IMPROVEMENTS IN THE UTILIZATION OF GAS ENGINES AS MOTORS FOR TRAMWAY CARS AND SIMILAR VEHICLES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd September 1874.
I, CHARLES THOMAS EVANS LASCELLES, of Brockley Villas, Brockley
Road, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE UTILIZATION OF GAS ENGINES
AS MOTORS FOR TRAMWAY CARS AND SIMILAR VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention relates to the application of engines which are worked
by the explosive force of a mixture of gas and atmospheric air, to the
propulsion of tramway cars and other vehicles. The said engines may
be constructed either in the form of an independent locomotive which
will draw a car or train of cars or carriages after them, or may be
incorporated with the structure of an ordinary tramway car or other
vehicle.
The said Invention consists chiefly in so arranging and connecting a
gas engine and the wheels of the locomotive or vehicle in such a
manner that the progress or movement of the latter may be stopped
without stopping the engine, so that however numerous the stoppages

page_text: may be throughout the day the stopping and starting of the engine
will not be necessary; and I therefore avoid the delay and trouble
which as is well known to those familiar with the working of these
engines would otherwise arise from the frequent stopping and starting of
the same.
In carrying my said Invention into practise I use a gas engine or
engines with two or more cylinders, and I prefer to mount the same
upon an independent truck or trolly, thereby forming a locomotive
which will draw the cars or carriages behind it. I connect the piston
rods of the gas engines to the crank or driving shaft in the usual
manner, but the driving wheels are loose instead of fast on this shaft,
as in ordinary locomotives, so that the said shaft, except when geared
or connected with the driving wheels by the devices herein-after
described, will turn without turning the said wheels, and consequently
the engine or engines will work without moving the locomotive along
the road. But the said wheels may be instantly thrown into gear with
the crank shaft by means of friction discs, cones, or pulleys. One of
these discs, cones, or pulleys is fixed or formed on each wheel, and another
disc, cone, or pulley is fitted adjustably on the shaft, so that it can be
readily moved into or out of contact with the said fixed disc, cone, or
pulley by means of a lever or other suitable mechanism. Instead of
these friction discs, cones, or pulleys I may use an arrangement of
frictional or toothed wheel gearing or belts and pulleys, which may be
thrown into or out of gear with the shaft and wheels for the purpose of
stopping and starting the locomotive without interrupting the motion of
the engines.
In applying this Invention to an ordinary tramway car by incor-
porating the same with the structure of the said car I arrange the
engines in such a position that they will not occupy any considerable
portion of the space required for the passengers, and the pistons are
coupled to one of the axles of the car, or to a shaft geared in con-
nection with the same, in such a manner that the engines and wheels
can be connected and disconnected, as above described.