AN IMPROVED RAILWAY BOGIE CAR
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Oct., 1886
Complete Left, 19th July, 1887
Complete Accepted, 7th Oct., 1887
I WILLIAM SMITH Civil Engineer Idlewild Fountainball Road Aberdeen Scotland
do hereby declare the nature of my invention for AN IMPROVED RAILWAY BOGIE CAR
to be as follows
The object of this invention is the continuous and distributed support of heavy loads
travelling on railways, and also the continuous and distributed support of railway
carriages of great length in such a manner as to allow them to pass freely round
railway curves.
The invention consists of a carriage soleplate or car frame resting on two "compound"
bogies each made up of two or more bogies hereafter called "Constituent" bogies.
To each compound bogie the car frame is connected by a single vertical pin in the
usual manner to one of the constituent bogies, and the car frame rests on each of the
other constituent bogies on tapered rollers allowing free lateral angular movement.
Each compound bogie consists of a four wheel bogie swivelling horizontally on a
centre pin attached to the car frame, with one or more four wheel bogies linked by a
vertical pin or pins attaching the contiguous end frames together on which the other
constituent bogies swivel. The centre pin constituent bogies are attached by the
centre pins to the car frame near each end of the car, so as to equalise the lateral
movements of the bogies at the middle and ends of the car frame. In a compound
bogie the end frames of the centre pin constituent bogie and the next constituent
bogie are coupled by a vertical pin passing into or through a projecting socket on the
middle of each frame, the coupling thus formed allowing free lateral bending of the
constituent bogies relative to each other. Each constituent bogie has a similar
connection to that next it belonging to the same compound bogie.
The car frame is supported on a pair of rollers on the side frames of each centre pin
constituent bogie and is attached to the bogie by means of the centre pin. Each of
the other constituent bogies carries a roller frame and tapered rollers on a plate or
shallow
The rollers from the bed
pan lying across the line of the travel of the car.
on which the cross beams of the car frame rest, and the constituent bogies are free to
follow the curvature of the rails while supporting the car frame,

page_text: Where the centre of gravity of the load is high and its width great two or more
lines of rails may be covered by the compound bogie car, the car frame then consisting
of two or more of the compound bogie car frames described above connected laterally
by braced framework across the six foot ways, each supported on a pair of compound
bogies.
By this invention a heavy gun of a gross weight with gun carriage and car of two
hundred tons would be transported on an ordinary double line railway on a wheel
base of a hundred feet length, distributing the weight over four rail lengths with a
weight of two and a half tons on each wheel and the wheels at five feet centres apart.
Each compound bogie would in this case consist of five constituent bogies, the
centre pin constituent bogie being next but one to the end of the car frame, with
three other constituent bogies towards the middle and one next the end of the
car frame.
Where the weight of the load is not great, but the length of the car over fifty feet,
the compound bogies will be composed of a less number of constituent bogies than
would be required for a great weight, the link sockets on the end frames of the
constituent bogies being lengthened or connected by intermediate links.
This invention is applicable to the transport of heavy ordnance and armour shields
overland by rail, and the defence of cities and fortified places by means of a
circumferential railway consisting of two or more parallel lines of rails for the
transport and working of heavy guns; also, to the overland transport of ships by ship
railways with curves, to long railway cars, to portable or locomotive cranes on rails,
and generally to the movement of loads on railways in excess of the weight or length
commanded by the ordinary cars. An important result of the invention is rendering
practicable the employment of points and crossings and the use of shunts and sidings
on ship or other railways for multiple line carriages.
Dated this Eighteenth day of October 1886.

