Improvements in Railway and other Motors or Cars.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Feb., 1889-Accepted, 15th June, 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway and other Motors or Cars.
A communication from JOSEPH R. VALENTINE and ALEXANDER T. GRIGG, citizens of the
United States, residing in the City and County of Pueblo, Colerado, United
States of America.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E. do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to he particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following stateinent :-
The invention relates to that class of railway and other vehicles which receive
locomotion from an engine or motor which is located upon the vehicle itself.
The leading object of the invention is the provision of means whereby when the
engine is in operation, the vehicle may be instantly arrested in its progress when in
motion, or instantly set in motion when at rest, without arresting or retarding the
movement of the engine or in any way modifying its action.
The invention consists in the combination with a vehicle which has two or more
pairs of supporting wheels and an engine mounted upon the vehicle; of a pair of
driving wheels which are operated by such engine; and a means whereby the
driving-wheels may either be instantly brought into contact with the earth or with a
track rail to impart motion to the vehicle; or whereby when in contact, such con-
tact may be instantly discontinued to terminate the effective action of the impelling
power.
The invention consists also in the connection of the driving-wheel operating mechanism,
with the brake operating mechanism; whereby the brakes are operated by the same
mechanism by which the driving-wheels are held in operative contact with the rail or
with the roadway or are withdrawn therefrom.
The invention consists also in other novel parts or combinations of parts; as will
be hereinafter described.
In the drawings ;-Fig. represents a side elevation of a street railway car
portions being broken out-which is provided with this improved means of propul-
sion. Fig. is a top plan view of the body of the car and the brake-shaft and its
support having been removed. Fig. 3 is a perspective elevation looking from the
front toward the end of the car. Fig. 4 is a detail face view drawn to an enlarged
scale of the bearing plate and its sliding link. Fig. 5 is a section on the line -
of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section on the line y-y of Figs. 1 & 4.
As seen in Figure 1 the engine B which may be of any suitable or preferred
construction is by preference located upon the front portion of the car A which is
provided with front and rear supporting wheels to w' of any suitable kind.
of
Upon each side of the car a bearing plate having a perforated upper extension c'
and a bifurcated lower extension c is secured to an exterior longitudinal sill
the bed frame. The lower extension c receives within the jaws c of its bifurcated
portion the body of a sliding link d within the opening of which are received the
upper and lower members c³, c* respectively of a journal box (which members
have in their coincident faces curved recesses as shown, to receive the end e' of the
axle E of the driving wheels E.
The coincident faces of the jaws c³ ³ and the corresponding surfaces of the
journal box are slightly curved in the arc of a circle of which the engine-shaft is the
centre.
The link d is provided upon its inner and upon its outer face with washers or
guides d' which are secured by screw bolts the washers projecting beyond the
body of the link and overlapping each side of the jaws c³, as seen in figures 4 and 5.

page_text: The members of the journal box extend at their ends somewhat beyond the faces
of the link in which they are held and aro provided with flanges which embrace
the body of the link.
A spring composed of rubber or other suitable material is secured by pins d', d
or other means within the space between the journal box (and the base d' of the
link.
A truss bar which extends ncross the lower extremity of the boaring plate (2
and is made fast by its enils to the sill serves to limit the downward movement of
the link and to give increased firmness to the bearing plate and the wheel operating
mechanism connected therewith.
The upper extremity of the sliding link d is connected by a pivot-joint d³ with tho
lower member of a toggle lever F, the upper member of which is secured by
a pivot-pin to the upper extension of the hearing plate (". An actunting
lever Javing its fulerum upon the bed-frame of the vehicle is pivotted
at its lower extremity to a connecting bar which in turn is pivotted to
a fixed arm which projects obliquely downward from the transverse rocker
shaft H which has its bearings in journal plates 4' which are secured to the
longitudinal sills C. A fixed upper arm upon the rockor shaft II projects in a
direction from such shaft opposite to that of the lower arm
extremity is pivotted to a bar (which extends along the sill
plate (and is received by its opposite end upon the pivot pin
members of the toggle lever F.
and at its upper
and the bearing
which connects the
Each driving wheel E has upon its outer face a circular grooved bearing or chain
wheel E' which receives motion from the shaft of the engine B through the medium
of the endless chain K. It will be observed that the driving wheels have a broad
periphery to permit free lateral movement in rounding curves without liability to
derailment. As shown these wheels are unflanged but a flange may be employed
when desired.
In the operation of the raising and lowering mechanism which will be readily
understood from its representation in figure I the effect of the downward and
forward inclination of the ways in which the link d slides is to cause the driving wheels
to be engaged by a wedge-like action between the track and the car the engagement
being the more positive as the weight of the car or of its load is increased.
In their elevated position the driving wheels are preferably but about one inch
from the track rail; and as the springs of the supporting wheels to to have a maximum
compressibility of only three fourths of an inch, it follows that the driving wheels
cannot, when elevated, be brought into contact with such rail by any jolting move-
ment of the car. When the lover J is released the driving wheels by their own
gravity descend upon the rail, whon a very slight forward movement of such lover
renders the engagement of the wheels with the rails rigid and effective for all purposes.
The inclination of the ways or jaws similarly operates, when the lever J is thrown
backward to facilitate the elevation of the driving wheels.
The lover which as already described is connected by a series of arms, bars and
levers with the whool-carrying link d is connected also by a chain with a link
of the brake chain so that when the lever J is thrown forward to thrust the driving
wheels downward upon the track the brakes Lare, by the same movement of the lever,
released from engagement with the supporting wheels to wand so that when the
driving wheels are lifted such brakes will by the same movement be again brought into
contact with such supporting wheels. It will thus be seen that under this construction
both the driving wheels and the supporting wheels may be wholly controlled by a
single operator.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. The combination with a car of an engine or motor which is fixed upon the car

page_text: a pair of driving wheels mounted in the frame of the car impelled by such engine and
movable in ways which are concentric with the axis of the engine shaft and a com-
pound lever operable from the engine platform either to lift the wheels from the track
or to hold them in positive and rigid engagement therewith.
2. The combination with a car of an engine or motor mounted upon such car a
pair of driving wheels mounted upon such car and adjustable up or down in ways
thereon a connection between the driving shaft of the engine and the axle of the
driving wheels and a lever whereby the driving wheels are movable either into or
out of engagement with the car-track.
3. In a car which is provided with a brake-rod and with brake chains and brakes
the combination of driving wheels an engine or motor a lever which is operable to
adjust such wheels either upon or away from the track and a chain which connects
such operating lover with the brake chains whereby both the driving wheels and the
supporting wheels are controlled by a single operator.
Dated this 7th day of February 1880
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents.