MY INVENTION OF CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING AND PROPELLING CARRIAGES ON RAILWAYS OR COMMON ROADS AND THROUGH FIELDS, FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN LEO
NICOLAS, of the Parish of Clifton, in the City and County of Bristol, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the First day of January One thousand eight hundred and
forty, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Leo Nicolas, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Leo Nicolas, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Leo Nicolas, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, "MY INVENTION OF CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING AND PROPELLING CARRIAGES ON RAILWAYS OR COMMON
ROADS AND THROUGH FIELDS, FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Leo Nicholas, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Leo Nicolas, do declare. that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My improvements in constructing and propelling carriages may be divided
into three parts or heads..
The first part of the Invention consists of a novel apparatus or arrangement
of levers, hereafter described, which arrangement is to be applied or attached
to a locomotive engine or carriage under certain circumstances, and by means
whereof I am enabled to propel the said engine or carriage in certain situa-
tions where the usual driving wheels would be found partly or wholly
ineffectual, such as up very steep acclivities, over newly made roads or
ploughed lands, and through fields whose surface is uneven, and is always
slippery in wet weather. The object of the apparatus is to get a firm hold upon
the ground so that the carriage may be propelled, and that the driving
machinery may have a firm fulcrum whereon its force may be exerted in order
to effect such propulsion.. The peculiar arrangement of apparatus to.be
applied to carriages for effecting this object is shewn in Figures 1.and.2.in
the Drawing hereunto annexed:
Figure 1 is a front view of the apparatus, and Eigure 2 is a transverse
section of the same. In each of these Figures similar letters of reference
denote corresponding parts. a, a, is part of the framing, of the, carriage;
which, in order to avoid confusion, is not shewn in the Drawing. b; b, is.a
shaft mounted in suitable bearings made in the framing; upon this shaft are
mounted any convenient number of circular, dises c, c, c, c. In each of the spaces
between these dise, and upon the shaft 6, are mounted three arms.,d, d, d;
which are secured to the shaft 6 and dises c, c, in any convenient manner. A
shaft e, e, mounted in bearings attached to the framework, carries a number of
vibrating levers f, ff, f. One end of these levers is weighted, as at g, g,.for. the
purpose of raising up the other end when required,, and at the reverse end of
the levers ff, pendant levers h, h, are attached by joints i, i. At the lower end
of these pendant levers a foot or shoe j, j; is attached by a joint; the under side
of this shoe or foot is formed like a horse shoe, or grooved, or otherwise
roughened, in order that it may have a more secure and firm hold upon the
ground, and be prevented from slipping. Rotary motion is communicated.to
the dises c, c; and shaft b, by means of a toothed wheel k; k, which is mounted
on the said shaft, and is actuated by suitable gearing in connection with. the
engine, but not shewn in the Drawing.

page_text: -I will now describe the action of this apparatus. Upon rotary motion being
communicated to the shaft b, through the medium of the tooth wheel k, k, the
ends of the arms d, d, will be brought into contact with the ends of the
vibrating levers ff, and will thereby, depress the pendant levers h, h, and
cause them to press against the surface of the ground, as seen in the Figures.
As the shaft 6 continues to revolve, the arm d, which has depressed the end
of the lever into the position shewn at 2, will: escape from contact, and the
pendant lever will be brought; by means of the weighted end of the lever f, into
its original position. It may here, be observed that it is not absolutely
necessary that the dises' c, c; c, c, should be solid, as shewn in the Drawing, but
they may be made to consist of annular discs with spokes or, arms. These
discs are used for, supporting and strengthening the arms d, d,, which are
attached to them, and also for guiding the jointed ends of the levers f, f, so
so that the upper ends of the pendant; levers may be retained in their proper
places; in order that they may be depressed in their proper turns, by the arms
d. d. Upon referring to the figures in Drawing it will be seen; that the
arms d, d, work in pairs, see Figure 1; that is to say, that only two arms are in
the act of pressing the pendant levers against the ground; the other arms are
gradually coming into play, as seen in the other Figure, or just in- the act of
beginning to depress the levers:
.
:
1
The second part of my improvements are intended to apply only in marshy
and boggy situations, where wheels would sink into the soil and could not be
propelled. This improvement, which I intend to use in conjunction with the
before-described, arrangements for propelling, is a kind of moveable.and
portable railway or road, which is laid down, travelled over, taken up, and
carried by the machine,itself. It consists of a number of boards with raised
sides, and having their upper surface roughened for the purpose of giving the
feet or shoes of the pendant arms, before described, a good hold, in order that
the carriage may be propelled. These boards, after being, used for supporting
the pendant levers, are raised from the ground. by a peculiarly shaped
compound lever, and are carried forwards to the front part of the machine by:
means of, a travelling endless cloth furnished with hooks; and. passed over:
rollers, one of which is situated at the front part, and the other at the back
part of 'the machine. The boards brought forward in this manner are to bei
lowered in front of the carriage by means of a compound lever similar to' the
one employed for raising them from the ground. At the time that the lower
ends of the pendant wheels are acting, against any particular board the running
wheels of the carriage are passing over that board, which is thereby prevented!
from slipping away. Fig. 3 is a plan view of this part of my improvements

