IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS AND TUBES, SOME OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Webster Rammell, of No. 4, Westminster
Chambers, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS AND
TUBES, SOME OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 18th June 1875, and dated the 19th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Webster
Rammell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th December 1874.
I, THOMAS WEBSTER RAMMELL, of No. 4, Westminster Chambers,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIO
RAILWAYS AND TUBES, SOME OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
-
This Invention is for improvements in pneumatic railways and tubes
intended for the conveyance of passengers and goods, and in the
fastenings of the permanent way of such railways and tubes, and in the
doors and other openings of the carriages of such railways and tubes
Price 71

page_text: which improvements so far as they relate to fastenings and to doors
and other openings are applicable to ordinary railways and other
purposes.
In designing pneumatic railways and tubes for their more safe,
convenient, and economical construction and working I proceed as
follows: I make the mouth of the tubular way of a conical shape, that
is to say, of a shape converging inwards from a guage larger than the
normal one, I arrange the valves of the casing of the pneumatic ejector
and the apparatus for working these valves in such manner that the
power may be applied to the tubular way direct and without the
intervention of an additional main valve as hitherto. I hang the
terminal doors of the tubular way in such manner that they are partly
balanced by the pneumatic pressure employed, and connect these doors
together so that they open and close simultaneously and work them by
pneumatic pressure, and provide buffing chambers to receive the doors
both when opening and closing. 1 place the lever and signal room from
which a line is intended to be worked in a position adjoining the
terminal doors and near to the mouth of the tubular way, and provide
means of access to it at all times, both from the station platform and
from the tubular way, and so arrange the terminal doors and the various
valves and signals wherever situate that they may be readily worked from
such room by pneumatic or hydraulic pressure or other means.
the connection of the tubular way with the air way from the pneumatic
machinery by forming a junction chamber between the terminal doors
and the mouth of the tubular way. I lay the ways at intermediate
stations level and not on an incline as hitherto and effect the movement
of the trains here by the application of pneumatic or hydraulic pressure
beneath the carriages. I prefer to use pneumatic pressure for the
purpose, and where an intermediate station is unprovided with pumping
machinery I convey the pneumatic power required through pipes laid
from a neighbouring station.
I make
Where the railways and tubes are of a size to admit of the trains being
under the control of a brakesman, I place at a convenient distance
within the tubular way suitable bars and levers in connection with the
fastenings of the terminal doors, and by which such doors may be
automatically released and opened through the action of the wheels of
an approaching train, and I provide the means for setting such bars and
levers from the lever and signal room before described.

page_text: I use carriages with doors opening and closing sideways, and also with
continuous step boards, so that a gangway is always preserved at the
side of the train. I employ a new contrivance on the principle of a
parallel motion for the opening and closing of such doors, which improve-
ment I apply to the doors of the carriages of ordinary railways, to the
doors of ordinary carriages, and to doors and other openings generally.
In the construction of the permanent way of pneumatic railways and
tubes as affording a better hold in the timber and a more secure head
for the spanner, I use hollow screw bolts of larger diameter than the
ordinary solid bolt for fastening the chair plates to the wooden sleepers,
and as giving a firmer screw hold for the fish plates and chair plates
employ hollow screw bolts, that is to say, bolts of which the shank of
one screw into the shank of the other, instead of the ordinary bolt and
nut, and I apply both these improvements to the permanent way of
railways generally and to fastenings generally, where screw bolts and
bolts and nuts are employed.
Where it would be convenient that a pneumatic tubular way should
be available upon occasion for pedestrian traffic as well, I construct
the permanent way in such manner that it shall present a flooring level
or nearly so with the upper surface of the rails, and provide recesses in
the sides of the tubular way for lighting it as a footway.
In the application of pneumatic railways and tubes to large cities it
is of the utmost importance that direct communication should be had
for the lines between the points desired to be connected together, and
that this should be obtained with the least possible interference with
property, displacement of dwellings, and disturbance of existing buildings
and constructions, whether upon or below the surface. A pneumatic
railway affords thorough ventilation in its use and causes no vibration or
nuisance of any kind to adjacent residences, and in laying out such a
line or a system of such lines in large cities I place it at such a depth
beneath the houses and other buildings and constructions that a free
and direct run may be obtained in the substratum between station and
station, and I obtain access at the stations by means of shafts, in some
cases of considerable diameter, sunk vertically from the surface.
In laying out a system however 1 prefer, if it be practicable, first to
carry a main trunk line through the central districts with main stations
at convenient distances apart, and then to connect with these stations by

