IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES FOR COMMON ROADS AND STREET TRAMWAYS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Peyton at the Office of tho
Commissioners of Patents on the 6th March 1877..
RICHARD PEYTON, of Colwall, near Malvern, in the County of Worcester, News-
paper Proprietor. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
FOR COMMON ROADS AND STREET TRAMWAYS."
The principal objection to the use of locomotive engines on common roads and
street tramways is the danger of accident by the frightening of horses and other
animals, the appearance of and sometimes the noise produced by locomotive engines,
and at other times the movement of such large bodies in silence, without apparent
cause of motion, having a very alarming effect on horses.
The object of my Invention is to remove in the manner herein-after described the
objection referred to in the use of locomotive engines on common roads and street
tramways.
By the use of my Invention locomotive engines may travel on common roads and
street tramways without alarming horses or other animals passed or overtaken by
the said locomotives.
As the alarm to horses and other animals is occasioned by the unusual appear-
ance and noise of locomotive engines, or otherwise by their appearance and silent
approach, I neutralize these conditions by the appliances which constitute my
Invention.
I appeal to the sense of sight of the horses or other animals by attaching to the
front or other convenient part of the locomotive one or more mechanical models,
each having as near as convenient the figure of a horse, and I give to the legs or to
the fore legs only of the model or mechanical horse motions similar to those of the
living horse when walking or trotting. Motion may also be given to the neck,
head, and ears.
In order to obtain the closest resemblanco to real horses the said models or
mechanical horses may be covered with real horse's skins.
In order to appeal to the ear of the horse or other animal I cause sounds to be
produced resembling those produced by the walking or trotting of a horse. This I
effect cither by attaching real horse shoes to the hoofs or feet of the mechanical
horses, and causing them to strike the ground or a platform arranged for that

page_text: purpose after the manner of a horse's foot, or in order to prevent the wearing away
of the horse's shoes, or injury to the mechanical model, or to the road or platform, I
produce the required sounds by other mechanical arrangements. An apparatus
somewhat resembling a watchman's rattle having the sounding parts or some of
them made of metal produces a sound resembling that produced by the blows of a
horse's foot upon the road.
The motions of the model or mechanical horses, and of the sound producing
apparatus referred to, are by preference derived from the locomotive, so that when
the locomotive stops the motions of the mechanical horses and the sounding
apparatus are stopped also, and are renewed when the locomotive is again set in
motion.
By means of a band and pulley or by toothed gearing motion is taken from the
principal shaft of the locomotive, and communicated to a shaft having cranks or
excentrics, by which the feet and moving parts of the model horse are raised and
lowered. The sounding parts, when resembling a watchman's rattle, may be worked
by the same shaft as the moving parts of the horse.
When the sound is produced by percussion a series of tappets raise and let fall a
series of vertical bolts or slides. When thought desirable the shaft from which
these motions are taken may be turned by hand, so as to make the working and
non-working of the said parts independent of the locomotive.
The imitation sound of horse's feet disguises in a remarkable manner the ordinary
sounds produced in working a locomotive, and also prevents the alarm occasioned to
horses by the appearance of a large body in motion without any accompanying
sound or apparent cause of movement.