IMPROVEMENTS IN ENDLESS RAILWAY OR TRAVELLING STREET SIDE WALKS, PARTLY APPLICABLE FOR COUPLING OTHER RAILWAY CARRIAGES.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention
"
of IMPROVEMENTS IN ENDLESS RAILWAY OR TRAVELLING STREET SIDE
WALKS, PARTLY APPLICABLE FOR COUPLING OTHER RAILWAY CARRIAGES.".
A communication from abroad by Alfred Speer, of Passaic, County
of Passaic, and State of New York, United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 11th September 1873, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent. Law Amendment Act, 1852.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 11th September 1873, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent. Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
Melville CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.

page_text: COUPLING OTHER RAILWAY CARRIAGES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have mäte. solemn Declaration that
it has been communicated to me from abroad by Alfred Speer, of
Passaic, County of Passaic, and State of New York, United States of
Ainerica.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):―
S
The first part of this Invention relates to improvements in the means
for conveying passengers in streets, and consists in the use of transfer
cars in connection with an endless travelling side walk or train of cars,
and a permanent way alongside thereof.
The second part of this Invention consists of a mode of connecting
the sections of the side walk or in other words the cars together, so as to
turn curves without opening the joints between them, and by the same
means used for connecting the ends of two cars to one truck.
!
The third part consists of a mode of applying the power of stationary
engines for propelling the endless railway by pairs of friction wheels on
vertical shafts extending from the chamber below the permanent way
and gripping an endless flange ou the under side of the moving side walk
between them.
And the fourth part consists of a flange upon the outer side of the
head of the car wheels, and a widened top surface of the outside rails at
the curves for the flanges to run on, to increase the diameter of the
wheels proportionately to the longer distance they travel on the outside
to prevent the sliding of the wheels otherwise necessary in going around
curves.
Figure 1 is a cross section of the improved travelling side walk;
Figure 2 is a plan view.
.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a portion of the way, and side
elevation of the transfer carriage.

page_text: to facilitate going around curves.
Figure 5 is a plan view of the bottoms of parts of two cars, and a
truck showing the plan of coupling the cars together, and to the trucks.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of Figure 5 on the line
x,x; Figure 7 is a transverse section of Figure 5 taken on the line y, y.
.
A is a permanent platform or walk suspended from the buildings B in
any suitable way, being continuous or in sections only at the stations C;
Figures 1 and 2 is the endless travelling walk of platform cars con-
nected together and mounted on rails D elevated on posts E in any
suitable way, so that the top of the platform will be level with the walk
or station platforms A. These cars are to be propelled at a suitable¨
rate of speed continuously by stationary engines or any other means.
Awnings H are employed to shelter the passengers. To facilitate the.
getting on and off with safety. I propose to have small cars' I 'mounted
with the wheels of one side on a rail K on the permanent way, and those
of the other side on the movable walk or train, and each set being on³
independent axles divided at the middle is provided with an independent
brake M, so that a person on the stationary walk wishing to get on the
movable one, or a conductor on the car taking the brake handle for
the wheels running on the rail on the stationary walk, and forcing
the brake down on the wheels can readily stop the car, as the wheels.
upon the 'inovable track will simply turn on their axles without moving
the car forward. The passengers may then step on the foot board
Nof the car I, and releasing the brake first set in action, and setting
the other in action with the wheels on the movable platform, will
cause the car. I. to move with the platform, after which he may get
off the car I, release the last mentioned brakes, and leave the car to the
For the latter operation the car I
next person wishing to get on or off.
will be caused by the brake of the wheels on the travelling walk to move
with the platform until the passenger gets on the foot board. Then it
will be stopped as at first, and he will step off upon the permanent way:
Any suitable 'number of these transferring cars will be arranged along
the whole route, so as to be at all times at the service of passengers.
Many persons may get on and off at the same. time, according to the
capacity of the transfer cars. These cars may have seats above the foot
boards for persons who are aged and infirm to rest on while they are
stopping or starting.
..
:..

page_text: In Figures 5, 6, and 7, A¹ and B' represent the two cars to be coupled
together; A is constructed at the end on a convex curve C¹ struck from
the axis of the pivot bolt D¹, by which the two cars are coupled, the
radius being equal to half the short diameter of the car, and the car
B' is concaved to correspond, so that when the cars are coupled close..
together by the king bolt D¹; they will swing relatively to each other
without opening cracks at the joints, thus making a continuous un-
broken side walk on which people may walk as on a continuous floor.
The frame pieces E¹, F¹, G', cf car B₁ extend sufficiently beyond the top,
and the corresponding pieces of car A¹ terminate sufficiently short to
meet at the axis D', and the two pieces G¹, are provided with metal clips
H³, and the pieces F' with clips 1', which overlap each other and are
connected together by the bolt D¹. The king bolt also passes through
the bolster J¹ at the
car track of wheels, and the cross
piece G¹´rests on the side frames K¹ of the truck, so that one truck
supports the ends of two cars. L' is the endless flange projecting down-
ward from the middle longitudinal limber F1 for applying the power by
the friction rollers M¹ upon the upper ends of the vertical shafts 0¹
rising up from below, and nipping it on both sides between them. These
rolls may be faced with india-rubber, it prefered, to increase the friction.
Springs X¹ may also be used to press the wheels on the flange. The
flange is matched with bevelled ends N¹, when the sections meet at the
joints of the cars to make it continuous.
centre of a
02, Figure 4, represents the widened outside rails at the turns of the
road, and P¹ the flanges on the outside of the wheels to rest upon the
surface to increase the size of the outside wheels for travelling the
greater distance of the outside rail over the inside rail without slipping.
These flanges are not quite so high as the inside flanges, so that the
latter are not prevented from guiding the wheels properly.
I propose to employ the mode of joining the platforms and coupling
the cars described as the second part of this Invention for ordinary cars,
as well as for those of an endless train to which it is alike applicable.
.J
.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as new and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is,―
1st. The combination with the endless travelling side walk or train,
and the permanent way of the transfer cars I, substantially as specified.

page_text: 2nd. The cars or sections of an endless travelling railway or ordinary
cars fitted together on a circle, concentric to the pivot by which they
and
are jointed, and the ends of two cars arranged upon one truck,
connected to it by the same pivot by which said cars are pivoted together,
substantially as specified.
3rdly. The method of applying the propelling force to an endless
travelling side walk or train of cars by an endless flange LA, and a pair
of friction rollers M¹, the flange being applied to the bottoms of the cars,
and the rollers being upon shafts extending up from the driving power
below, and gripping the flange between them, substantially as specified.
4thly. The widened outside rails O2 of the curves, and the flanges P¹ on
the outside of the wheels combined, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
HENRY W. DEWEY,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
A. M. CLARK. . (L.S.)