page_text: means of branch lines the points on either side with which it is desirable
that they should be placed in communication. Thus a main station
serves not only for the traffic of the main line but may have several
branches radiating from it on either side. I make these stations of such
large diameter that the platforms are fully open to the outer air and
light, and that they may afford accommodation for connection with any
desired number of branches, and prefer to place the branches at a level
somewhat above that of the said main line, so that they may have com-
munication one with the other across it by a platform common to all, and
from which platform the platforms of the said main line may be reached
by an easy descent. For access to the stations I provide suitable stairways,
and also hydraulic or screw lifts, which may be placed either on the
main shaft constituting the station or on a separate smaller shaft
communicating with it.
I prefer to place the pneumatic machinery for working such a line or
system of lines upon the surface, and to apply the power by suitable
descending shafts in connection with the tubular ways.
In the case of goods and parcels lines in large cities I proceed in
much the same manner, but prefer to place all the lines radiating
from a main shaft at one and the same level, and as the most ready and
expeditious means of transferring the traffic of any one line to any other
to employ a turntable fixed at the centre of the main shaft, and to
which I make all the lines converge. I prefer to make this turntable of
such diameter that it may deal with a whole train of cars-and turn them
from one line on to another at a single operation. Each branch line is
provided with its own station in or from which the trains are received
and dispatched, and where arriving trains may await their turn for being
dealt with at the central table. These sub-stations are laid with one or
more sets of lines according to the requirements of the traffic, but all the
ways converge to the central table.
I prefer to lay the ways of the radiating lines at an inclination
'downwards from the main shaft, so that departing trains when once put
in motion may run by gravitation into the tubular ways and that arriving
ones may be received against the incline. For hauling the trains from
the sub-stations on the central table, or vice versa, I employ an endless
rope or any other suitable mechanical contrivance which I prefer to work
from the table.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters l'atent,
filed by the said Thomas Webster Rammell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WEBSTER RAMMELL, of No. 4, Westeminster Chambers, Westminster, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Webster Rammell,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Webster Rammell, 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, 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 PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS AND
TUBES, SOME OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES" upou
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Webster
Rammell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Thomas Webster Rammell, 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:-
In the construction and working of pneumatic railways and tubes it
is desirable that the air which constitutes the medium employed should
be put gradually into motion when forced into the tubular way, and also
that it should be gradually discharged on leaving it, and I therefore
make the mouth of the tubular way of a conical shape..

page_text: In Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings Figure 1 is a plan of a
portion of a pneumatic railway, X being a part of the tubular way;
Y, part of a station; and Z, the casing of a pneumatic ejector. A, A,
represents the mouth of the tubular way, conical in shape, and con-
verging inwards down to the regular gauge. I prefer to make this
convergence in length equal to about a diameter and a half of the
tubular way, commencing with a diameter about one-fifth greater than
the normal one.
It is also desirable that the junction of the tubular way with the air
ways from the pneumatic machine should be convenient and spacious
and so arranged that the current may take the new direction with the
least practicable loss of power. I therefore form a roomy junction
chamber for the purpose, placing it between the terminal doors and the
mouth of the tubular way, as shown also in Figure 1 at B, B¹. C, C¹, in
the same Figure represents the connecting air way, which may either be
passed under the station, as shown, or be brought by any other course
up to the junction chamber. In order to give ample space for the
junction I prefer to make the chamber extend below as well as above
the permanent way so that the current may enter all round.
.
It is also desirable that the terminal doors owing to the great surface.
they present to the pneumatic pressure should be balanced as far as may
be to render them manageable, and I effect this object by extending
each door as far as may be beyond the vertical spindle on which it turns,
and thus partly balancing it in the manner of an equilibrium valve.
I also connect the doors together on opposite sides so that they may
be made to open and close simultaneously by power applied to one
spindle only. I prefer to employ pneumatic pressure applied through a
cylinder and piston for the purpose of opening and closing the doors as
more quick in its action that the hydraulic. For their more easy action
I also provide buffing chambers to receive the doors both when opening
and closing.
In Sheet 1, Figure 1, D, D', D", D", represent a pair of terminal
doors, which move on the vertical spindles E, E¹, that part of each door
next the tubular way serving to balance an equal extent of the surface
on the opposite side. I prefer to extend this balance to about one-half
of the area of each door, as shewn, being as large an extent as can be
conveniently obtained. F¹, F", and G show respectively the cranks and

