Improvements in and relating to the Traction or Propulsion of Tram-cars and Road Vehicles by Means of Gas and similar Engines or Motors.
Year: 1887

page_text: Improvements in and relating to the Traction or Propulsion of
Tram-cars and Road Vehicles by Means of Gas and similar
Engines or Motors.
I, THEODORE SINGTON of Grove Cottage Kersal Moor Manchester in the County
of Lancaster Architect, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This Invention relates to the traction or propulsion of tram-cars and road vehicles
by means of gas and similar engines and motors and it has for its object to obviate the
difficulty of starting the engine or motor and other minor difficulties which up to the
present time have stood in the way of the general adoption of gas and similar engines
For tractive purposes.
These Improvements consist in the combination and adaptation of gas or other
similar motors of known or analogous construction with and to tram-cars or road
vehicles, for the purpose of starting propelling and controlling the cars or vehicles.
To obviate the difficulty of starting the vehicle I employ two motors; a larger one
capable of driving the vehicle and a smaller auxiliary motor which is kept constantly
running during working hours. Alternatively a three cylinder motor may be em-
ployed in which case one of the cylinders would operate as the constantly running
auxiliary motor, and the other cylinders would, in conjunction with the third or
auxiliary cylinder operate to drive the vehicle. The motors will hereinafter he called
the driving and the auxiliary motors respectively. The driving motor is connected to
the driving wheels of the vehicle by means of belts chains or toothed or friction
gearing or of connecting and other rods links or levers in the usual or any convenient
manner. The auxiliary motor is connected to the driving motor in a similar manner;
and in each case arrangements are made for putting the respective motors into and
out of gear by means of fast and loose pulleys, friction clutches and the like apparatus
or devices. It will be seen that by this combination and arrangement, the vehicle
being at rest, the driving wheels being in or out of gear with the driving motor and
the auxiliary motor disconnected from the driving wheels, the driving motor may
readily be started by being put into gear with the auxiliary motor, or if these are
already in gear with each other, by putting the driving motor into gear with the
driving wheels and turning on the gas or its equivalent.
The motors may be actuated by explosions of mixtures of air and coal or other
similar gas or of air containing vapours of hydrocarbons as is well understood. If

page_text: coal or other similar gas is employed it will require to be carried in or in connection
with the vehicle; similarly if air under pressure is required as for some kinds of
petroleum or hydrocarbon engines, it will be convenient to provide for storage of the
gas or air and it may be found advantageous to store the gas under pressure for
effecting which the auxiliary engine might be employed. For this purpose a holder
of sufficient capacity and a pump for filling the holder are provided. The pump with
which a gas meter may be combined may be worked by the auxiliary motor with
which it might be put into gear or connection when required by suitable known
means. If coal gas is used it may be derived from the street mains or service pipes
by means of suitably constructed valves placed on the gas mains or service pipes and
similar in construction to the hydrants on water mains, and when used for tram-cars
they may conveniently be placed at the terminus of a route and connection with the
pump may be made by flexible hose and unions as is done already on some lines of
railway where gas is stored in trains for illuminating purposes. In large tram-car
stations and other places the coal or other gas may however be stored in large quan-
tities under sufficient pressure in which cases the pump on the vehicles may be
dispensed with and the gas may be supplied through suitable pipes direct to the holder
connected with the vehicle.
The holder may be constructed of a flexible material such as indiarubber, airproofed
canvas or leather and be placed for safety in a wooden or metallic casing or any other
suitable form of construction may be adopted. An indicator may advantageously be
attached to the holder to show or to give an audible signal when it has been filled and
the indicator or other suitable device may be employed to put the pump out of action
by known means when a pump is employed.
The motors and other connected apparatus and appliances may be arranged upon or
within the vehicle to be propelled or upon a separate vehicle which in that case might
be employed to haul other vehicles as is at present done with ordinary tram-car
engines, while the arrangement itself would in all cases be obviously governed by the
construction character and proposed use of the vehicle. Brakes, speed controlling
mechanism, reversing gear and other accessories or appliances required for operating
the vehicle may be constructed and arranged in the ordinary or in any known or
suitable manner, but the auxiliary motor, which is constantly running may be employed
to actuate the brake. When the vehicle is intended to run on ordinary roads
suitable steering gear such as is employed in traction engines may be employed
and this gear may be driven or actuated either by hand or by the auxiliary motor.
I desire it to be understood that I do not claim as part of my present invention the
construction of motors, holders, pumps or of any apparatus hereinbefore described or
referred to as these are all of well known or obvious types, and that I do not limit
myself to the precise arrangements, appliances, accessories and apparatus set forth as
these may be considerably modified without departing from the said invention.
Having now particularly described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I claim is :-
(1) In a vehicle driven or propelled by a gas motor or by a similar motor or
engine; the combination with the driving motor of a smaller or auxiliary constantly
running motor or engine; substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set
forth.
(2) The hereinbefore described adaptation of driving and auxiliary gas or similar
motors to vehicles constructed to run on tram rails, or upon ordinary roads;
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.
Dated this 25th day of March A D 1887
WILLIAM E. HEYS,
Agent for Applicant.