IMPROVEMENTS IN VEHICLES FOR ROADS, TRAMWAYS, AND RAILWAYS."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Ciotti, of No. 26, Gordon Place, Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VEHICLES FOR
ROADS, TRAMWAYS, AND RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Ciotti at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th August 1880.
HENRI CIOTTI, of No. 26, Gordon Place, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VEHICLES FOR ROADS, TRAMWAYS, AND RAILWAYS."
This Invention has for its object improvements in vehicles for roads, tramways,
and railways.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me on the 6th day of
December 1878, No. 5006, I described a system of rails and of wheels permitting
carriages and vehicles of all sorts to run at will, either upon the rail or upon the
roadway, and allowing the passage to and from without obstacle or stopping, and I
lay down the following four essential and indispensable conditions for the success
of such an arrangement :-
1. That the guiding. rollers be without flanges and do not touch the bottom of
the rail; they should only touch the rail laterally.
2. That the action of lowering and raising the guiding apparatus be accomplished
instantaneously, and at the will of the driver, and simultaneously for the fore and
after carriage.
3. That the guiding apparatus of the fore carriage shall not hinder it from
pivoting and turning freely whilst it remains in connection with the controlling
apparatus at the disposal of the coachman.
4. That the oscillations of the carriage upon its springs shall not be communicated
to the guiding apparatus, and the same time the guiding apparatus shall remain
constantly connected with the fixed gear upon the body of the vehicle at the
disposal of the coachman.
I have now much simplified and improved the way of carrying and actuating
the guiding wheels, so as more perfectly to fulfil the above conditions.

page_text: I actuate the guiding wheel on the fore carriage by a chain, one end of which is
attached to one arm of a bell crank lever, the other end of which forms a handle
conveniently placed within the reach of the driver. The chain passes over the
pulley on the body of the carriage, and from thence over a pulley on the fore
carriage. It is essential that these two pulleys should be placed centrally, so that
the turning of the fore carriage shall not cause a pull to come on the chain, thus
raising the guiding wheel. The guiding wheel may be carried in several ways; I
sometimes carry it at the end of an arm whose other end is forked, so as to embrace
the ordinary supporting wheel, the ends of the arms of the fork carrying bearings
on the axle, one on each side of the ordinary wheel.
The inner bearing may be prolonged to the centre of the axle, forming a tube
around it; at the end of the tube at the centre of the axle there is an arm to which
the end of the chain is attached. Thus, when the chain is pulled by means of the
lever handle the tube and forked arm are caused to revolve on the axle, thereby
lifting the guiding wheel.
Or the chain may pass from the second pulley to a third pulley fixed on the fore
carriage over the centre of the axle, and from thence pass to a fourth pulley on the
fore carriage over the arm carrying the guiding wheel; the chain then passes
downwards, and its end is fixed to this arm. This arrangement of the chain is also
applicable when the swinging arm carrying the guiding wheel is replaced by a
The arm has a square vertical hole at its end to receive a square
vertical rod carrying the guiding wheel which is thus only free to move vertically
up and down; in this case the chain is attached to the axle of the guiding wheel or
to the vertical rod. The arrangements which I have described for the fore carriage
are also applicable to the hind carriage. In this case the apparatus may be
simplified because the hind carriage does not turn.
fixed arm.
I also improve the wheels of the vehicles by making them elastic, so that the
wheel itself forms a spring which supplements the ordinary springs of the vehicle.
I am aware that it has before been suggested to make wheels elastic in various
ways; usually this has been done by using an indiarubber tyre; but this is exposed
to great wear and is liable to be cut by sharp stones; this objection has sometimes
been obviated by protecting the indiarubber tyre with a number of shoes, forming
a chain around the tyre, but this is only applicable to heavy vehicles moving
slowly. My improvements consist in ways of protecting indiarubber or similar
elastic tyres. For ordinary roads I employ a flexible steel spring tyre outside the
indiarubber tyre. These two spring tyres mutually protect one another; the steel
protects the india rubber from wear, and the indiarubber forms an elastic bed for
the steel, and thus prevents its being broken by a sudden blow. One means of
securing the steel tyre to the wheel is by a pair of lugs on the tyre, one on each
side of the felloe, their inner ends being connected to each other by bolts. I
sometimes replace the indiarubber or other similar elastic tyre by a spiral spring of
steel similar to a watch spring.
