AN IMPROVED RAILWAY WAGON WITH MOVABLE PLATFORM TO FACILITATE LOADING AND UNLOADING OR TRANSPORTING LOADED VEHICLES FROM THEIR PLACE OF LADING TO THAT OF THEIR DISCHARGE
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Entz, Captain of Cavalry and Chevalier of the
"
Legion of Honor, of Warcan-Illy, near Sedan, in the Department of Ardennes,
in the Republic of France, for the Invention of AN IMPROVED RAILWAY
WAGON WITH MOVABLE PLATFORM TO FACILITATE LOADING AND UNLOADING
OR TRANSPORTING LOADED VEHICLES FROM THEIR PLACE OF LADING TO THAT
OF THEIR DISCHARGE"
Sealed the 29th November 1878, and dated the 10th June 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Entz at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th June 1878.
HENRI ENTZ, Captain of Cavalry and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, of
Warcan-Illy, near Sedan, in the Department of Ardennes, in the Republic of France.
"AN IMPROVED RAILWAY WAGON WITH MOVABLE PLATFORM TO FACILITATE
LOADING AND UNLOADING OR TRANSPORTING LOADED VEHICLES FROM THEIR PLACE
OF LADING TO THAT OF THEIR DISCHARGE."
The objects of this Invention are,—
1st. To obviate the waste of time consumed in the difficult and arduous labour of
lifting loaded or unloaded wagons.
2nd. To allow of the instantaneous transfer of convoys of provisions, ammunition,
or merchandise, wherever situated, from the railway to the common road, and vice
versa.
This Invention is an accompanyment to a Patent I have recently secured for
traveling camp kitchens for cooking for troops in campaign and whilst they are
transported by train, and is equally applicable for industrial and agricultural as for
military purposes.
As military transports the problem is solved, which up to the present has been
undiscovered, of the instantaneous loading and unloading of convoys of stores, as
well at quays as at any point on a line of railway.
On the industrial side, the transport of monoliths, stone, blocks of marble, pieces
of iron, machinery, and so forth, is immensely simplified by the permission of loading

page_text: the improved trucks or wagons therewith, and wheeling them to or from the station
and conducting them to their destination.
By the use of my improved turntable trucks the employment of cranes and
wagon hoists is considerably reduced, the loading and unloading being instantaneous
all the length of the quay without being bound to use the fixed turntables. A great
part of the transit can thus be more rapidly and economically effected, since the
operations are reduced to two, viz., loading the truck at its starting point, and
unloading it at its destination.
In an agricultural point of view similar advantages emanate from the employment
of this system, and the same may be said with respect to tramways used for the
transport of merchandise.
Each truck or uncovered wagon is furnished either in the centre, in front, or in
rear with a turntable moving on a fixed pivot by means of rollers running on a
circular way formed of T iron. Stops and chains in front and rear secure its
load if necessary, and props support the seat of the truck whilst loading and
unloading; and two ladders, similar to dray ladders, form_the accompanyment to
each truck.
A windlass and chain fixed at certain points on the truck or wagon admit of
drawing the loaded vehicle on to the wagon, or of letting it down by means of the
ladders.
The turntable is moved by hand or otherwise, and several windlasses and some
madriers accompany each train to be ready in case of necessity.
The trucks being long, two or more turntables may be mounted thereon to accom-
modate two or more vehicles on the same truck.
Whilst loading or unloading, the ordinary signals would be used.
All the dimensions of the trucks, as well as the vehicles they support, will pass
under the usual wagon gauge adopted by railway companies.
..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henri Entz in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th December.
.1878..
.
HENRI ENTZ, Captain of Cavalry and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, of
Warcan-Illy, near Sedan, in the Department of Ardennes, in the Republic of France.
AN IMPROVED RAILWAY WAGON WITH MOVABLE PLATFORM TO FACILITATE
BOADING AND UNLOADING OR TRANSPORTING LOADED VEHICLES FROM THEIR PLACE
OF LADING TO THAT OF THEIR DISCHARGE."
The characteristic features of this Invention are twofold, the first being a saving
in tiine occupied in long and tedious transports, by economizing the bours expended
in the old system, by a rapid conveyance on lines of railway; the second admitting
of all military convoys, or of merchandize, or batteries of artillery to instantaneously
pass from any part of a line to the common roadway, and vice versa.
3
3

