CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE USE OF PROPELLING VESSELS AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES, AS ALSO CARRIAGES AND OTHER VEHICLES ON RAILROADS AS WELL AS ON COMMON ROADS, PART OF WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HARSLEBEN, of Number 55, Bold Street, Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Nineteenth day of January, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Harsleben, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Charles Harsleben, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Harsleben, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR
THE USE OF PROPELLING VESSELS AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES, AS ALSO CARRIAGES
AND OTHER VEHICLES ON RAILROADS AS WELL AS ON COMMON ROADS, PART OF WHICH
MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Charles Harsleben, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the saru
Charles Harsleben, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My said Invention consists in one part in an arrangement of mechanism by
which the power of draught horses or of other quadrupeds, or of men, exerted
upon a moveable flexible platform, is made to propel carriages on a railway or
other supporting surface, or vessels on water, at a speed greater than that at
which the actual muscular exertion of the animal would cause his body to
progress over a fixed immoveable surface as the ground. The flexible moveable
platform upon which I cause the animal to exert his action of progression is in
the form which is termed an endless web, supported on two rollers, which turn
on pivots as the flexible platform is pushed or pulled in a longitudinal direction.
On the inner surface of the flexible platform arè fixed bars; which serve as cogs
to work into the teeth of a pinion or wheel, keyed on or gearing with wheels
fixed upon the main or driving shaft of the carriage or vessel. The supporting
rollers are carried by their pivots in a swing frame, which by appropriate con-
trivances is capable of being set either horizontally or at different angles
inclining to the horizontal plane, so that the animal being brought into the
position of one ascending a hill, in exerting his force as if to climb the ascent
pushes the yielding platform from beneath him, and remains himself stationary
as to contiguous bodies. The endless flexible platform being thus caused to
turn over the carrying rollers by the successive pressure of the animal's feet, a
continuous motion in its longitudinal direction is generated, and the cog bars
on its inner surface, taking into the teeth of the driving pinion, carry it round
on its axis, and hence cause the revolution of the bearing wheels of a carriage,
or of the paddle shaft of a boat, as the force may be applied to the propulsion
of bodies on land or on water. As it may be required to use the force of
one or more animals in this way, it will be necessary to adapt the framework to
support one or more of the swing frames which carry the labourer.
In shewing, by the accompanying Drawings, the manner in which this my
Invention is applicable to the propulsion of a railway carriage, I shall have
made obvious to competent engineers the manner in which my contrivance
may be adapted to the propulsion of other forms of carriages or of vessels.
Sheet A, Figure 1, shews a longitudinal section of one of the swing frames with
its flexible platform. A (coloured indigo) shews one side of the frame, which is
either supported and turns upon the driving axle, as seen at Figure 2, or it may

page_text: be supported by gudgeons turning in bearings in the inner rail of the carriage
frame. At each end of the sides of the swing frame is a toothed arc, the curve
of which is described from the centre of motion of the frame; into one of these
ares a pinion a, b, works, moved by a winch handle attached to the carriage
frame, by means of which the conductor can alter at pleasure the inclination of
the platform, bringing it into a working position, more or less inclined, or into
the horizontal position of rest. In the opposite are another pinion c works
on the same shaft, with which on the outside of the carriage frame is a lock-
wheel ratchet, which can be locked or liberated by a long bolt and lever going
to the place of the conductor, as shewn at Figure 3. The two sides of the
swing frame are connected solidly together by cross bars or bolts or nuts.
Near the two ends of the frame are the carrying rollers which support the
flexible platform. The axes of the rollers stretch across the frame, and their
pivots turn in bushed holes in the sides. These carrying rollers C, C, are not
of the same diameter throughout their whole length, being cut down sufficiently
in the greater part of their length to allow of the passage without touching of
the cog bars on the inner side of the flexible platform, which is only carried by
the two rollers for a few inches from each margin, to which the cog bars do not
extend. The endless flexible platform B, B, which stretches round the two
carrying rollers, and reaches from side to side of the swing frame, is constructed
of several folds of strong linen or hempen cloth, or cloth and leather, the cloth
being tarred or oiled to prevent the absorption of water. On the outer surface
of this endless cloth strips of strong hoop or sheet iron, of suitable breadth to
carry each one of the cog bars of the inner surface at the pitch of the driving
pinion, are sewed by binding ware. The cog bars of the inner surface are to be
firmly attached by rivets, screws, or pins going through the folds of cloth to the
strips of iron on the outer surface. To prevent endways stretching of the linen,
two or more endless, chains may be laid on the outside of the iron strips, and
kept in their places by short strips of boards as thick as the chain interposed
betwixt them and on the outsides, and fastened by rivets or otherwise to the
platform; and upon these short boards, bars of wood, rounded a little on the
upper surface, flat beneath, of the width of the transverse iron strips, as long
as the whole breadth of the platform, and sufficiently thick to carry the weight
of the labouring animal, must be securely fixed. These bars of wood, rounded
on their outer surfaces, form a series of ridges, which give foot-hold to the
labourers. The bars, which serve as cogs on the inner surface of the flexible
platform, are set in reference to each other so as to accord with the pitch of
the pinion or wheel into which they are intended to gear; their transverse