page_text: the rod by which the doors are connected together so that they may open
and close simultaneously. I prefer to place the cranks at the upper ends
of the spindles, and so that they are connected together across the lintel
of the doors. H, H, and I, I', are respectively the buffing chambers for
the fore and after parts of the doors, the former serving to ease the
action when opening and the latter when closing. Both these chambers
extend to the full height of the doors.
For convenience of working 1 arrange the valves of the pneumatic
ejector and the apparatus for opening and closing them in such manner
that the power may be applied direct and without the intervention of an
additional main valve as hitherto.
In Figure 1, Sheet 1, K, K' represents the pressure chamber, and L, L,
and L', L', represent the exhaust chambers of the pneumatic ejector;
M is the supply and discharge chamber open to the outer atmosphere;
and N, a junction chamber between the connecting air way and the
machine; O, O', are the supply valves; and P, P', the pressure valves,
by which a plus force can be applied to the tubular way; and Q, Q', are
the discharge, and K, R', the exhaust valves by which a minus pressure
can be used.
The valves are of the equilibrium kind, and are connected together in
pairs in the order of the letters.
In applying the power I prefer first to open the pair, supply or dis-
charge, as the case may be, communicating with the supply and discharge
chamber, and afterwards the pair P, P¹, or R, R', as the case may
be, communicating with the chamber and air way in connection with
the tubular way, and through which the pneumatic power is actually
brought to bear.
For the more regular and certain working of a pneumatic railway
intended for the conveyance of passengers I place at a convenient
distance within the tubular way suitable bars and levers in connection
with the fastenings of the terminal doors, and so contrived that they
may be set so as to be depressed by the wheels of an approaching train,
and thus that the doors may be automatically liberated and opened at
the precise moment desired. I prefer to place the bars and levers V, V₁,
Figure 1, at a point about 60 feet within the tubular way, that distance
affording a convenient interval for the action of the doors. Their con-
struction will be readily understood by any competent mechanic.

page_text: In the working of a pneumatic railway it is highly desirable that the
person applying the power should be able at all times to ascertain the
state of the line, and also that he should have full controul over the
machinery and apparatus, and I therefore place the lever and signal
room from which a line is worked in a position adjoining the terminal
doors and the junction chamber, and near to the mouth of the tubular
way, as shown at S in Figure 1, so that through the door T access may
be obtained at all times (the door U being then closed) to the station,
and through the door U (the door T being then closed) to the tubular
way. From this room I work by means of pneumatic or hydraulic
pressure conveyed through tubes or by suitable connecting rods and
levers the valves of the pneumatic machine, and also (if it be expedient)
the steam or other engine through which the power is applied. I also
work from the same room the terminal doors, and the bars and levers
described for securing and releasing them, and the electric or other
signals for communicating with the various parts of the line, so that
complete controul is here had over the working of the railway.
In the construction and working of pneumatic railways it is important
that convenient and erectual means should be provided at intermediate
stations for putting the train in motion again after it has been brought
to rest, so that a continuous through service may be carried on, and
also that these means should not be such as to involve an unnecessary
length of station, so far as the accommodation of the traffic is concerned,
or such an inclination of the ways and platforms as would be required
to accomplish the object by gravitation. I therefore make use of level
ways and platforms at such stations, and effect the movement of the
train by pneumatic pressure applied to it from beneath or at the lower
part. I prefer to apply the pressure by means of a tube of suitable
diameter having a longitudinal slit and valve, and a travelling piston in
the manner of the former atmospheric system, but a close cylinder
and piston will also serve the purpose, the only objection to this
arrangement being that the apparatus occupies a greater length of
way.
In Figure 2, Sheet 1, A, A', A", A", represent an intermediate
station of a pneumatic railway, which may be of any length, B and B
being the mouth of the tubular way at either end. The way and
platforms are intended to be level, excepting that at the ends they may
be made to fall towards the tubular ways which are laid at an inclination

