IMPROVE- MENTS IN RAILWAY WAGGONS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Lee Corlett, of No. 106, Summer Hill,
in the City of Dublin, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILWAY WAGGONS."
Sealed the 7th June 1853, and dated the 29th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Lee Corlett
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th March 1853.
I, HENRY LEE CORLETT, of No. 106, Summer Hill, in the City of
Dublin, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WAGGONS," to be as follows (that is to
say):
Whereas waggons for the carriage of ballast on railways have here-
tofore been made with a "tipping" body, arranged to tip sideways or
edgeways, to discharge the ballast for the construction or reparation of
railways. And whereas coal waggons for railways have been made
with hoppers or traps in the bottom to discharge the contents. The
said Invention or Improvements, therefore, consist in so constructing
the waggons that they may be applicable to the carriage of ballast or

page_text: coal or coke or any material or produce, similarly divided into parts
with such an arrangement that in the discharge the load may be dis-
tributed in any required direction; for which purpose "hoppers" are
provided in various parts of the floor of the waggon, or at the centres,
ends, or sides, and shoots or spreaders or distributors are suspended
beneath the waggon, so as to vary the direction of the discharge; and
in this mode the ballast may be distributed or discharged over the line
with very little need of manual labor in after levelling, and the opera-
tion of discharging may go on while the train is in motion, so as to
distribute more equally; which process is impracticable with ordinary
ballast waggons.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.
filed by the said Henry Lee Corlett, in the Great Seal Patent
Oflice, on the 27th September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. 1,
HENRY LEE CORLETT, of No. 106. Summer Hill, in the City of Dublin,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Lec Corlett, Her special licence
that I, the said Henry Lee Corlett, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Lee Corlett, 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, nsc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY WAGGONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Henry Lec Corlett, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and

page_text: 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 1, the said Henry Lee Corlett, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):
My improvements in waggons for railways consist in a better con-
struction of such waggons as are adapted for carrying materials or
commodities, which can be conveniently discharged by the action of
their own gravity on an inclined plane, such as grain, turnips, potatoes,
coal, coke, sand, lime, gravel, ballast, or other similar materials or
commodities, divided into parts sufficiently small to move separately.
But I more particularly apply such waggons for the purpose of ballasting
railways, so as to distribute the ballast by means of opening shoots in
any required direction, with very little hand labor in the operation.
And I am aware that coal waggons for railways have been before made
with discharging hoppers in the bottom, and also waggons adapted for
carrying either goods or coal, but not in the mode of my arrangement,
which is so contrived that the contents of the waggon may be discharged
in the centre, between the rails, or to the outside of the rails, at either
side, at pleasure; and the operation of discharging the ballast by any
of the various shoots may go on while the train is in motion. And
my Invention is fully described by the following specification, and by
the aid of two shects of drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):-
Sheet I, Figure 1, illustrates in longitudinal elevation a ballast waggon,
the low-sided body of which is borne on the ordinary wheels and springs.
The upper ends of the waggon body are fixtures; the sides A, are hinged
to let down, so that the contents, such as ballast, &c., may be thrown
out at the sides by hand or spade. Below the frame of the waggon is
attached a hopper B, of timber or wrought or cast iron, forming inclined
planes, closed by an iron or timber flap C, which, when opened or
partially opened, will serve to discharge the contents, either while the
waggon is stationary or moving. Figure 2, shews a portion of the
bottom framing to illustrate the ordinary structure. Figure 3, is a

page_text: longitudinal section of the waggon, with the hopper, and a pair of
wooden flaps D, D, lying horizontally over the opening of the hopper,
in the position required for forming a flat bottom to receive the ballast
when the hopper is not required to be used. Figure 4, is a longitu-
dinal section of the waggon, with the two flaps D, D, open and lying
on the upper ends of the waggon, forming inclined planes, so that
when the hopper bottom is opened the ballast will run out thereat.
Figure 5, shews a transverse section of the waggon, as it is intended to
discharge at the sides; E. E. E, E, are ridges formed by planks length
long the waggon hopper; F, F, are hinges attaching the flaps on lids
G, G. which are shewn in Figure 5. folded towards the middle, so that
the ballast or other contents may fill in towards the sides of the waggon,
and be discharged by the flaps C, C, which are shewn open. Figure 6,
shews a transverse section of the same waggon, with the flaps G, G,
folded towards the sides of the waggon, so that the ballast may fill in
towards the centre, and be discharged by the flaps H, H, which are
shewn open at Figure 6, and closed in Figure 5, while the flaps C. C.
are closed in Figure 6.
Figure 7, Sheet II., is a longitudinal elevation of a similar waggon,
Fi-
varying in the mode of its discharge by the hoppers with flaps I.
gure 8, is a longitudinal section, shewing the upper flaps D, D, to form
the flat bottom when let down, The hopper B, and the flap I. Figure 9,
is a transverse section;-to the sloping-bottom sides J, J, are hinged the
flaps I, 1, which are acted on by notched rods K, K, in such mode that
the flaps 1, 1, may hang vertically, or be closed at the same angle as
the sloping-bottom sides J, J, to retain the ballast. Below the sloping-
bottom sides J, J, are two sloping-bottom sides to the hopper L, L.
which may be closed at the centre by two flaps M, M; but in Figure 9,
they are shewn open for discharging the ballast or other contents between
the rails. Figure 10, shews the flaps M, M, closed, and one flap 1, held
by the notched rod at the angle of the sloping-bottom side J, forming a
continuous incline for the ballast. The opposite flap is drawn up by
the notched rod, so as to leave a space for the ballast to shoot out to
one side, or which may be reversed to the other side; and by altering
the angles of the flaps 1, 1, will shoot out to a greater distance than in

page_text: the mode of flaps shewn at Figures 5, and 6. And the angles may be
varied in the construction of the waggons to suit the distances required.
And by this description and annexed illustrative drawings any compe-
tent builder may construct these my improved waggons.
Having now described my improvements in waggons, I, the said
Henry Lee Corlett, wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not
claim the peculiar construction of railway waggons with a hopper
below and upper flaps to form a flat floor, but I claim the arrangement
of such flaps in connection with my hopper waggons, which are con-
structed for the purpose of distributing the load of ballast or other
commodities either inside or outside the rails, at pleasure, in the various
directions herein-before described and illustrated by the Figures 1, to
10, inclusive; and also the construction and application of such hopper
waggons without the upper flaps forming a flat floor, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Lee Corlett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
HENRY LEE CORLETT. (L.S.)
HENRY LEE CORLETT. (L.S.)