CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY AND OTHER PROPULSION
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GEORGE SHUTTLEWORTH, of Fernley Place, Glossop Road, Sheffield, Gentleman,
send greeting.
years
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Ninth day of June, in the third year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John George
Shuttleworth, Her especial licence that I, the said John George Shuttleworth,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John George
Shuttleworth, my exors; adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY AND OTHER PROPULSION;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John George
Shuttleworth, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John George Shuttleworth, do hereby declaro the nature of my said Invention
to consist in the substitution of water for air in a tube containing a piston, to

page_text: which the object to be propelled is fastened, the height of a column of water,
or the force with which the water is forced through the said tube in any way,
determining the amount of force applied; as also an improved arrangement of
a flexible valve for the said tube. And in further compliance with the said
proviso, I, the said John George Shuttleworth, do hereby describe the manner
in which my said Invention is to be performed by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and, to the figures and
letters marked thereon, similar letters being used to denote similar parts in all
the Figures, that is to say:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
A is a column of water;
Figure 1 is a sectional view of my said Invention.
B, B, a horizontal tube, represented, for the purposes of this description, as
laid along a line of railway; C, C, is part of a railway carriage; D, a thin
metal plate, by which the carriage is fastened to the piston, which is to propel
it forward; P, P, P, a piston, on and through the guide neck Q, Q, of which
lies the flexible valve or stufling S, S, S, S, made of indian-rubber or any other
suitable material. The forward. end of the guide neck Q of the piston P is
supported on the vertical wheel E, while any vibrating or unsteady motion is
prevented by the horizontal wheel F. The arrows show the line of motion.
G, G, an ordinary rail for the wheels of the carriage to run on; and the parts
marked H, the blocks supporting the central or propulsion tube. V is a valve
to cut off the pressure or propelling power at pleasure; J, J, J, J, is the ordinary
framework of a railway carriage or truck; K, K, the ordinary flanged wheels;
and I, I, the ordinary buffers. It results from this arrangement of parts
that if a head of water be allowed to descend through the valve V into the
tube B, or water be forced-through the said tube B by steam power or other-
wise, it will act upon the piston P, driving it forward in the direction of the
arrows, and of course the carriage which is fastened to it along with it, while
the flexible valve or stuffing S, S, S, S, is raised from the bottom of the tube,
where it lies, in the empty part of the tube B, and forced by the hinder part
of the pistón P into the slot or opening made in the upper part of the tube B,
to allow the passage of the plate D, the force of the water keeping the said
stuffing to its position in that part of the tube behind the piston P. Figure 2
is a transverse section of part of Figure 1, shewing the shape of the guide neck
Qof the piston P, but with the wheels E and F removed, so as not to confuse
the Figure. In this Figure 2, the blocks M, M, which support the rails are
shewn, as well as one of the blocks H, which support the tube B. Figure 3
is an enlarged sectional view of the tube B, and the flexible valve or stuffing S,

page_text: as it would appear behind the piston.P; and Figure 4 is a side view of a
railway carriage with my improvements applied thereto.
Now, whereas I claim as my Invention, first, the application of the power
of a column or body of water acting against a piston in a tube, to which
piston a railway carriage or other object to be propelled is fastened, for the
purposes of propulsion; and, secondly, the improved guide neck to the said
piston for raising and conveying to its proper place the flexible valve or stuffing
required to fill the slot or space left open in the upper part of the propulsion
tube B for the passage of the plate D. And such my Invention being, to the
best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used within
that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do
verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and
without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John George Shuttleworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
JOHN GEORGE (L.s.) SHUTTLEWORTH.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-named
John George Shuttleworth, in the presence of
BERNARD JOHN WAKE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid John George Shuttleworth came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and everything 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.
Inrolled the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord One