Improvements in and Appertaining to Cable and other Railways.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1887.
Specification Accepted, 28th June, 1887.
[Communicated from abroad by ABRAHAM ADAM SHOBE, of Jerseyville, in the
County of Jersey and State of Illinois, United States, Physician.]
Improvements in and Appertaining to Cable and other Railways.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S. M.I.M.E. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and 323 High
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, 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 :-
-
The object of the invention is to provide for the cable, a tube or tunnel with suitable
arrangements for draining the same as hereafter described. The tube or tunnel may
be employed either with an ordinary double-rail track, or with a triple-rail track, of
which the central rail is adapted to carry the main weight of the cars, said tube or
tunnel being so constructed that it may be used for either the above-named types of
railway without requiring any alteration in the form or dimensions of the several
parts of which it is composed; and, further, that it shall constitute the main support
for the cross-ties, to the extremities of which are secured the chairs upon which rest
the two outer rails, so as to secure the whole rigidly together in one structure
sustained mainly upon columns or supports located at suitable intervals, centrally
throughout the entire length of the road-bed. The columns may also be adapted and
applied as supports for the ties or sleepers of railways and tramways.
Referring to the drawings:-
Figure 1 is a plan of a cable railway having a tube or tunnel with arrangements
for draining same, and provided with central supports.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same.
Figure 3 is a transverse section taken on the line ―r.
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the cable tube shewn in connection with a
central rail.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 shew the support ƒ adapted for the use of railways or
tramways.

page_text: In the drawings, A represents a cable tube or tunnel divided longitudinally into
two separate and strictly similar parts, (fully shewn in the plan view, Figure 1,) and
secured to the tops of central supports f, by means of flanges i or in other suitable
manner. The central supports are designed to reach below the surface of the road
bed sufficiently far to be beyond the reach of the frost, and to secure a permanently
solid foundation. The sections of the tube aro secured together, end to end, preferably
by flanges S, adapted to receive bolts or rivets.
To the under side of each half of the tube are secured knee-plates (thewn in
Figure 2) to which are bolted cross-ties B, the onter ends of which are bent into a
vertical position, so as to support at a proper elevation chairs c, each of which are
provided with downwardly-projecting flanges o by which they are secured to the cross
ties. The tops of said chairs are preferably made flat, as shown, and are intended to
rest on the surface of the road-bed, the upper surface being designed to receive any
ordinary form of rail secured in position by any of the means usually employed for
that purpose.
Below the cable tube or tunnel A is secured a gutter of semicircular or other
convenient form, resting in cavities of a corresponding shape in the tops of the central
supports f. At convenient distances apart I provide drain pipes or pits q which are
adapted to receive the drainage from the gutters p. For this purpose the gutters are
broken in their continuity just above the pits, in order that the drainage may escape.
These openings also form convenient spaces for the admission of the upper-part of the
cable carrier g. These carriers are placed at suitable distances apart throughout the
length of the tube adapted to revolve upon fixed spindles e supported by hangers d,
secured to the siles of the tube, as shown in Figure 2.
To adapt the tube for the reception of a deep central rail k, secured to the central
supports, by bolts, rivets, or other suitable fastenings, the two halves are removed
laterally upon the central supports to such position that they stand at such a distance
apart as the base of the rail may require for its admission between them, or as may bo
necessary to leave an opening n Figure 4, between one or both sides of the head of
the rail and the tube, to admit the arm of an ordinary cable grip, which, when the
centre rail is not employed, passes down into the tube through the opening y. (Shewn
in Figures 1 and 3.)
In order to adapt the spindles e, upon which the cable-carriers revolve, to the triple
as well as to the double rail track they are made long enough to reach through both
bangers when the two halves of the tube are separated to the widest extent, one end
being rigidly secured in the eye of one hanger, and the other free to slide longitudinally
through the eye of the opposite one, as shown in Figure 1.
In regard to the cross-ties, it will be observed that they are each provided, as shown
at h, Figure 4, with bolt-holes adapted to both positions of the two halves of the tube,
the two inner holes to be used when the two halves of the tube are in the position
shown in Figure 3, and the two outer ones, when in the position shown in Figure 4.
For the operation of branch roads a third, or, if necessary, a fourth, cable-carrier
may be interposed between the two shown in the drawings.
The support may be conveniently applied to railway or tramway tie or sleeper
supports adapted so as to reach sufficiently far below the surface of the middle of the
road bed to be beyond the reach of the frost, and to secure a more solid and permanent
foundation than the soil or ballast at or near the surface, can afford.
Figures 5 and 6 shew the iron sleeper or tie combined with and designed to be
mainly sustained by the iron support, exbibited also in perspective in Figure 7,
which represents the top thereof provided with side flanges and connected with a
broad flat horizontal base s, by vertical intersecting webs t. It will be observed that
the flanges are of such distance apart as to just admit the tie B between them, the
latter being secured in position by a bolt u. The webs are designed not only to
support the superstructure, but to afford a large area against which the earth may be
densely packed, so as to give the requisite lateral stability to the central and main
sustaining column, while the broad base s, being so much below the surface of the

page_text: road-bed, has the advantage of resting upon a much more solid foundation than could
be obtained at or near the surface of the ground.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to ine by my foreign
correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a cable railway, the combination, with supports central to the railway-track,
of a cable tube or tunnel consisting of two parts separated longitudinally and adapted
for lateral adjustment, substantially as described.
2. In a cable railway, the combination, with the cable-tube, of cross-ties secured to
the under side thereof and turned up near their ends, so as to form, in one piece with
the tie vertical supports adapted to sustain the rail chairs, substantially as described.
3. In a cable railway, the combination, with a cable-tube divided longitudinally,
each part being adapted for lateral adjustment, of a centre rail interposed between said
parts, and sustained by the central supports, substantially as described.
4. In a cable railway, the combination, with a cable tube divided longitudinally,
cach part being adjustable laterally, of hangers secured thereto and arranged in pairs
adapted to sustain spindles, upon which are journaled cable-carriers, each of said
spindles being immovable in the eye of one hanger and free to slide longitudinally in
the eye of the other, substantially as described.
5. The combination with the cable tube, of gutters secured as herein described, in
cavities in the tops of the central supports by which the cable tube is sustained, the
separate lengths of said gutters terminating in drain pits, so as to admit at the
intervals in their continuity, the upper part of the periphery of the cable-carriers to
the interior of the cable tube, for the purpose set forth.
6. The combination with a railroad tie, of the central support f, constructed
substantially as and for the purpose described.
Dated this 25th day of April 1887
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.