IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN TRANSPERRING RAILWAY CARRIAGES FROM ONE LINE OF RAILS TO ANOTHER, AND IN APPARATUS USED FOR LIFTING AND ADJUSTING RAILS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hallen Cottam and Henry Richard Cottam,
of the St. Pancras Iron Works, Old St. Pancras Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED IN TRANSPERRING RAILWAY CARRIAGES FROM ONE LINE OF RAILS TO
ANOTHER, AND IN APPARATUS USED FOR LIFTING AND ADJUSTING RAILS OF
RAILWAYS."
'
Sealed the 21st February 1865, and dated the 25th August 1864..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hallen Cottam
and Henry Richard Cottam at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 25th August 1864.
We, GEORGE HALLEN COTTAM and HENRY RICHARD COTTAM, of the St.
Pancras Iron Works, Old St. Pancras Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN TRANSFERRING RAILWAY CARRIAGES FROM ONE
LINE OF RAILS TO ANOTHER, AND IN APPARATUS USED FOR LIFTING AND ADJUSTING
RAILS OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery employed in
transferring railway carriages from one-line of rails, to another, and in appara-

page_text: tus used for lifting and adjusting rails of railways. Heretofore railway car-
riages have been transferred from one line of rails to another by the aid of
turntables and short transverse lines of rails, and in some cases by the aid of
short transverse lines of rails together with carriages or platforms with rails
thereon capable of moving on such transverse rails.
Now according to the present Invention such transverse rails and turntables
may be dispensed with, and by a suitable arrangement of overhead traveller
and apparatus connected therewith, applied at stations or other places, railway
carriages may readily be lifted off one set of rails and placed on another set of
rails, and in so doing a carriage may be turned end for end when required.
It is desirable that the overhead traveller applied at a station should be
constructed to move in a longitudinal as well as in a transverse direction in
regard to the two or more pairs of rails with which such overhead traveller
is combined. The traveller may be actuated by a stationary engine with
shafting and gearing, or the engine may be arranged to act more direct, and.
be mounted on and moved with the traveller. In order to prevent a carriage
when suspended being liable to swing, four or even more chains or rods or
suspenders are used, and the cross head or instrument by which the chains are
connected is constructed to adinit of that part of the apparatus which is
applied to the carriage to make a rotation or partial rotation so as to change
the direction of the ends of the carriage before placing the carriage on to
another line of rails. The four chains or suspenders for lifting a carriage are
attached to a frame or instrument at the four angles, and such frame or
instrument is, arranged to rotate: on an upright axis. On the traveller there
are by preference four barrels to receive the four chains by which the frame
or instrument carrying the upright axis before mentioned is raised and
lowered. If desired the overhead traveller and apparatus connected there-
with may be such as to lift and move locomotives and tenders as well as other
railway carriages, and thus dispense wholly with the use of turntables at
stations and other places on lines of railways where overhead travellers are,
according to this Invention, combined with two or more pairs of rails of a..
railway.
.
In lifting the rails of a railway in order to the same being packed and
adjusted, apparatus is used consisting of a small hydraulic cylinder, which is
supported above. the ground by suitable legs or supports having large feet or
surfaces. The ram of the cylinder by preference works the lower end of the
bydraulic cylinder, and has attached to it two rods, or it may be chains or
other forms of lifters, with grips or holders at their lower ends, which take

page_text: under the head of a rail, so that when the ram rises it raises the lifters and..
the rail to which it is attached. The rail when lifted may be retained in any
position whilst the packing is being performed. Although it is preferred that
the ram should pass through the lower end of the bydraulic cylinder, this is
not essential.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
i by the said George Hallen Cottam and Henry Richard Cottam in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
HALLEN COTTAM and HENRY RICHARD COTTAM, of the St. Pancras Iron Works,.
Old St. Pancras Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said George Hallen Cottam and Henry Richard Cottam, Her special
licence that we, the said George Hallen Cottam and Henry Richard. Cottam,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
George Hallen Cottam and Henry Richard Cottam, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN TRANSFERRING RAIL-
WAY CARRIAGES FROM ONE LINE OF RAILS TO ANOTHER, AND IN APPARATUS USED FOR:
LIFTING AND ADJUSTING RAILS OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Hallen Cottam and Henry Richard Cottam,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 1, the said George Hallen Cottam, on behalf of
myself and the said Henry Richard Cottam, do hereby declare the nature of

page_text: 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, that is to say:-
:
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery employed in
transferring railway carriages from one line of rails to another, and in appara-
tus used for lifting and adjusting rails of railways. Heretofore railway car-
riages have been transferred from one line of rails to another by the aid of
turntables and short transverse lines of rails, and in some cases by the aid of.
short transverse lines of rails together with carriages or platforms with rails
thereon capable of moving on such transverse rails.
Now according to the present Invention such transverse rails and turn-
tables may be dispensed with, and by a suitable arrangement of overhead
traveller and apparatus connected therewith, applied at stations or other
places, railway carriages may readily be lifted off one set of rails and placed
on another set of rails, and in so doing a carriage may be turned end
for end when required. It is desirable that the overhead traveller applied
at a station should be constructed to move in a longitudinal as well as in
a transverse direction in regard to the two or more pairs of rails with which
such overhead traveller is combined: The traveller may be actuated by
a stationary engine with shafting and gearing, or the engine may be arranged
to act more direct, and be mounted on and move with the traveller. In
order to prevent a carriage when suspended being liable to swing, four
'or even more chains or rods or suspenders are used, and the cross head
or instrument by which the chains are connected is constructed to admit of
that part of the apparatus which is applied to the carriage to make a rotation
or partial rotation so as to change the direction of the ends of the carriage
before placing the carriage on to another line of rails. The four chains or
suspenders for lifting a carriage are attached to a frame or instrument at the
four angles, and such frame or instrument is arranged to rotate on an upright
axis. On the traveller there are by preference four barrels to receive the four
chains by which the frame or instrument carrying the upright axis before
mentioned is raised and lowered. If desired the overhead traveller and
apparatus connected therewith may be such as to lift and move locomotives
and tenders as well as other railway carriages, and thus dispense wholly with
the use of turntables at stations and other places on lines of railways where
overhead travellers are, according to this Invention, combined with two or
more pairs of rails of a railway.
In lifting the rails of a railway in order to the same being packed and