page_text: Fig. 4 is an end view of the same. Fig. 5 is a detached view of this lever in
the act of raising up one of the boards. a is the board; b is a long lever
turning on a pin mounted in the framing; a short lever c is fixed on the axis
of the lever b, and is connected by a rod d to a bell-crank lever e, e, mounted
on a stationary pin at f. A cam ġ, mounted in any convenient part of the
framing, acts against the shorter arm of the bell-crank lever, and thereby
lowers the long lever b into the position shewn in Fig. 5. h is a small lever
mounted on a short arm, extending from the back of the long lever; this small
lever carries a hook or catch-i, which passes through a hole formed in the
upper part of the long lever, and is intended to lay hold of the board. In
order to effect this object, and bring the board into the position shewn in
Fig. 4, the cam g must be made to revolve and act against the shorter arm
of the bell-crank lever. This will bring down the long lever into the position
shewn in Fig. 5, but in coming into this position the projecting end of the
small lever will come into contact with a catch or click j, which will cause the
catch i on the end of the small lever to be partially withdrawn from the hole
in the long lever; but as the long lever continues to descend, the end. of the
lever h will be liberated, and the catch i will fall down under the levelled edge
of the board, as seen in Fig. 5; then the cam g continuing to revolve, it will
act against the longer arm of the bell-crank lever, and press it back, and
thereby raise the long rocking lever b, and with it the board a, into the
position shewn in Fig. 4. When the board has been brought into this posi-
tion it becomes necessary to move it away from the clutch of the long lever,
in order to give the said lever an opportunity to descend to bring up another
board. This is effected in the following manner :-A long arm k, k, see Figs.
3 and 4, which is actuated by a cam, crank, or other convenient mechanism,
and having a spring catch attached to its outer end, is moved out from the
side or end of the carriage, and, by means of the spring catch at its end, takes
hold of and draws in the board, which has been raised in the manner just
mentioned; the board is, by means of this arm, drawn on to an inclined plane,
so as to be out of the way of the platform below; it is then brought into con-
tact with the catches or hooks m, m, on the endless cloth or band n, which is
passed over vertical pullies or rollers o, o. By this means the board is slidden
forward into the clutch of another rocking lever, similar to the one placed at
the back of the carriage, and is by this lever lowered into its proper place for
the wheels of the carriage to pass over.
The third and last part of my improvements consists in an improved con-
struction of rotary engine to be worked by steam, air, gas, or other fluid. The
engine consists of two cylinders, a fixed or outer cylinder, and a smaller

