IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES PROPELLED BY STEAM OR OTHER POWER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Boydell, of 65, Gloucester Crescent, Camden
Town, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES PROPELLED BY
STEAM OR OTHER POWER."
Sealed the 16th March 1858, and dated the 28th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Boydell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th December 1857.
I, JAMES BOYDELL, of 65, Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES PROPELLED
BY STEAM OR OTHER POWER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages propelled by
steam or other power, and in which the forward motion is obtained by
applying the power to drive one or more of the wheels of the carriage. In
carriages of this description, as now arranged, the forward motion of the
carriage is dependent on the bite of the wheel or wheels on the surface on
which the carriage runs, and great inconvenience frequently arises for want of
sufficient bite on this surface, and it even from this cause sometimes becomes
impossible to propel the carriage forward. Now, to obviate difficulty from.
this cause, I employ apparatus by which power is taken from the wheel and
applied as a direct forward push to the carriage. For this purpose I place a
stud or pin on the wheels, at some point between their centres and their
peripheries or cranks, upon the axle, if it rotates, and from these pins con-
necting rods pass to the rods of pistons working in steam cylinders fixed to
the frame of the engine, and steam is constantly admitted from the boiler
to these cylinders. In order to allow of the engine being reversed, means are
applied for cutting off the steam from these cylinders, or this end may be

page_text: attained by other means. In place of employing these steam cylinders, springs
or other apparatus may be used; and the Invention is applicable whether the
carriage be propelled by steam or other power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Boydell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BOYDELL of 65, Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Boydell, Her special licence that I, the said James
Boydell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Boydell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 CARRIAGES PROPELLED BY STEAM OR OTHER POWER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Boydell, my executors or adminis--
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 James Boydell, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following i
statement thereof, that is to say: -
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages propelled by
steam or other power, and in which the forward motion is obtained by
applying the power to drive one or more of the wheels of the carriage. In
carriages of this description as now arranged, the forward motion of the
carriage is dependent on the bite of the wheel or wheels on the surface on
which the carriage runs, and great inconvenience frequently arises for want of

page_text: sufficient bite on this surface, and it even from this cause sometimes becomes
impossible to propel the carriage forward. Now, to obviate this-difficulty
from this cause I employ apparatus, by which power is taken from the wheel
and applied as a direct forward push to the carriage.. For this purpose I
place a stud or pin on the wheels, at some point between their centres and
their peripheries or cranks, upon the axle, if it rotates, and from these pins
connecting rods pass to the rods and pistons working in steam' cylinders fixed
to the frame of the engine, and steam is constantly admitted from the boiler
to these cylinders. In order to allow of the engine being reversed; means are
applied for cutting off the steam from these cylinders, or this .end may be
attained by other means. In place of employing these steam cylinders, springs
or other apparatus may be used; and the Invention is applicable whether the
carriage be propelled by steam or other power. .
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully. to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews a plan or diagram of so much of a locomotive steam engine;
Figure 2 shews a side elevation of the same.
I have not thought it necessary to shew a complete locomotive, as the
various constructions are well known, and the shewing any more of the con-
struction would not facilitate the description of my Invention.
a, a, are the driving wheels; bis the cranked axle, to which the driving
wheels a, a, are fixed; c, c, are the ordinary steam engine cylinders, which
may be arranged in any convenient manner, as heretofore. The dotted lines
d, d, are the piston and connecting rods, actuated by the two steam cylinder
engines c, c. In addition to the ordinary steam engines c, c, two steam cylin
ders e, e, are applied, which have pistons e², e', piston rods e²; e², and connecting
rods es, es, as shewn. The connecting rods e³, es are attached to crank pins on
the driving wheels or on cranks, in such manner that the piston of one
cylinder will be at the end of its stroke when the piston in the other cylinder
is at the end of its stroke, but the two pistons will be at the opposite ends of
their respective cylinders. The one about to commence its stroke by the
flowing in of steam from the boiler, the other about to make the return stroke
driving the steam back into the boiler. The forward ends of the two cylin-
ders e, e, are, when the locomotive is moving forwards, at all times open to
the steam boiler, the other ends being open to the atmosphere, as shewn in
the Drawing; but when it is desired to reverse the action of the locomotive
engine, and for a time to run backwards, the steam cylinders will require

page_text: to be arranged so that the steam may be admitted to the other sides of the
pistons in the steam cylinders e, e, and the steam cylinders e, e, are to be so
arranged, that the sides of the pistons opposite to those on which the steam
is pressing shall be open to the atmosphere. Hence the steam in the boiler
is at all times acting with a tendency to force back the pistons e¹, e¹. The
arrangements of these cylinders e, e, and also the construction of the loco-
motive engine, may be greatly varied, but the arrangement shewn is the one I
prefer. In the rotation of the driving axle b, the following effect will take
placeOn the two pistons e, e¹, one will be moved from the forward end of
the steam cylinder toward the back end of its cylinder, by which its con-
necting rod will act on its crank pin with a tendency to force it round, whilst
the steam is acting on the forward cover of the cylinder, with a tendency to
force the locomotive engine forward, whilst at the same time the steam in the
other steam cylinder e will be forced by its piston against the forward end of
its steam cylinder, with a tendency to force the locomotive engine forward, the
steam passing back into the boiler as the piston comes forward; hence it will
be seen that the steam in the two cylinders e, e, when the locomotive engine
is running in a forward direction, will be pressing on the forward ends or
covers of the cylinders, with a tendency to force the locomotive engine for-
wards, whichever way the two pistons e, e¹, are for the time moving; and the
power of the steam acting by their pistons and their connecting rods simul-
taneously on the axle b, in such manner as to tend to move the driving wheels
round in a forward direction, thus using the power of steam in the cylinders
e, e, under the most favorable circumstances for constantly pressing the
locomotive engine forward without loss of power except by friction. By thus
applying the additional cylinders e, e, the driving power will be more advan-
tageously applied. I would remark, that although I have spoken only of the
use of steam in the cylinders e, e, other fluids may be used in place thereof,
and even springs may be arranged to produce a like effect..
In witness whereof, I, the said James Boydell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, one the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
JAMES BOYDELL. (L.S.)