IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAVELLING RAILWAYS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Echlin Molyneux at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th November
1864.
I, ECHLIN MOLYNEUX, junior, of Seaview, Enniskerry, in the County of
Wicklow, Ireland, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAVELLING RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
Improvements on an Invention protected by Letters Patent, No. 2776,
dated 15th October, A.D. 1862, and entitled "An Improved Carriage with a
Travelling Railway attached," part of which Specification is here in substanco
repeated.
Each wheel of the carriage to which the travelling railway is to be attached
is cast in two seperate segments, which are keyed on the axle in their proper
relative positions. Each segment resembles an ordinary railway carriage
wheel with this important difference, that only one half of its periphery is a
true semicircle concentric with the axle which passes through it, and the
extremities of this semicircle are rounded off with circular arcs struck with a
smaller radius. These segments are keyed on the axle at opposite sides, and
in parallel planes, the parallel planes being the vertical planes containing
the rails on which the wheel runs. The segments forming one wheel are.
keyed on the axle at a distance apart equal to half the difference of the guages
of the two lines of rails hereafter described. The segments (that is to say,
the segments of opposite wheels on the same axle) arranged to run on any
one line of rails are keyed on the same side of the axle at a distance apart
equal to the guage of that line. Side flanges are cast on to. the rims of the
wheels to prevent them from running off the rails. The wheels of each
carriage may be two, four, or six in number; but where more than two are

page_text: employed running on the same rails, they must be coupled so as to retain
them in their proper relative positions with regard to the rails. I employ two
lines of rails of different guages, which are arranged to run one within the
other, and I make the length of each line not less than the semi-circumference
of the carriage wheels, and usually once and a half to double that length.
The guage of each line is preserved by transverse tie bars. Each line of rails
is attached by chains to a truck which runs freely on rails (which I shall call
truck rails to distinguish them from those on which the carriage runs)
attached to the carriage parallel with its longitudinal axis, and equal in length
to the carriage rails. When the carriage is bearing on one line of rails, the
other line is being moved forward; and in order to enable it to clear any
obstacle which may lie in its path, and to reduce the friction to a minimum, it
is raised from the ground to any convenient height the carriage wheels will
adınit of by (1), springs; (2), weighted levers; or (3), cams worked by the
revolution of the carriage wheels attached to the trucks, and so hanging
suspended therefrom; it is moved forward by appropriate mechanism.
To raise the rails (1) by springs.-The rails may be suspended from the
trucks by springs, having an initial tension a little greater than the weight of
the rails; by this arrangement they will be drawn up to the trucks when
relieved from the weight of the carriage wheels.
(2). By weighted levers.-The rails may be suspended from the trucks by
chains attached to weighted levers whose fulcrums are fixed on the trucks; by
making the moment of the weight greater than that of the rails they will be
drawn up as in (1).
(3). By cams. The truck rails may be raised and lowered at the proper
moment by cams worked by the revolution of the axle of the carriage wheels,
and the carriage rails being attached by chains to the trucks will be elevated
or depressed at the same time.
The forward motion of the rails may be produced in either of three ways;
(1), by springs; (2), by gravitation; (3), by mechanism worked by the
revolution of the carriage axle.
(1). By springs. Each line of rails may be constrained to return to the
position in front of the carriage wheels which it should occupy when dis-
engaged, by confining it in this position by a spring (the motive spring),
capable of stretching a distance equal to the length of the line of rails, and
whose initial tension is in excess of the greatest resistance the line of rails and
its truck can experience in being moved forward. When the carriage is
travelling the end of the motive spring attached to the engaged line of rails
will remain stationary while the other end attached to the carriage will be

page_text: moving forward, and the force thus accumulated by the extension of the
spring will be set free on the disengagement of the line, and move it forward
the necessary distance.
(2). By gravitation.-The carriage rails may be moved forward by gravi-
tation, by laying the truck rails with a sufficient gradient, sloping in the
direction in which the carriage is travelling, to enable them to gravitate to
their proper position when released from the pressure of the carriage wheels.
(3). By mechanism worked by the revolution of the carriage axle.-A
toothed wheel is caused to vibrate by a crank or eccentric placed on the
carriage axle; a double vibration will therefore be made during every revo-
Jution of the driving wheels, that is, one in the direction in which the carriage
is travelling (if the crank or eccentric is so placed), and a return vibration in
the opposite direction. The vibrating toothed wheel gears with a pinion,
which drives a drum or pulley at such a speed that the space described by any
point on its periphery during a single vibration shall be equal to the length of
the semi-circumference of the carriage wheel, that is, to the length of either
of the lines of rails. The crank or eccentric is so placed on the carriage axle
that the termination of its stroke takes place at the moment the carriage is
changing from one line of rails to the other. Each line of rails is connected
with the drum or pulley by an elastic cord having an initial tension greater
than the maximum resistance the rails can encounter in being moved forward.
The elastic cords of the two lines of rails are so placed as to form tangents to
opposite ends of the same diameter of the drum. By this arrangement, as the
drum travels forward with the carriage, cord is being paid out to the
stationary line of rails simultaneously with the winding up of the cord
attached to the disengaged line, which is therefore moved forward a distance
equal to the semi-circumference of the carriage wheel.
Recapitulation of improvements claimed under this Provisional Specification.
I claim as new,-
First, the methods of elevating the rails, by (1) springs, by (2) weighted
levers, or by (3) cams.
Secondly, the methods of producing the forward motion of the rails, by
(1) springs, by (2) gravitation, or by (3) mechanism worked by the
revolution of the carriage axle.