CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND RAILWAYS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
NISBET, of Lambden, in the County of Berwick, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of February (1846), in the ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Nisbet, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Robert Nisbet,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Nisbet,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others;
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND RAILWAYS;" in which Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, Robert Nisbet, shall particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Nisbet, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The nature of my said Invention consists in making such additions to loco-
motive engines and railways that an engine may be propelled up an inclined
plane of almost any gradient without stoppage or interruption, and at consi-
derable velocities, or be correspondingly retarded in its descent down such
plaues; and the manner of doing so is as follows:-A ring or circle of strong
teeth is to be bolted or otherwise affixed to each of the sides or to one only of
the sides of each of the two driving wheels of the locomotive engine, and the
teeth of these rings or circles are to take into the teeth of racks or rack bars
laid down along one or both of the sides of each line of rails wherever there is
an ascending gradient. The diameter of the toothed ring or circle must of
course bear such a relative proportion to the diameter of the wheel to which
it is attached as that the pitch line of the two sets of teeth' shall coincide
with the sole or bearing periphery of the wheel. I propose that the rack bars
should commence at a distance before the actual commencement of the ascent,
equal to the greatest length of any train likely to come on the railway where
they are applied, and that the teeth should in these parts encrease by
regular gradation from a height of only a very little above the ground to
a height equal to the full depth of the teeth of the wheel rings or circles, and
that the teeth should at first be bevilled off on the entering side to a sharp
point, and become successively less bevilled and broader at the points,
according to the increase of height. The teeth of the wheel rings will thus
have fairly entered into those of the racks, and obtained a perfect hold upon
them by the time their assistance is required to propel the locomotive up the
ascent. The racks should be prolonged beyond the top of the ascent for a
distance equal to that by which they precede the commencement of the ascent,
and the teeth be graduated from the top in the same way as before. A side
elevation of a length of rack on this plan is given in Figure 1 of the Drawings
annexed. The rack bars may be laid upon separate longitudinal sleepers
alongside of those on which the rails rest, but I prefer making them fast to
the sides of the chairs which support the rails; and these chairs may be either
of the ordinary form, and the rack bars be fitted and bolted to them, or they
may be enlarged and modified so as to furnish a seat for the rack bars as well
as for the rails.
An arrangement of the latter description is shewn in Figure 2, which
:

page_text: exhibits a transverse or end view of the wheel of a locomotive engine mounted
on a line of rails, with a toothed circle on the inner or flange side of the wheel
gearing into a toothed rack on the inner or flange side of the rail. A is the
wheel and a the flange; B the toothed circle attached to the wheel; C the
chair, enlarged on one side to furnish a seat for the rack bar D, which is
secured in its place by a countersunk bolt d.
Figure 3 represents an arrangement precisely similar to the preceding, only
that the toothed circle and toothed rack are placed on the other or opposite
side of the wheel in Figure 2.
Figure 4 represents also the same sort of arrangement as adopted in the
two preceding cases, but in duplicate, that is to say, a wheel with two toothed
circles, one on each side; a rail with two toothed racks, one on each side; and
a chair enlarged on both sides to afford support to the two racks. Where no
chairs are used, and the rails are bolted directly to the sleepers, as represented
in Figure 5, the rack bar may be made of the form represented in that Figure,
and secured to the rail and sleeper by bolts and pins, as there shewn. On
those parts of rails where there are no such toothed racks as aforesaid attached
to them, the locomotive will travel without the least interruption. from the
toothed circles, whether the toothed circles are on the inside of the wheel or
on both sides; but on lines where there are numerous crossings it will be
proper to have the toothed circles on the inner or flange side only of the wheel,
for where there is room for the flanges to pass there will be room for the
toothed circles to pass, or at least room for them to pass freely can be readily
made. All chance, however, of the toothed circles interfering in any way with
the progress of the wheels when out of gear with the racks may be obviated
by attaching them to the driving wheel, in such manner that they may be
raised occasionally into a plane an inch or two higher than that of the rails.
An arrangement for this purpose is shewn in Figures 6 and 7. A is the
driving wheel; B the toothed circle; L, L, L, three links by which the toothed
circle is connected with the driving wheel A, each link consisting of a bar
which turns freely on two centres or pins, one of which is connected with the
driving wheel and the other with the toothed circle. M a bar, which is loosely
affixed by an eye in the centre of it to the centre of the toothed circle, and
turns at one end on a fixed centre m attached to a bearing projected down-
wards from the framework of the engine, and at the other to a screwed rod S,
which is carried upwards to a position within reach of the driver. N, N, are
spokes by which the toothed circle is connected to the central boss. The eye
of the toothed circle is made larger in diameter than the driving axle to an
extent equal to twice the length of the links L, L, and by turning the screwed
rod S the driver can lower or raise the toothed circle to that extent at pleasure.

page_text: The Drawing Figure 6 shews the toothed circle as lowered and in gear with.
the rack, and Figure 7 shews it as raised out of the way. P is a sling
dependent from the framework, and looped round the bar M, which prevents
it from descending lower than the point necessary to bring the teeth into gear
with the teeth of the rack at the exact pitch line. Neither, in so far as the
present Invention is concerned, will it matter whether the cylinders are inside
or outside of the wheels. Again, as the whole of the perpendicular weight of
the engine will rest as usual on the rails, and in no case on the toothed racks;
the adhesive power or grip of the wheels will remain throughout the same as
before, and the teeth will only come into action when required to prevent the
slipping or undue acceleration of the wheels.
I am aware that it has been before proposed to propel locomotive carriages
on railways by means of toothed wheels gearing into toothed racks throughout
the entire length of each line of railway, and I lay no claim to such a system
of propulsion; but what I claim as having an exclusive right to under the
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing of locomotive engines
with toothed rings or circles attached to one or both sides of each of the
driving wheels thereof, and gearing into toothed racks laid alongside the rails,
or attached to the chairs of the rails, or to the rails and sleepers, at those
portions only of each railway where the assistance of such toothed circles
and toothed racks is wanted, the pitch of the teeth of such toothed circles
and racks being so adjusted (either permanently or temporarily, as before
explained) as to coincide with the sole or bearing periphery of the wheel, and
the teeth of the rack being so shaped and graduated as that the toothed circles
and racks shall be brought gradually into full operation, all as before described.
And such my said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
new, and never before used within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, nor in any of Her Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same,
and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all
respects fully, without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim
to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Nisbet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
ROBT (L.S.) NISBET.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Robert Nisbet came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.