IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, AND IN THE MODES OF TRANSMITTING THE POWER OF A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE TO THE TENDER AND OTHER CARRIAGES OF A TRAIN FOR CONVERTING THEIR WHEELS INTO DRIVING WHEELS."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles de Bergue, of No. 10, Strand, in the
City of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, AND IN THE MODES
OF TRANSMITTING THE POWER OF A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE TO THE TENDER AND
OTHER CARRIAGES OF A TRAIN FOR CONVERTING THEIR WHEELS INTO DRIVING
WHEELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oharles de Bergue at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd March 1868.
I, CHARLES DE BERGUE, of 10, Strand, in the City of Westminster,
5 in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, AND IN
THE MODES OF TRANSMITTING THE POWER OF A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE TO THE TENDER

page_text: AND OTHER CARRIAGES OF A TRAIN FOR CONVERTING THEIR WHEELS INTO DRIVING
WHEELS," to be as follows:-
The object of these improvements is to obtain the requisite grip or
hold upon the rails without unduly loading the driving wheels of the
engine and causing unnecessary wear of tyres and rails, and at the
same time to afford facilities for ascending steep inclines with quick
curves or taking heavy loads on level lines.
The improvements in locomotives consist in constructing them with
a pair of rocking shafts in line one with the other by lever arms thereon
from the direct action of the steam cylinders, and delivering the power
so received by other lever arms on the shafts to connecting rods, and
through these directly or indirectly to the engine wheels, and in addition
or instead of to the engine wheels the delivering the power received
by the firstly-mentioned lever arms to suitably flexible or jointed con-
necting rods for transmitting the power to the tender and to one or
more of the carriages as required for the purpose of converting their
wheels into driving wheels, as herein-after set forth.
The manner in which the first improvement may be performed is
to place the pair of rocking shafts transversely across the engine to
employ inside cylinders on the engine and inside lever arms on the
shafts for receiving power, and outside lever arms on the shafts for
delivering power to the wheels, the cranks or crank pins on the two
sides of the engine being set with regard to each other at right angles
to overcome the dead points. The manner in which the power may
be delivered to the flexible or jointed connecting rods & transmitted
to tender and carriages is to use the firstly-mentioned lever arms as
radius bars for so guiding the said rods as to convey to them an almost
direct action of the piston rods of the engine.
The improvements in the modes of transmitting the power of a
locomotive engine as mentioned in the title of the Invention are as
follows: One of these improvements is the driving or transmitting
power by means of the firstly-mentioned lever arms of the engine to
lever arms & rocking shafts on the tender and carriages by continuous
systems of reciprocating connecting rods, and from the rocking shafts
on the tender and carriages the actuating other lever arms and rods
for driving the wheels of the tender or of each separate carriage. The
wheels of each carriage may be coupled by coupling bars on either
side in the ordinary manner of coupling locomotive wheels, and such

page_text: coupling bars may be the means of receiving and distributing the
motion. The rocking shafts on the tender and carriages are intended
to be employed in pairs as in the locomotive engine, that is to say, to
each carriage two shafts lying transversely in a line with each other
and working separately and situate near to one end of the carriage,
each shaft receiving its motion from a separate lever arm and connecting
rod, but the shape and disposition of the two arms and rods being such
that such rods may either. lie and work directly one over the other and
both in the (plán), centre line of the train, or that both may lie and
work close or near to such centre, linc. One rod will work the wheels
on one side of the carriage or train, and the other rod those on the
other side, the crank pins on the wheels on the two sides being set
at right angles to each other as before described to overcome the dead
centres. The several carriages are to be further coupled or connected
together on the centre line, or by a bar or rod preserving a fixed
distance, but by its flexibility bending where required to allow motion
round curves on a railway, or rods with universal joint or other suitable
equivalent may be substituted.
Another improvement is. the making the axles of the carriages with
Z-shaped double cranks. and. furnishing. them, with S or serpentine
shaped connecting rods. between the axles of adjoining carriages, and
with other like connecting rods between the axles of the same carriage,
the first and secondly mentioned rods being attached and articulated
to bearings on the cranks in such. manner as that the two bearings on
each double crank may (in the working) pass one over the other at
or in the (plan) centre line of the train and that. the power received
and distributed may pass through such centre line and that the rods
may clear each other in their action. The connecting rods and cranks;
must be of sufficient strength to communicate the motion notwith--
standing their bent forms, and the bearings may be plummer blocks
with lugs for receiving the ends of the rods, the articulation being
made by vertical pin or hinge joints affording the requisite motion
for self-adjustment in passing round curves on a railway and being
disposed in or as nearly as may be in the (plan) centre line of the
train.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles de Bergue in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DE BERGUE, of No. 10, Strand, in the City of Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles de Bergue, Her special licence
that I, the said Charles de Bergue, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles de Bergue, 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 LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, AND IN THE MODES OF TRANSMITTING THE POWER OF
A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE TO THE TENDER AND OTHER CARRIAGES OF A TRAIN FOR
CONVERTING THEIR WHEELS INTO DRIVING WHEELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles de Bergue, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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 Charles de Bergue, 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, that is to say:—
The object of these improvements is to obtain the requisite grip or
hold upon the rails without unduly loading the driving wheels of
the engine and causing unnecessary wear of tyres and rails, and at
the same time to afford facilities for ascending steep inclines with
quick curves or taking heavy loads on level lines.

