IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES FOR TRAMWAYS .OR COMMON ROADS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dundas Scott-Moncrieff, of Glasgow,
in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Inven.
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES FOR TRAMWAYS .OR
COMMON ROADS."
Scaled the 23rd October 1874, and dated the 27th April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dundas Scott-
Moncrieff at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th April 1874.
I, WILLIAM DUNDAS SCOTT-MONCRIEFF, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES FOR TRAM-
WAYS OR COMMON ROADS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction and
arrangement of locomotive carriages for tramways or common roads,
these improvements being designed to be used in combination with
certain of the improvements described in the Provisional Specification 1

page_text: lodged with an application for Letters Patent by the present applicant
on 10th March 1874 (No. 868).
The improved carriages are to be propelled by means of compressed
air contained in a receiver of the kind described in the carlier Pro-
visional Specification herein-before referred to, or in a receiver formed
by combining six horizontal cylinders or other number of smaller
cylinders, such cylinders being arranged to form the lower part of the
body of the carriage, but in two separate sets with a middle space
between them.
The carriage is mounted on four principal wheels arranged near
together at the middle to facilitate the traversing of such curves as are
met with in street tramways. Two of the wheels are on a cranked
axlo actuated directly from a pair of cylinders, which are only so far
inclined from the horizontal as to clear the axle of the other pair of
wheels. These driving details are arranged in the middle space between 1
the two parts of the receiver, and they are by preference made not to
rise above the top level of the receiver.
The driving details are by preference arranged in a separate frame,
upon or over which the main body of the carriage with its receiver is
set, so that extra sets of driving parts may be provided to be substituted 2
for those of any carriage requiring repair.
The axles may have springs applied between them and the machinery
frame, or springs may be applied between the machinery frame and
the carriage body, or springs may be applied in both ways.
Hand levers for controlling the driving parts are arranged at one or 2
at both ends of the carriage and are connected to the various parts of the
machinery by rods or shafts.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Dundas Scott-
Moncrieff, Her special licence that I, the said William Dundas Scott-
Moncrieff, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Dundas Scott-Moncrieff, my executors, admini:
strators, 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 LOCOMOTIVE
CARRIAGES FOR TRAMWAYS OR COMMON ROADS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Dundas Scott-Moncrieff, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing, under my, or their, or
one of their hands and scals, 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 William Dundas Scott-Moncrieff,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement in writing, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to improvements in the construction and
arrangement of locomotive carriages for tramways or common roads;
these improvements being designed to be used in combination with
certain of the improvements described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to me and dated 10 March 1874 (No. 868).
:
;
My improved carriage is to be propelled by means of compressed air
contained in a receiver of the kind described in my earlier Specification
herein-before referred to or, as I now prefer, in a receiver formed as
herein-after described.
:
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of

page_text: explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing a
tramway locomotive or self-moving omnibus constructed according to
my Invention. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are
used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 is a horizontal section; Figure 2 is a section as through the
centre lines of the cylinders; Figure 3 is a sectional side clevation;
and Figure 4 is a transverso vertical section.
The receiver for the compressed air is formed by combining six
horizontal cylinders 20 (or it might be any convenient number or larger
or smaller cylinders), such cylinders being arranged to occupy portions
of the lower part of the body of the carriage, but in two separate sets
with a middle space between them. The said lower part of the body
of the carriage comprises a kind of rectangular framing consisting of
two strong longitudinal girders or vertical side plates extending from
end to end and strengthened by angle iron rivetted along the inside of
the top and by bar iron rivetted along the inside of the bottom; and
these longitudinal side plates are connected by angle iron to four trans-
verse vertical plates, two of which form the ends whilst the other two
divide the internal space into three compartments. Three of the
receiver cylinders 20 are placed in each end compartment; and each
cylinder is by preference made of a single plate of steel or malleable
iron and having the longitudinal joint welded, whilst the ends consist
of cylindrically flanged discs 29 rivetted or welded to the cylinders.
The cylinders 20 are provided with longitudinal central stays 30, which
are also used for fixing the cylinders in the end compartments of the
framing, these stays being made to project beyond the screw nuts which
bear against the end discs 29, and to enter holes in the transverse frame
plates on the outside of which additional holding nuts are screwed upon
them. The ends of the cylinders are faced up truly, so as to bear evenly
against the transverse frame plates.
The carriage is mounted on four principal wheels 21, 22, 23, 24,
arranged near together at the middle to facilitate the traversing of such
curves as are met with in street tramways. Two of the wheels 21, 22,
are on a cranked axle 25 actuated directly from a pair of cylinders 26,
27, which are only so far inclined from the horizontal as to be clear
above the axle 28 of the other pair of wheels 23, 24. The driving
details, which, so far as not shown in the Drawing or herein described,

page_text: are to be understood as arranged like any suitable combination of steam-
engine details, are placed in the middle compartment between the two
sets of air cylinders 20, and they are by preference made as shown, so
as not to rise above the top level of the receiver.
The driving details are by preference arranged in a separate frame 31,
upon and over which the main body of the carriage with its receiver is set,
so that extra sets of driving parts may be provided to be substituted for
those of any carriage requiring repair. Transverse angle irons are fixed
on the inner sides of the two inner transverse frame plates of the carriage
frame, and these rest on reversed angle irons fixed on the transverse or
end plates of the machinery frame 31. To render the connection between
the machinery frame 31 and the carriage frame firmer and steadier
vertical pins are entered through gusset pieces fixed to the latter at the
corners of the middle space and down into lugs fixed on the former.
The cylinder distribution valves 32 are by preference cylindrical, as
shown in Figure 2, and work in cylindrical spaces with ports all round
them, or nearly so, communicating with the cylinder passages and with
the exhaust passage. The compressed air has access to a middle
space 33, and thence by the ends to the interiors of the valves 32,
and these valves are provided with internal annular cut-off valves or
plates 34. The valve rods 6, 7, of the main and cut-off valves 32, 34,
may be acted on through link-motion gear of the common well-known
kind, but which is not shown in the Drawings. The cut-off valves 34
are in pairs, each fitted to work over ports in each main valve 32 and
attached to each valve rod 7 by right-hand and left-hand screw threads,
so that the individuals of each pair are adjusted more or less apart by
turning the valve rods 7. The cut-off valve rods 7 are turned as
required by apparatus such as described in my carlier Specification
herein-before referred to, in such a way that as the pressure of the air
in the receiver gradually decreases with its use, the air is admitted to
the cylinders 26, 27, during correspondingly increasing portions of the
stroke.
The axles 25, 28, may have springs applied between them and the
machinery frame 31, or springs may be applied between the machinery
frame and the carriage body; or springs may be applied in both ways.

page_text: of the carriage and are connected to the various parts of the machinery
by rods 37, 38, or shafts, which may conveniently pass under the
passenger seats.
The construction of the upper part of the carriage or self-moving
omnibus and the arrangement of seats for passengers may be varied 5
according to circumstances, but what is shown in the Drawings and
will be easily understood therefrom is convenient and will I expect be
found to suit general requirements.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself 1
to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The constructing, arranging, and combining together of the pro-
pelling apparatus of locomotive carriages for tramways or common 1
roads and to be worked by compressed air in the improved manner
substantially as herein described and delineated.
:
2. The fitting of the driving machinery of a locomotive carriage for
tramways or common roads on or within a distinct frame, which can be
detached from the carriage frame for the purposes and substantially in 2
the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dundas Scott-Moncrieff,
have hercunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of
October in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four
!
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
W. D. SCOTT-MONORIEFF. (L.S.)