IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING OR WARMING RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND PARTLY APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st August 1880. A communication
from abroad by Stanislas Louis Justin Lepicard, of Paris, France.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING
OR WARMING RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND PARTLY APPLICABLE FOR OTHER
PURPOSES." [A communication from abroad by Stanislas Louis Justin Lepicard,
of Paris, France.]
The
This Invention relates to improved apparatus chiefly designed for heating
railway-carriages by the continuous circulation of steam throughout the said
carriages, the steam being taken from the boiler of the locomotive; one important
feature of the said Invention is an improved pipe-coupling or sleeve for uniting
the pipes or tubes employed for conveying the steam through the carriages, which
pipe-coupling is also applicable for uniting pipes used for other purposes.
said pipe-coupling is provided with a whistle, and is so arranged that the said whistle
will be caused to sound automatically should the two parts or sections forming the
coupling become separated, and so that when such separation takes place the ports
or openings through which the steam or other gaseous body flows will be closed.
I have shewn in the accompanying Drawings several views of one arrangement
for carrying my Invention into practice.
Figure 1 is a diagram of a railway-carriage with my Invention applied thereto.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of one of the two sections forming the pipe-
coupling, and
Figure 3 is a transverse section of the same on the line 1, 2, Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the other section or half of the pipe-coupling,
and
Figure 5 is a transverse section of the same on the line 3, 4, Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of the pipe-coupling connected for use.
Figure 7 is an elevation of the said pipe-coupling.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the Drawings.
The general arrangement of my Invention for heating is as follows, that is
to say:
Upon the locomotive a steam outlet a is provided, whose diameter is from 0.004
to 0005, this diameter having been found in practice to be sufficient to heat an
entire train in a few minutes. The steam passes from the outlet a into the
tube b, then circulates in the train in the manner hereinafter explained and returns
at c to heat the water in the tender.

page_text: Copper tubes which project at each end of the carriages are connected by india-
rubber tubes d, united at their centre by one of the pipe-couplings e* constructed
according to this Invention.
In the carriages I arrange heating boxes or vessels g of such length that two
of the same will occupy the width of the carriage; these boxes, whose width is
about 0m 30, are connected by means of screw-couplings or joints in such a manner
that they be removed without touching the pipes.
Experience has shewn that no condensation takes place in the boxes so arranged,
as the steam is taken from the dome of the locomotive; should there however be
any apprehension of condensation occurring after a somewhat lengthy circulation, I
may place in the bottom of these heating boxes an automatic discharging device,
such as a clack-valve, to which the water would be conducted by inclines suitably
arranged.
The aforesaid automatically acting pipe-couplings provided with a signalling
whistle are arranged as shewn in Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Each pipe-coupling consists of two cylindrical parts e, e¹, having at one ond
a stud or enlargement f, f¹, which studs are designed to enter the pipes d,
Figure 1, formed of india-rubber or other flexible material. Each of these
cylindrical parts e, el, has a tube h, h¹, containing a central tube i, i¹, held by three
pins . The tubes h, h', are provided with apertures 1, 1, for the passage of the
steam; upon these tubes sockets m, m¹, slide, which are so slotted that when in the
position shewn in Figure 6 they uncover the apertures 1, 11; these sockets have
each a cone-shaped shoulder n, n', for closing the annular space between the
tubes h, h', and the tubes i, i, by the pressure of the spiral springs p, p¹,
surrounding the latter and bearing against the cylindrical parts e, e¹.
The two parts e, e¹, may be connected in any convenient manner, but I prefer to
effect their connection by means of a bayonet-joint r, as shewn in Figure 7.
The tube has at its end a signalling or alarm whistle s, and the tube i is
provided with a plug or obturator.
When the two sections or parts of the coupling are connected, as shewn in
Figure 6, the steam entering through the tube f¹ into the tube i passes through
the apertures ', , as shewn by the arrows, circulates in the tubes i, h', and in the
tubes i, h, and leaves by the apertures 1, 1, and the tube f. When the pipe-coupling
is open or separated, as shewn in Figures 2 and 4, the apertures l, are closed, and
the steam then actuates the whistle s, travelling as shewn by the arrows, and the
guard or driver is thus warned that the communication is interrupted. A pipe-
coupling is arranged at each end of the carriage, so that a signalling whistle may
always be in front.
I may provide these pipe-couplings with handles of wood or leather covered
with mica, for example, so as to protect from the heat the official who has to
separate the carriages from each other.
This Invention is simple in its operation and is of great advantage from an
economical point of view, both with regard to fuel and to the saving effected by
dispensing with attendants or workmen required for attending to the heaters
hitherto used. Furthermore accidents are avoided, as there are none of such
heaters to be carried about, and travellers are not disturbed in their rest as is at
present the case.
The said pipe-coupling may also be applied advantageously for use with pipes in
which gases, or vapors, or fluids of any kind circulate. I may for example employ
it with advantage for the pipes used in connection with continuous brakes.