IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA- RATUS FOR UTILIZING THE SURPLUS MOMENTUM OF RAILWAY TRAINS AND OTHER MOVING BODIES, AND THE WASTE AND SURPLUS POWER OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Scott at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th September
1861.
I, THOMAS SCOTT, of Newcastle, in the County of Down, Ireland, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR UTILIZING THE SURPLUS MOMENTUM OF RAILWAY TRAINS AND OTHER
MOVING BODIES, AND THE WASTE AND SURPLUS POWER OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Instead of neutralizing the excessive momentum of railway trains in
descending inclines or otherwise by means of friction breaks in the usual
manner, I utilize such surplus momentum by causing it to actuate condensing
pumps or other suitable apparatus for forcing air into a tank or reservoir
capable of sustaining a high pressure, by which means I obtain, in the case of
railway trains or other moving bodies, a resisting force capable of retarding
motion and of acting as a break or stop appliance. In the same manner
whenever there is surplus or unrequired steam, either in a locomotive or a
stationary boiler, instead of allowing it to be blown off or condensed, I apply
to the compression of air, by causing it to actuate suitable apparatus for
forcing air into a tank or reservoir. Any other description of surplus power
may be applied or utilized in like manner. When the power for working
the condensing apparatus is obtained from the motion of a railway train
by the revolution of the actuating axle or axles, the power required for

page_text: such purpose will have a correspondingly retarding effect on the motion of the
train, by impeding the revolution of such axle or axles, and as the resisting
force to the action of the condensing apparatus will, from the increasing density
of the air in the reservoir, be augmented at every stroke of the apparatus or
revolution of the axle or axles, such retarding effect on the motion of the
train will increase proportionately till the momentum is wholly overcome,
and the train is brought to a stand. The effects of ordinary "breaks" applied
to the periphery of the wheels may be thus attained, with this difference, that
while the momentum of the train or other moving body is overcome by a
constantly increasing resisting force, such subtlued momentum, instead of being
entirely wasted or destroyed as heretofore, is collected and preserved as highly
compressed air, to be again used when required as an auxiliary propelling or
motive power; for it is evident that an equivalent or nearly so to the force
overcome would then exist in the increased elasticity of the air in the reservoir.
The said condensing apparatus may be attached to the carriage frame on
which the tank or reservoir is mounted, and may be put in motion by means of
a band or belt passing over a pulley on the axle or axles of such carriage and
over another pulley fixed on a separate shaft or axle, on which is placed
another loose pulley or rigger for throwing the appliance in or out of gear, the
motion being given to the condensing apparatus by means of a crank or
cranks, or by eccentrics on the separate shaft. The said compressed air may,
when required, be made auxiliary to the locomotive or other engine, either by
causing it to actuate such engine wholly by itself, or in combination with
steam, or by means of a separate engine, actuated entirely by such compressed
air; or the condensing pumps or apparatus may be made alternately to act
as such, and also as an impelling or motive engine, by being in turn actuated
by the condensed air.
By a slight modification, the cylinders of an ordinary locomotive engine
(the pistons of which are always alternating, whether acted on by the steam
or not when the train is in motion,) may be made to act when the steam is
shut off as condensing pumps, and consequently to have to some extent tho
effect of an ordinary break, by retarding the motion of the train, as already
described. This modification may be accomplished by allowing the atmo-
sphere to have access to the cylinders through the slide valves, when the steam
is shut off by means of a pipe or pipes provided with a suitable valve or valves,
and by making the exhaust ports open to a pipe, also provided with a suitable
valve and communicating with the tank or reservoir. This may be done by
means of two-way stop-cocks or other simple arrangements, so that whenever
the steam is shut off, and the train is in motion, the cylinders may be instantly

page_text: converted into condensing pumps, and therefore accumulative retarders. The
air tanks or reservoirs are provided with safety valves adapted to the pressure
that such tanks or reservoirs may be capable of resisting.
In the case of stationary or other engines, or where the motive power is
supplied in excess to the amount of work required, such surplus power may be
made to actuate condensing apparatus, by means of which atmospheric air
may be forced into conveniently situated tanks or reservoirs, which compressed
air may again be used in like manner described as an auxiliary to the prime
motive power of such engine. The force of such compressed air may be
considerably enhanced by being heated before it enters or whilst in the cylin-
ders; in the former case, this may be done by an arrangement of valves
which would permit a quantity of compressed air to enter a heated
chamber before entering the cylinders, and in the latter by the cylinders
being kept in a heated state.