IMPROVEMENTS ON CARRIAGES AND PORT- ABLE RAILWAYS TO FACILITATE THEIR MOVEMENT ON COMMON ROADS AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1857

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Welch at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th September 1857.
I JAMES WELCH, of Southall, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS ON CARRIAGES AND PORT-
ABLE RAILWAYS TO FACILITATE THEIR MOVEMENT ON COMMON ROADS AND OTHER
SURFACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of improvements on carriages, where what are called
portable railways are used. The portable chains or railways are each com-
posed of an endless chain of rails, each link or rail of which is formed of two
bars of iron, rivetted at one end of them to a foot or shoe, parallel to each
other and with a space between them, the other ends forming a joint with the
foot or shoe of the next succeeding link. The foot projects below the bars and
alone touches the ground. It contains on its upper side a medial longitudinal
groove of sufficient width to admit the rim of the conducting wheels hereafter
mentioned. The endless chain is carried round the bearing wheels of the
carriage, is laid down before them, and lifted again behind by means of two
wheels which I call conducting wheels, one placed before and the other behind
the bearing wheels. As the chain travels over the conducting wheels, their
peripheries pass between the parallel bars of the links and into the grooves in
the shoes, by which means the chain is secured in its proper position through-
out its revolution. For the purpose of carrying the chain with smoothness,
and preventing the shock of the blow which would occur at the junction
of

page_text: each link on the passage of the chain from one conducting wheel to the other,
the rims of the conducting wheels are encircled with india-rubber or other
elastic substance, and a helical or other suitable spring or elastic substanee is
set into each shoe to receive the inpact of the conducting wheels.
As it is necessary for the well working of the endless chain that the conduct-
ing wheels should run rather near to the ground, their axles are secured to the
carriage by an open clip long enough to allow the wheel to rise a few inches
independently of the body of the carriage, in case of meeting with unusually
large obstacles lying on the road; and a screw or other contrivance is attached
to the back of the carriage, for the purpose of drawing back the axle of the
hinder conducting wheels, and thus tightening the chain to any required
degree. My bearing wheels are each a double or divided wheel, with a
sufficient space left between its double periphery and double set of spokes for
the revolution of the conducting wheels, by which means the conducting wheels
may be made nearly to approximate together and the length of the chain is
lessened. A flange is placed both inside and outside of the double bearing
wheel. When the carriage is moved by steam or other power acting directly
'upon the wheels to propel the carriage by their revolution, the endless chain
is fitted with a toothed rack along one side of it, adapted to a toothed wheel
running on the same axle, and revolving with the driving wheel; the toothed
wheel is capable of being placed in or out of gear at pleasure, and is intended
to be used only where the difficulties of the ground might otherwise render
the driving wheels liable to slip round.