page_text: downwards of about 1 in 60 in order to assist the motion of the train
when it has once been started. C, C', is a length of atmospheric tube of
the former well-known pattern, and of suitable length and diameter laid
between the ways, D, D', being buffing chambers at either end intended
to receive the plungers of the travelling piston E when the piston is to
be brought to rest.
The travelling piston is provided with a projecting cross piece F,
Figure 3, Sheet 1, which can be brought to bear against a corresponding
piece G in the same Figure formed in the framework of the piston
carriage of the train, and in such manner as to ensure a firm hold for
the application of the pressure. The piece F is on a level with the rails,
as shewn, but the piece G is made moveable and to slide vertically in
the framework, so that it cannot be brought to bear against F until
depressed.
The dotted lines H in the same Figure represent a reservoir of air of
suitable pressure, either plus or minus the atmosphere as desired, which
may be conveniently supplied from a neighbouring station by the pipe I.
K, K', are pipes fitted with suitable valves in connection with the
reservoir and the length of atmospheric tube, and by means of which
accordingly as the valves are managed, say at the station L, motion may
be given to the train in either direction. M, M', are pipes fitted with
valves for escape or supply, accordingly as compression or vacuum is
employed.
In case it is preferred to use a close cylinder and piston, instead of
the apparatus described above, the alteration necessary to adapt it to the
work will be readily understood by any competent person.
I do not confine myself to the above method of giving motion to the
trains at intermediate stations, but prefer it as more simple and effective
than the rope or any other means by which the power can be
applied.
In pneumatic lines the carriage doors ordinarily in use on railways
are unsuitable from the great width they occupy when open; they are
also objectionable on other accounts. Doors moving sideways on rollers
are too heavy in the handling. I have therefore contrived a new
arrangement for the opening and closing of the doors of my carriages,
which consists of a parallel motion applied, as shewn in Figure 4,
Sheet 1, which gives a side view of a portion of a carriage. A, A', are

page_text: two fixed pivots about eight inches apart, which I form by iron brackets
attached to the under framework of the carriage; B, B', are two similar
pivots at an equal distance apart fixed to the frame of the moveable.
door; and C, C, are bars of equal length with holes pierced for the
pivots, about which they are free to move, so that a parallel motion is
thus formed.
The door (which I prefer to place on the outside of the carriage) as
drawn in firm lines and in the position D is shown closed, and as
partly drawn in dotted lines and in the position E is shown open, the
movement from one position to the other being affected by a side throw
with the handle F. 1 make the joint at the front and hinder edges of
the door by projecting strips at G and H against which the door shuts.
The upper and lower edges (provided with friction rollers if desired)
moved in the grooves I and K.
: 1 prefer to make the parallel rods as long as practicable to avoid too
great a rise in the motion, and also to make the doors as light and as
thin as is consistent with their strength for easiness of handling as well
as sightliness.
The parallel bars I prefer to place within the framework of the door.
I apply this improvement in the movement of doors, not only to the
doors of the carriages of pneumatic railways but to the doors of railway
carriages generally, and also to the doors of ordinary carriages and to
doors generally with such modifications as each case may require, and
which will readily present themselves to any practical mind.
In the construction of pneumatic railways it is important that the per-
manent way should be firmly and securely laid, seeing that it is not so
readily to be got at for repairs as in the ordinary open railway. I there-
fore use an improved bolt for fastening the fish and chair plates, which
by reason of its greater screw surface and shorter shank is less liable to
become unlocked than the bolts and nuts now in use. This is shewn
in Figure 5, Sheet 1, and consists of a hollow female screw bolt A fitted
with a plug screw bolt B in such manner and proportion as will be
readily understood. I also use hollow screw bolts for securing the chair
plates to the wooden sleepers, as shewn at C in the same Figure, on
account of the greater holding surface they afford. I apply both these
improvements to the permanent way of railways generally, and to

page_text: fastenings generally where screw bolts and bolts and nuts are
ployed.
em-
Where it would be convenient that a pneumatic tubular way should
be available upon occasion for pedestrian traffic as well I construct the
permanent way in such manner that it shall present a flooring level or
nearly so with the upper surface of the rails, and provide recesses in the
sides of the tubular way, as shown at A, A', Fig. 6, Sheet 1, in which
the fittings for lighting it as a footway are placed so as not to project
within the line of the tunnel.
In the application of pneumatic railways and tubes to large cities it is
of the utmost importance that a direct course should be obtained for the
lines between the points desired to be connected together, and that this
should be got with the least possible interference with property, displace-
ment of dwellings, and disturbance to existing buildings and construc-
tions, whether upon or below the surface.
A pneumatic railway affords thorough ventilation in its use and causes
no vibration or nuisance of any kind to the houses or other buildings
'near to or beneath which it may be passed, and in laying out a pneu-
matic line, or a system of pneumatic lines in a large city, I place it at
such a depth beneath the surface and beneath the houses and other
buildings and constructions upon or near the surface that a direct run,
free from interference of any kind with the property above, may be
obtained in the substratum between station and station; and I obtain
access at the stations by means of shafts in some cases of considerable
diameter sunk vertically from the surface.
In laying out a system however I first carry, if it be practicable, a
main trunk une through the more central districts with main stations
at convenient distances apart, and then connect with these stations by
means of radiating branch lines the points on either side with which it
is desirable that they should be joined up, so that ready means is afforded
at cach main station for communication with every important point in
the particular area covered or commanded by it, and through the main
station for intercommunication between every point on either side.
Thus a main station serves not only for the traffic of the main line but
has many branches radiating from it to subsidiary stations and so
becomes an important centre for intercommunication over a considerable
area, and a convenient number of such main stations placed upon a

