OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING TRAMCARS BY MEANS OF COMPRESSED AIR."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Auguste Nosbaume at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th December 1880.
NEW
AUGUSTE NOSBAUME, of Anvers, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mechanic.
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING TRAMCARS BY MEANS OF COMPRESSED
AIR."
This Invention relates to new or improved means for the use or employment of
compressed air as motor for tramways.
It consists, 1st, of an air reservoir formed by a series of steel-pipes, all connected
with a cross bronze pipe, through which they communicate with one another.
The said tubular reservoir is placed under the tramcar between the axle-trees
and the floor of the tramcar to which it is secured.
The reservoir communicates through bronze pipe with other pipes placed under
the seats (two under each seat), and all these communicating pipes form the
reservoir of compressed air.
2ndly. Of a small boiler of any required construction placed upon the forepart
or one of the platforms of the car.
This boiler will be heated, according the locality and circumstances, either
with gas or with petroleum. In the latter case the wicks of the lamps or burners
will be made of amianthus, which is incombustible. The petroleum oil will be in
a special reservoir, placed a little higher than the lamps, and carried to the latter
by means of a small pipe, with a cock as a regulator, so as to allow more or less
oil to be carried to the lamps according to the requirements.
The steam port of boiler communicates with a regulator, which indicates upon a
dial by means of a pointer the extent of the opening of the said steam port.
There is also a regulator upon the pipe which carries the air from the reservoir to
the motor itself. This regulator is situated under the platform of the car, but it is
easily operated by the conductor, by means of a wheel and a connecting rod passing
through the said platform.
The motor gives motion to the driving axle by means of a chain (Galle system).
The reservoir contains compressed air at about 600 pounds pressure.
When the reservoir is filled and the boiler under pressure, that is to say, at about
60 pounds, the conductor opens the air regulator gradually, and at the same time
opens the steam regulator or cock to a certain extent, according to the degree
shown upon the dial of the first regulator; and when the car is in motion the

page_text: conductor closes gradually the air regulator until the car gets the required speed.
By mixing steam at 60 pounds pressure, and at a temperature of 170 degrees
centigrade, with the compressed air, the latter absorbs the said degrees of heat,
which contribute to increase the volume of the air and consequently its pressure,
and by these means an economy in the compressed air is produced.
The system above described presents many advantages upon the systems already
known. It is smokeless and noiseless. The whole machinery may be fixed under
the tramcar, and thus save the considerable expenses of a locomotive. There is no
danger of explosion, as the steam is received and carried into small pipes, and if
one of the latter should explode it would be comparatively harmless.
The above described construction may be applied to the tramcars now in use at
a very low cost.