CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC PROPULSION, APPLICABLE TO WATER AS WELL AS LAND CARRIAGES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
REED HILL, of 28, Upper Stamford Street, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Second day of October, in the ninth year of Her reign, did give and grant
unto me, the said John Reed Hill, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Reed Hill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others.
as I, the said John Reed Hill, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times hereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC
PROPULSION, APPLICABLE TO WATER AS WELL AS LAND CARRIAGES," communicated
to me from abroad; in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso,
that I, the said John Reed Hill, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Reed Hill, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
in which the same letters and figures indicate the same parts in all.
Figure 1 represents a transverse section of the main when closed, contain-
ing the piston carriage C, with its air tubes T, T, for the removal of the air
from the main by any known means of exhausting the air, the apparatus for
that purpose being attached to the piston carriage; V, V, the valves or roof of
the main, to be lined at the points where they close with soft leather, cloth, or
other elastic material, attached to their boards or other flexible materials, and
covered, as indicated, with a flexible cap; A, A, wood paving with iron edge
rails between the blocks level with the surface. Figure 2, transverse section,
shewing the travelling main when open, and carriages passing through it;
S, S, steps for ascending to the roof or top of the carriage; D, D, dwarf
walls; C, C, concrete foundations or ballast; B, B, planking or sleepers;
E, E, wall plate and hinges. Figure 3, longitudinal section. The piston
carriage would in its practical application be placed at a greater distance
ahead of the first carriage of the train than is here represented as indicated.
By the break in the connecting bar a train of carriages for heavy goods may
be continued from the piston to the passenger carriage instead of this connect-
ing bar, if preferable. Figure 4 represents a ground plan of the elevation,
sections, &c., as before described. These Drawings are intended to représent
the main when of sufficient width to admit of trains moving inside, each
carriage being provided with rollers for throwing open the upper sides; but
when the mains are not of sufficient size for that purpose, a carriage should
move inside at a certain distance behind the piston, in order to throw open
these valves by means of such horizontal wheels or rollers attached to the
upper parts of the side of the carriage; which carriage should also serve to
connect the trains to the piston when moving outside, or to connect barges on
water, by such mains being laid on the bank of the canals, and this power
substituted for horse power for the purpose of towing such barges. The roof
or valves are to be composed of a series of wooden or metallic rafters,
attached by axles or hinges to a wall plate bedded on the top of dwarf walls,
which rafters are to be covered inside and outside with wooden boards,
asphalted felt, sheet iron, or other flexible material rendered impervious to air
and water, and of sufficient strength to resist the atmospheric pressure. A
covering of india-rubber or other impervious material should likewise extend

page_text: to the dwarf walls, in order to render the joints air-tight; a communication is
also intended to be made between the roof of the carriages thus represented
and the interior by means of stairs, or a step ladder, to enable passengers to
ascend or descend as from the deck of a ship to the cabin. It is proposed also
to convey goods and passengers by means of pistons' moving on wheels, as thus
described, and propelled by atmospheric pressure through close tunnels or
galleries somewhat similarly constructed, but with arched roofs, and the side
walls of greater elevation, in order to afford sufficient carriage room; and such
tunnels or galleries may be illuminated by artificial lights when necessary, or
by daylight, through strong glass or other transparent media, and provided
with doors in the sides for the admission of passengers, placed at any convenient
distances, opening outwards, so constructed as to exclude the external air
and resist the atmospheric pressure, the shape of the pistons being always
conformable to the transverse section of the main, and provided with their
flanches of metal or other flexible material, so as to press as lightly as possible
on the internal surface of the main, similar in its operation to the cup leather
of an ordinary piston; and the ends of these mains should also be provided
with folding doors, to be opened and closed as occasion may require. It is
proposed to remove the air from these mains through cylinders or other
channels by any known methods, the apparatus for that purpose being
attached to the piston carriage or the next following carriage, so as to be
independant of stationary power, as occasion may require. It is likewise
proposed to put carriages in motion by means of rapid currents of air thus
driven through cylinders traversing such carriages from front to rear, without
the aid of a pneumatic main, the apparatus for such purpose: being placed
in such carriages, and the velocity with which such carriages can be moved
will be in proportion to the amount of power applied to the area of the
cylinders and the rapidity with which the air is propelled through such
cylinders or other channels which should traverse these carriages from front
to rear, and these carriages may be guided by rails and flanch wheels, or by
dwarf walls with horizontal wheels or rollers attached to the lower parts of the
carriages, as shewn in the Drawings.
Having described the nature of these improvements in atmospheric propul-
sion, and the manner in which the same are to be carried into effect, it must
be understood that the Inventor does not confine himself to any of the details
herein described so long as the peculiar character of any of these improve-
ments is retained; but what he claims as new, and never, to the best of his
knowledge and belief, before used, is,―
First, the mode thus described of constructing pneumatic mains for the

page_text: conveyance of goods and passengers by atmospheric propulsion combined with
the description of carriages and pistons herein described, with such modifica-
tions as may be required, for internal and external propulsion.
Secondly, the removal of the air through the piston or piston carriages of
the mains herein described, and also through the pistons of metallic cylinders
as now used, by means of tubes communicating with the external carriages
through the openings of the longitudinal valve.
Thirdly, giving motion to carriages in the manner described, without the aid
of a pneumatic main.
Fourthly, the mode of applying this power to the propulsion of passage
boats or other vessels on water, by placing the mains herein described on the
banks of canals, &c. &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Reed Hill, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of April, One thousand eight hundred