IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY AND WHEELS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hector Auguste Dufrenie, of the General Patent
Offices, 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in' the Empire of France, and
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention' of
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY AND WHEELS OF RAILWAYS."
A communication from Mr. Gerard Christiaan Heyning, residing at
Pekalongan, Batavia.
Sealed the 19th June 1866, and dated-the 23rd. December 1865.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Hector Auguste Dufrené
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 23rd December 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section
of tlie Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT KNOWN
that I, HECTOR AUGUSTE DUFRENE, of the General' Patent Offices, 10, Rue
de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY AND WHEELS OF RAILWAYS," (a
communication from Mr. Gerard Christiaan Heyning, a person resident at
Pekalongan, Batavia,) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say :-
A great defect has existed up to the present time in the construction of
railways, and in the application of tramways for horses, consisting in the

page_text: necessity of giving a radius of a considerable length to the curves to be run
over. On account of the wheels of an equal diameter being fixed to the axle
they have a tendency only to run in a straight line.
Now by giving a conical form to the wheels, and leaving a space between
the flanges of the wheels and the rails, a minimum difference in the diameters
of the wheels has been obtained, and curves with a radius of a considerable
length have been run over. The defects resulting from this latter arrangement
are, in the first place, that the rails have to support not only a vertical pres-
sure but also a horizontal pressure, which renders their construction very
difficult; in the second place, the space left between the flanges of the wheels
and the rails causes an oscillation which considerably increases the friction.
The defects before described are obviated by my Invention. By the applica-
tion of my system vehicles provided with wheels fixed to the axle can run
over curves of a very short radius on railways for locomotives or tramways
for horses without going off the rails or increasing the friction. I obtain these
results by the following means:-First, by constructing the wheels on their
circumference with two, three, or more different diameters, the largest being
turned towards the axle, which diameters are calculated in proportion to the
radii of the curves to be run over; secondly, by placing the rails in places
where the curves occur, so that each circumference of the wheel can be used
at will, that is to say, according to the curve.
To make the Invention better understood I will now proceed to describe
it by reference to the accompanying Drawing.
1.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews the system applied to railways; Figure 2 shows the system
applied to tramways; Figures 3 and 4, elevations of wheels placed on the
rails. The wheels fixed to the axle c, c, having circumferences of the same
diameter turn on the straight rails placed on the same plane, but where the
curve commences the interior rail d is raised to another plane in such a way
that when the wheels leave the straight rails they continue their course along
the external rails on their largest diameter, and along the interior rails on one
of their smaller diameters e or f, according to the length of the radius of the
curve to be run over. The line on which the wheels of a different diameter
turn is a kind of inclined plane graduated to the curve to be run over, and
the position of the axle (provided it be moveable around a pirot fixed on the
under frame of a carriage) is always perpendicular to the direction of the
rails, whether the latter be placed in a straight or curved line. To effect the
passage from the straight to the curved rails without shock the curved rails

page_text: should be raised as much above the straight rails as the difference between
the diameters of the wheels, where the curve changes to a straight line again
the two rails are placed in their primitive position. If it be wished to pass
from one curve to another in the opposite direction, then the rails are placed
in a contrary direction to that of the preceding curve.
The advantages resulting from the application of my system are,-
First, the facility of describing curves of a short radius on tramways for
horses and railways for locomotives travelling at a moderate speed on curves
of a short radius without increasing the friction, care. being taken to preservo
the necessary elevation of the exterior rail, so as to overcome the centrifugal
force, whilst the vertical position of the rails should always coincide with that
of the wheels.
Secondly, the flanges of the wheels having a form slightly oblique at their
edges can fit close to the rails, even where these latter form a curve.
Thirdly, the form of the rails can be considerably simplified in consequence
of their only having to support a vertical pressure.
My system can be applied to the different forms of rails and wheels.
Having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to me,
and the manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that what
I claim is, the improvements in tramways and railways, and in the wheels
moving on the same, as herein-before described and shewn in the annexed
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
H*. GILBEE,
10, Rue de la Fidélité,
Paris,
.21st December 1865.
H.A. DUFRENE. (L.S.)