page_text: My improved wagon, whilst fully satisfying all the required conditions, thus
becomes serviceable for all ordinary traffic, and is not merely intended for special or.
circumscribed use.
The conversion of existing plant is rendered simple, its purpose of utility being
in no way changed, this conversion being necessitated in that it infinitely augmenta
the field of operations for the working stock of lines.
My system is indispensable especially,
J
1st. In warfare, as all the baggage, munitions of war, and provisions being con-.
veyed by rail, the army is free of action, and being rapidly transported by train on:
arrival, so in departure a few minutes suffices for loading or unloading. It is also in-
dispensable to an army, as the same convoy can be shifted from the roadway to the
line at any point, and vice versa, which as yet is quite unknown.
2nd. In industrial purposes, in that works and factories can on the spot, without
quays and so forth, load the wagons with merchandize by aid of a windlass, and.
convey the goods direct without unloading to their destination, thus saving time:
and preventing damage..
3rd. In agriculture, since in the same manner the produce can be transported for.
sugar factories, vegetable, and farm produce generally.
4th. Finally, should tramway traffic extend to merchandize, my wagon with.
movable platform is of the greatest utility, since it does away with quays and turn-.
tables.
As will be seen by the accompanying Drawings, aided by the following descrip-
tion, the wagon opens by a simple movement of the platform for receiving the
loaded vehicle it is transporting, either directly to the quay, or by pulley and
windlass in any other direction. The wagon is closed by turning it turn, or.
returning it to the point of departure; this movement brings the vehicle into position
parallel with the linė.
When the wagon is closed it is no more than an ordinary one, and for use
accordingly.
}
Fig. 1 shows a platform wagon in elevation, and closed on the left side, and open:
and in vertical section by the longitudinal axis on the right.
Fig. 2 is a transverse section, the wagon being open.
Fig. 3 represents in plan different parts of the wagon. A is a plan of the carcass
of the turntable, the wagon being open; B is a plan showing the wagon closed; C,.
a plan of the frame; and D, a similar view of the case, the turn plate removed.
-
Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the wagon closed.
In Fig. 1 a carriage is shown loaded, and in Fig. 2 it is seen discharging.
Fig. 5 is a modification of the drawing apparatus.
Figs. 6 and 7 are a longitudinal and transverse section of a wagon with indepen-
dent platform.
On examining the Figa 1, 2, 3, and 4 it will be seen that the usual woodwork is
unaltered, the planks a, a, alone being cut for access to the platform, which turns at
the crossing of the St. Andrew's cross on an axis b for this purpose.
The platform is wooden, mounted on a special frame, its floor being level with
that of the wagon, furnished with an iron circular hoop c, and it turns on a line on
rollers & supported by the wagon frame. As its diameter is superior to the breadth
of the wagon, the platform is cut on four sides belonging to perpendicular and
parallel planes, two and two. Two of these sides are furnished with wooden pieces f,
whose dimensions are sufficient to fill up the spaces made on each side in the side
planks, and they form the continuation of these planks when the wagon is closed.
The other two sides, perpendicular to the first, leave a space in the middle of the
floor, which is filled up by plates of sheet iron fixed by hinges either to the floor
of the case or on that of the platform. These sides are also furnished with holes and
irons t for hooking on the dray ladders, or equivalents for running the loads up and
down.
In the sides of the platform are hooks i, i, in which the ends of the axes of the
rollers g guiding the drawing rope k are placed; this rope winds or unwinds on a

page_text: simple drum h, which is placed either on the right or left of the wagon, as the case
may be, in hooks j, j, belonging to supports bolted beneath the case, so as to mask
the drum h.
As shown, Fig. 2, the windlass h delivers the rope k, or winds it, according as the
vehicle is loaded or unloaded, and before fastening to the carriage this rope passes
over one of the rollers g. The axis of the drum h terminates square for fixing on
the click levers to govern its movement; by giving a vertical backward and forward
motion to these levers an intermittent rotation is communicated to the drum h,
resulting in winding the rope.
Instead of this simple arrangement, constituting a windlass reduced to its simplest
form, an ordinary windlass may be used fixed or movable on the case, or any other
mechanical equivalent established on the sides of the wagon between the buffers or
beneath the case, when the rope, instead of being directed towards the sides, can
traverse the case in the centre, in the axis of the pivot, or in another point for
fastening to the vehicle.
In Fig. 5 the traction apparatus consists of a differential pulley h, or otherwise,
estimated and arranged for the maximum to be drawn.
In Figs. 6 and 7 the platform consists in a frame m, fitting in freely between the
sides a of the frame resting on the floor, and receiving the platform n on a pivot,
the platform being either rectangular, round, polygonal, or any other shape. The
lower plane of the platform is slightly above the sides a of the frame to turn freely
above them. This arrangement admits of using all the trucks and wagons without
previous alterations.
If the sides a turn or pull down, the preceding disposition would be simplified, as
it would suffice to make the frame m pivot or roll on the floor of the wagon.
The platform can also be raised or lowered by making the pivot to rise or sink
above or below the floor of the wagon.
Finally, the system may be carried out by a case of a closed wagon mounted on
rollers turning on a pivoting frame, and thus capable of passing from one truck to
another similar one at once with the whole load."
I claim, the practical method of establishing in combination with the woodwork
of a truck or wagon, one, two, or more turning platforms, with the object of effecting
the advantages indicated at the commencement of this description, the platform,
being dependent on the wagon, as in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; or independent of it,
as in Figs. and 6; or constructed as mentioned in the final remarks. The plat-
form would be of wood, metal, or wood and metal, bearing its rollers, or would run
on rollers in the woodwork of the wagon, as in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Entz, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.