IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION AND HAULING ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Roberts at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th March
. 1864...
I, WILLIAM ROBERTS, of Millwall, Poplar, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TRACTION AND HAULING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in traction and hauling
.engines.
In constructing engines to serve both for hauling ploughs and other agri-
cultural implements by means of a chain, rope, or band put in motion by a
drum on the engine, and also to serve for drawing carriages, or for travelling
on roads, I mount the drum, around which the chain rope or band passes, on
the axis or pin of the locking motion of the fore wheels of the engine; by
this means I am able to make the engine much shorter than when the drum
is mounted under the boiler and between the axis of the front and hind. wheels,
which is at present the usual position in which to place the drum. I arrange
the engine as follows:-The framing of the engine is supported on four
wheels, two driving wheels at the back, and a pair of smaller locking wheels
in front. Near the back of the framing a vertical boiler is mounted with the
tank for supplying it with water beneath the framing; the cylinder or cylinders
of the engine are fixed at the front of the framing, and in an inclined position ;
it works back to a crank shaft carried on. standards at or near the centre of

page_text: the carriage. On this shaft are two spur wheels, either of which may be
made to gear with the spur wheel on an intermediate shaft. There are chain
pinions at each end of the intermediate shaft, and these by pitch chains drive
chain wheels fixed to the driving wheels. I prefer that this shaft should be
made in two parts, being divided in the centre, the ends of the two parts
being in contact and butting together. Each part has a bevilled wheel fixed
upon it, and between the two bevilled wheels, and turning loosely on the two
parts of the axis is a frame with a bevilled pinion or pinions gearing with
bath the bevilled wheels. This arrangement is made in order that one of the
driving wheels may be able to rotate more rapidly than the other. The
wheels on the crank shaft can also be made to gear with other wheels on
another intermediate shaft, and this by bevilled gear drives an upright axis
with a pinion at its lower end, and this pinion gears with internal teeth formed
on the periphery of the drum. At the fore part of the platform of the engine
and projecting beneath it is the vertical pin or axis of the locking motion; in
this an eye is formed, and the axle of the fore wheels passes through it, and
is secured by a horizontal pin or axis on which the axle pivots, so that the
wheels may adjust themselves to any inequalities of the road; the steerage is
obtained by the turning of the vertical axis by which the axle is carried. As
before mentioned, the drum for working the chain, rope, or band is mounted on
the vertical pin or axis of the locking motion, and it is placed under the axle
of the fore wheels. The rope, chain, or band, when in use for hauling, may
be led off at any angle to the engine, the fore wheels being locked over to:
allow it to pass freely. If the engine is to be used for traction purposes only
the drum is omitted.