CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS IN CONNEXION THEREWITH.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Evan Leigh, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
IN CONNEXION THEREWITH.
"
Sealed the 11th June 1875, and dated the 15th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Evan Leigh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th December 1874.
I, EVAN LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS IN CONNEXION THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
In the first place I level the road, and for this purpose construct an
oblong square frame by preference of about twenty to thirty feet long,
and about ten feet wide, upon which I fix two adjustable rails. I
mount this frame upon wheels so that it can be moved about. I then

page_text: construct a table, by preference in form of the letter I, about ten feet
long by six feet wide at the top and bottom, and about three feet in the
middle. This table has wheels to run upon the rails of the oblong
square framing before mentioned. On the top of the table I fix a steam
boiler and a pair of small steam engines. By preference the boiler is of 5
the vertical kind with a steam cylinder attached to each side. On the
under side of the table I fix two pedestals about seven feet apart, and
sufficiently long to suspend a porcupine cylinder or roller of about three
feet diameter to the outside of the steel teeth or cutters. On each end
of the shaft that carries the cutting cylinder I place a crank at right 1
angles, and attach the connecting rods of the small engines which work
through slots in the table to the cranks.
The rails upon which the table moves are so arranged that they can
be acted upon by screws for lowering or raising, and also for bending
them when necessary, so as to give any desirable curve to the road or 1
street.
Another modification is to give an ossillating movement to the
cylinder so as to act like levers with teeth, and so imitate the mattock ;
but whatever form or construction the machinery may take for the road,
the framework containing it must move upon the adjustible rails, so
that the surface of the road will assume the same form as the
rails.
The carriage may either be moved on the rails by a long screw or
other means, and be made self-acting or otherwise, but I prefer to place
a shaft at the end of the stationary framework having a ragged wheel at a
each end, so as to act upon two endless chains attached to the carriage.
This shaft is moved by a ratchet wheel apparatus actuated by the steam
or other motive power employed.
The cutting cylinder is made by preference of a number of skewed
discs, so that the cutters can be arranged to cut the road the breadth of ;
the skew on each disc. These discs are keyed upon the crank shaft of
the motive power, and as many are put on as the width of road required.
They are so formed that the cutting tools can be readily taken out for
sharpening and replaced. I then lay down a stone tramway for carriage
wheels, which I make by preference of artificial stones cast in the
ordinary way, except that they have koyholes cast in them for the con-
venience of lifting or carrying about. They may each be about six feet

page_text: long, twelve inches wide, and six inches thick, and faced with about
half an inch of neat Portland cement, the rest about four parts of
broken stones or sharp gravel to one of cement.
I make the stones for the horse track by preference about four feet
eight inches long, seventeen inches wide, and the same total thickness
as the stone trams, except that for about one and a half inches at the
top the stone is cast with cells like a honeycomb, and these cells are
fitted
up with asphalte or a mixture of asphalte with other materials, so
as to prevent slipping. The cells may be of diamond, square, round, or
other form. These stones are also cast with keyholes for lifting, and
the sizes given above will allow of their being laid transversely or
parallel with the tramway.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Evan Leigh in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EVAN
LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Evan Leigh, Her special license
that I, the said Evan Leigh, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Evan Leigh, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROADS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Evan
Leigh, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
-

page_text: describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said Evan Leigh, do liereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is -to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the figures and letters on
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings (that is to say):-
:-
In the first place I level the road for about twenty feet and lay down 1
rails a, Figs. 1 and 2, mounted upon an oblong square frame, or other-
wise, the rails being perfectly level, inclined, or bent to any form I wish
to cut the road in the immediate front of the machine. Then upon a
strong wood or iron frame or carriage b, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, I place a
steam boiler and pair of small horizontal or vertical steam engines (not 1
shewn), so as to give motion to the double crank shaft c which projects
over the sides of the framing of the carriage and has a strong pulley or
fly wheel dat each end. The motion from the crank shaft may be con-
veyed to a shaft e carrying a porcupine cutting cylinder by the
straps g acting on the pulleys h, or it may be taken by connecting rods
and cranks in place of the pulleys and studs inserted in the fly wheels.
In the latter case the pedestals of the shaft when it is raised or lowered
must move in a curved slot struck from the centre of the crank shaft.
Upon the crank shaft ca worm i and hollowed disc k runs loose,
and a friction cone 7 slides upon a sunk key so as to give motion to the
worm when forced against it by the fork lever m, having at the other
end a toothed sector or segment n operated upon by a handle o and
worm p, so that the worm i can be put in motion at pleasure by turning
the handle o. When the engines have been started and this worm i put
in gear, a slow forward motion is given to the carriage through the
worm gearing into the wheel g on the small shaft carrying the
worm 8, which takes into a toothed wheel t keyed upon the axle shaft u.
When the carriage advances the cutters upon the porcupine cylinder f
clear away the earth in front of the machine, and a revolving brush v,
which works in a slanting direction, sweeps the loose particles to one
side. When the carriage has got to the end of the temporary rails it
moves upon the level road it has made, requiring no further guide. In
ascending or descending an incline the shaft e carrying the cutting

page_text: cylinder is raised or lowered a little, as the case may be, by the vertical
The screws are connected
shaft y and wheels x, and
screws w which pass through the pedestals x.
together at the top by the transverse worm
the shaft has a handle wheel or fly a' fixed upon it, by turning which
the porcupine cylinder shaft is raised or lowered at pleasure. The two
front wheels 6 of the carriage are placed in bearings c' on a circular
frame d', which has a strong stud in its centre working in a socket, seen
at g', Figs. 2 and 3, so as to swivel partly round. The stud has also a
sector wheel attached to it, into which a worm ¹ takes, the worm
being keyed upon a shaft which has a handle fixed in any convenient
position for guiding the machine in any direction at pleasure, or turning
it round.
The porcupine cutting cylinder, shewn separate in Figs. 4 and 5, has
about 120 cutters m', by preference of round steel about one inch
diameter, arranged diagonally, so that in making a revolution the whole
of the earth, to the breadth of the cylinder, is operated upon at each
revolution. Each cutter is held by a filbow bolt and nut n', Fig. 5,
so that it can be easily taken out, sharpened, and readjusted when worn,
the cutters being made of such lengths as to last a long time.
After levelling the road I lay down a stone tramway for carriage wheels,
which I make by preference of artifical stones cast in the ordinary
way, except that they have keyholes cast in them for the convenience of
lifting or carrying about. They may each be about six feet long, twelve
inches wide, and six inches thick, and faced with about half an inch of
neat Portland cement, the rest about four parts of broken stones or
sharp gravel to one of cement.
I make the stones for the horse track by preference about four feet
eight inches long, seventeen inches wide, and the same total thickness as
the stone trams, except that for about one and a half inches at the top
the stone is cast with cells like a honeycomb, and these cells are filled
up with asphalte or a mixture of asphalte with other materials, so as to
prevent slipping. The cells may be of diamond, square, round, or other
form, see plan, Fig. 6, and section, Fig. 7. These stones are also cast
with keyholes for lifting, and the sizes given above will allow of their
being laid transversely or parallel with the tramway. They may also be
made to imitate any kind of pavement without trams.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention
I desire it to be understood that I claim, the improvements in roads and

page_text: tramways, and the machinery or apparatus connected therewith, as
herein described and illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
or any mere modification thereof.
"
In witness whereof, I, the said Evan Leigh, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year of 5
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within-named Evan
Leigh, in the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
EVAN LEIGH. (L.s.)