IMPROVEMENTS the Invention of CARRIAGES TO RUN ON RAIL OR TRAM WAYS AND COMMON ROADS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Joseph Curtis, of No. 1, Sebbon Street;
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
Islington, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
CARRIAGES TO RUN ON RAIL OR TRAM WAYS AND COMMON ROADS."
Sealed the 4th November 1856, and dated the 7th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Joseph Curtis
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th May 1856.
Islington, Civil
"IMPROVEMENTS
I, WILLIAM JOSEPH CURTIS, of No. 1, Sebbon Street,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
IN CARRIAGES TO RUN ON RAIL OR, TRAM WAYS AND COMMON ROADS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages to run on rail
or tram ways and common roads. For these purposes the carriage is made with
suitable wheels to run on common roads, but it is preferred that they should
be somewhat wider than usual. And in order to cause the carriage wheels
when running on tram or rail ways to keep on the rails, there are additional
smaller wheels applied to the carriage, suitable for running in or on the rails,
and these additional wheels are capable, by levers and connecting rods or
suitable apparatus, of being raised and lowered by the driver or other person;
hence, when it is desired that the carriage shall be retained on the rails, the
additional wheels are lowered, and become guide wheels for the carriage; but
[Price 8d.]

page_text: when the carriage is to run off the rails on to a common road, the additional
wheels are raised and kept up out of the way, and such is the case so long
as the carriage is to run on a common road.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Joseph Curtis in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOSEPH CURTIS, of No. 1, Sebbon Steet, Islington, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Joseph Curtis, Her special licence that I, the said William Joseph
Curtis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Joseph Curtis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for IMPROVE
MENTS IN CARRIAGES TO RUN ON RAIL OR TRAM WAYS AND COMMON ROADS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Joseph Curtis, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Joseph Curtis, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages to run on rail
or tram ways and common roads. For these purposes the carriage is made
with suitable wheels to run on common roads, but it is preferred that they
should be somewhat wider than usual. And in order to cause the carriage
wheels when running on tram or rail ways to keep on the rails, there are

page_text: additional smaller wheels applied to the carriage, suitable for running in or on
the rails, and these additional wheels are capable, by levers and connecting
rods or suitable apparatus of being raised and lowered by the driver or other
person; hence, when it is desired that the carriage shall be retained' on the
rails, the additional wheels are lowered, and become guide wheels for the
carriage; but when the carriage is to run off the rails on to a common road,
the additional wheels are raised and kept up out of the way, and such is the
case so long as the carriage is to run on a common road.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of an omnibus to which my apparatus in
applied; Figure 2, a plan of the wheels and apparatus; and Figure 3, a
cross section on a double scale, showing more clearly the parts and details of
the apparatus.
A, A, are the bearing wheels, which run loose upon the axle C; B, are the
flange or guiding wheels, which are also hung loose upon the part D, D, of
the axle, which is formed excentric about 1 inches, the depth required for the
flange when in contact with the rail; E is a friction clutch, working into a
corresponding clutch formed on the boss or face of the wheel A; F, the lever
by which the clutch is worked; G is another lever, connected with the rod o
and bell crank q; h is the standard, forming a fulcrum for the lever' G; L is
a block, fixed on the shaft C, in which the arms k, k¹ work by joints; m, m³,
being springs, which keep the, arms square with the shaft C, excepting when
they are drawn out of their positions by the action of the lever G and catch n;
I is a catch, fixed into a beam of the carriage, which retains one of the arms k,
and thus prevents the shaft C from turning round; r is a rod, connecting the
bell cranks q, q, and also the crank 1, fixed on the cross shaft 8; 2 is the
lever, by which the driver or the attendant works the clutches.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When the shaft C is. in the
positions shown in Figure 3, the excentric being downwards, the flange wheels
are depressed and guide the bearing wheels A, in the same way as an ordinary
railway wheel; but when the shaft C is reversed, and the excentrics point
upwards, the flange wheels are withdrawn from the rail or road, and thus the
wheels A may be disengaged from the rail, and the carriage becomes like any
other vehicle used upon the common road. In some cases I make the
excentrics at a slight angle with the shaft, the effect of which is to cause
the flange wheels to work at an angle, with the bearing wheels touching them,

