Hydraulic Steering Gear for Locomotive Road Carriages.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Mar., 1896
Complete Specification Loft 10th Doc
1006
Accented
10th
1007
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Hydraulic Steering Gear for Locomotive Road Carriages.
We, ERNEST JOHN CLUBBE and ALFRED WILLIAM SOUTHEY both of
16, Elm Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Electrical
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in steering locomotive road carriages in
which hydraulic pressure is used as the medium of transmitting power from the
motor to the driving wheels, and the improvements consist, first, in the combination
with the circulating fluid system of a hydraulic steering engine being a cylinder
and double-acting piston the former supported by the main frame and the latter
coupled to the swivelling under carriage so that the angular position of the latter
about its turning centre will be dependent upon the position of the piston in the
cylinder, the fluid pressure being under the control of a hand operated valve
whereby the inlet and outlet for the fluid may be interchanged between the
opposite ends of the cylinder according to the direction in which the piston is
to be moved, or the fluid may be locked in the cylinder to hold the piston
immoveable.
The improvements consist, secondly, in the combination of a hydraulic steering
engine with steering gear in which in addition to the ordinary swivelling motion
about a central king-bolt the wheels of the fore-carriage are capable of swivelling
about separate vertical axes, being coupled so that they will thus swivel in unison.
The hydraulic steering engine comprises a double-acting piston and cylinder as
before, but mounted on the swivelling carriage so as to partake in its movement
about the king-bolt, the cylinder being coupled by flexible metallic pipes with the
power-transmitting fluid circulating system, the piston having rods extending
through the opposite ends of the cylin ler and coupled through links to the levers
whereby the steering motion of the wheels about their respective axes is produced,
the piston rods also serving as the means of coupling whereby they move in unison
in accordance with the position of the piston which is moved and locked in its
cylinder by the fluid pressure under the control of a valve as before.
Dated this 10th day of March 1896
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
Hydraulic Steering Gear for Locomotive Road Carriages.
We, ERNEST JOHN CLUBBE and ALFRED WILLIAM SOUTHEY both of
5 16, Elm Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Electrical
Engineers, 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:-
This invention relates to improvements in steering locomotive road carriages in

page_text: which hydraulic pressure is used as the medium of transmitting power from the
motor to the driving wheels, as described for instance in the Specification of
another application for Letters Patent dated the 25th day of February 1896,
No. 4259, and the improvements consist, first, in applying a hydraulic steering
engine in communication with the circulating fluid system, to actuate the swivelling
under carriage in such manner that the angular position of the latter about its
turning centre will be dependent upon the position of the piston in the cylinder the
fluid pressure being under the control of a hand-operated valve whereby the inlet
and outlet for the fluid will be interchanged between the opposite ends of the
cylinder according to the direction in which the piston is to be moved and whereby
the fluid will be locked in the cylinder to hold the piston inmoveable when the
under carriage has turned to the required position.
The improvements consist, secondly, in the combination of such a hydraulic
steering engine with steering gear such as described in the Specification of former
Letters Patent dated the 20th day of August 1895, No. 15,692 in which the
wheels of the under carriage are capable of swivelling about separate vertical axes,
the wheel axles being coupled so that they will thus swivel in unison. The
hydraulic steering engine comprises a double acting piston and cylinder mounted
on the swivelling carriage so as to partake in its swivelling movement about the
king-bolt if in addition to the swivelling of the wheels on independent axes the
ordinary swivelling motion about a common centre is used, the cylinder being
coupled by flexible metallic pipes with the power-transmitting fluid circulating
system and the piston being coupled to levers whereby the swivelling of the
wheels is made to accord with the position of the piston which is moved and
locked in its cylinder by the fluid pressure under the control of a valve as
before.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this
specification wherein
Figure 1 is a diagram plan view of the first mentioned arrangement of hydraulic
steering, and Figure 2 is a sectional detail view of the hand-operated controlling
valve.
Figure 3 is a diagram plan view of the arrangement last described, and Figure 4
is an external detail view of the modified hand-operated valve for controlling the
same.
A A are the steering wheels of the swivelling under carriage and B their axle
turning about the king-bolt C all in the usual way. For convenience the hydraulic
engine comprises two double acting cylinders D mounted on the main frame and whose
piston rods are coupled to the axle B by links, the two pistons acting together as one
and moving in opposite directions the opposite ends of the cylinders being coupled
by pipes E E so that the admission of water under pressure from the pump of the
circulation system to the front end of the one cylinder and to the back end of the
other cylinder and the exhaust of the water from the other ends of those cylinders
and the locking of the water in both ends of both cylinders may be controlled by a
balanced valve F. This valve is of the piston type and its cylinder is connected by
pipes e el with pipes E E' respectively whilst pipes G H are repectively connected
to the pump delivery and admission. The position of the piston valve F in its
cylinder is controlled by a hand-operated circular cam I concentric with the king-bolt
and movable about it as a centre this cam being engaged by the forked end of a
lever J turning with the swivelling under carriage and connected to the valve rod.
In order that the fluid may be locked in the cylinder to hold the piston immovable
at the required position, the cam plate is formed of equal segments ii in different
planes connected by a short inclined segment i intermediate of the segments i
The middle part of this intermediate segment corresponds to the position of the
valve F at which the water is locked in both ends of the cylinders and the
operation is such that by moving the cam 1 through an arc of any required
number of degrees the pressure is admitted to opposite ends of the two cylinders
and the swivelling under carriage is turned about the king-bolt through an arc of