page_text: cylinder inside the large one, the external surface of the smaller being concen-
tric with the internal surface of the larger, and revolving within it. Fig. 1 is
an elevation of my improved engine; Fig. 2 is a plan view; Fig. 3 is a
transverse section of Fig. 1; and Figure 4 is a sectional plan view, shewing the
situation of the smaller cylinder within the larger one. The main shaft a of
the engine passes through the centre of the smaller cylinder, and is attached
thereto by means of radial arms. By this arrangement of the cylinders an
annular space is formed, and is divided into two parts by steam stops or sliders.
The piston 6 is fastened on to the external surface of the small cylinder, and
revolves with it. c, c, are moveable steam stops or sliders, which have an
alternating action, hereafter described. Steam is admitted into the annular
space through the induction pipe d, which conducts it first into the two valve
boxes e, f, which are furnished with valves worked in any convenient manner
for the purpose of directing the steam to any part of the engine, as is well
understood. From the valve boxes e, f, the steam passes through two other
valve boxes g, h, into the steam chambers or boxes i, j, k, l, from whence it is
conveyed to the engine. Upon steam being admitted into the cylinder through
the steam chambers, it forces round the piston, and as the piston approaches
the slider the said slider, is withdrawn, thereby allowing the piston to pass
beneath it and uncover the opening through which the steam escapes into a
steam box. The steam, however, is not allowed to escape until it has propelled
the piston past the place to be occupied by the slider, which is brought down
by the waste steam, as it will be hereafter described.; steam is then admitted
into the annular space from the steam box i, and the piston proceeds in the
same manner round to the other slider. The steam stops or sliders
are actuated
in the following manner :-A cam or excentric m, mounted on the main shaft
of the engine, bears against the shorter ends of two bell-crank levers n and o,
the longer ends of which levers are connected to upright rods that are attached
to the steam stops or sliders c, c*. The operation of this arrangement for
raising the steam stops or sliders is as follows:-upon the longer radius of the
cam being brought into contact with the shorter arm of the bell-crank lever n,
this lever will be forced outwards, and thereby raise the upright rod and steam
stop or slider c* into the position shewn in Figures 1 and 3, and the piston is
allowed to pass as before mentioned; as the piston passes, the waste steam is
allowed to rush out of the cylinder through an opening into the steam box, from
whence it passes through the valve box g, by. a pipe p, into the upper part of the
cylinder of the small reciprocating engine A. The effect of this will be that the
piston in the engine A will be driven down, and will carry with it the end of
the lever 7, which, being connected by a rod to another lever which is con-

page_text: nected with the slider, it forces back the said slider. The opposite slider is
actuated in a similar manner, but in order to depress this slide, there is only
one lever, and the steam, is let in below the piston of the engine A by the
pipe r. In order to reverse the motion of the engine.it is necessary that the
'steam be, permitted to enter, and escape on both sides of each slider:. In order
to effect this the, valve. boxes g, h, must be divided into two chambers by a
partition; which should be situated immediately opposite the slider, and each
chamber. should, be furnished with induction and eduction valves, which may
be opened and closed by hand. In order that the machinery for withdrawing
the sliders may act with equal precision when the motion of the engine is
reversed, it will be necessary that the shorter end of the bell-crank lever should
be made sufficiently broad; so that the, cam which is mounted on the main
shaft.immediately above the piston may act on the said lever before the piston
arrives at the slider, either in the forward or backward motion. :.
2
Having now described my improvements in constructing and propelling
carriages on railways or common roads, I wish it to be understood that. I do
not intend to confine myself to the precise form and proportions of any of the
parts herein specified, as under circumstances the same may be beneficially
varied without departing from the principle of my improvements. But what I
claim as my Invention is,-..
First, the method above described of constructing the legs and working
them by means of the arms d, d, or other similar apparatus mounted on a
shaft, and actuated in the manner above described.
And secondly, I claim the method above described of constructing, applying,
and using moveable railways or platforms for supporting carriages whilst
travelling over bogs or other marshy grounds, such moveable platforms con-
sisting of a number of unconnected boards, which are raised up behind and
carried along the side of the carriage and then let down in front.
And thirdly, I claim the method of working the steam stops or sliders of
the rotary engine above described, and also the manner of effecting the reverse
motion of the engine by means of. an extra set of valve boxes, each box being
furnished with a double set of valves, which may be instantly brought into
or put out of action by hand, as above described.
9
In witness whereof, I, the said John Leo Nicolas; have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.
JOHN L. (L.S.) NICOLAS..

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of July, in the fourth
year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said John Leo Nicolas
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the First day of July, One thousand eight hundred and forty.