AN IMPROVED MODE OF ACQUIRING POWER FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROPELLING CARRIAGES, BARGES, AND OTHER THE LIKE CONTRIVANCES FOR CONVEYING GOODS AND PASSENGERS
Year: 1836

page_text: LILLIE'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Sir JOHN
SCOTT LILLIE Knight, and Companion of the Most Honorable Military Order
of the Bath, of Saint John's, in the Parish of Fulham, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of March, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Sir
John Scott Lillie, his especial licence, full power, sole privilge and authority, that
I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also
in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF ACQUIRING POWER FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROPELLING CARRIAGES,
BARGES, AND OTHER THE LIKE CONTRIVANCES FOR CONVEYING GOODS AND PASSENGERS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Sir John
Scott Lillie, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Sir John Scott Lillie, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in the construction of tunnels, viaducts, or covered ways (for the purpose
of propelling carriages or trains by means of atmospheric pressure), in such
manner as to admit of being opened at the sides or roof to allow the said power
to act immediately upon the pistons to which such carriages or trains are to be
attached, and also to enable the said carriages or trains to be accompanied, as
they proceed, with as much light and air as in the ordinary modes of conveyance.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Sir John Scott
Lillie, do hereby explain the manner in which my said Invention is to be per-
formed by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a tunnel or covered way, and Figure 2 a
longitudinal section, shewing one side of the same.. A, A, are the side walls,
formed of brick or other suitable material, with a cap of stone B, in which is
cut a grove the whole length of, the tunnel, for the purpose of receiving the
arched roof or covering C, C; this roof or covering is formed of ribs of iron or
wood of a convex form to resist the pressure of the atmosphere, and lined
or covered with leather, canvass, matting, or other flexible material rendered
air and water tight by any compositions already known or used for. such
purposes, or it may be wholly formed of any flexible material sufficiently strong
to resist the atmospheric pressure; D, D, are rollers fixed on the roof of the
carriages or trains, for the purpose of raising the flexible roof or covering
of the tunnels or viaducts as the carriages proceed, and thereby effecting an
opening for the admission of light and air, as shewn at Figure 2, and enabling.
the latter at the same time to act with full power upon the back of the piston,.
.thereby propelling the carriages or trains, the internal air having been
previously removed from the tunnel-or-covered-way-by-means-of-air pumps
(worked by steam engines), or any other known means of accomplishing that
object; E is the piston, made of iron, wood, or other suitable material, fitting.
as accurately as possible the internal space of the tunnel or covered way, and
placed so far in advance of the carriages or trains as to clear the aperture when
formed on each side by the roof being raised out of the grooves in the side
walls. This piston is attached to the front of the carriages or trains by a joint
at F. G, G, are rollers fixed at the sides of the carriage, which act upon the
side walls and keep the carriages in their proper position during their progress..
After the carriages or trains have passed, the flexible roof or covering will fall.

page_text: down by its own gravity into the grooves or recesses in the side walls, already
described; and the open viaduct, thus converted into a tunnel or covered way,
will be again ready for the exhaustion of the air, and for the passage of other
carriages or trains.
Figure 3 shews another method of constructing the roof or covered way, by
dividing it into two parts, so as to receive the light and air from the top instead
of the sides, as before described. In this case, the ribs forming the convex
roof should be connected with the side walls by means of joints or hinges O, O,
accurately fitted and rendered air and water tight by the methods before alluded
to. The ribs or framing of the roof must be so formed that, previous to the
passage of the carriages or trains, the two sides shall meet together and form an
arch as solid and as air-tight as possible. This is accomplished by forming
a groove g in one of the sides at the point of junction, so as to allow the end of
the opposite side to fit accurately to it when they are brought together, as shewn
by the dotted lines at H. In this Figure the roof is shewn only partially
opened so as to admit the chimney of a locomotive engine, in case it should be
advisable to use one to increase the speed of the carriages or trains (at I), in
which case the rollers attached to the tops of the carriages should be placed
as at Figure 4, where the roof is thrown back to its greatest extent for the
purpose of allowing the free passage of the luggage, &c. placed on the top of
the carriage, as well as to admit of light and air. The roof, when thrown open,
will rest upon the side walls by means of the legs or projections at P, or the
side walls of the tunnels or covered ways need not be more than one half
of the height here shewn, by which the windows of the carriages will project
above the perpendicular sides of the roof, and allow the passengers to enjoy as
complete a view of the adjacent country as in ordinary modes of conveyance.
My Invention is also applicable to towing or propelling boats or barges on
canals or rivers; in which case I construct a tunnel or covered way on one side
thereof, and from the carriage behind the piston I bring a line or rope and
attach it to the boat or vessel to be propelled; or it may be attached to a mast
fixed to the carriage and projecting through the vertical opening of the
roof, as at Figure 3, or to the carriage through the opening at one side, as at
Figure 1.
Having now described the manner in which my said Invention is carried
nto effect, I wish it to be understood that I lay no claim to the principle of
propelling carriages or other vehicles by atmospheric pressure through close
unnels or cast-iron cylinders; neither do I claim as my Invention any mode
of propelling carriages or other vehicles on the top or outside of tunnels,
ylinders, or covered ways.

page_text: My Invention consists in an improved method of constructing tunnels which
are convertible at pleasure into open viaducts, as already described, so as to
admit of carriages or trains being propelled by atmospheric pressure along the
interior, accompanied by a sufficiency of light and air.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
JOHN SCOTT (L.S.) LILLIE.
::
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of September, in
the year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Sir John Scott Lillie came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.