IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND. REGISTERING THE INEQUALITIES OR IMPERFECTIONS IN THE PERMANENT WAY. PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1875

page_text: .
LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Lovell, of the Oude and Rohilkund
Railway, Lucknow, in the Indian Empire, but at present of the Junior
Athenaeum Club, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND.
REGISTERING THE INEQUALITIES OR IMPERFECTIONS IN THE PERMANENT WAY.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Lovell at the
. Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th November 1875.
I, THOMAS LOVELL, of the Oude and Rohilkund Railway, Lucknow,
in the Indian Empire, but at present of the Junior Athenaeum Club,
Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN. APPARATUS FOR INDICATING and

page_text: REGISTERING THE INEQUALITIES OR IMPERFECTIONS IN THE PERMANENT WAY AND
ROLLING STOCK OF RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for indicating and registering
inequalities or imperfections in the permanent way or rolling stock of
railways and tramways by causing the vertical vibrations of the wheels
and of the body of the vehicle due to such imperfections to be marked
upon a band of paper or other material by means of a marking instru-
ment, past which the paper is made to travel, either the paper band or
the marking instrument or both having a vertical vibrating motion
imparted to them by the vibrations of the wheels or body of the vehicle.
For this purpose, according to one arrangement, a band of paper or
other material is caused by clockwork mechanism to be unwound from
one cylinder and wound up on another inside a casing fixed either to the
springs or other part of the carriage or engine supported by the wheels,
or to the body of the carriage supported by the springs, but preferably to
the middle of one of the springs. Upon another part of the carriage
body (namely, upon the part supported by the spring, if the before-
mentioned casing is fixed to the latter) is fixed a vertical arm, the upper
end of which is connected to a lever fixed on a spindle passing through
the before-mentioned casing, and carrying inside it an arm, at the
extremity of which is a pencil or other marking instrument caused to
press against the before-mentioned travelling band of paper. Thus it
will be seen that as the carriage or engine travels the vertical vibrations
of the wheels due to inequalities or imperfections of the permanent way
will cause the casing containing the paper band to oscillate vertically
relatively to the arm fixed to the other part of the carriage, and the said
arm being thereby made to actuate the lever connected to the marking
instrument the latter will trace a zig-zag line on the band of paper as it
travels past, which line, according as it deviates more or less from a
straight longitudinal line marked along the middle of the band will
indicate the comparative state of the different portions of the permanent
way run over, and if the band be marked with vertical divisions corres-
ponding to miles or parts of miles, and the speed at which the band
travels be so arranged relative to the speed of the carriage or engine that
a division representing a mile travels past the marking instrument in
the same time that the carriage travels a mile, then the locality where
certain imperfections exist will also be approximately indicated.
In order to make the speed of the naner hand correspond more exactly

page_text: with that of the carriage motion may be imparted to the cylinder that
winds up the band by means of a pulley and speed reducing gearing
driven by an endless strap from the axle of the carriage, or from a pulley
on the same, instead of by clockwork.
Instead of causing a paper band to travel past the marking instrument
from one cylinder to another, a single cylinder may be employed, having
a sheet of paper fixed round its cylindrical surface, so as to travel round
with it, in which case the marking instrument would be connected to
the vibrating arm by any suitable known arrangement of parallel motion,
so as to move up and down in a straight line.
If after a diagram due to the passage of a vehicle over a certain length
of line has been obtained the instrument be removed and fixed upon
another vehicle, and this be then run over the same length of line, the
difference between the two diagrams obtained will indicate comparatively
the condition of the two vehicles.
The vertical arm that actuates the marking instrument is capable of
vertical adjustment in a socket, and of horizontal adjustment on a slide,
in order that at starting the marking instrument may be adjusted
vertically so as to stand on the before-mentioned straight longitudinal
line on the band, and that the arm may be adjusted to the proper
distance from the casing.
If the apparatus is actuated by clockwork a detent is provided by
which the action may be stopped when the vehicle is not in motion.
The casing is provided with a hinged lid, and the cylinders with the paper
band are carried by a framing that can be removed from the casing for
the purpose of removing the diagrams when taken.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Lovell in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LOVELL, of the Oude and Rohilkund Railway, Lucknow, in the Indian
Empire, but at present of the Junior Athenaeum Club, Piccadilly, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: "
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Lovell, Her special
license that I, the said Thomas Lovell, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Lovell, 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND REGISTERING THE INEQUALITIES OR IMPERFECTIONS
IN THE PERMANENT WAY AND ROLLING STOCK OF RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Lovell,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Lovell, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to apparatus for indicating and registering
inequalities or imperfections in the permanent way or rolling stock of
railways and tramways by causing the vertical vibrations of the wheels
and of the body of the vehicle due to such imperfections to be marked
upon a band of paper or other material by means of a marking instru-
ment, past which the paper is made to travel, either the paper band or
the marking instrument or both having a vertical vibrating motion
imparted to them by the vibrations of the wheels or body of the vehicle.
For this purpose, according to one arrangement, a band of paper or
other material is caused by clockwork mechanism to be unwound from
one cylinder and wound up on another inside a casing fixed either to the

