Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 28th July, 1890-Accepted, 4th Oct., 1890

page_text: devices are herein shown which sustain a driving connection between the axle E' and
the motor, which are of such a character as would require that this allignment be
sustantially maintained. Devices are also shown mounted upon the shaft E' which
will permit of a driving connection being sustained between the car axles B, and the
shaft which will admit of a deflection of the allignment of such axles with reference
to the lines of the car body and yet sustain the proper power transmitting connection
thereto, and at the same time allow for the various individual movements of the
elements of the truck. One of these devices consists in the pulley G, shown more
fully in Figures 5, and 6, which is mounted upon the axle E¹ by a ball bearing G¹.
The ball being welded and forming part of the axle E' has through it a hole filled by
a plug G. The ends of the plug G₁ are flattened and work in a groove shown in
dotted lines at H cut in the concave surface of the hub of the pulley, thus as the
axle E rotates the pin G also rotates, and its two extremities, working in the
grooves H, and drive the pulley G, and at the same time the pulley G is permitted to
stand and work at an angle with the axle E¹ while the power is transmitted to it by
the pin G", the ends of which slide backward and forward in the groove H as the
process goes forward. A device to aid in maintaining this pulley in constant allign-
ment with the truck may consist of idlers H' (Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6), which are
mounted upon the cross piece D of the truck and partake of all the motions of
rotation of the truck as a whole about its centre of gyration. The pulley G is in
this case a
compound pulley half of which sustains a power' driving relation with
one axle B while the other half sustains a power driving relation with the other
axle B of the truck. This connection is made as shown by an endless горе trans-
mission, which in this case consists of a single rope for both. This rope is indicated
by the letter H, and at one point in this loop passes about the pulley I, which
is thrust outward so as to keep a tension upon the ropes by means of spring I'
operating upon the supporting bar I" for such pulley. The shaft E', in Figures 2,
3, 4, 5, and 6, is also driven by a rope transmission from the motor, which is
shown more comprehensively in Figure 2. This driving rope is indicated by letter J,
and is also furnished with a tension trolley J', the tension being derived from
spring J. In Figures 1 and 8 the power is received from the motor through a
gearing, and the power driving connection is sustained to the other axle of the
same truck by a rope transmission working upon the pulleys K and K² of equal
size, or bearing a ratio to the traction wheels in which they are connected, and
the rope in this case being indicated by the letter K", and the tension trolley by
the letter L, which in this case is retracted by the spring L'. It is obvious that
many features as above described could be greatly altered and some of them dis-
pensed with or replaced by others without departing from the spirit of my invention
and it will be apparent that a large range of mechanical equivalents could he
employed in certain portions of the apparatus without affecting the law of this
operation. It is equally apparent that some or all of the several features of the
apparatus, as hereinbefore illustrated, could be used with or without the usual
remaining parts. For example the invention could be equally applied to a car with
single truck etc.
The shaft E' which depends from the car body is supplied with the pulley E".
This pulley may be tight upon the shaft but preferably it is mounted loosely as shown
in Figures 5 and 7. In Figure 5 M represents a stationary hub and arms which
engage one end of the spring N. The pulley arms M' have a separate hub which is
loose upon the exterior of the stationary hub M. These arms engage the opposite
end of the springs N, and as the pulley is turned in either direction compression
strain come upon the springs N of either one side or the other of the arms M' and
cause rotation of the axle. This is to overcome any irregularity of motion that would
take place through the operation of the ball joint, especially when the pulley is
working at an angle from the axis of the shaft.
The faces of these pulleys and the number of strands of rope that each takes is
shown in the drawing to be somewhat less than would actually be required to drive
the maximum load or sustain the maximum strain by the friction in the grooves.