page_text: or brought into near contact, when the flange wheels are depressed and in
contact with the rail, and the upper part of the wheel is removed to some
short distance from the upper part of the wheel, so that all source of friction is
avoided by the different motions of the bearing wheel and, the flange. When
the attendant is desirous to disengage the carriage from the rail, he moves the
lever 2,, which, acting on the cross shaft s and crank 1, works the bell cranks
q, q', the rod o, and levers G and F; a slot p is formed in the end of the rod o,
whereby the lever G, is allowed to move a certain space before the lever F is
brought into action; the object of this is, that by means of the catch n formed
on the lever G, the arm is pulled out of contact with the catch I before the
wheel turns the shaft C round; then when the clutch E takes into that formed
on the wheel, the shaft C is turned round by the action of the wheel, the
excentric reversed, and the flange wheels are raised from the rail and off
the ground; the shaft revolves until the arm enters the catch I, when the
shaft stops, and the flange wheels are kept suspended; then the attendant
bringing back the lever 2 to its original position, the wheel and shaft are
detached, the catch n being flexible, catches into the arm k', and then when
the attendant wishes to bring the flange wheels into contact with the rail
again he moves the lever 2 in the same way as before the arm is then
detached, the shaft turns round, and the flange wheels are brought into contact
with the rail as before; thus, the effort on the part of the attendant to lift the
wheels is merely that of working the clutch, the weight being overcome by
the movement of the bearing wheels. In the case of the fore wheels, the
movement of the bell crank q' is communicated to the clutch on the wheel
shaft by means of the link o¹, to which is fixed a chain fixed to the pulley u,
working on the centre bolt of the perch; a chain passing round this pulley; and
round another u¹, corresponding with it, is connected with a lever G', fixed on
a short cross shaft, upon which is likewise fixed the lever G; and thus the
motion is communicated to the clutch and shaft of the fore wheels, in the same
way as has been already described for the hind wheels, and this action is
produced at whatever angle the perch and fore axle may work with the hind
wheels, short of half a revolution. Figure 4 is a back view of the wheel
and flange wheel, showing it in gear and lifted off the road. Figure 5 is
à back view, showing the arms k, k¹, and block, with lever G, and catch I
Figure 6 shows a front view of another mode of attaching and detaching
the flange wheels. In this case the flange is concentric with the wheel; and
Upon the flange
when at work is precisely the same as a railway wheel.
wheel is formed a collar or ring D, into which the plug or clutch e is inserted
by the rods f, f, worked in the usual way by the double crank G; when thus

page_text: inserted, the flange and wheel are locked together, but when the block or
clutch is withdrawn, the flange wheel is lifted and suspended by the spring h
and thus withdrawn from the rail and road; to reverse the operations, the
springs are depressed by cams worked by the attendant, the flanges are lowered,
and the block e being inserted, the flange and wheel become locked as before.
Figure 7 is an end view of the same, showing the flange both in and out of
gear. Figure 8 is another mode. The flange wheels B, B, are held by a cross
plate or bar hung on the shaft, which turning with the shafts are brought into
gear and otherwise by means of a clutch, acted upon by the attendant, in a
manner similar to that before described.
Figure 9 is a front view of the
same. Figure 10 is another mode of applying the apparatus. In this case the.
guiding or flange wheels are depressed or raised at the will of the attendant
by apparatus similar to that before described, excepting that instead of the
levers G and F, the wheels are lifted by bell cranks working vertically, and not
horizontally, as shown in the former Figures.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details; but what I claim is, the application of additional
moveable flanch or guiding wheels to the carriage wheels which run on the
road, in order that such moveable flanch or guide wheels may be raised or
moved out of the way, so as to permit the carriage wheels running off a tram
or railway, and be no longer for a time guided by the extra flanch or guide
wheels.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Joseph Curtis, have hereunto.
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
W. J. CURTIS. (L.S.)