IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE TRAM AND ROAD CARS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Turton at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 27th January 1880.
THOMAS TURTON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Iron and Steel
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE TRAM AND ROAD CARS."
The main object of my Invention is to so construct a locomotive car or vehicle
for use on tramways and roads at present existing or hereafter made that such
tramways or roads shall not be materially damaged by the passage of the said cars
or vehicles thereover, that propulsion shall be effected economically, that steering,
turning round, and stopping shall be easily managed, and that such care or vehicles
shall be suitable for running as well on road as rail.
Under the first part of my Invention I so arrange the wheels of a locomotive
tram car or vehicle that the driving wheel shall run on the road and the remaining
wheels on the metals.
In carrying the above first part of my Invention into practice I mount the rear
end of the car or vehicle on a bogie carried by one or more pairs of wheels, and
support the front end of the said car or vehicle by means of a driving wheel at or
near the centre of the frame. The said driving wheel is so fitted as to be capable
of being turned round or swivelled on a vertical or nearly vertical axis, and is
actuated by any suitable motor, steam power being used by preference. Suitable
spring buffers are inserted between the driving wheel bearings and the car or
vehicle frame to prevent the jolting motion of the driving wheel over a rough road
from being transmitted to the said car or vehicle.
Under the second part of my Invention I provide an easily managed, durable,
and economically working tram and road locomotive as follows:-I mount the
engine, boiler, and accessories on a frame supported at one end on wheels, or such
frame may form part of a car or vehicle, and I so mount a driving wheel, which also
serves as a support to the said framework, that such driving wheel can be swivelled
or moved around when it is desired to change the direction of motion of the loco-
motive. The cylinders, pistons, and other necessary parts are mounted over and
connected to the said driving wheel, and steam is conveyed to the said cylinders
from the boiler through a jointed pipe or pipes.
Under the third part of my Invention I construct a tram or road locomotive for
hauling cars or vehicles on three wheels, one such wheel being a driving wheel and
capable of being swivelled or turned, the other two wheels being trailing or

page_text: following wheels. The engine for giving motion to the said driving wheel is
constructed substantially as set forth under the above second part.
Under the fourth part of my Invention I provide brake power for locomotive
bogie carriages or vehicles which shall act uniformly and efficiently on all the
wheels of the bogie. For that purpose I construct the bogie pin hollow, and fit or
provide such pin with a piston and the necessary adjuncts of a fluid pressure
cylinder. The brake gear, which consists of any ordinary or desired arrangement
of levers or cams and brake blocks, is attached to the end of the said piston rod.
The brakes are applied and removed by the fluid pressure acting on one or other
side of the above mentioned piston, or fluid pressure may give motion to the piston
in one direction and the resilience of a coiled, volute, or other suitable spring
may move the said piston in the opposite direction. Suitable valves are employed
to control the action of the fluid on the piston. When used on a steam locomotive
car or vehicle, steam from the boiler is used to actuate the brake gear.