IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAMWAYS OR RAILWAYS FOR STREETS OR ROADS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Herbert Bright, of Victoria Street, West-
minster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAMWAYS OR RAILWAYS FOR STREETS OR ROADS,
Sealed the 5th May 1868, and dated the 7th November 1867.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Charles Herbert Bright
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 7th November 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HERBERT BRIGHT, of Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TRAMWAYS OR RAILWAYS FOR STREETS OR ROADS, AND WHEELS ADAPTED TO RUN
THEREON," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have
made solemn Declaration that I am the first and true Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Herbert Bright, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement:-
At the level of the surface of the street or road to which a tramway or
railway is to be applied I place a bar or flat rail (one rail being used for each

page_text: side of the railway or tramway as usual), and I secure the same upon and to
suitable sleepers by means of screws, spikes, or fasteners, the said bar or rail
being so laid or placed that in its transverse direction it shall slant off froin
the central line of the way between the rails, which arrangement or con-
struction is specially adapted for the transit of wheels with peripheries cor-
responding to the slant or angle of the rails (such as those shown in the
accompanying. Drawing), namely, constructed with tyres or. peripheries, one
portion of which, that is, the portion which is on the inner side of the wheel,
is bevilled off to suit the angle at which the aforesaid bar or rail is placed ;
and, further, these tyres may be constructed as compound tyres, that is, in two
parts, the flat circle or
periphery which is intended for running on the ordinary
roadway being one part, and the bevilled portion of the said circle or
periphery which is to run on the rail being the other, this latter portion being
bolted to the aforesaid flat part or otherwise securely attached thereto.
But I do not limit myself to this system of making the tyre in two parts (as
the whole periphery may be all in one piece), nor to any particular method of
attaching the two parts together. Wheels thus constructed will be enabled
to run on the rails aforesaid, and will secure the tram carriages to which such
rails belong in position on the line, and at the same time there being no ridge
or bar standing above the surface of the road, nor any channel or cavity for
the tram wheels to run in, but only the flat bar aforesaid. The difference of
the slant or angle of which from a right angle not of necessity oreating any-
thing beyond a slight depression in the roadway at the lowest point of the
slant; hence ordinary road traffic will not be impeded by the existence of a
tramway or railway such as that described, more especially as the tran
carriages can readily be moved on or off the line, as may be requisite,
carriages provided with the wheels before described being also capable
of going round very sharp curves without difficulty. I may here remark, that
the slant of the rail should be struck from a line described from the centre
of the nave of one wheel to the edge of the wheel opposite; the wheels in
other particulars than those above mentioned are constructed like railway
wheels.
Having thus particularly described the nature of the said Invention I now
proceed to describe in what manner the same is to be performed, which I shall
do by reference to the accompanying Drawings, as follows:-
:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is an end view of a rail laid and fitted to a roadway capable of
accomodating ordinary traffic as well as tram carriages in accordance with

page_text: the requirements of my Invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse section of two rails
laid at the proper distances apart to form a line of rails (also shewing a pair
of wheels such as above described running thereon).
A, A, denotes the sleepers for supporting the rail; B, the rail itself; C, the
ordinary paving of the road; D¹, D2, the wheels, D¹ being the flat part of
the periphery, and D² the bevilled part of the periphery thereof.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare
that I claim the Invention of "Improvements in Tramways or Railways for
Streets or Roads, and Wheels adapted to Run thereon," consisting in the use
and adoption of the combination or arrangement, herein-before described, of a
flat bar or rail as laid down on a street or road for tram carriages to run
thereon (whereby tram carriages provided with suitable wheels may be
enabled to leave and return to the rail when requisite), and the ordinary street
or road traffic will not be impeded.
Also I claim the wheels having tyres or peripheries, herein-before described,
suited to run on the said bar or rail.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Herbert Bright, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 22nd day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
C. HERBERT BRIGHT. (L.S.)