IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE OR MOVEABLE RAILWAYS, AND IN THE ADAPTATION OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS CONSTRUCTIONS OF WHEELED CARRIAGES."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Leahy, of Kensington, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE
OR MOVEABLE RAILWAYS, AND IN THE ADAPTATION OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS
CONSTRUCTIONS OF WHEELED CARRIAGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Leahy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th April 1881.
EDMUND. LEAHY, of Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE OR MOVEABLE RAILWAYS, AND IN THE ADAPTATION
OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS CONSTRUCTIONS OF WHEELED CARRIAGES."
My improved portable or movable railway consists of a flexible revolving
annular steel rail, composed of bands of steel interlocking with each other after the
manner of carriage springs. In adapting this continuous rail to any carriage I
prefer to provide one rail for the two side wheels, and maintain the rail in place
by means of a grooved guide roller secured to the framing of the carriage and over
which the rail passes, or I may in some cases provide one rail for each wheel and
maintain the rail in place by means of grooved guide rollers secured to the framing
of the carriage.
The continuous rails are thus guided down to the front of the running wheels,
the tyres of which are also grooved and run thereon, and when the wheels have
passed the continuous rails are, as it were, picked up again following the movement
of the carriage.
In order to prevent any noise caused by the wheels or guide rollers striking
against the rails, I introduce into the groove of the wheels and guide rollers india
rubber tyres of any suitable construction or thickness. These india rubber tyres
will by their compression also have the effect of allowing a certain amount of play
to the rails in passing over any obstruction in the road.
When applying my continuous rail to tram carriages or omnibuses I prefer to
use carriages constructed in two or more distinct and separate parts, each part
having its own rails, and I joint these parts together in any suitable manner. By
so constructing the carriage I am enabled to overcome any difficulty which might
be experienced in turning the corners of streets or going round curves.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Edmund Leahy in the Great Seal Patent Office
12th October 1881.
on the
EDMUND LEAHY, of Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE OR MOVEABLE RAILWAYS, AND IN THE ADAPTATION
OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS CONSTRUCTIONS OF WHEELED CARRIAGES."
My improved portable or movable railway consists of a revolving annular steel
rail, composed of bands of steel connected together in a manner to be presently
described. In adapting this continuous rail to a four-wheel carriage I prefer to
provide one rail for the two side wheels, and I maintain the rail in place by means
of the running wheels which are grooved on their periphery for that purpose
assisted by guide rollers carried by suitable bearings.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in side elevation an omnibus with
my Invention applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a back view of the same. In these
Figures A, A, are the endless elastic rails constituting the portable railway, and
B, B, are the running wheels enclosed in the endless rails.
To render these rails sufficiently elastic I make them as heretofore of steel hoops,
but in order to give them the requisite lightness and such thickness as will keep
the wheels which are double flanged clear of the ground, I insert between the steel
hoops a layer or layers of wood or equivalent light material, as shewn in the
enlarged views, Figures 3 and 4.
In the Figures three layers of wood are shewn, their breadth being somewhat
greater than the breadth of the steel hoops.
For connecting the several parts of this composite rail together metallic clips
are used, which consist of lengths of rod iron passed transversely and at an incline
through the wood, and having their ends bent over to clip the one edge of the
upper hoop and the opposite edge of the under hoop.
These rods it will be seen in the cross section, Fig. 4, incline alternately in
opposite directions, and thus all the parts are securely tied together.
C, C, are pairs of guide rollers between which the endless rails run, and by
which they are prevented from moving laterally and shifting out of place.
The bearings for the inner rollers will be conveniently carried by the framing of
the carriage, and the bearings for the outer rollers by hoods D, D, which enclose
the greater part of the endless rails.
The continuous rails it will be understood are drawn down to the front of the
running wheels as the carriage is propelled forward, and as the wheels pass on the
continuous rails are as it were picked up again following the movement of the
carriage.
An incidental advantage of the wood lining is that it prevents or greatly deadens
the noise caused by the contact of the wheels and guide rollers with the rails.
When applying my continuous rail to tram carriages or omnibuses, I prefer to
use carriages constructed in two or more distinct and separate parts, each part
having its own rails, and I joint these parts together in any suitable manner. By
so constructing the carriage I am enabled to overcome any difficulty which might
be experienced in turning the corners of streets or going round curves.
It will be understood that the Invention is equally applicable to two-wheel
carriages.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Portable or Moveable Railways, and in the Adaptation of the same to Various
Constructions of Wheeled Carriages," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim as of my Invention

page_text: the construction of elastic endless railways generally, but what I claim under the
above in part recited Letters Patent is,―
In combination with flanged running wheels elastic endless rails constructed and
maintained in place, in the manner and for the purpose above described.
5 In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Leahy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
EDMUND LEAHY. (L.S.)
Witness,
P. J. MOMANS.