A CERTAIN PIECE OR PIECES OF MACHINERY, CALLED BY ME REVOLVING ROLLERS, AND REVOLVING ROLLER WHEELS, ONE OR OTHER OF WHICH MAY BE APPLIED TO EVERY SORT OR DESCRIPTION OF WHEEL CARRIAGE, IN ADDITION TO AND IN CONJUNCTION WITH PART, OR INSTEAD OF ANY OF THE WHEELS AND AXLETREE AT PRESENT COMMONLY USED AND ATTACHED TO WHEEL CARRIAGES (AS THE CASE MAY BE) AND WHICH, BEING SO APPLIED, WILL GREATLY HELP, FACILITATE, AND RENDER MORE EASY THE DRAUGHT OF ALL CARRIAGES
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PALMER, late of Temple Place, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, but
now of Suffolk Street, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, Clerk,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and and by His
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date Westminster, the Sixth day of February, in
the fifty-second year of His Majesty's reign, for Himself, His heirs and succes-
sors, hath given and granted unto me, the said William Palmer, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His especial license, full power, sole privilege, and
authority that I, the said William Palmer, my executors, administrators, and
assigns and every of them by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy
or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, shall at any time agree with and no others, from time to time, and
at all times thereafter, during the term of years therein expressed, shall
and lawfully may make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN PIECE OR
PIECES OF MACHINERY, CALLED BY ME REVOLVING ROLLERS, AND REVOLVING ROLLER
WHEELS, ONE OR OTHER OF WHICH MAY BE APPLIED TO EVERY SORT OR DESCRIPTION OF
WHEEL CARRIAGE, IN ADDITION TO AND IN CONJUNCTION WITH PART, OR INSTEAD OF
ANY OF THE WHEELS AND AXLETREE AT PRESENT COMMONLY USED AND ATTACHED TO
WHEEL CARRIAGES (AS THE CASE MAY BE) AND WHICH, BEING SO APPLIED, WILL
GREATLY HELP, FACILITATE, AND RENDER MORE EASY THE DRAUGHT OF ALL CARRIAGES;"

page_text: in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
William Palmer, to particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be enrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendars month next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Palmer, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in the
manner following, that is to say :-
It is an application of a principle well-known in mechanics, viz, that if
in lieu of the wheels and axle in common use in the conveyance of heavy
bodies upon horizontal or inclined planes, a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical
roller is substituted, which rests upon the said plane; and the body to be moved,
having a a flat service on the lower side resting upon the top of the roller, it will
be moved along with much greater ease than when the wheels and axle are
employed, in which the weight is borne by the centre of the wheels by means of
the axle; whereas, when the roller is used, the weight is transferred to the top
of the wheel or roller, and the friction of the axle is avoided.
Now my
Invention consists in a method of applying a constant succession of
rollers, so that when the carriage has advanced, the length of the plane surface
on its lower side and rolled forwards upon one roller, another is presented before
it, upon which it rolls in its turn, then another is supplied, and so on in endless
succession; as the carriage proceeds, the rollers when they quit it behind are
taken up, and constantly carried forwards by the machinery to be successively
applied in front and under the plane beneath the carriage. I make two
applications of my Invention, one which I call revolving rollers, and the other
revolving roller wheels. The former consists of rollers of such a length as to
extend from side to side beneath the carriage or heavy body to be moved,
and these rollers rest on their whole length on the road, supporting the plane
at the lower side of the carriage, either on the whole of their length, or only on
a portion at each end, or at each end and in the middle. My revolving roller
wheels are systems of short revolving rollers, which are applied and support
the weight by blocks (having plane surfaces beneath), which are fixed at the
sides of the carriage in the same direction as the wheels and axles now in use;
the principle and manner of action of both the revolving rollers and the
revolving roller wheels is the same; and they may be indifferently applied in
the place of either the fore or hind wheels of any carriage, or as the sole

