IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR GUIDING, BREAKING, AND GUARDING THE WHEELS OF TRAMWAY CARS AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND THE METHOD OF FIXING AND ACTING UPON THE SAME.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Gore, of Whitnash, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OR
APPARATUS FOR GUIDING, BREAKING, AND GUARDING THE WHEELS OF
TRAMWAY CARS AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND THE METHOD OF FIXING AND
ACTING UPON THE SAME.
39
Sealed the 22nd August 1871, and dated the 25th February 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Goro at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1871.
I, GEORGE GORE, of Whitnash, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
OR APPARATUS FOR GUIDING, BREAKING, AND GUARDING THE WHEELS OF TRAMWAY
CARS AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND THE METHOD OF FIXING AND ACTING UPON THE
SAME," to be as follows:
-
The principle of this Invention consists in combining a guide wheel,
break block, and guard in one apparatus. The guide wheel being for
the purpose of enabling tramway cars and other vehicles to leave or

page_text: return to a line of tramway at any point. The break blocks are uxed
to the guide wheel frames, and are acted upon by one and the same
arrangement of apparatus. The frames to which the guides and breaks
are attached are so arranged as to form wheel guards for the purpose
of removing any obstacle from off the line of tramway and preventing 5
persons being run over if accidentally knocked down. The guide consists
of a metal wheel fixed in a metal break frame, this frame being made in
such form as to answer the purpose also of a wheel guard as hereafter
described. When used before and behind a pair of carriage front and back
wheels, they act in the three-fold manner as guide, guard, and break, but :
when fixed between a pair of front and back wheels as guide and break
only. This apparatus is acted upon by means of a long metal bar or rod
running the length of the carriage and communicating with both driver
and conductor, this bar or rod having what is termed right-and-left-
handed screws formed on it which act upon the combined apparatus
in manner following:-By turning the screw bar in one direction the
breaks will be applied and the carriage stopped, and by turning the bar
in the opposite direction the guide wheels will be lifted or turned out of
the groove of the rail, and the carriage can then run on to the ordinary
road as long as may be absolutely necessary. In some cases in lieu of
the screw a lever action could be adopted with equal effect. This com-
bined arrangement of guide, break, and guard is fixed and framed to the
bearings of the carriage wheels in such manner that the loading and
unloading of the carriage does not in any way cause the apparatus to be
raised or depressed.
The outer frame consists of two plates of metal of the same form, in
each plate an oblong slot or guide is cast or cut, the plates are secured
together by three stays turned with shoulders and screwed at each cud
for nuts, the plates are kept sufficiently apart by the stays to allow of
the free working or the inner or guide wheel frame, the two bottom stays
are round, the top stay wide and flat with a hole through it to receive
the end of guide wheel frame, the bottom of wheel frame is forked,
and the top round the bosses of wheel frame are fitted to work in the
oblong slots or guides, and the round part of wheel frame to work
through the hole in top stay. A spiral spring is placed over the round
spindle to press against the under side of top stay, the sides of the oute
frames nearest the carriage wheels are curved to fit the edge of wheels
The break blocks are placed between the frames on this side and held

page_text: secure by tightening the nuts at the end of stays, the opposite side of
frames are to act as wheel guards and of such form best suited to remove
any obstacle from off the line of tramway, either curved or straight will
answer the purpose.
5 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Gorc in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 25th August 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
GORE, of Whitnash, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
> greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Gore, Her special
licence that I, the said George Gore, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Gore, my executors,
administrators, 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 "IMPROVED MEANS
OR APPARATUS FOR GUIDING, BREAKing, and GuardinG THE WHEELS OF TRAMWAY
CARS AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND THE METHOD OF FIXING AND ACTING UPON THE
SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Gore,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 I, the said George Gore, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
he following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto

