An Improved Apparatus for Propelling Wagons or other Carriages on Railroads.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Feb., 1889
Specification Accepted, 9th Mar., 1889
An Improved Apparatus for Propelling Wagons or other Carriages
on Railroads.
I, GUSTAV SCHMIDT, of Rheine, in the province of Westphalia, in the Kingdom
of Prussia and German Empiro, Railroad workmaster, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The construction of this new propeller is a development of the bars hitherto used
to propel a wagon or carriage on a rail road by manual power, which had the dis-
advantage of not affording sufficient grip on the rail.
My invention has for its object to remedy this disadvantage and to allow of a
lighter construction of the bar.
In order that my invention may be the better understood, I now proceed to
describe the same in relation to the accompanying drawings and to the lotters and
figures marked thereon; like letters referring to like parts in the various figures.
Figure 1 is a plan of my improved propelling apparatus, and, Figure 2 is a side
elevation of the same.
The apparatus A is supplied with a roller a with flanges 66¹, one or both being
supplied with ratchet teeth.
By means of this roller a, which fits on the crown or head of the rail, the operator
can easily move the apparatus A along the rail behind the wagon to be propelled and
insert the short lever arm C between the rail and the rim of the wheel.
In order to prevent the roller « from sliding or revolving in a backward direction
when the load is heavy or the rails wet, a pawl c gears into the ratchet teeth of the
flange or flanges.
The roller is of small diameter, to enable it to be pushed as far as possible under
the wheel to give the greatest possible effect to the lever. The end of the lever
arm C is supplied with a hardened plate d of cast steel, which may be easily
exchanged, to avoid exposing the lever to the fire or grindstone when the edge or
gripping surface requires repairing or sharpening. The front edge must be as hard
and sharp as possible so that it shall not slip on the rim of the wheel. The proportion

page_text: of the two lever arms may be about 1 to 10. For lightness of construction the
longer arm B is made of wrought iron tube or pipe. The operator holding the lover
arm B in his hand and walking behind the wagon can easily propel the saine though
it may be heavily Inden.
This now propelling apparatus need not weigh more than 30 to 40 lbs., is very
durable and may be effectively used by an unskilled labourer. Its usefulness,
effectiveness and cheapness will recommend it to all administration of railways,
mines etc.
The disadvantages which have hitherto prevented the introduction of propelling
apparata have been the cost, weight, and unsuitability of the latter; all these dis-
advantages are avoided in my invention.
According to experiments an operator can propel a fifteen-ton wagon laden on a
gradient of 1 in 100.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
A propelling apparatus for wagons or carriages consisting of the forked or slotted
lever A within which fork or slot is pivotted the roller a with flanges & band ratchet
teeth, the ratchet pawl e gearing in the latter to prevent the roller from revolving in
both directions, for the purpose of avoiding the slipping of the apparatus on the
rails and to allow of the former being easily moved along the latter behind the wagon,
substantially as described and illustrated in the drawings.
Dated this Cith day of 1000
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victorin Street, London, E.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.