page_text: support, instead of the wheels of any two-wheel carriage. Figure One of the
Drawings hereunto annexed, explains the particulars of my roller wheels;
suppose in this, that A, B, is the road or surface the carriage is to move along;
H is a block attached to the side of the carriage, having a plane surface a, b,
at the lower side, which surface is paralel to the road A, B; now the rollers
wheels C, D, E, F, G, are applied round this block, and that which is
immediately beneath it at C, supports the weight of the carriage, which, as
before said, is firmly attached to the block; now, when the carriage advances
from A towards B, for instance, it rolls upon the roller wheel C; but as the
centre of that wheel advances only one-half as quick as the carriage, it
gradually alters its position beneath the block from 6 towards a, and would
soon quit it entirely; but just before this happens, the next roller wheel D,
will arrive at a situation proper to receive and sustain the block; this is
accomplished by chains or jointed bars K, which unite all the roller wheels by
their centre pins, and cause them to follow each other in succession; therefore,
when the roller wheel C retreats beneath the block from 6 to a, in consequence
of its centre advancing only one-half as fast as the block, all the wheels
C, D, E, F, G, revolve round the block together; and as soon as one is about
to quit the under side of the block, another has descended to the ground ready
to sustain it, and immediately the block has left any wheel behind, that wheel
is taken up by the chain and conducted over the upper surface a, c, b, of the
block on which they also roll, so as to occasion no other friction than the center
pins of the wheels, which being only required to raise up the weight of the
wheels, may, without detriment to the performance of the machine, be made
very small, and fitted loosely in their center holes to confine the roller wheels;
to revolve constantly in the same circuit, track, or planes, and prevent them
from getting off the block sideways, a strong ring, or frame of metal L, is
firmly attached to each side of the block, as shewn in the edge view, Fig. 2,
forming a groove all round the block of a depth as nearly equal to the semi-
diameter of the roller wheel as the free traversing of the center pins over and
beyond the groove will admit, from which groove the wheels cannot escape
though the chains are rather slack; to permit the roller wheels to pass round
the angles.a and b of the blocks, the grooves should be an inch or thereabouts
in all cases wider than the roller wheels are broad, in order to permit them
to pass freely. When rollers, acting under the body of the carriage, round
semicircular blocks are used, they are to be retained in their position sideways,
by means of a plating of wood or iron, forming a groove of the depth of about
two thirds of their diameter; and their connecting chains are to pass within it,
as at Fig. 6,.or outside, as.at Fig. 4, of the roller wheels. That figure of the

page_text: block which I prefer is a semicircle; but it may be made square or oblong,
with the ends rounded off, or in various other forms at the discretion of the
maker. Such carriages as travel in deep or rough roads, may require high
roller wheels; but as it would be inconvenient to raise them up so high during
their revolution, as the summit of a semicircular block would require, I advise
in these cases an oblong, with the ends rounded as in Figure 3; or the top
of the block may be convex, but less so then a semicircle; whatever form is
adopted, it must be so obtuse at its ends as not to admit of passing between
any two of the wheels at the utmost extension of the chains; and the plane
surface at the underside of the block must be so fixed to the carriage : as to be
paralel to the road. Any number of rollers may be used instead of five (as
shewn in the Drawing); but this number I have by experience found to be
the most convenient for the roller wheels or rollers, when the block is semi-
circular and applied either in the place of fore or hind wheels to any carriage
which is required to turn short; and also when applied instead of the common
wheels and axle of any two-wheeled carriage; and in this case, I advise the
diameter of the semicircle, (that is, the length of the under surface of the block)
to be one diameter and a half of the roller or roller wheel, though this pro-
portion of the blocks to the rollers or roller wheels, is not absolutely essential.
The blocks for the revolving roller or roller wheels are to be fixed to
the carriage or other machine by means of a strong beam or beams, ex-
tending across beneath the bottom of the carriage from one block to the other
block on the opposite side, which beam or beams is or are to have tennants at
their ends to enter mortices cut through the blocks, and they may be secured
by iron stays, bolts, screws, &c.; in general, two cross beams, the ends of which
are shewn at M, M, Fig. 1, see also Fig. 2, will be proper to fasten the blocks;
but where the blocks are long, and the weight to be borne very great, three
should be used; and on the other hand for very short blocks, with small
rollers, one cross beam will suffice; the bed of the carriage may be supported
immediately upon the cross beams, or it may be raised higher by bearers
introduced between them. If the ends of the cross beams M, M, Fig. 1, are
made to project a few inches beyond the blocks, see also Fig. 2, it will afford
an easy means of strengthening the iron plates forming the lower groove
outside, as well as inside, by morticing into them the upper ends of vertical
pieces of wood, or inserting iron stays to project downwards and press against
the groove iron within an inch of its lower extremity. These pieces may be
also connected by a cross piece between them; and an iron plate of three or more
inches in breadth, extending horizontally from one beam end M to the other, will
form a proper fend-off to hinder any other carriage from catching in the chains,

