IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOVING OR TRANSPORTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER HEAVY BODIES FROM PLACE TO PLACE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 68, Fleet Street, in the City
of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MOVING OR TRANSPORTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER
HEAVY BODIES FROM PLACE TO PLACE."-A communication from abroad
by Hermann Müller, of 17, Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris, France.
Sealed the 13th May 1870, and dated the 21th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Henry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21th November 1869.
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOVING OR TRANSPORTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND
OTHER HEAVY BODIES FROM PLACE TO PLACE," communicated to me from
abroad by Hermann Müller, of 17, Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris,
France, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to convey or transport railway carriages
or other heavy bodies from place to place, and it is especially applicable

page_text: to the conveying of railway carriages or trains from one railway or
one part of a railway to another when, for instance, the continuity of
a line is intercepted by rivers, valleys, highways, buildings, or other
interruptions or obstacles.
The Invention consists of an apparatus in which endless ropes, bands,
or chains travel over rollers actuated by a steam engine or other prime
mover, and to these ropes, bands, or chains the carriage or other body to
be moved is suspended by appliances which are brought into action and
out of action as required, motion being communicated to the carriage or
other body by the continuous motion of the rope, band, or chain.
One mode of carrying the Invention into effect is by using as the
suspending appliances forked arms, which work on an axis and are held
to their work by hooks kept in action by springs; they are restored to
their previous position when they pass under the rallers by a piece lifted
by a wedge. The hooks being thus actuated allow the springs to operate
on the forks and release the carriages from the ropes, bands, or chains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Michael Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of 68, Flect Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Michael Henry, Her special licence that
I, the said Michael Henry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Michael Henry, 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 APPARATUS FOR
MOVING OR TRANSFORTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER HEAVY BODIES FROM

page_text: PLACE TO PLACE," communicated to me from abroad by Hermann Müller,
of 17, Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris, France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Michael Henry, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or ono
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 samo 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 Michael Henry, do hereby doclare
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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to convey or transport railway carriages
or other heavy bodies from place to place, and it is especially applicable
to the conveying of railway carriages or trains from one railway or
one part of a railway to another when, for instance, the continuity of
a line is intercepted by rivers, valleys, highways, buildings, or other
interruptions or obstacles.
The Invention consists of an apparatus in which endless ropes, bands,
or chains travel over rollers or drums actuated by a steam engine. or
other prime mover, and to these ropes, bands, or chains the carriage or
other body to be moved is suspended by appliances which are brought
into action and out of action as required, motion being communicated to
the carriage or other body by the continuous motion of the rope, band,.
or chain.
One mode of carrying the Invention into effect is represented in the
accompanying Drawings. In this arrangement the suspending appliances.
are forked arms, which work on an axis and are held to their work by.
hooks kept in action by springs; they are restored to their previous.
position when they pass under the rollers by a peice lifted by a wedge..
The hooks being thus actuated allow the springs to operate on the forks.
and release the carriages from the ropes, bands, or chains..
The accompanying Drawings represent apparatus constructed according
to this arrangement.

page_text: Figure 1 is a side clevation of apparatus constructed according to the
Invention; Figure 2, a plan of the same. A, A, are two pairs of drums or
rollers. A pair of drums are placed at the end of each line of rail, that
is to say, the ends where the break of continuity or interruption occurs,
and they are fixed at equal distances apart on a strong shaft a driven by
a steam engine S. B, B, are endless ropes (or they may be straps, bands,
or chains) which pass over the drums and run parallel to each other;
they are made to travel by their frictional contact with the revolving
drums A, which are rotated by their shaft a driven as described. The
steam engine S communicates motion by intermediate-(instead of direct)
connections R, R*, to the shaft, so that the shaft is capable of being
adjusted in the direction of the line of railway, and for this
purpose the
bearings in which the shaft a works are made capable of adjustment in
such direction, so that the tension of the ropes may be varied as required.
C, C, are friction rollers mounted at convenient intervals on pillars or
frames c*. Over these rollers the ropes are carried when they arc of
considerable length; for example, when the apparatus is used in mines
the roller framework c* may be fixed to the roof of the galleries, and
when used for crossing deep rivers or sheets of water they may be
attached to floats or buoys. In Figs. 1 & 2, R* are driving straps
passing over pulleys R for transmitting motion to the axis a of the
drums A from the steam engine S. The apparatus may be used for
horizontal lines or inclines.
Figure 3 is a sectional view of apparatus for suspending the carriages
to the endless ropes. D, D, are four forked picces which work on a
pivot E, and are kept out of action by a counterbalance weight when
not required to be used (that is to say, while the carriage is on the
ordinary permanent way), as shewn at the lower part of Figure 3, and
when in that position of rest the forks are quite kept from oscillating
by the stop G and spring H. J is a crank handle which raises the
forks D, D, by connections K. When the carriage is to be suspended to
the ropes in order that it may be passed from one line of rail to another
the crank handle J is turned, and this action raises the four forks
together; they are prevented from flying back to their previous position
by the hooks L, which are kept in the proper position by a spring M.
This position of the apparatus is represented at the upper part of
Figure 3. When the carriage after having been moved across the break
of continuity of the rails by the ropes B has to pass between the two

page_text: drums the forks are thrown out of action by a self-acting appliance as
soon as the carriage is transferred or passes on to the ordinary railway.
This self-acting appliance consists of a piece N, which at the required
time is lifted by a wedge O, Figure 1, thereby working the hooks L,
which thereupon release the forks D, and these. forks D are restored by
the springs H to their previous position.
Now in order that the mode of working the apparatus may be
understood I will suppose that the four forked picces arc in the position
represented at the upper part of Figure 3, and the carriage on the
ordinary railway moving towards the endless ropes. When the carriage
comes between the two drums it receives a slight jerk, which drives it off
the ordinary rails, and it is caught up by the forked picces which suspend
it to the endless travelling ropes, and as these ropes are in continuous
motion over the drums they carry the carriage to the next line of rails.
The points of support of the endless ropes do not prevent or check the
motion of the carriage, for the rollers which work on these points of
support have a continuous motion imparted to them by the friction of
the rope, and they force the carriage by the friction between their
circumference and the forks to pass the said points of support. When
the carriage arrives at the end of the line it passes along the inclined
railway over the drums; in its passage it abuts against the wedge O,
which throws the forked pieces out of action, as above described, and as
soon as the carriages are ready to return to the starting point they are
driven between the two drums on the horizontal railway, which is in
direct communication with the inclined railway, or leads directly thereto.
The above-described movements are repeated as often as required for
transferring any number of carriages one after another from one line of
rail to another. The intervals between the transference of the carriages
only depends on their weight.
The apparatus is not only applicablo to the transference of carriages
from one line of rail to another, but also to the transference or transport
of goods or other bodies from one point to another in a similar manner.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First. Arranging and combining apparatus in which carriages or other
heavy bodies are transferred or moved from one line of rails to another,
or from one place to another, by means of endless travelling ropes,
bands, straps, or chains to which such carriages or bodies are suspended,

page_text: and which travel over drums or rollers, substantially as hercin-before
described for the purpose set forth.
Second. The arrangement and combination of parts for suspending
and releasing carriages or other heavy bodies as shown in the Drawings
and.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-fourth day of May, in-the year
One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
E. EDMONDS,
68, Fleet Strect,
London.
M. HENRY. (L.S.)