page_text: The grooves are shown to be slightly rounded as contradistinguished from the angular
grooves generally used in connection with this art. The purpose of this will appear
hereafter.
In Figures 1 and 2 the motor is shown mounted upon the car body through the
intervention of springs, the spring O being above, and the spring of being below,
and a heavy bolt guiding and supporting. This gives the motor an independant elastic
support.
The small bevelled gears Q are mounted upon axles B and co-operate in connection
with the bevelled gears Q. These gears are mounted in frames R which are
journalled to the axles upon which the gears are mounted so as to hold in perfect
pitch line. One of the gears Q is driven by a bevelled pinion Q" which meshes with
the teeth on the side of the gear Q. The other end of the frame R is mounted on
a universal joint R' to the other axle at R". This joint is such as will slip out and
in and turn at the same time. A flexible shaft S is used to connect the two gears.
A flexible shaft S' is located in the main shaft from the motor to the pinion Qu¹ and
also a slip joint S". The details of this slip joint are shown in Figure 11, and
consist of a rectilinear plate T which will slide in and out between four rollers T' upon
either side of the plate, these rollers are mounted in a frame work T attached to
the shaft U. In Figure 11 a universal joint U is shown in lieu of the flexible
shaft S. In Figure 12 bevelled gears V₁ are shown on both axles meshing with the
bevelled pinion Q which comes direct from the motor, to the frame V" which supports
the various parts in their various positions. The frames upon each of the axles are
connected by cross rods V. The shaft X with a pinion upon either end serves to
connect the two axles and causes them to rotate in unison. The use and operation
of my invention are as follows:
The source of power in driving the car is the motor. This power is delivered to
the trucks by means of the shafts, universal joints, and slip joints, shown in Figure 1,
or by means of the rope transmission shown in Figure 2. The power connections of
elements of the two axles of the truck is by an ordinary rope transmission, which
consists of a single endless rope passing about the tension idler mounted upon the
swinging arm and retracted by the spring. To the right the power is delivered by
a worm to a worm wheel which is mounted upon the shaft E', which co-operates with
the two axles of the truck and with suitably grooved pulleys mounted upon each to
communicate the power from the shaft to said axles by a single rope which after
passing the trolley passes around the smaller pulley around the shaft, then back
upon the wheel next the trolley, back and forth between these two for several turns,
then passes from the top of the wheel on the left hand axle to the top of the wheel
on the right hand axle, then passes from this to the small intermediate pulley which
is upon the shaft, and backward and forward between these two preferably for the same
number of turns as upon the left hand shive, and from the under side of the right
hand shive back to the trolley, making thus an endless transmission.
This is shown to the right in Figure 1, in Figure 2, and in Figures, 3 and 4. This
operation will be easily understood as it follows the practice of ordinary rope trans-
missions. The trolley in every case is furnished with an adjustable retracting device
to keep a predetermined amount of tension upon all the portions of the transmission.
The trucks are pivotted so as to make the curves in the track; the small wheel upon
the axle E is also pivoited and turns in such a manner as to keep its axis parallel
with that of the two axles on the truck. This is aided by the idlers which are shown
in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6. The actions of the various parts will be understood from
the drawing.
It is a well known
its equivalent the
The weight of the car is taken upon the surfaces C", the pivot being replaced by
the large collar and the four idlers which partially surround it. The large collar is
mounted upon the car body and the four idlers upon the truck.
fact that when power is transmitted through a universal joint or
rate of rotation of the various parts in a single revolution differs.
This fact when applied to the elements of the gearing shown herein renders desirable
a method for introducing an elastic driving medium. The ropes themselves are

page_text: slightly elastic, but not enough so to avoid a perceptible oscillating or jerking motion
of the car body while making curves. I therefore introduce the connections N in
the driver wheel upon the axle E', which "gives and takes" as the variations of the
motion require and overcomes entirely the objection. It is a well known fact that it
is almost impossible to obtain car wheels almost exactly the same size,
and where more than one is employed to give the tractive effect, as, for
instance, eight wheels connected together for the purpose of driving simultaneously
and exactly the same speed, the larger ones tend to do all the work, and if all the
elements are rigidly geared together by toothed gearing, strains and pressures, are
created between the elements of the truck and the various portions of the rotating
parts, which not only tend to rapidly destroy the machinery, but also occasions a
constant and great waste of power.
Springs have been resorted to and other elastic driving mediums have been sought
to avoid this. I obviate the troubles above named in the practical application of
power to several elements all of which are required to aid in the matter of traction,
by supplying the various elements through the medium of power transmitting devices
which are inadequate for the supply of the total amount of power to any one of the
elements.
For instance, should one axle try to do all the work the ropes or other traction
transmission devices connected with that axle would slip and allow the adhesion of
some other axle to come into play, the slipping, of course, being minute, and so on
until all of the traction gearing upon all of the axles were receiving about an equal
amount of the total effort, and all the wheels upon the axles were doing about their
proportionate amount of the total traction work. This system has been shown in
practice to have among other desirable features the effect named, which is to allow
a slight "give and take" to allow for the inequalities in the size of the wheels,
inequalities of position of non-cylindrical surfaces of the traction wheels upon the
track, uneveness in the road bed, passing frogs, short curves etc., and in fact it has
been found to subserve and accomodate itself to all of the varying requirements, of a
successful power transmission for moving vehicles.
In carrying out my invention it will be seen that the same tension trolley and same
rope is used for both axles of a truck and that also the same rope and single tension
device is used between each truck and the motor, so that the friction from the motor
to each truck may be the same, and also within the truck the friction transmission
to each element thereof may be the same; it being understood in the forgoing that
the number of grooves in each receiving pulley co-operating with a given rope is the
same and it being understood that the different ropes can be used for these with
separate tension trolleys, or the same rope can be used for each groove with or without
tension trolleys.
-Belts or other friction connections between the traction wheels or between the
motor and running gear or both may be employed.
. Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is
1. In the propulsion of vehicles running on tracks or rails, the driving connections
from the motor, to the wheels, described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
that will permit the free and independant movement of the wheels as required in
ordinary practice.
2. A car provided with a motor thereon, a transmitting shaft journalled on the car,
à truck pivotally connecting to said car to support the same or one end thereof, and
driving connections from the motor to the transmitting shaft, and thence. to the
wheels on the truck, as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. The detail construction, substantially as shown in Figures 5 and 6, and for the
purpose specified.
4: The elastic connection between the driving pulley and the shaft or axle, as
illustrated in Figures 5 and 7 and for the purpose described..

page_text: 5. In the propulsion of vehicles running on tracks or rails, connecting the driving
motor and the wheels so that the latter are driven by the former by means of frictional
connections that will admit of wheels of different sizes being driven at different
surface speeds, so that all may travel at the same speed on the rails, substantially as
shown and described.
DL: OL
TL 1800
FREDERIC PRINCE,
1, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for Applicant.