IMPROVE- MENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND TENDERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Valentine Græme Bell, of St. John's Wood, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND TENDERS."
Sealed the 10th November 1868, and dated the 14th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Valentine Græme Bell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th May 1868.
I, VALENTINE GREME BELL, of St. John's Wood, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND TENDERS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in locomotive engines and
tenders intended to be used on railways provided with a central rail
for facilitating the traffic over steep gradients and sharp curves.
The improvements consist,-
1st. In a novel arrangement for driving the horizontal wheels, which
are used to grip the central rail and retain the engine on the track when
passing round dangerous curves, and also to increase the hold of the
engine upon the track.

page_text: And, 2ndly. In a mode of coupling two engines together through
the intervention of a tender when increased traction power is required,
and enabling one engine driver to manage both engines.
Great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in coupling the pair
of horizontal wheels by which the central rail is gripped, but to remedy
this I now adopt the following arrangement:-On the axle of each
horizontal wheel I form two cranks, which are set at right angles to each
other, and by means of rods I connect the corresponding cranks of the
two wheels with horizontal cross heads. The one cross head is coupled
by connecting rods with cranks on the driving axle, and the other cross
head, to which the second pair of cranks for driving the horizontal
wheels are connected, is coupled in a similar manner with a supple-
mentary horizontal crank shaft, which shaft is coupled with and driven
by the driving axle.
In coupling two engines together I interpose between their fire-box
ends a short tender carried by one or more pairs of running wheels;
this tender I connect to each engine by means of a strong vertical
hinge joint which allows of lateral play when the coupled engines are
passing over a curve. To enable the driver to regulate the movements
of both engines simultaneously I couple the regulating apparatus of the
two engines by universal joints, the axes of which are respectively in
line with those of the hinge joints before mentioned. The regulator
shafts are carried above the boilers at a height sufficient to clear the
driver's head, and each engine is provided with a regulator handle.
The link motions of both engines are worked by one reversing lever
mounted upon the tender, and they are connected with this lever by
means of coupling rods and universal joints lying in the centre line of
the engines. The brake apparatus is situate on the tender and is caused
to operate simultaneously upon both engines through one brake handle.
For this purpose the nut through which the brake screw passes is fitted
to the centre of a beam, from the opposite ends of which depends a
link; these links are secured by universal joints to levers on the brake
shafts of the engines. When it is required to detach an engine from its
tender it will only be necessary to withdraw the pins of the universal
joints coupling the regulator, the link motion, and the brake apparatus
respectively, and also the pivot of the vertical hinge.

page_text: .
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Valentine Græme Bell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, VALENTINE
GREME BELL, of Saint John's Wood, in, the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the, said Valentine Græme Bell, Her special licence
that I, the said Valentine Græme Bell, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Valentine Græme Bell, my
executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENT
IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND TENDERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Valentine Græmie Bell, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Valentine Græme Bell, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
:-
This Invention relates to improvements in locomotive engines and
tenders intended to be used on railways provided with a central rail for
falicitating the traffic over steep gradients and sharp curves.

page_text: The improvements consist,
First. In a novel arrangement for driving the horizontal wheels which
are used to grip the central rail and retain the engine on the track when
passing round dangerous curves, and also to increase the hold of the
engine upon the track.
And, secondly. In a mode of coupling two engines together through
the intervention of a tender when increased traction power is required,
and enabling one engine driver to manage both engines.
Great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in coupling the pairs
of horizontal wheels by which the central rail is gripped, but to remedy
this I now adopt the arrangement of cross heads shewn in the
accompanying Drawings.
In Sheets I. and II. Fig. 1 and 1 bis shew in continuous elevation
two engines fitted with horizontal gripping wheels and coupled together
by the intervention of a tender, one engine and one half the tender
being drawn in longitudinal section, and the other engine and half of
the tender in side view.
In Sheets III. and IV. Figures 2 and 2 bis shew a corresponding
plan view of the same, one engine and half the tender being shewn in
sectional plan view, and the other in top view.
A, A, is the main driving axle operated as usual by the piston and
connecting rods of the steam cylinders B, B. The end cranks of this
axle A are connected by the coupling arrangement (shewn in the side
elevation and sectional plan) to the end cranks of a supplementary
shaft C which is mounted at a higher elevation than the axle A in
bearings in the engine frame. Each of these axles or shafts A, C,
I provide with a pair of cranks for driving the crank axles D, D, of the
.horizontal gripping wheels E, E, and on the axle of each horizontal
wheel I form two cranks d, d', which are set at right angles to each
other. The cranks of the axle A are connected by rods A', A', to sliding
frames F supported on guides G and carrying a cross head F¹. This
cross head is connected by means of rods H, H, to the cranks d of
the two wheels. In like manner the crank shaft C is connected by
rods C through sliding frames I supported on guides K and carrying
'a cross head I¹ with the cranks d¹ of the axles D of the gripping
wheels, the crank rods H', H', serving to connect the cranks d' with the
cross head IL

