IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TOWING VESSELS A
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Latimer Clark and John Standfield, both
of 5, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, for tho
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TOWING VESSELS ALONG
Scaled the 11th May 1875, and dated the 10th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Latimer Clark
and John Standfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 10th December 1874.
We, JOSIAH LATIMER CLARK and JOHN STANDFIELD, both of 5, West-
minster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, do hereby declaro the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TOWING
VESSELS ALONG RIVERS AND CANALS," to be as follows :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in towing vessels
along rivers and canals. For this purpose we fix a rail on piles or
sleepers along the sides of the canal, and we haul the vessel by means of
a light separate engine or steam traveller running upon the rail, and
supported by it. The steam by which it is worked is supplied from a

page_text: boiler on board a vessel or tug by means of a jointed steam-pipe, or by
a flexible tube. This engine carries two or more small driving wheels
gripping the rail between them. This grip may be regulated by a
spring, but is preferably caused by a steam piston so arranged that
when the steam is turned on the pressure of the piston causes the wheels
to grip the rail between them, and when the pressure is removed a
spring causes the wheels to separate, and become free of the rail. The
steam traveller is provided with other rollers for guiding it and sup-
porting its weight, and it has an attachment over its centre of gravity
by which it can at any time be lifted off the rail, and taken on board by
means of a small derrick upon the tug, and can again be placed on the
rail at pleasure. The tractive power is transmitted to the tug either by
the flexible steam pipe or by a separate rope or ropes.
The flexible or jointed tube is in some cases duplicated, so that the
steam under pressure travels by one tube and the exhaust is brought
back by the other, and may be discharged in the chimney, so as to
increase the draught, or may be used for heating the feed water. This
return pipe is in some cases arranged to surround the steam pipe, so as
to form a jacket to it, and prevent the condensation of steam.
Sometimes we have the engine on board the boat, and drive the tra-
veller by means of an endless rope working round pulleys at a high
speed, the driving wheels being connected with the pulley by a worm or
other suitable gear. The slack of the rope is taken up by loose pulleys
on the tug in the ordinary manner. Or the power may be conveyed
from the boat to the traveller by means of water or air under pressure
in lieu of steam or air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Josiah Latimer Clark and John Standfield in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSIAH 3
LATIMER CLARK and JOHN STANDFIELD, both of 5, Westminster
Chambers, Victoria Steet, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of December, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Josiah Latimer Clark and John Standfield, Her
special license that we, the said Josiah Latimer Clark and John Stand-
field, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Josiah Latimer Clark and John Standfield, our executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 APPARATUS
FOR TOWING VESSELS ALONG RIVERS AND CANALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Josiah Latimer Clark and Jolin Standfield, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and scals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or
them, 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 John Standfield, on behalf of myself
and the said Josiah Latimer Clark, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, 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 :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
towing vessels along rivers and canals. For this purpose we fix a rail
on piles or sleepers along the sides of the canal, and wo haul the vessel
by means of a light separate engine or steam traveller running upon the
rail, and supported by it. The steam by which it is worked is supplied
from a boiler on board a vessel or tug by means of a jointed steam pipe
or by a flexible tube. This engine carries two or more small driving
wheels gripping the rail between them. This grip may be regulated by
a spring, but is preferably caused by a steam piston, so arranged that
when the steam is turned on the pressure of the piston causes the
wheels to grip the rail between them, and when the pressure is removed
a spring causes the wheels to separate and become free of the rail. The
steam traveller is provided with other rollers for guiding it and sup-

page_text: porting its weight, and it has an attachment over its centre of gravity
by which it can at any time be lifted off the rail, and taken on board
by means of a small derrick upon the tug, and can again be placed on
the rail at pleasure. The tractive power is transmitted to the tug
either by the flexible steam pipe or by a separate rope or ropes.
The flexible or jointed tube is in some cases duplicated, so that the
steam under pressure travels by one tube and the exhaust is brought
back by the other, and may be discharged in the chimney, so as to
increase the draught, or may be used for heating the feed water. This
return pipe is in some cases arranged to surround the steam pipe, so as
to form a jacket to it, and prevent the condensation of steam.
Sometimes we have the engine on board the boat, and drive the tra-
veller by means of an endless rope working round pulleys at a high
speed, the driving wheels being connected with the pulley by a worm or
other suitable gear. The slack of the rope is taken up by loose pulleys 1
on the tug in the ordinary manner. Or the power may be conveyed
from the boat to the traveller by means of water, or air under pressure
in lieu of steam.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure z a plan of the towing engine,
and Figure 3 is an end elevation of the same.
a, a, is the rail which is fixed on longitudinal or transverse sleepers,
which may be either supported on piles or be buried in the earth in the
ordinary way, but we prefer to fix it on piles or sleepers along the edge
of the canal; b, b, are the steam cylinders, which are two in number;
they are fixed at opposite ends of the frame, and in plan are placed at
opposite sides of the rail. One of the pistons is attached to the crank d,
and the other to the crank e. These cranks work at right angles to each
other, and are connected together by the two side rods f, f, which move
with them and maintain them always at right angles to each other as
regards their position of revolution, and compel them to revolve at the
same speed. Each of these cranks carries on its axle a driving wheel of

page_text: small diameter g, g, which revolves in a horizontal plane, and the edge
of which is pressed hard against the side flange of the rail. This pressure
is applied by means of two small horizontal rollers h, h, which are placed
one on each side of the rail, and are cach opposite to its driving
wheel; they are pressed against the rail by small steam cylinders and
pistons i, i. The steam connection with these pistons is always open, so
that whenever the steam is turned on these pistons are thrust out, and
acting through the intervention of the levers k, l, m, they cause the
wheels to press against the rail, but when the steam is turned off the
spring forces back the piston, and relieves the grip of the rail, so that
the whole engine can be freely lifted off the rail.
The steam is supplied from an ordinary boiler on board the tug or
steamer by a flexible steam pipe either of jointed metal or of elastic
material. This pipe is connected to the engine at o, and as soon as the
steam is turned on the wheels h, h, are pressed inwards, so as to cause the
rail to be securely gripped by the driving wheels, and these wheels at the
same time commence to revolve and to tow the vessel along. The towing
may be transmitted either through the flexible pipe or through a separate
towing rope, and this rope may if necessary be attached to the lever k,
so as increase the grip of the wheels more or less in proportion to the
towing strain exerted. There is no reversing gear, as the apparatus can
be readily lifted off the rail and reversed. Tho weight of the machine
is carried by the rollers p, p, which run vertically along the top of the

page_text: We also claim, the construction of towing apparatus, substantially as
described and shown in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Standfield, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
JOHN STANDFIFLD. (L.S.)