IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND IN WHEEL TYRES PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hamilton Lee Smith, of No. 6, Westminster
Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND IN WHEEL TYRES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hamilton Lee Smith.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th November 1874.
I, HAMILTON LEE SMITH, of No. 6, Westminster Chambers, Victoria
Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND IN WHEEL
TYRES ADAPTED THERETO," to be as follows:-
In a Provisional Specification filed by me on the 27th May, 1874,
No. 1849, I described a method. of constructing railways and rolling stock,
so that vehicles instead of running on a pair of rails should run on a
single ground rail, being guided and steadied laterally by guide timbers
or rails above.

page_text: My present Invention relates to a construction of rails and whee
tyres more particularly suited to railways operating as described in the
said Specification, but a like construction with suitable modifications may
also be applied to railways of ordinary kind. I make the rail in eithe
of two ways, in both ways with a flat flange of some breadth on each
side of the middle of the rail and with the middle either hollowed into a
channel or raised as a rib, and I bed this rail securely on wood or other
material. I make the tyres of the running wheels either with a narrow
edge to run in the middle channel of the rail when it is channelled, or
with a groove to run upon the raised middle rib without in either case
any tread to bear on the flat flanges, but I make the tyres of the driving
wheels with a flat tread to run on the level flanges of the rail, and with
å central guide rib to run in the channel, but not. to bear upon the
bottom thereof in the one case, or with a central groove to admit the
raised rib of the rail in the other case, the groove being of such depth
that its bottom is clear of the top edge of the rib. By this construction
I am enabled to subject one portion of the rail of comparatively small
breadth, namely, the bottom of the channel or the top of the rib to the
weight and wear of the running wheels of a train, while I subject the
broad flanges of the rail to the weight and wear of the driving wheels.
The breadth of the rail flanges may be increased at gradients or at
stopping and starting places, the tread of the driving wheels being made
of sufficient width to extend over the broadest of the rail flanges. Or
the driving wheels may be made with a tread on each side of their
ordinary tread and of less diameter, and at gradients, or stopping, or
starting places additional broad flat rails may be laid on each side of the
central rail at such a level as to take the bearing of the secondary treads
of the driving wheels.
The treads of wheels constructed to operate as above described may be
faced with wood, with iron, or steel ribs or flanges.
Rails such as I have described above might obviously be substituted
for ordinary rails; the tyres of the running and driving wheels being
made to suit them. Or rolling stock might be made with central wheels
running, on central rails, such as I have described, and bearing the
principal part of the load, light side rails laid at any ordinary gaugo
being employed in conjunction with light side wheels and springs to
take only a small part of the rolling weight, but to serve for steadying

page_text: the vehicles and preventing them from tilting. In cases where only a
small portion of the load is thus thrown on the side rails the tyres of the
wheels running thereon may be made of wood or faced with wood, with
iron, or steel flanges when such are required for guiding, or without
flanges when the guiding is effected by the middle rail and wheels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hamilton Lee Smith in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 15th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HAMILTON
LEE SMITH, of No. 6, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, West-
minster, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Hamilton Lee Smith, Her
special license that I, the said Hamilton Lee Smith, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hamilton
Lee Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within tho United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND IN WHEEL TYRES ADAPTED THERETO," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hamilton Lee Smith,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hamilton Lee Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samo
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheets of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me on the 27th May 1874,"
No. 1849, I described a .method of constructing railways and rolling
stock, so that vehicles instead of running on a pair of rails should run
on a single ground rail, being guided and steadied laterally by guide.
timbers or rails above.
My present Invention relates to a construction of rails and wheel
tyres more particularly suited to railways, operating as described in the
said Specification, but a like construction with suitable modifications
may also be applied to railways of ordinary kind. I make the rail in
either of two ways, in both ways with a flat flange of some breadth on
each side of the middle of the rail, and with the middle either hollowed.
into a channel or raised as a rib, and I bed this rail securely on wood or
other material. I make the tyres of the running wheels either with a
narrow edge to run in the middle channel of the rail when it is
channelled, or with a groove to run upon the raised middle rib without
in either case any tread to bear on the flat flanges, but I make the tyres
of the driving wheels with a flat tread to run on the level flanges of the
rail, and with a central guide rib to run in the channel but not to bear
upon the bottom thereof in the one case, or with a central groove to
admit the raised rib of the rail in the other case, the groove being of
such depth that its bottom is clear of the top edge of the rib. By this
construction I am enabled to subject one portion of the rail of com-
paratively small breadth, namely, the bottom of the channel or the top
of the rib to the weight and wear of the running wheels of a train, while
I subject the broad flanges of the rail to the weight and wear of the
driving wheels.
The breadth of the rail flanges may be increased at gradients or at
stopping and starting places, the tread of the driving wheels being made
of sufficient width to extend over the broadest of the rail flanges. Or
the driving wheels may be made with a tread on each side of their
ordinary tread and of less diameter, and at gradients, or stopping, or
starting places additional broad flat rails may be laid on each side of the
central rail at such a level as to take the bearing of the secondary treads
of the driving wheels,