Another way is to have the outer protecting tyre made in two or more pieces,
which are bolted together. In this case the protecting tyre is made of trough
section, the flanges being one on each side of the felloe; thus, when the pieces of
the tyre are bolted together the indiarubber tyre is enclosed, as it were, in a box,
which may either be rigid or slightly elastic.
It will thus be seen that the tyre can be put on cold, a point of great
importance.
In railway and tramway wheels I similarly enclose an india rubber or similar
elastic tyre in a box; in this case the outer protecting tyre is made in one piece
with a plate forming one side of the wheel; the central hole in this plate is slightly
larger than the axle, so as to allow a certain amount of play; the plate is secured by
means of a nut on the axle. For double flanged wheels the plate forms one of the
flanges; in this case the outer protecting tyre may be separate from the plate, being
merely a ring held loosely between the two side plates. I sometimes give greater
elasticity, and deaden noise, by separating the body of the carriage from the

page_text: wheels and axles by means of sheets or blocks of indiarubber which are preferably
enclosed in boxes, the bottom of the box being fixed, say, to the axle, and lid and
sides to the bottom of the carriage.
In order to diminish the friction on the axle, I sometimes form the bearings or
brasses of a square instead of a circular section; thus the axle only touches along
four lines instead of over its whole surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Henri Ciotti in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th February
1881.
HENRI CIOTTI, of No. 26, Gordon Place, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VEHICLES FOR ROADS, TRAMWAYS, AND RAILWAYS."
This Invention has for its object improvements in vehicles for roads, tramways,
and railways.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me on the 6th day of December,
1878, No. 5006, I described a system of rails and of wheels, permitting carriages and
vehicles of all sorts to run at will, either upon the rail or upon the roadway, and
allowing passage to and from without obstacle or stopping, and I laid down
the following four essential and indispensable conditions for the success of such an
arrangement:-
1. That the guiding rollers be without flanges, and do not touch the bottom of
the rail; they should only touch the rail laterally.
2. That the action of lowering and raising the guiding apparatus be accomplished
instantaneously, and at the will of the driver, and simultaneously for the fore and
after carriage.
3. That the guiding apparatus of the fore carriage shall not hinder it from
pivoting and turning freely whilst it remains in connection with the controlling
apparatus at the disposal of the coachman.
4. That the oscillations of the carriage upon its springs shall not be communicated
to the guiding apparatus, and that at the same time the guiding apparatus shall
remain constantly connected with the fixed gear upon the body of the vehicle at
the disposal of the coachman.
I have now much simplified and improved the way of carrying and actuating the
guiding wheels, so as more perfectly to fulfil the above conditions.
I actuate the guiding wheels on the fore carriage by a chain, one end of which is
attached to one arm of a bell crank lever, the other end of which forms a handle
conveniently placed within the reach of the driver. The chain passes over a pulley
on the body of the carriage, and from thence over a pulley on the fore carriage. It
is essentiial that these two pulleys should be placed centrally, so that the turning of

page_text: the fore carriage shall not cause a pull to come on the chain, thus raising the guiding
wheel. The guiding wheel may be carried in several ways; I sometimes carry it
at the end of an arm whose other end is forked, so as to embrace the ordinary
supporting wheel, the ends of the arms of the fork carrying bearings on the axle,
one on each side of the ordinary wheel.