page_text: corresponding extent the swivelling motion ceasing when by the lever J reaching
the middle of the intermediate part of the cam the valve is moved to such position
that the water is locked in the cylinders.
Referring now to Figures 3 and 4, A A are the steering wheels mounted on
short axles pivoted at b b on vertical axes in the forked ends of the main axle
tree B which would in practice generally require to be pivoted to swivel about a
main king-bolt at C the wheel axles being formed by the short arms of elbow
levers whose long arms a are coupled by links to the opposite ends of a piston
rod d which extends through the opposite ends of the hydraulic cylinder D
mounted on the swivelling under carriage (if any) so as to be always parallel to
the axle tree B in order that by the motion of the piston in its cylinder the
levers a will be moved about their fulcrums b. The long arms of the said levers
are however curved towards each other or otherwise formed so that the distance
between their ends coupled to the piston rod is so much less than that between
their fulcrums that the steering wheels will be swivelled to slightly different
extents so that the wheels will run in approximately concentric curves. The two
ends of the cylinder D are connected by flexible pipes with the cylinder of a
balanced piston valve F whose cylinder is connected by flexible pipes with the
delivery and admission of the pump working the hydraulic power transmission
systems, the valve cylinder being mounted on a bar fcapable of sliding in guides
on the under carriage said bar being coupled by links to the long arms of the
wheel-axle elbow levers a. The valve rod terminates in a crosshead f¹ which is
acted on by a hand-operated straight cam bar I formed of segments ii in different
planes joined by an intermediate inclined portion the cam bar being mounted to
slide in guides on the under carriage and being movable therein, so that according
as the cam bar I is moved in the one or other direction the valve will so alter the
connection with the cylinder D that its piston will move the elbow levers a in a
direction and to an extent corresponding to the motion of the cam bar I, the water
being locked in the cylinder and the levers a held in the position to which they
have been moved whenever the valve rod crosshead again reaches the intermediate
part of the cam rod.
The two sets of hydraulic gear for working the two systems of steering about a
common king-bolt and about independent fulcra for the two wheels although shewn
separately would generally be combined on the same vehicle but used separately,
the arrangement last described being used for ordinary steering through traffic and
for turning corners whilst the arrangement first described would be used for turning
the vehicle round in a narrow street. One or other of the two arrangements might
however be alone provided.
The handle or lever by which the cam bars are moved for the purpose of
operating the valves may be of any suitable form, preferably in the form of a
bicycle handle connected thereto by a lever or other device, not shewn in the
drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In a locomotive road carriage in which bydraulic pressure is used as the
medium of transmitting power from the motor to the driving wheels, the com-
bination with the said fluid system of a hydraulic steering engine or engines
adapted to swivel the under carriage about its king-bolt and of a hand-operated
valve controlling the fluid connections with the engine or engines for admitting or
locking the water in the cylinders as and for the purposes described.
2. In a locomotive road carriage in which hydraulic pressure is used as the
medium of transmitting power from the motor to the driving wheels, and in which
the steering wheel axles are pivoted to swivel about independent axes, the com-
bination with the said fluid system of a hydraulic engine coupled to the said
steering axles and of a hand-operated valve controlling the fluid connection with

page_text: the engine for admitting or locking the water in the cylinder substantially as and
for the purposes described.
Dated this 10th day of December 1896.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.