IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS AND RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CONRAD
HAVERKAM GREENHOW, of North Shields, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of January, in the ninth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Conrad
Haverkam Greenhow, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Conrad Haverkam
Greenhow, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Conrad Haverkam Greenhow, my exors, adñors, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS AND
RAILWAY CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that
I, the said Conrad Haverkam Greenhow, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed; to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery.

page_text: 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 appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Conrad Haverkam Greenhow, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say :-
In the system hitherto pursued in the construction of railways and carriages
to run thereon, I believe that too little attention has been paid to the adap-
tation of the parts one to the other, more especially to the requisite adjustment
which I conceive ought to exist between the running surface of the wheel and
the rail. Heretofore the wheel has been made to pass along a rail with a plain
surface, and is prevented running off the rail by a flange projecting nearly
at a right angle from the face of the tyre. The outer edge of this flange
being of much greater diameter than the running surface of the tyre causes
great friction on the flange coming in contact with the rail, because the flange
revolves at greater surface speed than the point on which the wheel runs or
bears, whilst, should an irregularity occur in the side of the rail so as to afford
a fulcrum for the flange to act on and rise to the top of the rail, the carriage
under such circumstances would be liable to be thrown off the line. Such
a construction is adapted to one relative condition only, namely, that of
perpendicular pressure, because if one rail sinks below the level of the other,
the wheel on the lower rail rests on the extreme edge of the tyre, thus
diminishing or nearly doing away with the resistance to lateral displacement
otherwise offered by the flange, and at the same time the action of the flange
on the side of the rail is such that a slight irregularity, or a loose chair, may
cause it to pass over the rail. Further, owing to the manner in which the
running surfaces and the flanges of the wheels act, it is found necessary to
give considerable play or space between the flanges and the rails, which I
consider objectionable, for it follows, that when the speed is great, this space
allows of a rebound from one rail to the other, caused by the resilience, which
once commenced I have no doubt increases with every repetition of the
oscillation; and further, in passing round curves the flanges of the outer
wheels come into violent contact with the edge of the rail, with a tendency
to cut into the rail, and should any weakness occur in the outer rail, or
an obstruction take place over which the flange can rise, the wheels are liable

page_text: to run off the rail. Now according to my Invention I cause the tyre of the
wheels to be so adjusted to the rails that under all ordinary circumstances
they will be adapted to each other. This I effect by using a convex rail,
and a peculiar formation of a concave wheel tyre, combined with inclined
spokes, whereby in the event of one rail sinking below the level of the other,
the tyre of the sunken wheel will bear on the rail with an increased diameter,
so as to compensate in surface motion for the depression, and from the
peculiar concave shape the wheel and the rail will maintain a correct
adjustment in respect to each other, and thus avoid the evil results I have
pointed out as consequent on the practise heretofore resorted to; and such is
the peculiar property of my Invention, that notwithstanding any varying
elevations and depressions of parts of the length of rails, the wheels on
the opposite rails will at all times be running on such diameters as to make
the distance moved through by the common axle the same without any
drag or friction, corresponding with that heretofore consequent on the flanges
when moving against rails similarly circumstanced; and owing to this constant
adjustment between the running surfaces of the wheels and the rails, the
rails may be laid with the gauge so correct as not to allow of any play, for
the adjustment which takes place will prevent or tend to prevent any rebound
from rail to rail. And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unto annexed, in the various Figures of which the same letters are used to

page_text: will be seen that the spokes are not vertical as heretofore, but are at an
angle, or are what (in making wheels of wood for common roads) is called
dished. The angle at which the spoke inclines to the vertical is twenty-two
and a half degrees, as is indicated by the red line. a, a, the red line; b,
showing a perpendicular line; c, is the centre of the cylindrical surface on
which the wheel moves, and it is from this centre that the arc from d to e of
the running surface of the wheel is struck, so that its concavity corresponds
with the convexity of the rail for a distance equal to a quarter of a circle of
that radius, and the remainder of the running surface of the wheel from e to
fis an arc of a circle, the radius of which is equal to the diameter of the
cylindrical rail, and consequently such arc is struck at the point where the
perpendicular line 6 intersects the circle constituting the rail. The effect
of this arrangement will be, that should the rail y be lower than the rail z,
or the rail z be lower than the rail y, owing to the concavity of the running
surfaces of the wheels and the convexity of the rails, the two surfaces will
adjust themselves correctly, and in direct proportion to such inequality, and
there will be no tendency to run off the rail; and should there be any impedi-
ment to the wheels on one of the rails, those wheels may rise over such
impediment without injury, owing to the opposite wheels retaining their correct
contact with their rail so long as the raised wheels do not rise off their rail
to an extent which will throw the diagonal line a, a, on the opposite wheels
beyond the perpendicular line 6, and it is the constructing of railways when
in combination with carriages having the running surfaces of their wheels
formed in respect to the rails on which they run, as herein described, and the
employment therewith of diagonal spokes, which constitutes the first peculiarity
of my Invention.
I will now proceed to describe other improvements in railway carriages, in
order to adapt them to the circumstance brought about by the improvements
above explained. Figure 4 is a side view of a railway carriage, constructed
according to my Invention. Figure 5 is an under side view thereof; and
Figure 6 is an end view. This carriage has four wheels constructed in the
manner above described. The body g of the carriage is suspended on two
necks or axes h, h, which move in bearings i, i, in the uprights j, j, such
uprights being fixed to the ends of the frame k, k; and the body of the carriage,
although thus suspended, is prevented oscillating by means of chains or straps
1, 2, and yet these straps or chains allow of movement to the body of the
carriage to such an extent as is required to counteract the tendency to follow
the sinking of the wheels. The frame k, k, is placed on and affixed to the

page_text: springs m, m, the springs being affixed to the frame n, n, which is mounted
on the wheels, and the frame k is governed in its movement by means of guide
plates o, o, all which will readily be understood on examining the Drawings.
I would remark in respect to this part of my Invention that I am aware
that the bodies of carriages running on common roads have before. been
proposed to move. on necks or axes, but in such case there were not two
frames in like manner to k and n, nor straps or chains Z. I do not therefore
claim the mounting of a carriage body on necks, this part of my Invention
consisting of combining that state of circumstances with the use of straps or
chains and frames & and n, as herein described.
.
Another improvement in railway carriages consists in applying an uncon-.
trolled locking action to the axles and wheels of railway carriages. p is a
strong bar formed into the arc of a circle; this bar is capable of sliding
in bearings 9, q, fixed to the framing. The bearings r, r, of the axle of
the wheels are made fast to this bar; by this means when a carriage is
going round curves the bearings of the axle can move, and thus accomodate
the wheels to the curve, the rail on which the wheels run being the means
of causing such movement of the axle, and by simply acting on the running
wheels, the bearings r, 7, can only move within a short space, there being
stops 8, s, fixed as shown.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I make no claim to any of the mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine
myself to the details herein described, so long as the peculiar character of my
Invention be retained; but what I claim is,―
First, the improvements in the construction of railways and carriages, con-
sisting in combining rails with wheels having running surfaces formed and
adapted to the rail, together with diagonal spokes, as herein described. .
Secondly, I claim the mode of constructing railway carriages by combining
frames & and n, and straps or chains 7, with the bodies of railway carriages
suspended on necks or axes, as above described. And,
Thirdly, I claim the application of apparatus, as herein described, for
forming an uncontrolled locking motion to the axles of railway carriages.
In witness whereof, I, the said Conrad Haverkam Greenhow, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
C. H. (Ls.) GREENHOW.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Conrad Haverkam Greenhow came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, 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.
Enrolled the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-six.