IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to the Right Honorable James Earl of Caithness,
of Hill Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK, AND IN THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Earl of Caithness
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th January 1872.
I, the Right Honorable JAMES Earl of CAITHNESS, of Hill Street,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK, AND IN
THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mechanical arrangement for washing and
if necessary drying or wiping railway carriages or other rolling stock of
railways, whereby the costly hand labour at present required for cleaning
carriages is almost entirely dispensed with.

page_text: According to this Invention one or more revolving cylindrical brushes
are placed opposite or nearly opposite to cach other at the proper distance
apart, between which brushes or rows of brushes the carriage or train of
carriages or rolling stock to be washed is to be run, the bristles or whale-
bone of the brushes being sufficiently long to accommodate themselves to
the inequalities of the surface and to take the side steps of the carriage.
A similar set of horizontal revolving brushes worked either from the side
brushes or separately serve to wash the roofs of the carriages. The centres
or bodies of all these brushes are tubular and perforated, and are supplied
with water under pressure from any convenient source, either from below
or from above. The spindle of the horizontal or roof brushes may carry
a driving pulley to be driven by a belt from a small steam engine or
other convenient source of power, and these brushes may be so connected
by bevel or other gearing with the side or vertical brushes as that
all may revolve together, or the two sets be uncoupled and worked
separately.
Provision may be made for varying or adjusting the height of and
the distance apart between the brushes to accommodate them to different
heights and widths of rolling stock, and in order to prevent incon-
venience from splashing each brush should be enclosed on the outer side
by a screen, hinged or otherwise, and also made adjustable with the
brushes.
The brushing action combined with the plentiful supply of water
effectually cleanses the carriages, which if desired may then be run
through a set of revolving wipers arranged and driven on the same
principle as the brushes, but provided with loose wash leathers or other
suitable dry wipers.
In order that there may be as little waste of water as possible the
carriage whilst being washed should pass over a grating, covering, a
filtering tank, into which the water is directed by gutters, and from
which, after being filtered it is pumped back again into the supply
reservoir or tank to be again used in the washing of other carriages. Of
course the ends of the carriages may if desired be similarly cleaned
either separately or together by means of revolving brushes and sub-
sequently wiped by revolving wipers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Earl of Caithness in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, the Right
Honorable JAMES Earl of CAITHNESS, of Hill Street, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight 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 James Earl of Caithness, Her special license
that I, the said James Earl of Caithness, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Earl of Caithness, my
executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CLEANING RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Earl of Caithness, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 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 I, the said James Earl of Caithness, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
=

page_text: from which, after being filtered, it is pumped back again into the supply
reservoir or tank to be again used in the washing of other carriages.
Of course the ends of the carriages may if desired be similarly cleaned
either separately or together by means of revolving brushes and sub-
sequently wiped by revolving wipers.
either separately or together by means of revolving brushes and sub-
sequently wiped by revolving wipers.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
refer to the Drawing annexed, which represents an elevation and partial
section of my apparatus adapted to the washing of an ordinary railway
passenger carriage.
A, A, are two vertical cylindrical revolving brushes, the bristles or
other material employed in substitution therefor of the said brushes being
of sufficient length to accommodate themselves readily to any inequalities
in the sides of the carriage B to be washed as well as to take in the
steps C, C. D is a horizontal revolving brush for cleaning the roof of
the carriage, the bristles thereof or their equivalent being if desired of
graduated lengths so as to form a concave contour adapted to the convex
curve of the roof of the carriage, as shown clearly in the Drawing.
Although I have shown this brush as made in two sections or lengths,
one on each side of the line of roof lamps E, the bristles of the brush
may be continued throughout so as to operate along the line of roof
lights, care being taken in this case to close the lamp apertures before
running the carriage under the brush in order to prevent injury to the
interior fittings by the entrance of water through the said openings.
These brushes may be composed of a number of separate blocks a, a³, of
wood or other suitable material having bristles or their equivalents,
secured therein in any well-known manner, such blocks being strung
end to end on to a central perforated hollow or tubular shaft F, F',
corresponding radial perforations being also made in the blocks a, a¹. The
hollow shafts F and F' work in their respective bearings G, G, and G¹, G¹,
which bearings may, if preferred, be made adjustable so as to enable
the vertical brushes to be brought nearer together or moved farther
apart and the horizontal brush to be raised or lowered to suit rolling
stock of different widths and height. The several brushes are supplied
with water under pressure by the pipes H and H³ respectively, and the
vertical brushes are enclosed on the outer side by curved screens I, I, to
prevent inconvenient splashing.

page_text: The brushes may either be driven separately or together, in my
Drawing I have represented the horizontal brush as being driven by
means of a pulley K from any convenient prime mover, and as trans-
mitting its motion by means of the bevel gearing L, L, to the vertical
brushes, but the mode of driving or actuating may of course be varied
according to circumstances.
▲ sliding clutch or pair of clutches may be fitted if desired on the
shaft of the horizontal brush in order to enable it to be connected with
or disconnected from the vertical brushes at any time when requisite.
M is a filtering tank or cistern constructed beneath the rails along which
the carriages are moved whilst being washed, and protected by a
grating N. This tank receives the waste dirty water which it filters and
supplys again by the pipe O to the pumps or clevated cisterns from which
the rotatory brushes are fed, thus effecting a considerable economy in
water.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,--
First. The application and use to and in the cleaning or washing of
railway rolling stock of rotatory brushes between or in contact with
which the sides, ends, or roofs of the rolling stock to be operated upon
are brought to bear whilst traversing the rails, substantially as herein-
before described.

page_text: effect a considerable economy of water, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Earl of Caithness, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of
June, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Earl of Caithness, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of
June, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
CAITHNESS. (L.S.)