a position for the carriage to proceed in a straight
line, and afterwards, tinted in red, in a position for turning or proceed-
ing in a curved line, the latter being effected to a greater or lesser
extent according to the angle in which the leading and following wheels
are placed with respect to each other, which is necessarily dependent
on the position of lever Q, Q, as already described.
Having now described my "Certain Improvements on Locomotive
Carriages," together with the application of power to the axletrees of
such carriages, which latter I have done for the purpose of making the
application of my improvements more clear, I have again to declare
that I do not claim the application of the power of the engine, or any
peculiar construction of the engine, but I do claim the general arrange-
ment of parts for connecting the wheels to the axletrees, together with
that arrangement of parts for the purpose of guiding the course or
direction of the carriage described in reference to Fig. 4; and, lastly, I
declare that although I have herein described certain proportions of
parts which I have found to answer in practise, I do not confine myself
to such proportions, all such proportions being susceptible of great
variation and modification, according to the nature or construction of

page_text: such carriages, as my "Certain Improvements on Locomotive Carriages
may be applied to all, which variations and modifications to produce the
same effect and results may be obtained with facility by any person of
competent skill, and fit to be entrusted with the construction of apparatus
or machinery of this or a like description.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hanson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-one
BARLOW, Extra.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED that on the Twenty-fourth day of February
in the year of our Lord 1831. the aforesaid John Hanson came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.