page_text: adjusted, apparatus is used consisting of a small hydraulic cylinder, which is
supported above the ground by suitable legs or supports having large feet or
surfaces. The ram of the cylinder by preference works the lower end of the
hydraulic cylinder, and has attached to it two rods, or it may be chains or other
forms of lifters, with grips or holders at their lower ends, which take hold of
a rail, so that when the ram rises it raises the lifters and the rail to which
it is attached. The rail when lifted may be retained in any position whilst
the packing is being performed. Although it is preferred that the ram should"
pass through the lower end of the hydraulic cylinder, this is not essential..
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention, we will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows so much of a transverse section of one line of rails at a
railway station, and also so much of an overhead traveller and apparatus'
worked thereby as will enable us readily to describe the manner of performing
the first part of our said Invention. The construction of overhead travellers
being well understood, both when driving them from a fixed engine as well as
when having the engine fixed in the carriage and moving therewith, it will not
be necessary to enter into a description thereof, as our Invention does not con-
sist in any peculiar construction of overhead traveller, but in applying such
travellers together with other machinery at railway stations and other places on
lines of railways where carriages are required to be moved readily from one line
of rails to another line of rails when making or breaking up trains of railway?
carriages, the object being to dispense with the turntables and other means,
heretofore resorted to for moving carriages from one line of rails to another:
The Drawing Figure 1 shows only part of the traveller, and only part of the
fixed longitudinal elevated tracks or rails on which the wheels of the traveller
move.
A is part of the traveller; B, the crab or elevating and lowering mechanism,
which it is preferred should consist of four barrels, but this may be varied;
C, C, are two of four chains by which the frame D is raised and lowered by
the barrels when put in motion by the engine. The frame D has a central
opening through it, in which the hollow central axis of the frame E is received,
and such frame E is supported by four wheels e, e, which run on the track
around the central opening through the frame D. From the frame E four
supporting rods or cbaius descend, and their lower ends are attached to suitable
hooks or eyes fixed to the side framing of each railway carriage. By this

page_text: arrangement it will be readily understood that by lifting the frames D; E, by:
the lifting and lowering mechanism of the overhead traveller the railway
carriage will be lifted off the rails, and when lifted it may be readily turned,
supposing the lever catch. F is depressed out of the notch in the lower part of
the track around the circular opening in the frame D, which is readily done
by a cord attached to the other end of the lever catch to that which enters the..
notch. When a carriage has been lifted, it may then be moved transversely
across the lines of rails, and it may also be moved longitudinally till it comes
over the part of the line of rails where it is desired to place it, and where the
height is sufficient a carriage may even be moved over the tops of other car-
riages on the same or different lines of rails to that from which it has been
lifted. We would remark that the form and arrangement of the frames D
and E, and the tackle employed therewith, may be varied, but in all cases it
is desirable that provision should be made for allowing a carriage to be turned
end for end when raised.
Figure 2 shows a side elevation of apparatus according to the second part
of o our Invention; Figure 3 shows a section of part of the apparatus on a
larger scale, but we would remark that the form of the hydraulic apparatus.
be varied.
may
7.
G is the arrangement of hydraulic cylinder and apparatus which we prefer.
to use; I is the piston rod, which descends through the lower cover of the
cylinder, and has connected with it the lifting tongs or forceps. The hydraulic
apparatus is shown to be supported on three legs having spreading. feet;
9 is the pump handle by which the water or other fluid is caused to pass
from above the piston to the under side of the piston; 9 is a screw stop plug
by which the water or other fluid is retained from passing back till the screw
plug is moved back. By the use of hydraulic apparatus such as hercin
described for raising rails on a line of railway it will be evident that not only
may a rail be raised to the desired position, but it may be retained in position
till it is packed, whilst the apparatus is of comparatively small weight, and can
be readily carried from point to point by the men who require to use such
apparatus. The apparatus is also readily attached to and removed from a
rail, and so as to admit of its being readily removed in the event of a train
requiring to pass along the line.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we make no claim to
any of the mechanical parts separately, but what we claim is,
First, the application of overhead travellers and mechanism in combination

page_text: with lines of railways at stations and other places on the lines in order to lift
and transfer railway carriages from one part of a line to another and from one
line of rails to another.
Secondly, we claim the combined arrangement of apparatus for lifting rails
on railways.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hallen Cottam, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five..
G. HALLEN COTTAM. (L.S.).