Improvements in Gas Locomotives for Drawing Tram Cars and Railway Carriages as they are at present constructed.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 20th May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 24th July, 1891-Accepted, 10th Oct., -1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Locomotives for Drawing Tram Cars and
Railway Carriages as they are at present constructed.
We GEORGE BENJAMIN NICHOLS of 108 King Henry's Road, South Hampstead
Civil Engineer, and WILLIAM MARCH of 69 Adelaide Road, South Hampstead,
Mechanical Engineer, both in the County of London do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
Improvements in gas locomotives for drawing tram cars and railway carriages as
they are at present constructed.
To overcome the difficulty and loss of time in starting a gas engine we propose
by running it continuously to obtain the full power for starting the locomotive
whereby an engine of one quarter the power which would otherwise be necessary,
suffices.
Provision however is made by a lever or screw attached to the engine for quickly
altering.its speed.
But we obtain additional means of varying this speed by the following
mechanism:
The engine shaft is extended so as to receive a double flanged barrel and is
secured to the barrel by a feather let into the shaft and extending the whole length
of the barrel.
Between the two flanges of this barrel a friction wheel made of compressed paper
or other tough fibrous material, is placed. This friction wheel by means of a
lever, made to slide up and down a vertical shaft which having a feather let into it,
is carried round with the friction wheel, as either flange of the barrel presses
against it, the speed of the friction wheel and its shaft being regulated by the
distance which the point of contact is from the centre of the barrel.
On to the lower end of this vertical shaft is keyed a bevel wheel which gears
into another bevel wheel which is keyed on to a horizontal shaft which carries a
pinion having helical teeth. This pinion gears into a spur wheel keyed on to a
shaft placed between, and in the same line with, the two axles of the flanged
railway wheels. On to each of these two axles is keyed a spur wheel both of
which gear iuto, and are set in motion by, the before named intermediate spur
wheel.
The brake is applied by means of a steel strap which surrounds a small double
flanged pulley which is keyed on to the horizontal shaft, the strap being opened or
closed by a lever in the ordinary way. The end of this lever is connected with the
end of the car-brake lever whereby the brake can be applied to both the locomotive
and tramcar simultaneously.
Reversing motion is obtained by sliding the barrel to and fro upon the engine
shaft. This is done by two T shaped screwed rods and three small disks. The
first is fastened by countersunk bolts to the flange of the barrel.
The outer disk is secured to the first or inner one by a central, bolt, on to which
it is screwed & secured by a locknut at back. The middle disk rides upon
this bolt and is separated from the inner and outer disks by conical antifriction
rollers revolving in beds to which they are fitted. To prevent them from-falling
out a ring surrounds the middle disk which is made a little larger than the other
two disks so as to clear them.
The Tend of each of these T rods is fastened by set screws to the edge of the
middle disk, while the other ends of the rods are screwed & pass through small spur
wheels into which, they are screwed. Both, these spur wheels are operated on by an
intermediate spur,wheel which is keyed to the spindle of a hand wheel. All three

page_text: spur wheels are enclosed in a slot at the top of the iron frame which supports the
upright shaft of the friction, wheel.
To the end of the locomotive is fixed a combined lifting jack and steering wheel
by which when the line is blocked by anything in front of it the locomotive can
be raised and steered off the rails and guided in any direction forward or
backward.
Dated this 20th day of May 1891
GEO. BENJN. NICHOLS.
WILLIAM MARCH.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Locomotives for Drawing Tram Cars and
Railway Carriages as they are at present constructed.
We GEORGE BENJAMIN NICHOLS of 108 King Henry's Road, South Hampstead,
Civil Engineer and WILLIAM MARCH of 69 Adelaide Road, South Hampstead,
Mechanical Engineer, both in the County of London, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be.
particularly described.and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Although this invention refers to locomotives for drawing cars we propose if
necessary to put the machinery in the cars themselves & thus dispense with the
locomotives.
To overcome the difficulty and loss of time in starting the gas engine we propose
by running it continuously and by having two flywheels, to obtain sufficient power
for starting the locomotive whereby an engine of less power than would otherwise
be necessary, suffices.