page_text: annexed, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon, it
being understood that similar letters indicate similar parts of the
apparatus represented by the Figures :—
Tramway carriages of present construction are guided by the ordinary
flanged wheels, the flanges running in the tram grooves, but no pro- 5
vision has been made for enabling the carriage to leave the tram and
to run upon the ordinary road when sewers, gas or water mains,
roads, &c. are undergoing repair, or when other vehicles by accident
or otherwise are an obstacle to their progress, as in narrow roads or
streets where there is not sufficient room for a cart or carriage to pass, 1
a tramway car running in the centre of the street.
Now the principle of my Invention relates to a means of overcoming
the above difficulty by making the wheels without flanges, so that they
are capable of running on any kind of road, and also to an apparatus
to be fitted in front or behind the carriage wheels for retaining them on 1
the tram or for allowing them to leave it as desired.
I now proceed to describe the practical construction of the apparatus,
which may be termed a combined guide, break, and guard.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 are quarter full-sized views of the apparatus.
Fig. 1, A is a side elevation of the apparatus fixed in front of a
tramway carriage wheel; B, side elevation with outer frame removed;
Fig. 2, end clovation of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a side clevation of another arrangement of the apparatus;
Fig. 4, end clevation of Fig. 3. The apparatus is composed of two outer
frames a; the guide wheel frame fitted to slide in the oblong slots
in the frames a; the guide wheel c fitted to run in the frame b, and
varied in form to run on any description of tramway rail. In Figs. 1, 2,
a spiral spring d is used to keep the wheel down in the groove, or allow
it to rise over any obstacle in the groove.
In Figs. 3, 1, another form of spring is used to answer the same
purpose. The frames a are secured to cacl other by the stays e,f,f;
the top stay e is also the guide for the wheel frame b. The break
blocks are of wood or any other suitable material, and are secured
between the outer frames a. In Figs. 2, 4, a fixing picce h is shown
secured to the outer frames a by the nut on the end of the top stay e.
The set screw i in the fixing piece is for securing the apparatus to
any part of the fulcrum bar J.

page_text: Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 are drawn to the scale of 1½ inches to 1 foot.
Fig. 5 is the side elevation of the bottom framework of a tramway
carriage to which the apparatus is fixed, and answers the threefold
purpose of guards, guides, and breaks, the front part of the apparatus
removing any obstacle from off the tram. The bearing brasses of
the carriage wheels are secured to the side bar K by the strap L.
To this bar the apparatus is fixed, so that the loading or unloading of
the carriage does not cause the apparatus to be raised or depressed. At
each end of the side bar K suitable bearings are fitted to receive the
ends of the bar J, which is allowed to turn. To each of the bars J
two upright pieces p are fixed and secured to the bar by set screws i.
Between these upright pieces the nuts o are allowed to turn, one
tapped with a right-handed thread and the other with a left-handed
thread. The screw bar m runs the entire length of the carriage, and
to have a right and left handed screw on it to work in the nuts o;
each end of the screw bar to have a bevel wheel fixed to gear with a
bevel wheel attached to an upright bar to which a wheel or handle is
fixed (see Fig. 5), to be under the control of driver or conductor. The
bar J being the fulcrum, by turning the handle in one direction the
nuts O are driven further apart and the breaks are applied, and by
turning the handle in the opposite direction the nuts are drawn
nearer together, and the guide wheels are turned clear of the grooves
of tramway, and the carriage is free to run on the ordinary road.
Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of carriage frame. Here the apparatus
is fixed between the wheels, and answers the twofold purpose of guides
and breaks. This arrangement is intended more particularly for working
sharp curves. In this arrangement fixed guards R are used; these
are stayed by the rods S running from the bottom of guard to the
bar J. In this Drawing the apparatus is thrown in and out of gear
O levers instead of screws. (The action will be understood by examining
the Drawing.
Fig. 7 is the half plan of Fig. 5 shewing side bar K, strap L, fulcrum
bar J, and the screw bar m, screws n, nuts o, upright pieces p. Fig. 8
is the half plan of Fig. 6 shewing the levers, the fixed guards R, and
5 the stay rods S.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of fixing and acting upon the same, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the details herein described, so long as the