IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE AXLES OF TRAM CARS, TRACTION ENGINES, AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND OF APPARATUS FOR GUIDING VEHICLES ON RAILS AND TRACKS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Meshach Hopkins, Edward Tollervey
Pellowe, and John Hopkins at the Office of the Cominissioners of Patents on
the 20th December 1879.
MESHACH HOPKINS, of Walworth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, EDWARD
TOLLERVEY PELLOWE, of Peckhani, in the said County, Shorthand Writer, and JOHN
HOPKINS, of Camberwell, in the said County, Physician.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE AXLES OF TRAM CARS, TRACTION
ENGINES, AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND OF APPARATUS FOR GUIDING VEHICLES ON
RAILS AND TRACKS."
The first part of this Invention consists in improvements in the construction of
the apparatus for guiding tram cars, traction engines, and other vehicles which are
arranged for running upon rails or in tracks, whereby the fixed projecting rim or
flange of the wheels, ordinarily employed for effecting the desired object, is dispensed
with, discs or rings constructed and arranged as hereinafter described being
substituted therefor.
The second part of this Invention relates to improvements in the construction and
arrangement of the axles of the wheels of train cars and other vehicles for the
purpose of facilitating the steering of the same.
In accordance with the first part of our said Invention the tyres of the wheels of
the vehicle are made perfectly plain, that is to say, without any flange, and to one
side of each wheel is connected by means of bolts or slides a disc or ring, which is
constructed of any desired thickness and of any suitable diameter, but by preference it
is made of the same diameter as the wheel, so that when it is not in use for guiding
the tram car or other vehicle on the rail or the track it will serve to widen the tread of
the wheel. The holes in the disc or ring for the axle and bolts to pass through are
made of greater diameter than the said bolts and axle, thus allowing the disc or ring
to be moved up and down on the face of the wheel, such movement being effected
by means of a lever or levers arranged in any suitable manner, as will be well
understood, so that it or they can be actuated by the driver or other attendant,
When the vehicle is required to run on rails or in a track the disc or ring on each
wheel is moved down by the lever until it projects slightly beyond the lower portion
of the periphery of the wheel, and thus acts as a flange to guide the wheel in the
track or on the rail, the size of the holes in the disc or ring through which the axle

page_text: and bolts pass being sufficiently great as to allow the disc or ring to maintain the
same relative position to the wheel during its revolution with the same when the
vehicle is caused to travel. On the reverse action of the lever the said disc or ring
is again lifted and the periphery thereof brought into coincidence with or above the
tread of the wheel. Instead of employing the said levers, we in some cases effect
the desired object by means of cams and eccentrics acted upon by levers or racks, as
will be well understood.
Instead of connecting the disc or ring to the wheel as above described, it is some-
times mounted on a separate axle fixed in bearings in the end of a lever. When
the vehicle is to travel on rails or in a track, the disc or rings are lowered and
serve to maintain and guide the said vehicle in the right position, and when it is
desired to move the vehicle from the rails or track the said discs or rings are again
raised clear of the latter, when the vehicle is ready to travel on the road in the
ordinary manner.
The second part of our said Invention relates, as above stated, to improvements
in the construction and arrangement of the axles of vehicles, which improvements are
specially applicable to vehicles running on rails or in tracks, in order to facilitate
the passage of the same round curves. The axle instead of being in a continuous
length from wheel to wheel, as is ordinarily the case, is divided near the centre,
whereby each wheel and its axle is free to work independently of the remaining
wheels and axles. Each wheel is provided with the ordinary bearings, which are
capable of a slight turning movement, and in addition thereto another bearing is
provided near the inner end of each axle. The last mentioned bearings are provided
with projections or guides working in curved slots or grooves formed in any suitable
part of the frame of the vehicle. The pole or tongue of the vehicle is connected by
means of cross levers or other suitable and known contrivancos with the said
projections or guides of the front wheels, so that when the horses are turned on one
side together with the pole or tongue, in order to change the direction of the
advance of the vehicle, the said projections or guides will be moved in their
respective slots in such a manner as to cause the wheels to come into the position
necessary for changing the direction of the vehicle. It will be well understood that
a motion similar to that above described may be also transmitted to the rear wheels
of the vehicle by means of levers suitably arranged.