The inner bearing may be prolonged to the centre of the axle, forming a tube
around it;
at the end of the tube at the centre of the axle there is an arm to which
the end of the chain is attached. Thus, when the chain is pulled by means of the
lever handle, the tube and forked arm are caused to revolve on the axle, thereby
lifting the guiding wheel. Or the chain may pass from the second pulley to a
third pulley fixed on the fore carriage over the centre of the axle, and from thence
pass to a fourth pulley on the fore carriage over the arm carrying the guiding
This
wheel, the chain then passes downwards, and its end is fixed to this arm.
arrangement of the chain is also applicable when the swinging arm carrying the
guiding wheel is replaced by a fixed arm. The arm has a square vertical hole
at its end to receive a square vertical rod carrying the guiding wheel, which is
thus only free to move vertically up and down; in this case the chain is attached
to the axle of the guiding wheel or to the vertical rod. The arrangements which
I have described for the fore carriage are also applicable to the hind carriage.
In this case the apparatus may be simplified because the hind carriage does not
turn.
The arrangements which I prefer for guiding vehicles upon tramways are those
shown in detail by the Drawings annexed.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the fore part of a tramway vehicle; Figure 2
is a front elevation of the same, and, Figure 3 is a plan of a portion of the fore
carriage.
a, a, are the leading wheels of the vehicle; they are without flanges; b is the axle
on which the wheels a, a, are carried, and c is the frame of the fore carriage; d is
a forked or double arm carried by bearings upon the axle b, and upon this arm is
the guide wheel e which enters the groove of the rail, and by bearing laterally
against the sides of the groove, it controls the wheel a immediately behind it, and
keeps it upon the rails. In this arrangement the wheel e is retained in the groove
by the weight of the arm and wheel alone, but I more frequently apply a spring to
keep the guide wheel down. When it is desired that the vehicle should leave the
track, the wheel e is lifted by means of the chain f which is attached to an arm d'
upon the same axis with the forked arm d. The chain and arm are near the centre
about which the locking of the fore carriage takes place, so that this motion of the
fore carriage may not interfere with the control of the guide wheel. The chain f
after passing the pulley g upon the body of the vehicle, is wound upon the drum h,
which can be turned by a lever and retained by a ratchet.
Figures 4, 5, and 6, show another arrangement, giving a more effectual control of
the guide wheel e. In this case another arm d² is provided upon the axis of the
forked arm d, and against the arın d² the coiled spring i presses, tending to keep
the wheel e down in the groove of the tram rail. In addition to the chain f which
is employed to lift the wheel e, as already described, there is another chain k, or it
may be the other end of the same chain which is brought down again from the
drum h. It is passed around a pulley and attached to a stem m carrying a disc
upon which the rear end of the coiled spring i abutts, so that in this arrangement
the turning of the drum h in one direction raises the guide weeel e; whilst turning
it in the other direction holds the guide wheel down with greater force in the
groove of the rail. In these Drawings the drum is represented as receiving
motion from a worm and worm wheel. There is a hand wheel upon the axis of
the worm.
Figures 7, 8, and 9, show an arrangement similar to that last described, except
that the chains and are wound upon two separate drums upon an upright
axis n, which is turned by a crank handle at its upper end, and retained by a
ratchet and pawl.

page_text: In Figures 10, 11, and 12, the guide wheel e is shown to be carried by a lever o,
jointed to an arm p, fixed upon the axle b.
When the guide wheel is in the groove of the rail the lever o is nearly upright;
it is pressed forward to this position by the coiled spring i which abuts against the
lever near its upper end; the spring is supported in rear by a projection p¹ upon
the arm p. The guide wheel is raised from the groove of the rail when necessary
by the chain attached to the upper end of the lever o. The chain passes around
the pulleys and s upon the fore carriage to the lower end of the shorter arm of
the bell crank lever t. The upper end of the lever is formed into a handle, and is
within easy reach of the driver, who draws back the handle and raises the guide
wheel e whenever he desires to leave the track.
Figures 13, 14, and 15 show another arrangement in which the guide wheel e is
carried by an arm & capable of turning about the axle b; it is raised and lowered
by means of the screwed rod u which works in a corresponding screwed socket at
the end of the fixed arm p. The rod u is connected with the lever & through the
coiled spring i, so that when the rod is screwed down the spring is compressed and
the guide wheel e held down more firmly. On the other hand when the rod u is
screwed up the lever d is raised so as to remove the guide. wheel from the groove
in the rail. The rod u is provided with a T head, which is embraced by a fork at
the lower end of another rod v. The rod carries a crank handle, and so the
rod u can be screwed up or down in the socket of the arm p, the play of the springs
supporting the body of the vehicle is not interfered with.
