IMPROVE- MENTS IN LECOMOTIVE OR OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Sir James Caleb Anderson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1858.
I, Sir JAMES CALEB ANDERSON, of Fermoy, in the County of Cork, Ireland,
Baronet, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LECOMOTIVE OR OTHER CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
My first improvement consists in fixing horizontally and longitudinally a
cylinder on the top of a tubular locomotive boiler. The cylinder is to be
united to the boiler by vertical pipes. The horizontal top cylinder I use as a
steam chamber. By this arrangement the tube cylinder and fire box of a
locomotive boiler can be kept almost full of water, which will secure the tubes
and the top of the fire-box from being left uncovered with water on ascending
or descending hills.
My second improvement I call a universal railroad, which is to be con-
structed as follows:-
No. 1. The wheels of locomotive engines for common roads, or for ploughings,
carriages, omnibuses, wagons, carts, cannons, and all other of carriages
are to be placed within other wheels of larger diameter, so arranged that
each wheel will run on the concave surface of a larger wheel, which is to form
its railroad. The spokes of the large or railroad wheels are to be fixed to the
rims of the wheels as close as they can be to the outside, leaving a sufficient
breadth of rim from outside inwards to form the railroad, on which the wheels

page_text: of locomotive engines for common roads, or for ploughings, carriages, omnibuses,
The
wagons, carts, cannons, and all other description of carriages can run.
axle of each large wheel or circular railroad is to revolve in a box fixed to a
frame placed on the outside of each large wheel forming the railroad. Two
groves are to be cut through each frame, one in the fore part, and another in
the hind part. Two bolts are to be firmly fixed in locomotive or other
carriages, as the case may be, for each frame. These bolts are to pass through
the grooves, and for each groove having a washer placed on the inside of each
bolt, to keep the railroad at a proper distance from the locomotive or loaded
carriage, and a nut is to be screwed on the outward end of each bolt, to retain
the frames and railroad wheels in their proper places. The grooves are to be
left sufficiently long to permit the locomotive or loaded carriage to run forward
or backward on the circular railroad, as required. To turn the carriages,
I fix an inside frame to the fore axletree of each wheel of a locomotive or
other carriage; and into each inside frame two bolts are to be firmly
secured to retain the outside frames and railroad wheels in their proper
places.
2nd. The universal circular railroad may be made without the outside
frames thus:-Form a circle of iron or a drum for each railroad wheel of
sufficient breadth to permit each wheel of a locomotive or loaded carriage to
run on the concave surface of its drum or circular railroad. A deep flange is
to be fixed to the outside, and another on the inside of each circular railroad,
to prevent the wheels of a locomotive or loaded carriage from running off the
circular railroad. To obviate slipping when used by locomotive engines for
common roads or for ploughing, I cog the concave surfaces of the railway
wheels and the convex surfaces of the wheels of locomotives. To effect the
same purposes, videlicet, slipping of the wheels of locomotives, I line the
concave surfaces of the railroad wheels with wood.
No. 3. Fix edged rails round the canvas surfaces of the circular railroads;
grove the wheels of the loaded carriages or locomotives, so as to fit freely on
the edge rails; the wheels of loaded carriages or locomotives will thus be
prevented from running off the circular railroads. By this arrangement the
wheels of all kinds of carriages, moved either by animate or inanimate power,
will under all circumstances have a hard surface to work on, as each carriage
wheel will have its own railroad. To simplify the plan, locomotives for
common roads may work their driving wheels on the circular railroad and not
the steering wheels. As soon as a locomotive or other carriage is set in
motion the weight resting on each wheel, driven or moved beyond the points,
the circular railroad wheels touch the ground, will cause them to rotate in the

page_text: line of the power; the heaviest roads, or even ploughed fields, can thus be
travelled over with ease.
4th. To get rid of the opaque appearance of the exit steam of locomotive
engines for common roads, I cause the exit steam to pass through coiled pipes
(one for each cylinder), which are to be as long as possible. These pipes are
to be fixed to the cylinders in the smoke box, to which a fan is to be attached
having suction pipes so placed as to draw the heated air proceeding from the
fire-box of the boiler around the outside surfaces of the coiled pipes containing
the exit steam. The exit steam of the pan is to be placed with its mouth
upwards in the chimney, thus the heated air would be brought into contact
with the coiled pipes containing the exit steam by being drawn into the fan,
from which it will be forced up the chimney mixed with the heated exit steam,
and act as a noiseless blast, and thereby secure a good draught. Should the
heated air drawn from the fire not be intence enough to render the exit steam
pransparent, I use a small supplementary fire to augment the heat, which may
also be increased by a second fan to blow into the ash box of the fire.
5th. And it is of importance for the safety of the passengers conveyed by
steam carriages on common roads that the engineer should have a distinct
view of the road as well as the steersman, I place the engineer in the front
of the steam carriage; and in arranging the parts, the starting and reversing
leavers are fixed at the side of the engineer, and the pumps below him. The
fireman I place at back of the carriage, who has, besides firing, charge of the
small engine that drives the blower, and works a small pump to keep the
water at the proper height in the boiler when the steam carriage stops. By
this division of labor each man is made responsible for his own part of the
work.