IMPROVEMENTS IN HY- DRAULIC MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES IN COMBINATION WITH COMPRESSED AIR, APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING TRAMWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Garrett Tongue, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck,
Patent Agents and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN HY-
DRAULIC MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES IN COMBINATION WITH COMPRESSED AIR,
APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING TRAMWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES."
A communication from abroad by Louis Rousseau, Civil Engineer, of Brussels,
Belgium.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Garrett Tongue at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th April 1876.
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JOHN GARRETT TONGUE, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck, Patent Agents
and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES IN COM-
BINATION WITH COMPRESSED AIR, APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING TRAMWAY CARRIAGES
AND OTHER PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by Louis Rousseau, Civil
Engineer, of Brussels, Belgium.
According to this Invention, about midway of a line or network of tramways, or
at any other point of the same line, a motive-power engine is mounted and arranged
in combination with pumps and apparatus in a similar manner to those employed in
ports, docks, or warehouses, where the lifting apparatuses are actuated by hydraulic
pressure.
For this purpose a pipe or tube for conducting water under pressure is laid down
along the whole of the line of tramway or its branches and in communication with
a reservoir or receiver. At suitable distances apart valves or taps are placed in the
said pipe or tube in order to supply water under pressure to the carriages of the
train, which are placed at certain stations in communication with the reservoir or
receiver above mentioned.
⚫ At these different points or stations each carriage completes or renews and stores
away the necessary quantity of water under pressure which is required to enable it
to act automatically in the distance comprised between two hydrants for taking in
the water.
In order to maintain the water under pressure stored in each carriage, a receiver
is fixed either horizontally or vertically under the floor of the carriage. This
receiver is composed of one or more cylindrical metallic vessels containing com-
[Price 4dl

page_text: pressed air at high pressure (from twenty to thirty atmospheres) according to the
power required.
The compressed air contained in each receiver acts by its elasticity similar to a
spring, either direct or by means of a piston, on the water supply contained also in
one or more cylindrical vessels.
The water under pressure in the reservoirs or receivers puts in motion the
mechanism, and thereby gives rotary movement to the wheels of the carriage. In
order to put the mechanism in motion, an ordinary hydraulic capstan is employed,
or the well-known multiple cylindre apparatus of "Brotherhood or West," or the
well known cyclo-dynamic machines of "Mathon," or any other suitable mechanism
in order to obtain the same result.
When the carriage has passed the space which separates two points where water
can be taken, and the water supply nearly exhausted, communication is re-established
between the reservoir of water and the main pipe and receiver by means of one of
the hydrants before mentioned. The reservoir thus fills, and the compressed air
which has expanded by reason of the fall of water is compressed as before, and
expands again during the next journey.
The water used for working the apparatus may be conducted into a reservoir if
the driver thinks proper, or may be allowed to run away either for washing the
rails or watering the.road.
On the line where there is a declivity or slope, the water used for the ascent is
pumped back into the reservoir of water under pressure by means of one or more
pumps, in order to utilize the gravity in descending; by this arrangement a break
is formed, and regulates and lessens the pressure in running down the incline. <
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Garrett Tongue in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
October 1876.
JOHN GARRETT TONGUE, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck, Patent Agents
and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES IN COM-
BINATION WITH COMPRESSED AIR, APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING TRAMWAY CARRIAGES
AND OTHER PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by Louis Rousseau, Civil
Engineer, of Brussels, Belgium.
According to this Invention, about midway of a line or network of tramways, or
at any other point of the same line, a motive-power engine is mounted and arranged
in combination with pumps and apparatus in a similar manner to those employed
in ports, docks, or warehouses, where the lifting apparatuses are actuated by
hydraulic pressure.
For this purpose a pipe or tube for conducting water under pressure is laid down
along the whole of the line of tramway or its branches and in communication with
a reservoir. At suitable distances apart valves or taps are placed in the said pipe
or tube in order to supply water under pressure to the carriages of the train, which
are placed at certain stations in communication with the reservoir or receiver above
mentioned.
At different points or stations each carriage completes or renews and stores away
the necessary quantity of water under pressure which is required to enable it to act
automatically in the distance comprised between two hydrants for taking in the
water.
In order to maintain the water under pressure stored in each carriage, a receiver
is fixed either horizontally or vertically under the floor of the carriage. This
receiver is composed of one or more cylindrical metallic vessels containing compressed
air at high pressure (from twenty to thirty atmospheres) according to the power
mirad

page_text: The compressed air contained in each receiver acts by its elasticity similar to a
spring, either direct or by means of a piston, on the water supply contained also in
one or more cylindrical vessels.
The water under pressure in the reservoirs or receivers puts in motion the
mechanism, and thereby gives rotary movement to the wheels of the carriage. In.
order to put the mechanism in motion, an ordinary hydraulic capstan is employed,
or the well-known multiple cylindrical apparatus of Brotherhood or West," or the
well known cyclo-dynamic machines of "Mathon," or any other suitable mechanism
in order to obtain the same result.
"
When the carriage has passed the space which separates two points where water
can be taken, and the water supply nearly exhausted, communication is re-established
between the reservoir of water and the main pipe and receiver by means of one of
the hydrants before mentioned. The reservoir thus fills, and the compressed air
which has expanded by reason of the fall of water is compressed as before, and
expands again during the next journey.
The water used for working the apparatus may be conducted into a reservoir
if the driver thinks proper, or may be allowed to run away either for washing the
rails or watering the road.
On the line where there is a declivity or slope the water used for the ascent is
pumped back into the reservoir of water under pressure by means of one or more
pumps, in order to utilize the gravity in descending; by this arrangement a break
is formed, and regulates and lessens the pressure in running down the incline.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention and the manner of performing
or carrying the same into practice, what I claim is-
First. The application and use of reservoirs or receivers containing compressed
air or gas to maintain the water under pressure stored in tramway and other
carriages, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Second. The application and use of a water pipe or tube under pressure to fill
the reservoirs or receivers with water, and keep the compressed air or gas to its
former volume, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
Third. The application and use of pumps to pump back again into the reservoir
of water under pressure the water which has already been used, and thereby forming
a break to regulate the pressure in running down an incline, substantially as and
for the purposes herein-before described.
Fourth. The application of hydraulic pressure as motive power for tramway cars
and other carriages or vehicles running on rails, substantially as and for the purposes
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Garrett Tongue, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
JOHN GARRETT TONGUE. (L.S.)