page_text: By the use of the above-described arrangement it will be readily
understood that a smooth rotary motion will be imparted to the gripping
wheels, the cranks d, d', being carried over their dead points alternately
by the action of the driving shafts A, C, with which they are respectively
connected. The axles of these wheels are mounted in sliding frames
which are pressed inwards by means of coiled springs to enable the
wheels to grip the middle rail.
In some cases I may find it desirable to use two or more pairs of
gripping wheels instead of a single pair as shewn in the Drawings, the
same being coupled together in the usual way.
Instead of driving a second pair of gripping wheels from the first
pair in some cases I employ the arrangement shewn in Sheet V., where
Fig. 3 is a diagram elevation, and Fig. 4 a diagram plan of the engine.
In these Figures A is the main driving axle; B, the steam cylinders;
C, the supplementary driving shaft, and D, D, D', D', the crank axles
of the gripping wheels. The cranks d of the axles D it will be seen
are set at right angles to the cranks d' of the axles D', and the crank
axles D, D', are connected together by rods a, a. The cranks d and d'
are connected to separate cross heads E, E', and these cross heads are by
means of rods e, e, e', e¹, connected to the supplementary shaft C. This
shaft is, as in the first arrangement, connected to and driven by the
main driving axle A through the connecting rods c, c.
From the foregoing description it will be understood that, whereas
in the first-described arrangement the gripping wheels were driven
from the axle A, and the supplementary crank shaft C by their direct
action on the cross heads, in the present case the wheels are driven by
the action of the supplementary shaft only upon the cross heads. The
same facility, however, for carrying the cranks d, d', over their dead
points is provided in both instances.
I will now describe the second head of my Invention, which relates
to the coupling of two engines together. In coupling two engines
together I interpose between their fire-box ends a short tender, as
shewn at L, Figures 1, 1bte, and 2, 2s; this tender may be carried
by one or more pairs of running wheels. I connect the tender to each
engine by means of a strong vertical hinge joint, one of which is shewn
in vertical section at Fig. 1, and in horizontal section at Fig. 2. Both
the tender and the engines are formed with plates or flanges M, M,

page_text: which interlock or overlie the one the other, and a vertical bolt M¹
passed through these plates and secured in position completes the hinge.
This mode of coupling the engines and tender together allows of lateral
play when the coupled engines are passing over a curve. To enable
the driver to regulate the movements of both engines simultaneously,
I couple the shafts N, N, (Fig. 1) of the regulating apparatus of the two
engines, by universal joints N', N', the axes of which are respectively
in line with those of the hinge bolts M¹. The regulator shafts are
carried above the boilers at a height sufficient to clear the driver's head,
and I provide each engine with a regulator handle N. With the like
object I make the link motions of both engines to work from one
reversing lever. This lever is shewn at O, Fig. 1, and it is mounted
upon the tender at or about the line of its mid-section. The link
motions are connected with this lever by means of coupling rods and
universal joints lying in the centre line of the engines. The apparatus
for actuating the brakes is also situate on the tender, and it is caused
to operate simultaneously upon both engines through one brake
handle P. For this purpose the nut through which the brake screw P¹
passes is fitted to the centre of a beam P³, from the opposite ends of
which depends a link P'; these links are secured by universal joints
to levers P on the brake shafts Q of the engines. When it is required
to detach an engine from its tender it will only be necessary to withdraw
the pins of the universal joints coupling the regulator, the link motion,
and the brake apparatus respectively, and also the bolt M' of the
vertical hinge.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Locomotive Engines and Tenders," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First. The double cross head arrangement described with reference
to Sheets I., II., III., and IV. of the Drawings for transmitting motion
directly from the driving axle and supplementary shaft to the crank
axles of the gripping wheels.
Secondly. As a modification of the above-mentioned arrangement
the double cross head arrangement described with reference to Sheet V.
for transmitting motion to the crank axles of two pairs of gripping
wheels directly from the supplementary crank shaft.

page_text: Thirdly. The means described for connecting the engines to the
tender, and enabling the engine driver to work the regulating and cut-off
apparatus and also the brakes of two coupled engines simultaneously.
In witness whereof, I, the said Valentine Græme Bell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Third day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.