In- PROVED MEANS OF INCREASING THE ADHESION OF RAILWAY TRAINS ON STEEP GRADIENTS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Francis Fairlie, of 9, Victoria Chambers,
in the City of Westminster, Engineer, for the Invention of "In-
PROVED MEANS OF INCREASING THE ADHESION OF RAILWAY TRAINS ON STEEP
GRADIENTS."
Sealed the 27th September 1872, and dated the 12th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Francis Fairlie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th April 1872.
I, ROBERT FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of 9; Victoria Chambers, in the City
5 of Westminster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF INCREASING THE ADHESION OF RAILWAY
TRAINS ON STEEP GRADIENTS," to be as follows :-
In the construction and working of mountain railways or lines
having steep gradients a central or mid-rail has in some cases been

page_text: laid between the ordinary rails, and the locomotive engines and carriages
have been provided with wheels specially arranged to press against the
mid-rail and thus obtain an amount of adhesion in proportion to the
pressure on the wheels in addition to that of the insistent weight on the
vertical or bearing wheels of the locomotive. This system is not only
costly but inefficient, inasmuch as the mid-rail stands so high above the
level of the bearing rails that the supports for it are necessarily imperfect
and must always be a weak point in the arrangement; besides, the
height prevents such things as level crossings, which are so necessary
in cconomical railways; morcover where the mid-rail is placed the
locomotive cannot be turned off from one line to another.
Now my Invention consists in the employment in combination with
a central or mid-rail laid at about the same level as the bearing rails
of one or more clip drums fitted to the engines or carriages for the
purpose of taking hold of or nipping the said rail when the train is :
ascending or descending steep gradients. The said rail may be supported
in any convenient manner, and it is preferred to place it only at such
parts of the way as may be too steep for the weight of the engine to
produce the necessary adhesion. The clip drums are caused to revolve
and may be driven from the main axle by means of a driving band,
spur or other gearing, and any ordinary means may be adopted for
throwing them into and out of gear as occasion may require or for
lowering them into contact with or raising them clear of the rail as
found necessary. I prefer to construct the clips of the drums each of
a pair of levers approximately of L shape, the two levers of each pair
being attached to opposite sides of the periphery of the drum, having
their fulcra at their angles, the horizontal arms of the two levers of the
pair lying together while their vertical arms face each other. The
vertical arms are forced over the central rail, and when by its pressure
the rail forces the horizontal arms inwards the vertical arms approach 3
cach other and nip the rail between them. As the drum revolves the
pressure of the rail upon the horizontal arms is gradually removed,
being transferred to the next following pair of clip levers and so on,
all the pairs of clip levers being successively brought into action. The
moment the weight is removed from the successive clip levers they g
gradually release themselves from the rail, thus whilst one or more pairs
of clip levers are laying hold of the rail, others are releasing it as the
drum or drums revolve.

page_text: Another method of increasing the adhesion consists in placing one or
more small grooved wheels at the front of the engine; and in keying
on the driving axle or any axle of the engine, or on a distinct and
separate axle geared into and driven by one or more engines of the
locomotive, a clip drum of the same kind as that already described, and
in placing in rear of it again one or more small grooved wheels, that is
to say, the last-mentioned wheel would be in the rear when the engine
is moving in one direction, and in front when the engine is moving in
the other direction. A wire rope lying between the rails is passed under.
one of the small wheels, over the clip drum, and again under the other
small wheel, so that on the clip drum being made to revolve by the
machinery of the engine it clips. the rope, and as the rope is fixed at
one end, pulls itself forward at a speed varying according to the number
of revolutions it makes a minute. It is necessary that the diameter of
the driving wheels of the engine and of the clip drum should be equal.
in order that the locomotive and its train should move forward on the
rope and rail exactly equal distances without slipping in the one case
or the other. Or the clip drum may be different in diameter to the
driving wheels of the locomotive, but in that case the number of the
revolutions on the rope should correspond with the forward movement
of the driving wheels on the rails. so that the two, motions may harmonizo
as to distance travelled.. There may be two, clip drums employed, one
at each side of the locomotive and outside the ordinary driving wheels
and gear; these may be fixed under the foot plates of a Fairlic engine,..
the small grooved leading wheels being fixed at the cylinder ends..
The object in employing 2 ropes one on each side of the rails is to.;
enable the ropes to be placed on their wheels or drums with casc and
speed, and to avoid having to pass the rope under the engine as would
be the case with the clip drum placed inside the frames of the engine.
O SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Robert Francis Fairlic in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE, PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of 9, Victoria Chambers, in the City of Westminster,
5 Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Francis Fairlic, Her special licence that
I, the said Robert Francis Fairlie, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Francis Fairlic, my execu
tors, 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, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMProved Means
OF INCREASING THE ADHESION OF Railway Trains ON STEEP GRADIents,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Francis Fairlie,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Francis Fairlic, 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 thereof, reference being had to tho
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:―
In the construction and working of mountain railways or lines having
steep gradients a central or mid-rail has in some cases been laid between
the ordinary rails, and the locomotive engines and carriages have been
provided with whoels specially arranged to press against the mid-rail
and thus obtain an amount of adhesion in proportion to the pressure on
the wheels in addition to that of the insistent weight on the vertical or
bearing wheels of the locomotive. This system is not only costly but
inefficient, inasmuch as the mid-rail stands so high above the level of
the bearing rails that the supports for it are necessarily imperfect and
must always be a weak point in the arrangement, besides the height
prevents level crossings which are so necessary in economical railways,