I also improve the wheels of the vehicles by making them elastic, so that the
wheel itself forms a spring which supplements the ordinary springs of the
vehicle. I am aware that it has before been suggested to make wheels elastic in
various ways; usually this has been done by using an india rubber tyre, but this is
exposed to great wear and is liable to be cut by sharp stones; this objection has
sometimes been obviated by protecting the india rubber tyre with a number of
shoes forming a chain around the tyre, but this is only applicable to heavy vehicles
moving slowly. My improvements consist in ways of protecting india rubber or
similar elastic tyres. For ordinary roads I employ a flexible steel spring tyre
outside the indin rubber tyre. These two spring tyres mutually protect one
another; the steel protects the india rubber from wear, and the india rubber forms
an elastic bed for the steel, and thus prevents its being broken by a sudden blow.
One means of securing the steel tyre to the wheel is by a pair of lugs on the tyre,
one on each side of the felloe, their inner ends being connected to each other by
bolts.
I sometimes replace the india rubber or other similar elastic tyre by a spiral
spring of steel similar to a watch spring.
Another way is to have the outer protecting tyre made in two or more pieces,
which are bolted together. In this case the protecting tyre is made of trough
section, the flanges being one on each side of the felloe; thus when the pieces of
the tyre are bolted together the india rubber tyre is enclosed, as it were, in a box,
which may either be rigid or slightly elastic.
It will thus be seen that the tyre can be put on cold, a point of great
importance.
In railway and tramway wheels I similarly enclose an india rubber or similar
elastic tyre in a box; in this case the outer protecting tyre is made in one piece
with a plate forming one side of the wheel; the central hole in this plate is
slightly larger than the axle, so as to allow a certain amount of play; the plate is
secured by means of a nut on the axle.
For double flanged wheels the plate forms one of the flanges; in this case the
outer protecting tyre may be separate from the plate, being merely a ring held
loosely between the two side plates.
The ways in which I prefer to construct elastic wheels for vehicles is shown by
the Figures 16 to 21 of the Drawings. Figure 16 is a transverse section, and
Figure 17 is an elevation of a wheel.

page_text: a is the body of the wheel, and b, b, are two side rings bolted on; c is a tyre
ring of vulcanized india rubber, and d is an iron or steel tyre covering and protecting
the tyre c..
Figures 18 and 19 show a similar wheel, but with coiled steel springs e, e,
substituted for the india rubber tyre c.
Figures 20 and 21 show a wheel having a vulcanized india rubber tyre enclosed
within a protecting tyre f made in two parts, of trough like section, so that the
india rubber is enclosed as it were in a box. The ends of the sections f, f, should
meet somewhat more nearly than the Drawing represents.
I sometimes give greater elasticity and deaden noise by separating the body of
the carriage from the wheels and axles by means of sheets or blocks of india
rubber, which are preferably enclosed in boxes, the bottom of the box being fixed,
say, to the axle, and the lid and sides to the body of the carriage.
I employ for this purpose perforated blocks of vulcanized india rubber, such as
that represented in Figure 22. Figure 25 also is a perforated block of india rubber
suitably formed to serve as a connection between the body of the vehicle and
the axle.
In order to diminish the friction on axles I sometimes form the bearings or brasses
of a square instead of a circular section, thus the axle only touches along four lines
instead of over its whole surfaces.
Figure 23 is a front elevation, and Figure 24 is a side elevation of a wheel
which takes its bearing upon the axle at four planes a, a, a, a, instead of at curved
surfaces in continuous or nearly continuous contact as is usual. The planes may
be of hard steel, or they may even be of a still harder material, such as agate;
Figure 26 represents a sectional form suitable for a tramway wheel.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim my improvements
in vehicles for roads, tramways, and railways, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Ciotti, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.