page_text: &c. To prevent the accumulation of any dirt upon the semicircular blocks which
the rollers or roller wheels might take up from the road, the block is made hollow.
as shewn in the cross section Fig. 2, No. 2, in which case the rollers when
passing over the top of the block bear only upon two narrow edges N, N, which
will not be of sufficient width to afford a lodgement for dirt, part of which will
drop off, and be conducted down the inclined planes P and fall out through
openings, one of which is shewn at Q, Fig. 1, so as to deliver the dirt clear of the
rollers. This smaller kind of block would be best if made of metal, such as cast
or wrought iron, as shewn in Number 2 of Fig. 2; or it may be made of wood'
as Number 1, Fig. 2, and also Fig. 1, and plated with iron on the lower.
surface, and upon the upper side, except just at the top, where the rollers run
across the aperture Q; they must at this place travel on bars of iron c, placed.
edgeways so as to form a bridge, continuing the curve of the block, the bars
must be secured at the ends by inlaying into the wood, and confined by iron.
bolts or screws. The roller wheels may be made of wood with iron tire, either
formed of one piece of solid wood or framed together, or may be cast in iron.
The connecting bars may be chains or iron bars jointed together in two or three
links, as shewn in Fig. 1, where k are chains, and K the jointed bars. Fig. 4 is
an elevation of a set of small rollers or roller wheels, applied in conjunction with
Fig. 1 already described, to a waggon; m, m, are the tennants at the ends of the.
two beams, which pass across from one block to the other; or it may represent
a double tennant at the end of one large beam; upon the cross beam or beams
vertical timbers are erected to support an iron or wooden circle T, upon which
the waggon rests; the circle may be strengthened by stays V, V, placed in an
inclined position from the cross beams, or from the uprights to the circum-
ference of the circle; the frame for supporting the shafts W, must be framed.
into the uprights as shewn by X, and may be strengthened by iron or wooden
braces, as the occasion may require; the waggon is connected with the circle.
T by a strong bolt passing through the bed of it, and also through the center of
the circle; and upon this, as a center pin, the fore wheels may swivel to turn the
waggon about. I make the rollers or roller wheels for the front on a smaller scale
than the others, to allow them to pass underneath the bed of the waggon when it
is required to turn at a sharp angle; the circle T may be further connected with
the bed of the waggon by iron hooks t bolted thereto, and projecting over the
edge of the circle. I now come further to describe my revolving rollers;
these, as before-mentioned, may be made long enough to extend across the
whole width of the carriage, and perform their revolution wholly beneath its.
bed; a carriage upon revolving rollers is delineated in Figs. 5 and 6, in this
the rollers act wholly beneath the bed or floor A, A, of the carriage; this

page_text: floor is supported by upright timbers from strong beams C, C, C, which extend
across the whole width of the carriage, and pass through blocks D, see also the
edge view, Fig. 6, which are by this means fixed firmly paralel, and attached
to the bed A, A; the undersides of the blocks are formed straight, and rest
upon the rollers E, F, G, which lay upon the ground or road a, a; the
remainder of the rollers are arranged round on the top, and at the ends of the
blocks as at H, I, &c., being kept at equal distances from each other by chains
which, as in the roller wheels, are linked from the center of one to the next,
and they revolve round the blocks in the same manner as the revolving rollers
wheels. The edge view shews the manner in which the rollers are retained in
their position endways by means of a plating of wood or iron L, L, which is
fastened within side of the vertical beams, B, and retains the rollers if they
depart endways from their true position; to diminish the friction, the ends of
the pivots or center pins of the rollers upon which the connecting chains are
linked, are formed round and bear against the plating, which, if made of wood,
is to be faced with iron in the parts of action. A carriage of this kind may
be drawn either by shafts connected with the end beams C, or simply by traces
hooked to those beams at either end, as it will go either end forwards. To adapt
the revolving rollers to a carriage required to turn, I make two complete sets
such as shewn in Figs. 7, and dispose the two sets side by side beneath the
carriage; this form of the revolving rollers does not materially differ from the
definition of the roller wheels, except in revolving wholly beneath the bed of
the waggon or other carriage; the rollers, as also the bearing parts of the block,
should be shod with iron where necessary.
Another application of my revolving rollers is what I call a box truck,
it is shewn in Fig. 8, and has a system of revolving rollers which revolve
round the whole carriage and its contents; by this means the floor A, A, of
the truck may be laid very low and near the ground, to facilitate the loading,
of heavy bodies, as stones, &c., particularly where there is no crane or
other machine for lifting them; it may be considered as a system of rollers
E, E, revolving round a very large block A, A, B, which is hollow, and of
sufficient capacity to contain the matters to be carried; these may be intro-
duced at the sides of the block, the braces or timbers C, C, being removed
for that purpose, or one of the sides may be made altogether open another
method of loading the truck is to have the chains connecting the rollers made
to separate at one or more places by hooks or otherwise, and the rollers
may then be laid paralel to each other upon the ground, so as to get them out
of the way, and make an opening in either or both ends of the carriage
sufficient to introduce the burthen. The rollers in this kind of carriage are.

page_text: kept in their places endways by a projecting edge F surrounding the frame B,
and forming a groove in which the rollers traverse; the same construction of the
rollers is to be used for this as shewn in Fig. 6.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Palmer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twelve.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Third day of April, in the
year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Palmer, came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.