AN INVENTION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAIL AND ROAD CARRIAGES AND IMPROVED WHEEL TYRES, AND AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY CROSSINGS ADAPTING THEM TO SUCH
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Elsdon, of Sandridge, in the County of
Bourke, in the Colony of Victoria, Engineer, for "AN INVENTION FOR
THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAIL AND ROAD CARRIAGES AND IMPROVED WHEEL
TYRES, AND AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY CROSSINGS ADAPTING THEM TO SUCH
"
Sealed the 2nd November 1868, and dated the 21st September 1863.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Elsdon at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 21st September 1863, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ELSDON, of Sandridge, in the County of Bourke, in the Colony of Victoria,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am desirous of obtaining Royal Letters Patent for securing
unto me, Her Majesty's special license, that I, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I or they shall at any time agree with and
no others, shall and lawfully may from time to time, and at all times
during the period of fourteen years (to be computed from the day on
which this instrument shall be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office) make
use, exercise, and vend within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, "AN INVENTION FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF RAIL AND ROAD CARRIAGES, AND IMPROVED WHEEL TIRES AND
AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY CROSSINGS ADAPTING THEM TO SUCH CARRIAGES,"
and in order to obtain the said Letters Patent, I must by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed.
NOW KNOW YE, that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
The Invention consists partly in the introduction of certain improvements
presently to be mentioned in the construction of any kind of carriage, engine,
car, van, waggon, trolly, lorry, truck, or other vehicle intended to run or
capable of running on the lines of rails of railways, so as to render the
same fit
to run also on ordinary streets or roads, and partly in the adaptation of railway
crossings in the manner presently to be explained to the use of such carriages,
which term "carriage" will in the following description be understood to
include not merely carriages commonly so called, but also .every kind of
engine, car, van, waggon, truck, trolly, lorry, or other vehicle whatsoever.
The benefit to be derived from the Invention will be that it will enable
goods to be conveyed along the railway, and the streets, or the road in the same
carriage without being unloaded, and will likewise similarly enable. passengers
to travel first by rail, and then by road, or vice versa, without changing their
seats.
In the first place I propose to use for the wheels of carriages intended for
railway travelling tires or hoops of the form shown in plans A and B on the
accompanying Drawing, and of sufficient width and thickness. The two por-
tions of the running surface of the tire or hoop must bear such proportion in
width one to the other, that one portion can be used for running on the surface
of streets and roads, and the other for running on the rails of railways, while
the portion of the tire used for running on streets and roads acts as a
flange for the other portion when running on the rail. The whole running
surface may be about seven inches wide, and the thickness of the hoop may
be about one and a quarter inches, and it is better that the two
portions of the running surface should be of about equal width, but such sizes
may be varied according to circumstances. The tread of that portion of the
tire or hoop which is to be used for running on the rail bad better suit the
cant or inclination of the rail, and that of the other portion to be used when off
the railway for running on the streets or roads had better suit the ordinary

page_text: form of top of cross section of streets and roads, but the tread of either portion
may be flat or more or less bevelled or rounded according to circumstances.
The tires or hoops may be made of rolled iron or steel, or of both, or of any other
suitable material, and they may be made in one piece or of several pieces.
The tires or hoops may be manufactured in the same manner as other tires
or hoops at present used for the wheels of railway carriages, and may be
fastened on to the wheels in a similar way. The inner surface of the tires or
hoops may be of the forms or shapes shown in plan B on the said Drawing, and
therein marked respectively a, b, and c, or of any other suitable form or shape,
but I recommend the one marked in preference to the others, it being in my
opinion the lightest and best. I do not bind myself to the width or thickness
of tire or hoop, or of any part thereof, or to the proportionate width of the
portions of the running surface, or to the description of materials or the number
of pieces, whether one or more in the length or the width of which the tire
may be composed, or to the particular mode in which it or they may be manu-
factured, nor as to whether that portion of the tire or hoop for running on or
over streets and roads be placed on the inside of the wheels as in plan A on
said Drawing, or on the outside, as in plan C, thercon, or as to whether the
wheels be fast or loose on the axles.
In the first place, what I claim is the general form of a tire having a
double running surface adapted for wheels intended to be used either for railway
or road purposes, as shown in the said plans A, B, and C, and in which the
side of that portion of the tire intended to be used for running on streets or
roads will act when the wheel is on the rail as a flange to the portion intended
to be used for running on the rail, and further the application of such
tires or hoops to wheels for carriages intended both for rail or road.
Secondly, I propose to make carriages intended to run on. railways with the
frame of the fore wheels moveable as shown in plans A and D. on the saick
Drawing, but capable of being locked in the manner shown in plan A thereon,
or in any other suitable manner. When the carriage is on the rails the frame
of the fore wheels may be locked by bolts as shown in the said plan A, which
bolts can be removed when it is intended that the carriage should be taken off
the rails, so that the frame of the fore or leading wheels can then turn properly
for travelling along the streets or roads. The said frame may be locked by
any other means suitable for the purpose, provided that it shall be capable of
being unlocked when required. The wheels of the carriage may be made of
iron, or any other suitable material, and may be of the form or shape shown in
plan D, or of any other suitable form or shape. Any sort of frame may be

