CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF RAILWAY TUNNELS, TO BE WORKED BY LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BOOTH, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
the Third day of December, in the seventh year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Booth, His especial licence that I, the said Henry Booth, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Booth, my
exors, admors, and 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, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF RAILWAY TUNNELS, TO BE
WORKED BY LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said Henry Booth, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the 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
Henry Booth, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascertained
as follows (that is to say):-

page_text: My Improvement in the Construction and Arrangement of Railway Tunnels,
to be worked by Locomotive Engines, I declare to consist in the formation of
duplicate tunnels near and parallel to each other, but with different and
opposite gradients, there being in each tunnel one line of railway instead of
forming, as is usually done, one large tunnel with two lines of railway, both
lines having the same inclinations or gradients, and the difference of gradients
which I recommend for general practice is after the rate of twelve to fourteen
feet per mile (that is to say): supposing the tunnelling to be effected be one
mile in length, and which on the ordinary construction hitherto adopted
would consist of one tunnel with two lines or way through it, and that on the
ordinary plan the same would be formed on the level, I recommend the
construction of two tunnels, having each one line of railway descending
twelve or fourteen feet in the direction of the moving traffic, which arrange-
ment may be accomplished by raising one end of each duplicate tunnel and
depressing the other six or seven feet from the level line, each tunnel
declining twelve to fourteen feet in the direction of the moving traffic through
the said tunnel; or supposing the tunnelling to be effected be one mile in
length, and that on the ordinary construction hitherto adopted it would consist
of one tunnel with two lines of way, having each an inclination in the same
direction of twenty-four to twenty-eight feet per mile, I recommend the
construction of two tunnels, one of them (the descending line in the way of
the traffic) having the aforesaid proposed inclination downwards of twenty-four
to twenty-eight feet per mile; and the other, the ascending line in the way
of the traffic), having an inclination upwards of only twelve to fourteen feet
per mile instead of twenty-four to twenty-eight feet, as it must have if the
two lines of way are in the same tunnel, and the advantage of this arrange-
ment and construction is that the passage through the tunnel when on the
ordinary construction it would either be on the level or on the ascent, is eased
and facilitated to the extent of twelve to fourteen feet comparative declination
per mile (that is to say), to the extent of about one half of the whole force of
traction required to overcome friction on a railway. The object to be attained
is an easy and quick passage through the tunnels, and as from the moist
state of the rails in most tunnels the adhesion (and consequently the efficiency
of the engine will be very much diminished), it becomes desirable so to
arrange the gradients of the line in the tunnels, by raising or depressing the
contiguous portions of the railway, that the passage through the tunnels in
each direction may be effected more easily than on the contiguous parts of the
road.
By this arrangement it is not proposed to gain any ultimate mechanical

page_text: advantage, because as many feet as the engine moves downwards (by altering
the uniform line of gradients in the tunnel) it must either previously or
subsequently move upwards on the open railway, but the advantage is that
you chuse your ground, and it being doubly important that no delay should
take place in the tunnel, and from the state of the rails, &c., the greatest
difficulties presenting themselves at that spot, I so arrange the gradients of the
tunnels and of the contiguous parts of the roads, that whether on a level or
on an ascending line of country only about one half the resistance in traction
shall be met with in the tunnel as on the open railway, the chances therefore,
are, that if a locomotive engine (which is subject to so many casualties fail)
in the journey, it will not fail in the tunnel.
Now, though I have named a difference in the gradients or inclinations in the
duplicate tunnels of twelve to fourteen feet per mile, I do not confine myself to
these exact proportions; one half this difference would be preferable to no differ-
ence, the object to be attained by the adoption of my plan being so to raise or
sink the contiguous portions of the railway forming the approaching lines to the
tunnels, and the departing lines from the tunnels in each direction, and so to
arrange the gradients in the duplicate tunnels, that the passage through the
tunnels in each direction by locomotive engines may be effected as far as
depends on the levels or inclinations more easily than on the contiguous
portions of the open railway.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and sool this Twents
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid Henry Booth came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form abovo
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand