IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING APPARATUS TO CARRIAGES TO FACILITATE THE DRAFT
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Boydell, of 65, Gloucester Crescent, Regent's
Park, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING APPARATUS TO
CARRIAGES TO FACILITATE THE DRAFT."
Sealed the 30th May 1854, and dated the 22nd February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Boydell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd February 1854.
I, JAMES BOYDELL, of 65, Gloucester Crescent, Regent's Park, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING APPARAtus
TO CARRIAGES TO FACILITATE THE DRAFT " to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus applied to the wheels
of carriages for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the twenty-ninth
day of August, One thousand eight hundred and forty-six, which consists in
the application of moveable detached parts of a railway to the wheels of
carriages, whereby each part is successively placed by its wheel on to the road
or land over which the carriage travelled, each part of the portable railway
when down allowing its wheel to roll over it, the wheel depositing and lifting
the parts of the railway in succession; and my present improvements consist in
the application of side pieces to each portion of the moveable rails so as to
obtain a more extended bearing for the rails whilst the wheel is passing over

page_text: it; and the Invention also consists in the construction of the parts of the
portable rails by combining trough iron and wood to obtain great strength
with lightness.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Boydell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BOYDELL, of 65, Gloucester Crescent, Regent's Park, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Boydell, Her special license that I, the said James Boydell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Boydell, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING APPA-
RATUS TO CARRIAGES TO FACILITATE THE DRAFT," upon the. condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Boydell, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly 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 James Boydell, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus applied to the wheels
of carriages for-which Letters Patent were granted to me on the Twenty-ninth
day of August, One thousand eight hundred and forty-six which consisted-in
the application of moveable detached parts of a railway to the wheels of
carriages, whereby each part is successively placed by its wheel on to the road
or land over which the carriage travelled, each part of the portable railway
when down allowing its wheel to roll over it, the wheel depositing and lifting

page_text: obtain a more extended bearing for the rails whilst the wheel is passing over
it, and the Invention-also-consists in the construction of the parts of the
portable rails by combining trough iron and wood to obtain great strength
with lightness.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the best means I am acquainted with for performing the same.
run.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1 and 2 show two views of wheels with apparatus applied thereto,
constructed and combined according to my Invention; Figure 3 shows a
perspective view of one of the separate parts of which the portable railway is
constructed; and Figure 4 shows a perspective view of one of the double guides
fixed to the sides of a wheel by which the parts of the portable railway are
lifted and correctly deposited from and on to the ground. The parts of the
rails on which the wheels of a carriage run are each fixed to a plate, by
preference of wood strengthened with iron, so that the surface bearing of the
plate is considerable as compared with the width of the tyre of the wheel,
the plate extending considerably on either side of the rail on which the wheels
The ends of the bearing plates are formed so as to match into cach other,
and in each case to extend beyond the end of the portion of rail which a
bearing plate carries, so that when a carriage wheel comes to the end of one
portion of rail, it does not come to the end of the bearing plate on which that
part of the rail is fixed, but is received on to and is supported by the next
portion of rail, before the wheel has passed beyond the end of the previous
bearing plate, all which will readily be understood by reference to the Drawings,
where the form of bearing plate which is preferred is shown. I do not, however,
confine myself to the precise form indicated by the Drawings so long as the
peculiarities described be retained. In the Drawing there are shown to be six
portions of a rail to each wheel, and each portion of the rail a is fixed to the
bearing plate 6; and, for lightness with strength and stiffness, it is preferred to
use light trough rails of iron filled with wood and fixed by rivets or otherwise
to the bearing plate b. To each of the bearing plates 6 is affixed or formed
the triangle c, which passes between the two guide plates d, e, fixed to the side
of the wheel, one such pair of guide plates d, e, being used for each bearing
plate b. These triangles have each a projecting stud or pin f through them, and
the guide plates e, fixed to the wheel have each a raised surface e' with hollows
or notches at the ends at e², by means of which, together with the stops 9, the

page_text: bearing plates bare correctly laid on to the ground, and this is effected by the
pin or stud f entering the forward notch e³ of the guide plates, whilst the back
end of the bearing plate which is about to be laid down is correctly guaged by
one of the stops 9; and similar stops may be applied in the opposite position,
to assist in backing the wheel, and the bearing plates will be taken up or lifted
correctly by the studs f coming into the back notch e³ of the guide plates d, e,
the other end of the bearing plates coming against the stops 9, as they are
lifted up. By this construction and mode of combination the parts of a
portable railway will at all times be laid and taken up correctly notwithstanding
the bearing plates are detached and independent of each other. I have not
thought it necessary to show any carriage, as the Invention is applicable to all
classes of carriages with wheels, whether moved by animals or by steam or by
other power.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim is the combination herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Boydell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE.
JAMES BOYDELL. (L.S.)