page_text: used which is suitable for the wheels of a carriage intended for travelling on
streets or roads, and which if locked could be used for the fore wheels of
carriages intended for travelling on railways. The frame tinted yellow in
plan D may be made of wood or of any other suitable material or materials,
while the other portion of the carriage tinted blue may be made of iron or steel,
or other suitable material or materials. The carriage may be made with shafts
capable of being taken off and put on at pleasure, but this is not indispensable
for the carriage may be made with any other contrivance for fastening the
draught horses or cattle thereto when running on the streets or roads, so
as that such contrivance be capable of being removed at pleasure, or it
may be made with shafts or any other such contrivance as aforesaid, so
made or capable of being so disposed as not to interfere with the running.
of the carriage on a railway.
I do not confine myself to any particular size or shape of carriage, or to
the materials of which the same may be composed, or as to whether the wheels,
are fast or loose on the axles, or as to whether springs of any kind be attached
thereto or not.
Whenever it is desired to shift the carriages from rail to road, and vice versa,
this may be done by means of an inclined plane raised at the higher end to the
level of the rails.
What I claim, secondly, is the adaptation of means of locking and unlocking
the frame of the fore wheels to carriages intended for travelling both on railways
and on streets or roads.
Thirdly, I propose to use a crossing as shown in plan E on the said
Drawing, so that it will either suit the flanges and treads of wheels of car-
riages such as are now commonly used on railways, or that portion of my
tire or hoop which is used for running on streets and roads, and the side
of which acts as a flange when on the railway, as well as that portion of my
said tire or hoop which is used for running on the rails. Such crossing may
be formed out of the ordinary rail, commonly used for the making of
crossings.
The explanation next following shows. the manner in which the crossing as
shown in plan E is adapted to wheels having my tire or hoop affixed when the
portion of the tire intended for. running on streets or roads is on the inside of
the tire as it is in plan A.
:
I propose that when any pair of such wheels is going over the crossing
the portion of the wheel intended for running on streets and roads shall on
the one side of the line run on the ordinary wing, rail, and tongue, and on

page_text: the other side on the ordinary guard or check rail, and that after passing
the crossing that part of the tread of either wheel, which is intended for:
running on the line of rails shall again be used and run on the regular
line on both sides. The ends of the ordinary guard or check rail, one end
of the ordinary wing rail, and the base or thick end of the additional tongue
must be sloped as shown in planus F and G on the said Drawing, so as to allow
that portion of the tread of the wheels which is intended to be used for running
on roads and streets to rise gradually to its proper height for running on the
aforesaid guard or check and wing rails and tongue respectively during the
crossing and again to fall and act as a flange when the crossing is passed, an
additional and inner guard or check rail, and an additional and inner wing rail
to each line of rails and an additional tongue all as shown in plans E, H,
and J, on the said Drawing must be used at the crossing to keep the wheels
in position while passing. The crossing may be made of the ordinary rails or
materials used by railway companies for making crossings, or it may be made
of cast iron-or-of cast iron and plated, or of any other material which may be
suitable, and it may be secured in chairs in the manner shown by cross
sections thereof in plans H and J on the said Drawing, or by any other means
which may be suitable for the purpose..
I do not bind myself to the size or angle of the crossing, or to the description
of materials of which any part of it may be composed, or to the particular mode
of manufacturing the crossing or any part thereof, or as to the number or
division of the pieces of which the same may be composed, whether one or
more, or as to the form of the top or sides of the rails.
What I claim, thirdly, is the use of the additional guard or check and wing
rails, and. the additional tongue and the sloping of the ends or end of the same
respectively as aforesaid, and the adaptation of railway crossings by means of
these assistants to wheels of carriages when fitted with such tires or hoops as
before described, having on the inside of the tire the portion intended for run-
ning on roads, so as to allow such wheels to run over the crossings on railways
while at the same time permitting engines, carriages, cars, vans, waggons,
trollys, lorrys, and trucks and other vehicles commonly used on railways to run
over such crossings in the usual way without interruption.
I have shown in plan K on the said Drawing how railway crossings may be
adapted to wheels of carriages when fitted with such tires or hoops as before
described, but having the portion intended for running on streets or roads on
the outside of the tire, but I do not wish to be understood as asserting
that crossings so adapted as last aforesaid would be applicable to wheels
of carriages having flanged tires, such as now in common use for railways.

page_text: And generally I claim the combination and adaptation to each other of the
several parts of my said Invention as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Elsdon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said William Elsdon, in the
presence of
EDW. ENGLAND,
Sol.,
.24, Queen St.,
Melbourne,
SAN CROWTHER
Victoria.
WILLIAM ELSDON. (L.s.)