page_text: It will assist the explanation to bear in mind that in going round the
curves of a railway the length of the inner rail is shorter than that of the
outer, and that direct coupling or connecting rods between the wheels of
adjoining carriages are inadmissable by reason of the varying length or
distance (while travelling) between the wheels to be coupled, conse-:
quently the coupling of any motion between the wheels of adjoining
carriages must, as in this Invention, be indirect and along or through.
the centre line between rails (or nearly so), the ordinary buffing action
being dispensed with so that on the centre line a fixed distance may be
preserved.
It will be convenient to set forth, firstly, the improvements in
locomotive engines; and, secondly, the improvements in the modes of
transmitting power.
Firstly, then, the improvements in locomotive engines, consist in
constructing them with a pair of rocking shafts in line one with the
other with lever arms thereon driven from the direct action of the
steam cylinders, and with other lever arms thereon delivering the so
received power to connecting rods, and through these directly or
indirectly to the engine wheels, and in addition or instead of to the
engine wheels delivering the power received by the firstly-mentioned
lever arms to suitably flexible or jointed connecting or driving rods
for transmitting power, as secondly to be set forth.
So far as is requisite to illustrate the Invention, Figures 1, 2, 3,
represent partly in section and partly in elevation a locomotive engine,
a tender, and part of another carriage respectively constructed in
accordance with the above and herein-after mentioned improvements.
The apparatus being in duplicate (one set for each side or half) the
back set only is represented, the front set being for distinctness omitted,
but in the diagram, Figure 4, both sets of certain parts are represented,
one set in full lines and the other in dotted lines.
Figures 1, 2, and 3ª are corresponding plan views, the framing
being omitted; and Figure 5 a cross section at Z, Z, (Figure 2) looking-
towards the tender. In Figures 1 and 1, d, d, are the pair of rocking
shafts lying transversely across the engine end on one with regard to
the other; e, e, are inside lever arms receiving power directly from
inside cylinders by ordinary or adapted piston connecting rods f, f;
9, 9, are outside lever arms, and h, h, rods connecting them by cranks or
crank pins with and delivering the power to and driving the wheels i, i,
:

page_text: and from these driving the wheels k, k; also by ordinary coupling
rods 1, 1, on the two sides of the engine the crank actions are set at
right angles to each other to overcome the dead points. In combination
with the driving the wheels (or instead of driving them) the lever
arms e, e, also serve as radius bars for guiding the two eonnecting
or driving rods M and m and conveying to them a direct or almost
direct action from the piston rods of the engine. These rods lie one
over the other on the centre line of the engine or nearly so. (M belongs
to front set of apparatus and m to back set), and are for transmitting
its power to the tender and when desired to the tender and other
carriages. In referring to the diagram, Figure 4, it is. to be noted that
the part m is not jointed to h, but is continuous across. one. end of
although for distinctness represented as broken off. Some further
explanation as to these rods is herein-after given in reference to the
second improvement. which this part of the subject introduces, and
which consists in constructing the tender and carriages (either or some
or all) with continuous systems of flexible or jointed reciprocating.
connecting or driving rods for transmitting to them the power they
receive from the locomotive either as firstly set forth or otherwise,
and with rocking shafts with lever arms upon them for receiving motion
from the said driving rods, and with other lever arms upon and actuated
by them for driving the wheels of the tender and carriages (either or
some or all) and so converting them into driving wheels.
One illustration of this improvement is afforded by the Figures
already referred to. M and m are the driving or power transmitting
rods of the locomotive, shewn as articulated at the ends which join
up with the tender by universal joints to accommodate both horizontal
and vertical motions, thus providing for going round curves and for
irregularities of the road. On the tender and carriages M*, M, and
m*, m2, are the corresponding driving or power transmitting rods; d*, d²,
are the rocking shafts upon which are the lever arms e*, es, by which
they are driven and the other lever arms g*, g³, which actuate the
rods h*, h, connecting the arms g*, g³, by cranks or crank pins with
and delivering power to the wheels i*, i, which thus become converted
into driving wheels; and 1*, 12, are ordinary coupling rods from the
wheels i*,, for driving the other wheels of the tender and carriages.
The several rods M, M*, M³, and m, m*, m², are articulated at their
ends with universal joints and form systems of rods which may be
extended as desired to any number of carriages; or the articulation

page_text: may be effected by short lengths of flat steel bars placed with edges
or narrow sides presented upwards and downwards and fastened to ends
of rods by pivot joints permitting vertical play, the spring or flexure
of the bars permitting horizontal play. Similarly, excepting that the
bars lie with flat sides presented upwards and downwards, connections
are made between the engine, tender, and carriages, as shown at o
in the Figures.
In the illustration just described it will be noted that the rocking
shaft d in the engine is interposed between the cylinders 8, and the wheels
i to which the motion is firstly imparted; but if these wheels are driven
in the ordinary or any other approved manner their motion may be
transmitted to convert the other wheels of the train into driving
wheels in manner as illustrated by Figures 6 and 7 (elevations or
vertical views) and 6 and 7 (corresponding plans), in which the
rocking shaft d on engine is interposed between its hind wheels i and
the tender, these wheels driving the said shaft by the connecting rods h
and the outside lever arms g on the shaft, and the inside lever arms e, e,
thereon actuating the driving or power transmitting rods M, m, as
before. And for convenience the rocking shaft on the tender is inter-
posed between the front and hind wheels instead of at the front end
as firstly described.
I do not now consider of much import the improvement in the mode
of transmitting power having reference to Z-shaped double cranks and S
or serpentine shaped connecting rods which is referred to in the latter
portion of the Provisional Specification of the Invention, and con-
sequently I do not claim any exclusive right or privilage in the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Bergue, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
J. C. HADDAN.
C. DE BERGUE. (L.S.)