IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES AND WAGGONS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th December
1864. A communication from abroad by Reuben Trumbull Monroe
Wells, of Stanbridge, Canada East, Doctor of Medicine.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING OF RAILWAY
AND OTHER CARRIAGES AND WAGGONS," a communication to me from abroad by
Reuben Trumbull Monroe Wells, of Stanbridge, Canada East, Doctor of
Medicine, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar combination of mechanism to be applied
to the axles and under framing of railway and other carriages and waggons,
whereby the starting of the same from a state of rest to one of. motion is
greatly facilitated.
According to this Invention a ratchet wheel is secured to the centre of the
axle or axles of the carriage, which wheel is enclosed in a hollow pulley
provided with long bosses and turning loosely upon the axle.. A pall is fitted
inside this pulley, which pall when released. and. the pulley is turned engages
into the teeth of the ratchet wheel and causes the axle to rotate.. A chain is
passed round the periphery of the pulley and secured thereto at one end, the
opposite end of such chain being attached to the centre of a short cross
draught bar, and to the ends of this draught bar are attached chains leading
to a tapered metal slide fitted in a guide in one or both ends of the carriage.

page_text: It is to this tapered metal slide that the draught chain is attached. On each
side of the chain pulley there is fitted a stationary cam, upon the raised
periphery of which rests a pin passed through slots in the side of the pulley
and through the pall inside. By this means the pall is held out of contact
with the ratchet wheel until the pin passes off the raised or extended portion
of the cams, but after leaving that part of the cams the pall is free to engage
with the ratchet wheel. A coiled spring or a weight is employed for turning
the pulley in a reverse direction and setting the apparatus again when the
strain of the draught chain ceases. In order to prevent the cams or eccentrics
from revolving they have each a projecting button on one side which enters
between forked bracketts secured to the under side of the framing. On the
hauling power being applied it is transferred to the chain pulley, causing it to
revolve in the same direction as the running wheels for a certain distance,
when the pall being relieved from the cams it drops into the teeth of the
ratchet wheel, and as this wheel is firmly secured to the axle it is rotated with
an increased power due to the leverage of the radius of the drum. On the
chain being drawn fully out, the draught bar comes against a fixed stop in the
under framing and the carriage then moves under the ordinary conditions.
When the hauling power ceases the chain is drawn back and wound round
the pulley again by the action of the coiled spring or weight above referred
to; and when the pin in the pall comes against the raised portion of the
cams it is lifted out of the ratchet teeth and is held in readiness for action so
soon as the power is applied again. In case of a breakage of the chains the
sudden reaction of the pulley consequent on the coiled spring is prevented by
means of stops placed in the peripheries of the cams or eccentrics.
In applying this Invention to railway carriages the tapered slide in the
rear end of each carriage, except the last one, should be prevented from being
drawn out, as, if not the pall of the rear apparatus would be engaged in the
ratchet and thereby prevent the car from moving in the direction of the power
applied.