page_text: springs or other part of the carriage or engine supported by the wheels,
or to the body of the carriage supported by the springs, but preferably to
the middle of one of the springs. Upon another part of the carriage body
(namely, upon the part supported by the spring, if the before-mentioned
casing is fixed to the latter) is fixed a vertical arm, the upper end of
which is connected to a lever fixed on a spindle passing through the
before-mentioned casing, and carrying inside it an arm, at the extremity
of which is a pencil or other marking instrument caused to press against
the before-mentioned travelling band of paper. Thus it will be seen
that as the carriage or engine travels the vertical vibrations of the
wheels due to inequalities or imperfections of the permanent way will
cause the casing containing the paper band to oscillate vertically
relatively to the arm fixed to the other part of the carriage, and the
said arm being thereby made to actuate the lever connected to the
marking instrument the latter will trace a zig-zag line on the band of
paper as it travels past, which line, according as it deviates more or less
from a straight longitudinal line marked along the middle of the band,
will indicate the comparative state of the different portions of the per-
manent way run over, and if the band be marked with vertical divisions
corresponding to miles or parts of miles, and the speed at which the
band travels be so arranged relative to the speed of the carriage or
engine that a division representing a mile travels past the marking
instrument in the same time that the carriage travels a mile, then the
locality where certain imperfections exist will also be approximately
indicated. :
In order to make the speed of the paper band correspond more
exactly with that of the carriage motion may be imparted to the
cylinder that winds up the band by means of a pulley and speed
reducing gearing driven by an endless strap from the axle of the carriage
or from a pulley on the same, instead of by clockwork.
Instead of causing a paper band to travel past the marking instṛu-
ment from one cylinder to another a single cylinder may be employed
having a sheet of paper fixed round its cylindrical surface, so as to
travel round with it, in which case the marking instrument would be
connected to the vibrating arm by any suitable known arrangement of
parallel motion, so as to move up and down in a straight line.
If, after a diagram due to the passage of a vehicle over a certain
length of line has been obtained, the instrument be removed and fixed

page_text: "
indicating and registering apparatus according to my Invention.
Fig. 4 is an elevation of the rollers. for moving the paper; and Fig. 5,
a plan of these as seen from below; and Fig. 6 represents a portion of
the paper marked by means of the apparatus.
A is the case containing the
spring B, and timed by a fly B'.
clockwork mechanism worked by a
This clockwork drives a roller C, on
which the paper is wound, being delivered from a roller C¹, and caused
arrows.
by guide rollers to pass along the face of a plate D, as indicated by the
E is a spring catch or detent, which stops the clockwork when
it is slacked by arresting the fly B¹. The case A is set on the framing,
and an arm F fixed to the spring projects over it, and by means of a
jointed rod G, adjustable in height, is connected to a lever H on a
rocking shaft I. On the same shaft inside the casing is fixed a spring
lever I', carrying a pencil or marker J, which presses against the paper
as it travels over the plate D, and marks thereon a line more or less
waved or zig-zagged, as K, Fig. 6. According to the vibrations of the
instrument relatively to the spring I find it convenient to mount a
second pencil or marker L on a lever, which can be pulled at intervals
so as to make marks like M, Fig. 6, to indicate distances from point to

page_text: point. It may be readily understood that like apparatus laid on its side
might be applied to indicate and register the relative horizontal move-
ments of coupled carriages, the casing with the clockwork and paper
rollers being set on one carriage, and the marker worked from the
other.
Although I have shewn the movement of the paper as being effected
by clockwork, it could obviously be effected by gearing connecting the
roller C to a running axle. Also instead of drawing the paper off one
roller and winding it on another it might be stretched round a single
roller caused to revolve.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim, the use for indicating and
registering inequalities or imperfections in the permanent way and
rolling stock of railways and tramways of apparatus whereby a pencil or
marker connected to one part of a carriage is caused by its relative
vibrations to make a trace on travelling paper or other suitable surface
attached to another part, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lovell, have hereunto set
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.