page_text: 1, WILLIAM SMITH of Idlewild, Fountainhall Road, Aberdeen do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is the continuous and distributed support of heavy loads
travelling on railways including railway carriages of great length, in such manner as
to allow them to pass freely round railway curves.
The Invention consists in supporting the carriage sole plate or car frame on a
combination of wheeled trucks arranged and connected in the form of what I term
two compound bogies each made up of two or more trucks hereafter called constituent
bogies, whereby the load is distributed over a very long wheel base having sufficient
horizontal flexibility to allow the carriage to pass freely round curves of ordinary
radius. The car frame is connected to each compound bogie by a single vertical pin
(which forms the swivelling centre of the whole compound bogie) to one only of
the constituent bogies and rests on rolling bearings on each of the other constituent
bogies whereby free lateral and angular movement of all the constituent bogies is
permitted. Each compound bogie therefore consists of a bogie swivelling horizontally
on a fixed centre connected to the car frame and of one or more other bogies having
no direct connection with the car frame but coupled to the first mentioned bogie or
to each other (as the case may be) by vertical joint pins which form the swivelling
centres for those constituent bogies and permit of their free lateral angular motion
relatively to each other. The centre pin constituent bogies are attached by the centre
pins to the car frame near each end of the car, so as to equalise the lateral movements
of the bogies at the middle and ends of the car frame. The weight of the car frame
is partly supported on a pair of rollers on the side frames of each centre pin constituent
bogie (and not on the centre pin itself which merely forms the swivelling centre) and
partly on each of the other constituent bogies, a set of rollers being interposed between
each of the latter and the car frame to form a rolling bearing which will leave
the constituent bogies free to follow the curvature of the rails while supporting part
of the weight of the car frame. When the centre of gravity of the load is high and
its width great, the compound bogie car may be duplicated and rest on two or more
parallel lines of rails, the car frame then being a rigid structure extending over the
two or more lines of rails and being supported on each line of rails by a pair of
compound bogies.
This Invention is applicable to the transport of heavy ordinance and armour shields
overland by rail, and the defence of cities and fortified places, a circumferential railway
consisting of two or more parallel lines of rails being used for the transport and working
of heavy guns. It is also applicable to the overland transport of ships by ship
railways with curves, to long railway cars, to portable or locomotive cranes on rails, and
generally to the movement of loads on railways in excess of the weight or length for
which ordinary cars are available,

page_text: Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
specification; wherein figures 1 and 2 represent a compound bogie carriage for
the transport over ordinary railways, of heavy guns; and armour plates or similar
heavy concentrated loads, figure 1 being an elevation and figure 2 a plan of a
car constructed to carry a gross weight of 200 tons on two compound bogies each
composed of five 4-wheeled constituent bogies. The sole plate or under frame a a of
the carriage body rests on the two compound bogies 6'62 each of which is made up of
five constituent bogies respectively lettered c¹ to e8 and 6 to 10. The car frame is
connected to each compound bogie by a single vertical centre pin d' d² (also shewn in
figure 5) passing through or into the car under-frame a a and the constituent
bogies ². The car frame rests on each of the constituent bogies through the medium
of sets of rollers and bearing plates or rails (figures 3, 4). The rollers e e e of the
several sets are made conical, so as to run on a curved path and each set is collected
in a frame. The middle portion of each roller is of reduced diameter, the end
portions which are of larger diameter, rolling freely on a bearing plate g fixed upon
the frame of the constituent bogie whilst the rail h which forms the bearing of the
under frame upon the rollers, rests upon the portion of lesser diameter.
constituent bogies c¹ c² c³ c¹ and e³ are coupled together by vertical pins k passing into
or through overlapping sockets on the end frames or bars of contiguous bogies.
The constituent bogies c c c c and 10 of the other compound bogie, are coupled
together in a similar manner, there being no coupling (except the carriage frame itself)
between the two compound bogies 662--that is-between the two innermost
constituent bogies c³ and cº.
The
The carriage frame is constructed of a pair of girders, the bottom flanges of which
are connected by joists which carry the roller bearings and centre pins.
Figures 6 and 7 shew a compound bogie car for carrying a heavy gun on two lines
of railway, being two compound bogie cars as described above, connected laterally
across the six-foot ways by braced frame-work m m and supported on four compound
bogies n' n² n³ n', each similar to the compound bogies 61 62 before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :---
1. The herein described mode of supporting long railway carriages and other heavy
loads upon two compound bogies each consisting of two or more constituent bogies
coupled together, one only of the constituent bogies being connected to the car frame
by a centre pin upon which the whole compound bogie swivels, substantially as
specified.
2. The combination in a multiple line railway car for transporting heavy loads,
of as many pairs of compound bogies as there are lines of railway, supporting the car,
each compound bogie being made up of constituent bogies coupled together and
connected to the car frame by a single centre pin, all substantially as specified.
The 10th f T.1 1007
W.
SMITH.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.