IMPROVE- .MENTS IN MOVING BOATS ON CANALS AND RIVERS
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Liddell at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th May
1854.
I, CHARLES LIDDELL, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster,
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
.MENTS IN MOVING BOATS ON CANALS AND RIVERS " to be as follows:-
.
My Invention consists of several parts, all of which are improvements in or
modifications of the method of moving boats on canals, rivers, and other
navigable channels by means of fixed engines and wire ropes or bands. For
brevity's sake, the word "canal" will be used throughout this Specification to
denote rivers as well as canals, properly so called; and the word "rope" or
"tractive rope" to denote any wire rope or band used for communicating
motion from the fixed engines to the boats. The first part of my Invention con-
sists in the adaptation to moving boats on canals of fixed engines with recipro-
cating tractive ropes, that is to say, ropes which move alternately in either
direction, such ropes being supported above water and guided either in the
manner described in the Specification of an Invention for which Her Majesty's
Letters Patent were granted to me, bearing date the 15th day of July 1853,
or by trucks or waggons, herein-after described; being either endless or wound
upon drums at one or both ends. The tow lines are to be attached either
directly to the tractive ropes or to the said trucks or waggons.

page_text: The second part of my Invention consists in the adaptation to the moving of
boats on canals, whether by endless ropes moving continuously, as described in
the Specification of an Invention for which Her Majesty's Royal Letters
Patent were granted to me, bearing date the 15th July 1853, or by recipro-
cating ropes, as above described, of a certain method of attaching the tow line
to the tractive rope. This method consists in forming in or upon the tractive
ropo, at intervals of 30 yards, or any other convenient intervals, short portions
of enlarged diameter, say, for example, of four times the diameter of the rest of
the rope. These enlarged portions may be formed either by means of enlarge-
ments of the core or central strand of the rope (when made of wire), or by
wrapping pieces of rope, cord, or wire round it, or otherwise. To any one of
these enlarged portions the tow line of a boat or boats may be attached by
means of a hook, a loop, or otherwise. The tractive rope is to be supported
by bearing sheaves, having flanches high enough to prevent its escape, say, for
example, of a height equal to twice the diameter of the rope. Upon the
arrival of any one of the enlarged portions at a bearing sheave, any tow line
which may be attached to it will be lifted so high as to escape over the flanch
next to the canal. The escape of the tractive rope itself will be prevented by
a fixed guard or a guard sheave, placed above the bearing sheave, and leaving
above the flanch next the canal a space wide enough to let a tow line pass, but
not wide enough to let the tractive rope escape.
The third part of my Invention is a modification of the second, and consists
in substituting for the enlarged. portion of the tractive rope to which the tow
line is attached, a rounded or tapering shackle of wood, metal, gutta percha,
or other suitable material, consisting of one, two, or more pieces, and
capable of being easily removed and replaced, so as to detach and attach the
tow line..
The fourth part of_my_Invention consists in the adaptation to the tractive.
rope of a canal, whether endless or not, moving continuously or reciprocating,
of small wheeled trucks or waggons, for the purpose of supporting and guiding
the said rope at the points where tow lines are attached to it, and elsewhere,
which trucks or waggons are to run on a suitable railway or tramway formed
alongside of the canal.