The speed of the machinery itself, apart from that of the gas engine, is regulated
by the following mechanism :"
The crank shaft a of the gas engine in Figs. 1 & 2 is extended so as to receive a
double flanged barrel b. The barrel is secured to the shaft a by a feather allowing.
it to slide. The end of the shaft a revolves in a bearing at the top of the iron
standard. Between the two flanges of the barrel a friction wheel e, made of
compressed paper or other tough, fibrous material, is by means of a lever combined
with a worm and worm-wheel d made to slide up & down the vertical shaft e on
which it is fitted with a feather. The friction wheel c is caused to revolve in one
direction or the other according as the one or the other flange of the barrel bis
pressed against it-the speed being regulated by the distance of the point of
contact from the centre of the barrel.
On the lower end of the vertical shafte is keyed a bevel wheel e¹ which gears into a
bevel wheel upon the horizontal shaft. At the end of this shaft is a pinion g gearing
with a spur wheel g' which sets in motion two spur wheels on the axles of the
driving wheels i. When it is desired to avoid toothed gearing g₁h, the shaft f
may have a crank at each end of it linked by connecting rods to crank pins in the
driving wheels i.
Fig. 4 shows the arrangement for moving to and fro the barrel b so as to bring
the one or the other of its flanges to act on the friction wheel e according as the
locomotive has to be driven in one direction or the other. A disc j fixed to the
barrel b has upon it a boss on which is fixed a third disc j³, whilst a middle disc j
is free to revolve upon the boss of j'. Between the middle disc & the two outer
discs & conical rollers revolve, these being held in position by a ring
surrounding & fixed on the middle disc j. The ring a has two ears into which the
two screwed rods work-these rods being geared together by equal toothed
wheels. When it is required to move the barrel to and fro, these screwed rods
are turned simultaneously by means of the hand wheel y.
The end of the locomotive brake lever is connected with the end of the car
brake lever so that the brake can be applied to all the wheels of both the
locomotive & the car simultaneously.

page_text: On the end of the locomotive is mounted a combined screw jack and steering
wheel. By turning the hand wheel m motion is imparted through a pair of bevel
wheels to a worm which works a horizontal worm wheel w. The boss of this wheel
being tapped to receive the screwed stem of the road wheel pedestal n, on turning
the hand wheel m the pedestal n and the wheel n' are caused to descend, and in
this manner the end of the locomotive is lifted sufficiently high for the front pair of
driving wheels to clear the rails. A key can then be inserted in a slot made in the
wormwheel boss and in the pedestal stem, which thus become locked together &
can be turned for steering the locomotive.
Should it be desired to dispense entirely with toothed gearing the arrangement
shown in Fig. 3. can be adopted. The friction wheel e is fixed on the vertical
shafte which has at its lower end another friction wheel p bearing against the face
of a disc q on a horizontal shaft r. The speed of the locomotive is thus varied
To each end of the
according as the friction wheels c & pare raised or lowered.
shaft ra crank s is keyed, and motion is imparted through connecting rods t to the
driving wheels i.
To enable the axle boxes z Fig. 3 to slide up and down without altering the
distance between the horizontal shaft r and the axles, the guides to of the axle
boxes are curved to the arc of a circle described from the centre of the horizontal
shaft r.
The gas
is intended to be stored at ordinary pressure in a bellows shaped receiver
placed in the roof of the locomotive; but we reserve to ourselves the right to use
compressed gas.
Having now particularly described the nature of our said invention and in
what manner the same is performed we would have it understood that we make
no general claim to the working of a locomotive by a gas engine, but what we
claim is :-
First. The mechanism consisting of the barrel b, the friction wheel c & the means
of moving them for varying the speed and direction of motion without interfering
with the gas engine, substantially as described.
Second. Coupling the two driving wheel axles by three spur wheels so arranged
as to permit the axle boxes to move freely up and down relatively to the car.
Third. Connecting the brake lever of the locomotive to that of the car so that
the brake power can be applied to both simultaneously.
Fourth. The combined screwjack and steering wheel substantially as described.
Fifth. The substitution for toothed gearing of the friction wheels vertical shaft,
cranks and connecting rods substantially as described with reference to Fig. 3.
Dated the 24th of July 1891.
GEO. BENJ. NICHOLS.
WILLIAM MARCH.