page_text: main arterial line, and each provided with its radiating branches to the
points proper for connection constitutes a system calculated to afford an
easy and rapid means for intercommunication over the largest metro-
politan area.
In
I make these main stations of such large diameter that although the
platforms are at a low level they are fully open to the air and light, and
in every way as agreeable in use as if they were upon the surface, but
determine the particular size in each case on consideration of the number
of radiating branches to be joined up around the circumference.
designing them 1 prefer to place all the branches at the same level and
one so far above that of the main line that they may have free commu-
nication across it by a platform common to all, and from which the
platforms of the main line may be reached by an easy descent. For
access at the stations I provide suitable stairways and hydraulic or
screw lifts, which may be placed either in the main shaft constituting
tue station or in a separate smaller shaft communicating with it. I
prefer to place the pneumatic machinery for working such a line or
system of lines upon the surface and to apply the power through
suitable descending shafts and air ways in connection with the tubular
ways.
In Sheet 2, Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 a transverse section of a
main station on a main line of pneumatic railway, shown with seven
branches radiating from it to subsidiary stations. The main line A, A, A¹,
is shown double, and the branches B, B, &c., single, but either may
consist of any number of ways. The main station is circular in form,
and of the diameter of 150 feet, and depth to the main platform of about
56 feet. The main line is sunk below the level of the main platform,
and is reached by the stairways C, C, C', C', descending from the
bridge D, D', connecting together the two divisions of the main
platform.
The platforms of the branches are on the same level as the main
platform, so that there is the freest communication between all. Access
is obtained to the main platform by the lift E and the stairways F shown
in a separate shaft, but both the lift and stairways may be placed in the
main station, as at G, G', or be arranged in other ways. The main
station is roofed over, as at H, H, but in a manner to afford plenty of
light and a free circulation of air.

page_text: In the case of goods and parcels tubes in large cities I proceed in
much the same manner, but prefer to place all the lines radiating from
a main station at one and the same level, and as the most ready and
expeditious means under the circumstances of transferring the traffic
of any one line to any other I employ a turntable, which I place at the
centre of the main shaft, and to which I make all the lines converge.
I prefer to make this turntable of such large diameter that it may be
able to deal with a whole train of cars, and transfer them from one line
to another at a single operation. To avoid delay each branch line is
provided with an approach station, in and from which the train of cars
are received and despatched, and within which also they await their turn
for being dealt with at the central table. These subsidiary stations around
the main station are laid with one or more lines according to the require-
ments of the traffic, but all the ways are made to converge to the central
table.
I prefer to lay the ways of the radiating lines at an inclination of
about 1 in 60 downwards from the central table, so that departing trains
when once put in motion may run by gravitation into the tubular
ways, and arriving ones may be received and brought to rest against the
gradient.
To haul the trains from the subsidiary stations on to the central table,
and to start them from the table I employ a rope or any suitable
mechanical contrivance, which I prefer to work with power provided for
the purpose at the central table, and from a stage above the level of the
trains of cars.
"
Figure 3, Sheet 2, represents in plan a main station upon a main line
intended for goods and parcels traffic, as well as several branch lines
radiating from it to subsidiary stations. A is the main shaft carried to
a convenient depth, and shown of the diameter of 80 feet; B, B₁ is the
main une consisting of a double set of tubes, one for
up," and the
other for "down" traffic; and C, C' are subsidiary or approach stations,
on which the trains are as a rule brought to rest to await their turn for
being dealt with at the central table; D, E, and F are radiating lines,
each having its own approach station, in which the trains similarly await
their turn; and G is a sub-shaft for local traffic, also provided with an
approach station; H is the central turntable made of such diameter that
it
may receive and deal with a maximum train of cars at a single opera-
tion. It will be seen that all the lines of way are made to converge to

page_text: this table, and that by its means a train may be very rapidly passed from
any, one line to any other, when the table will be again free, and that
thus in quick succession a very large number of trains may be transferred
from the arrival to the departure station, and a very heavy traffic be
carried on, and further, which is of great importance with an under-
ground station, that the operation will be performed with the utmost
economy of space.
The central table may be laid with several sets of way, or with one
only, and may be made simple, the whole diameter taking a train, or
compound, the radius only in this case accommodating one, as may be
found convenient.
The local traffic may be either dealt with by means of a separate shaft,
as shewn, or immediately from the main one, if desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
T. W. RAMMELL. (L.S.)