An Improved System of Elevated or Overhead Railways or Tramways.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 26th Jan., 1891-Accepted, 25th Apr., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved System of Elevated or Overhead Railways
or Tramways.
EDWARD WILLIAM IVES and GERALD BARKER Civil Engineers 1 West-
minster Chambers London, S.W. do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
:-
Our invention has for its object, to provide an elevated or overhead railway or
tramway, which will not require the deck or flooring which is usual in railway
bridges and not throw an appreciable shadow on the ground or adjacent property,
nor collect rainfall or snow causing water to drip from the structure.
The invention consists in suspending the engines, motors, cars & trucks from
bogie or truck frames, the wheels or rollers of which run upon rails, or in channels,
resting on the top of the girders or on brackets or similar devices projecting on the
inner sides of the girders, in such a manner that the engines, motors, cars, or trucks,
pass between the girders of the structure.
Horizontal inclined or vertical wheels blocks or slides being provided to guide
the rolling stock in case of derailment.
The line may be single with passing places for the cars or trains to pass
alongside or over the top of one another, which passing places would be controlled
by moveable points or switches working horizontally or vertically as the case
might be.
In the case of two or more lines of railway or tramway, they would either be
placed above one another alongside, or entirely distinct from one another.
The girders are supported on piers from below on brackets from the sides, or
suspended from arches or girders above.
Dated this 25th day of Anril 1890
EDWARD WILLIAM IVES.
GERALD BARKER.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved System of Elevated or Overhead Railways
or Tramways.
We, EDWARD WILLIAM IVES and GERALD BARKER of 1 Westminster
Chambers, London, S.W., in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to overhead railways, adapted for use either with ordinary
railway trains or with tramcars, the object being to construct an overhead railway
which shall not require a deck or flooring such as is usual in railways of this descrip-
tion, and which shall consequently not throw an appreciable shadow on the ground
or adjacent property, and shall not collect rain or snow and thus cause water to drip
in quantity from the structure.
The railway, in its most usual form, is constructed of a series of piers, preferably
of open framework, surmounted by a series of openwork girders arranged in pairs
of parallel lines and adapted to support the rails, the rolling stock being so mounted
on the latter that each vehicle or a considerable portion thereof passes between its
supporting girders.
In the drawings:
Figures 1 and 2 are transverse sections of a double railway, illustrating, in a

page_text: more or less diagrammatical manner, two different ways of carrying the invention
into effect.
Figure 3 is a plan showing the arrangement of the points at the junction of two
tracks.
Figure 4 is a detail hereinafter set forth.
A A are openwork piers. B B are openwork girders supported upon the piers A
and arranged in pairs of parallel lines. The members of each pair are braced to
each other, and, where necessary or desirable, to the members of the other pair, by
openwork girders or frames C C.
DD are the rails or channels which are supported directly upon the girders B,
either on the top thereof, as shown, or by means of brackets or hangers attached
to the girders and projecting beyond the inner sides thereof.
E E are the wheels running upon the rails D. The said wheels are mounted
upon the bogie or frame of the engine, motor, car or truck F in any suitable
manner, and in such positions thereon that the said engine, motor, car or truck,
or a considerable portion thereof, passes between its supporting girders B, as seen
in Figures 1 and 2. The wheels are preferably so arranged that their axes lic
approximately in the same horizontal plane as the centre of gravity of the vehicle
or in a plane above the centre of gravity.
Guide or safety wheels, blocks or slides G, Figure 4, are arranged in suitable
positions on the rolling stock and in proximity to the rails, for the purpose of
guiding and supporting the rolling stock in case of derailment, caused, for
example, by the parting of a tyre, the breaking of an axle or other like accident.
The line may be a single line with passing places at suitable points, advisedly
at the stations, at which points the cars or trains would either pass alongside of
. each other or one over the other, or two or more distinct lines may be employed,
placed cither side by side or one above the other.
Figure 1 shows a transverse section at a station on a double line or at a passing
place on a single line, the rails being so arranged that the cars or trains pass alongside
of each other.
Figure 2 is a similar view, in which the rails are so arranged that the cars
or trains pass one over the other, the construction of the station not being
shown.
The lines are provided, at each end of the passing or crossing places, with
movable points or switches, as shown in Figure 3, such arrangement being adapted
more especially for a line on which the cars or trains pass side by side. The
construction is similar to the ordinary switch, but, instead of simply moving the
central junction rail, the entire central girder B1 is made to swivel about a vertical
pivot B, as will be readily understood from Figure 3. The pivot is, by preference,
supported by a cross girder 133 on one of the piers, indicated by dotted lines, as
at A'. The tapered end of the girder B¹ is arranged to travel to and fro upon a
cross girder B also, by preference, placed directly above a pier, as at A². Inter-
mediate piers are also provided, if necessary. It is also advisable to support the
overhanging end of the switch girder and the adjacent ends b' of the two central
girders B upon a pier, or upon a cross girder A³ carried by the two outer girders B,
or, if desired, by a separate pier. Any suitable arrangement may be employed for
working the points. When the lines at the passing places are arranged one above
the other, as in Figure 2, the points are constructed in a manner precisely similar
to that set forth above, the switch girders being, however, caused to turn about a
horizontal pivot instead of a vertical one.
H, Figure 1, is the landing platform of a station, which is, by preference, placed
at or near the level of the rails. J is a small platform on the car just above the
level of the rails and projecting over the same.
Access may be had from the platform J to the upper and lower stories of the car
by means of stairs or ladders K K' respectively. L is a shield projecting from the
side of the car down over the wheels thereof.
The stations may be approached by stairs or hoists in the well known manner.

page_text: There is no landing platform shown in Figure 2, but it is placed with respect
to the cars in a similar position to that shown in Figure 1, being supported
in any suitable manner upon the frames C, or upon separate piers, or partly upon
both.
It will be obvious that, although the girders B have only been mentioned as
being supported upon the top of the piers, they might, in some cases, be supported
upon brackets projecting from the sides of the piers, or the piers may even be
constructed in the form of arches and the girders be suspended from the spans of
said arches.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. An improved system of elevated or overhead railways or tramways, consisting
of two girders, each carrying one rail, and the rolling stock suspended from these
rails, and travelling between the rails substantially as described, whereby an
elevated or overhead railway or tramway is obtained which does not require a deck
or floor and will not throw much shadow on the ground or adjacent property, or
collect much rainfall or snow, or cause much drip thereby.
2. In an improved system of elevated or overhead railways or tramways, the
arrangement of rolling stock suspended by side wheels on the rails, the rolling stock
running between the rails, substantially as described.
3. In an improved system of elevated or overhead railways or tramways substan-
tially as described, having carriages running between the rails, the construction and
use of horizontal or other wheel blocks or slides attached to the carriage immediately
over and slightly above the rail for the purpose described.
Dated this 24th day of January 1891.
WM. P. THOMPSON & .Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and London, Patent Agents.