page_text: section should have the form of the teeth of a rack which would work correctly
with the wheel, and their pitch may be preserved by a due breadth of the flat
part of the bars: see Figure 5, Sheet A. Their length may correspond with
the breadth of the wheel or pinion, and may fall short of the breadth of the
platform by three or more inches on each side, leaving on each margin of the
platform on its inner side a plain surface, which can apply itself closely to each
of the satient cylindrical surfaces at the outer extremities of the carrying rollers.
These plain margins of the platform are further supported by short rollers a on
studs on the inner side of the carriage frame, and the cog bars are kept in gear
with the pinion by similar short rollers, which act against the margin on the
outer side of the flexible platform. If the driving pinion into which the cogs
of the platform gear be upon the main axle of the carriage, as in the Drawing,
it is evident that the acceleration of the carriage over the walking speed of the
labouring animal will be in the ratio of the diameter of the bearing wheel of
the carriage to that of the pinion keyed upon its axle. In this case the pro-
gression of the carriage upon the rail will be in the direction the reverse of
that of the apparent progression of the animal. When a quadruped is the first
mover upon this machine no harness is required, it being only necessary to
attach him by the bridle to some part of the framing to prevent him from
walking forward when the platform is in the horizontal position. In a carriage
designed for two horses I prefer to place them one before the other, as is shewn
in Sheet B, Figure 1. In this case, the same pinion 6, acting in the toothed
arcs of both swing frames, inclines or levels them at the same time and in the
same degree. When four horses are to be employed I arrange the platforms
as is shewn in Sheet C, Figure 1. When my Invention is to be applied to a
carriage which has occasion to make sharper turns than the admitted curves of
a railway, as, for instance, on common turnpike roads, then it will be necessary
to restrict the action of the horses or other labourers to the hind axle of the
carriage, leaving the fore wheels free to tranverse in order to change the line of
direction of the moving vehicle. I do not claim the Invention of a flexible
platform moving round rollers, which has been used before; but I claim the use
of such a platform as herein described; fixed in a swing frame, which turns upon
an axle or gudgeons near to its middle, so as to be capable of being set at
pleasure either horizontally or to different angles of inclination, so that the
may receive more
plane on which the effort of the labouring animal is directed
or less of impulse from such effort, according to the exigencies of the load, as
to propulsive power, the weight of the labourer increasing in power to turn the
platform over the rollers as the angle of inclination of the plane on which ho

page_text: acts Is Increased.
1 claim, moreover, the use of driving cogs attached to the
inner surface of the endless flexible platform gearing into a pinion or wheel, as
herein described, for the purpose of converting the rectilinear motion of the
platform between the rollers into a continuous rotatory one; and in connection
with such cogged platform I claim the grooved rollers, which allow of the
passage of the cogs freely in turning round the rollers. I claim, moreover,
the structure of the flexible platform which I have now described.
Another part of my Invention consists in the construction of a wheel, the
periphery of which admits of change of form by pressure, so that, under
certain circumstances, by flattening the curve a much more extended con-
tact with the ground is obtained, and consequently more hold to assist the
ascent of the carriage up an inclined plane. This kind of wheel I do not
employ as the bearing wheel of the carriage, but as a supernumerary wheel,
fixed on a prolongation of the axle, to act upon the ground on the outside
of the rail. This wheel I call a friction wheel, and it may be applied to
steam-driven railway carriages as well as to the kind of carriages herein
described; and such application of the friction wheel I claim under the
privileges of this Patent. The friction wheel is shewn in Sheet A, Figure 4.
a, a, a, &c. are hollow cylindrical spokes fixed into the nave; b, b, b, &c.
are solid rods fitting loosely into the hollow spokes, but not reaching the
whole length. On the outer extremities of the rods 6 are fixed segments
of the periphery, made of metal or other suitable material. d, d, d, &c. are
stretchers from the sides of the hollow spokes towards each end of the seg-
ments (c). In the hollow spoke between the end of the rod 6 and the nave is
a spiral spring, which forces outwards to a certain extent the solid rod, but
which yields on pressure, and admits the rod 6 to slide inwards towards the
When this occurs, by the pressure of the end of the rod on the ground
the stretchers flatten the curve of the flexible segment of the periphery, and
bring its surface into more extensive contact with the ground, according to the
degree of pressure exerted on the end of the rod. To prevent the segments
from being turned out of the plane of the wheel, the rods 6 are checked from
turning in the hollow spokes by a stud or cross arm fixed to the rods sliding in
one or more slots in the hollow cylinders. This friction wheel, being keyed on
the projecting end of the axle of the bearing wheel, assists in the propulsion of
the carriage by taking hold of the ground, in addition to the hold of the tire
of the bearing wheel on the rail. To lessen retardation from atmospheric
resistance when a carriage is moving with great velocity, I erect a semi-
cylandrical screen on the leading end of the carriage, which may be made of
nave.

page_text: very light materials, as canvass or leather, or both, supported by strips of
whalebone pressed outwards by spiral springs that will yield in case of any
accidental pressure from without: see plan of this screen, Figure (6), Sheet A.
I claim the use of such semi-cylindrical screen for quick moving carriages.
In witness whereof, I the said Charles Harsleben, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six..