page_text: moreover where the mid-rail is placed the locomotive cannot be turned
off from one line to another.
Now my Invention consists in the employment in combination with a
central or mid-rail laid at about the same level as the bearing rails of
one or more clip drums fitted to the engines or carriages for the purpose
of taking hold of or nipping the said rail when the train is ascending or
descending steep gradients. The said rail may be supported in any con-
venient manner, and it is preferred to place it only at such parts of the
way as may be too steep for the weight of the engine to produce the
necessary adhesion. The clip drums are caused to revolve and may
be driven from the main axle by means of a driving band, spur, or
other gearing, and any ordinary means may be adopted for throwing
them into and out of gear as occasion may require, or for lowering
them into contact with or raising them clear of the rail as found
necessary.
I prefer to construct the clips of the drums each of a pair of levers
approximately of L shape, the two levers of each pair being attached to
opposite sides of the periphery of the drum, having their fulcra at their
angles, the horizontal arms of the two levers of the pair lying together
while their vertical arms face each other. The vertical arms are forced
over the central rail, and when by its pressure the rail forces the hori-
zontal arms inwards the vertical arms approach each other and nip the
rail between them,
"
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a side view, and Figure 2 a
transverse section of part of a clip drum such as I prefer to employ to
carry out my Invention. A is the drum, and B, B, are the clip levers.
These levers are attached to the sides of the periphery of the drum in,
pairs as shewn; their fulcra are at C, C. When the vertical parts 6', 6',
are forced over the rail shewn at D in Figure 2, the pressure of the rail
upon the parts b³, 63, pushes these parts inwards so that the parts b', 6','"
are drawn together and nip the rail. As the drum revolves the pressure
of the rail upon the parts 6 is gradually removed, being transferred to
the next following pair of clip levers, and so on, all the pairs of clip
lovers being successively brought into action. The moment the weight
is removed from the successive clip levers they gradually release them-
selves from the rail, thus whilst one or more pairs of clip levers arg

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Another method of increasing the adhesion consists in placing one or
more small grooved wheels at the front of the engine, and in keying on
the driving axle or any axle of the engine, or on a distinct and separate
axle geared into and driven by one or more engines of the locomotive, a
clip drum of the samo kind as that already described, and in placing in
rear of it again one or more small grooved wheels, that is to say, the last-
mentioned wheel would be in the rear when the engino is moving in ono
direction, and in front when the engine is moving in the other direction.
A wire rope lying between the rails is passed under one of the small
wheels over the clip drum, and again under the other small wheel, so
that on the clip drum being made to revolve by the machinery of the
engine it clips the rope, and as the rope is fixed at one end pulls itself
forward at a speed varying according to the number of revolutions it
makes a minute. It is necessary that the diameters of the driving wheels
of the engine and of the clip drum should be equal in order that tho
locomotive and its train should move forward on the rope and rail
exactly equal distances without slipping in the one case or the other.
Or the clip drum may be different in diameter to the driving wheels of
the locomotive, but in that case the number of the revolutions on the
rope should correspond with the forward movement of tho driving wheels
on the rails, so that the two motions may harmonize as to distance
travelled. There may be two clip drums employed, onc at cach side of.
the locomotive and outside the ordinary driving wheels and gear; these
may be fixed under the foot plates of a Fairlic engine, the small grooved
Ieading wheels being fixed at the cylinder ends. The object in employ-
ing two ropes one on each side of the rails is to enable the ropes to bo
placed on their wheels or drums with casc and speed, and to avoid
having to pass the rope under the engine as would be the case with tho :
clip drum placed inside the frames of the engine.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,—
First. The means herein-before described of increasing the adhesion of
railway trains on steep gradients by one or more clip drums on the;
engines or carriages in combination with one or more rails or ropes,
substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: Second. Constructing railway engines or carriages with one or more
clip drums, arranged and acting substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Francis Fairlic, have here:
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October One
thousand cight hundred and seventy-two.