page_text: The treads of wheels constructed to operate as above described may
be faced with wood, with iron or steel ribs or flanges.
Rails such as I have described above might obviously be substituted
for ordinary rails, the tyres of the running and driving wheels being
made to suit them. Or rolling stock might be made with central wheels
running on central rails, such as I have described, and bearing the
principal part of the load, light side rails laid at any ordinary gauge
being employed in conjunction with light side wheels and springs to
take only a small part of the rolling weight, but to serve for steadying
the vehicles and preventing them from tilting. In cases where only a
small portion of the load is thus thrown on the side rails, the tyres of
the wheels running thereon may be made of wood or faced with wood,
with iron or steel flanges when such are required for guiding, or without
flanges when the guiding is effected by the middle rails and wheels.

page_text: with wood paving blocks d, d, on which a broad tyred driving wheel, as
in Fig. 5, or a double driving wheel, as in Fig. 6, is intended to run.
Fig. 9 shews a similar construction for a trough rail, and Fig. 10 a
modified form of its metal facing.
Fig. 11 represents part section and part elevation of a wheel fitted to
run in such trough rails, the tyre e being of steel clamped between
conoidal iron plates f, f, which form the sides of the wheel.
Fig. 12 shews a part section of a driving wheel with a guide rib on its
tyre for running in a trough rail.
Fig. 13 shews a grooved tyre of a driving wheel to run on a ribbed
rail.
Figs. 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 represent sections of tyres with wooden
treads, shewing various modes of securing those treads and fitting the
flanges thereto, such wheels being available either as running or driving
wheels.
Fig. 19 shews a construction of broad tyred driving wheel with ribbed
metal tread in the middle and wooden treads on either side, the latter
being intended to run on side bearers a, a, placed at inclines to give
greater adhesion, and of such height (as indicated by the dotted lines)
as to raise the central tyre a little off the rail.
Fig. 20 represents a modified form in which the central tread is of
wood with metal on each side of it.
Fig. 21 shews double driving wheels with wooden treads running on
cach side of a trough rail in which the running wheels indicated by the
dotted lines are guided.
Fig. 22 represents the running wheels (indicated by the dotted lines)
guided on a metal faced ribbed rail of wood, the driving wheels on each
side running on the surface of the road, which may be of concrete,
asphalt, or simply macadamised.
Fig. 23 represents a part section of trough rail with side bearers a, a,
for inclines, and of a driving wheel tyre having wooden treads and a
central guide rib of metal which runs without bearing in the trough of
the rail where there are no side bearers a, a.
Fig. 24 shews a section of road for a carriage having central wheels to
take the weight running in a trough rail, and side wheels for the purpose 3
of steadying the carriage, one or other of these wheels taking a bearing

page_text: on the longitudinal sleeper & below it when the carriage tilts to one side.
The sleepers 8 may be of stone, concrete, or asphalt.
Fig. 25 shews the application of a central driving wheel in combi-
nation with side steadying wheels and rails of any ordinary construction.
The driving wheel is in this Figure shown upon the side bearers a, a, as
it might be in ascending an incline, the central tyre being then raised a
little off the trough rail. In Fig. 28 the side bearers being absent the
tread of the wheel is on the rail.
Fig. 26 shews a like application of double driving wheels and of a
central guiding running wheel on an engine in combination with
carriages having side wheels running on rails in the usual way; and
Figs. 27 and 29 represent like arrangements with a single broad tyred
driving wheel and central guide wheels suited to a trough rail, the driving
wheel in the one case bearing its whole breadth on both the metal and
the wood of the permanent way, and in the other case bearing only on
the metal.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the sanie is to be performed, I claim,—
First. The construction of central trough or ribbed rails with flat
flanges and sides in such a manner that central running wheels are
guided in the trough or on the rib while driving wheels bear on the flat
sides thereof, substantially as herein described.
Second. The use in combination with rails of the kind above referred
to, of side bearers for the treads of the central driving wheels to give
greater adhesion at inclines, substantially as herein described.
Third. The use for railway or tramway wheels, of tyres consisting of
wooden treads with metal flanges, substantially as herein described in
reference to Figs. 14 to 21 inclusive of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hamiton Lee Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
five.
HAMILTON LEE SMITH. (L.S.)