A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR STOPPING AND STARTING TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Harry Booth, of the City and County of Edinburgh,
North Britain, Car and Omnibus Superintendent, Edinburgh Street Tramways
Company, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
STOPPING AND STARTING TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Harry Booth at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th June 1880.
HARRY BOOTH, of the City and County of Edinburgh, North Britain, Car and
Omnibus Superintendent, Edinburgh Street Tramways Company. "A NEW OR
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR STOPPING AND STARTING TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES,
AND OTHER VEHICLES."
To arrest the motion of cars stopping on steep gradients, it has been the practice
to attach to the bottom of the car an iron rod, one end being hinged to the car, the
other end having a chain attached to it, by which, when not in use, the rod is beld
up, and lies flat along the bottom of the car. When the car is stopped, the chain is
"let go," and the point of the rod being brought in contact with the ground, the
backward motion of the car is arrested at the joining of the causeway blocks, or in
the macadam road, by the rod being pressed by the weight of the car upon or
against the blocks or setts, or into the roadway.
By this means the descent of the car down an incline is arrested, and the horses
are saved that exertion of muscular power which would otherwise be necessary in
order to overcome the tendency of the car to run backwards.
My Invention consists of an apparatus of this kind, but which is further intended
to take off the horses the great strain which they necessarily experience in starting
the car up a hill after such a stoppage.
Even on a level, the first attempt to move a car is always attended with
great exertion, which my Invention will much reduce, if it does not altogether
remove.
--
In carrying out my Invention, I substitute for the solid rod a tube of iron or
other material. Within this tube I have a spiral spring, and within the spiral spring
ll.....מ

page_text: an iron or steel rod, having a shoulder on it inside the tube, and a point projecting
at the lower end of the tube. This apparatus is hinged to the underside of the car,
and raised or lowered by a chain, as is the case with the rod or bar hereinbefore
referred to. When the car stops, this apparatus is let down by the chain, and tho
end of the iron rod catching on the road, the spring is at once compressed by the
backward motion of the car until the backward motion is arrested. When the car
is being started again, the slightest forward motion of the horses relieves the spring
of its pressure, and it then, reacting with its full force upon the iron rod, presses
forward the car, and reduces the work of the horses to a similar extent.
The apparatus constituting my Invention is not limited in its application to 1
tramway cars, as it may also be used in connection with omnibuses, lorries, or other
vehicles which travel on streets or roadways.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent fled by
the said Harry Booth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th December
1880.
HARRY BOOTH, of the City and County of Edinburgh, North Britain, Car and
Omnibus Superintendent, Edinburgh Street Tramways Company. "A NEW OR
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR STOPPING AND STARTING TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES,
AND OTHER VEHICLES."
To arrest the motion of cars stopping on steep gradients, it has been the practice
to attach to the bottom of the car an iron rod, one end being hinged to the car, the
other end having a chain attached to it, by which, when not in use, the rod is held
up
and lies flat along the bottom of the car. When the car is stopped, the chain is
"let go," and the point of the rod being brought in contact with the ground, the
backward motion of the car is arrested at the joining of the causeway blocks, or in
the macadam road, by the rod being pressed by the weight of the car upon or
against the blocks or setts, or into the roadway.
By this means the descent of the car down an incline is arrested, and the horses
are saved that exertion of muscular power which would otherwise be necessary in
order to overcome the tendency of the car to run backwards, but this arrest of the
back motion of the car by a rigid rod being sudden, is attended by a jerk, which is
injurious to the vehicle and unpleasant to the passengers.
My Invention consists of an apparatus of this kind, but which is further intended
to take off the horses the great strain which they necessarily experience in starting
the car up a hill after such a stoppage, and also to avoid the herein before mentioned
injurious jerk on the arrest of the backward motion of the car.
I will describe my Invention with reference to the accompanying Drawing,
wherein Figure 1 represents an elevation, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section of an
apparatus constructed according to my Invention, shewing the parts in their normal
position when the spring is uncompressed; Figure 3 is a like section, shewing the
parts in the position which they assume when the rod is forced inwards, and the
spring is compressed on the arrest of the backward motion of the car. In this
Figure, D represents the line of the road, and E, the line of the bottom of the
car.
I carrying out my Invention I substitute for the simple rigid rod hereinbefore
mentioned, a tube or casing A of iron or other material, provided at its ends with
caps or filling pieces a, a². Within this tube A, I place a spiral spring B bearing
at one end against the filling piece a, its other end encircling that end c of an iron
or steel rod C which projects into the casing A, this end of the spring bearing
against a collar or shoulder c² on the said rod C, which shoulder or collar is situated
inside the tube A. The other end of this rod C projects through an opening in the
filling piece a² at the lower end of the tube A, and is provided with a reduced end
or point at c³. The apparatus is hinged to the underside of the car by the lug or
lugs as at a³, and is raised or lowered by a chain (as is the case with the ordinary rigid
rod or bar hereinbefore referred to), which chain may be attached to the rod C at c'.
When the car stops on an incline, the apparatus is let down by the chain, and the
end of the rod C catching on the road, the spring B is at once compressed (as
shewn in Figure 3), by the backward motion and weight of the car until this
backward motion is arrested. The energy exerted by this backward motion is thus
stored up by the said spring B, and when the car is being started again, the slightest
forward motion of the horses relieves the said spring B of its pressure, and it then,
reacting with its full force upon the rod C; presses forward the car and the energy
stored up by the said spring is thus utilized to reduce the work of the horses in
starting the car..

page_text: The apparatus constituting my Invention is not limited in its application to
tramway cars, as it may also be used in connection with omnibuses, lorries, or other
vehicles which travel on streets or roadways.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may
be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I would
have it understood that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; for example, the casing A
instead of being capable of being lowered with the bar C, may be fixed to the 1
bottom of the car, and the rod C may have a joint in it at the part which projects
from the said casing, the said joint allowing the end c³ of the rod to come into contact
with the roadway. The rod C may in this case project from the ond or from the
side of the casing A, in which latter case the barrel A will bo slotted to allow of the
movement of the bar C. What I consider to bo novel and original, and therefore 1
claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
The hereinbefore described apparatus for stopping and starting vehicles on
inclines, that is to say, an apparatus wherein the energy exerted by the backward
motion and weight of the vehicle is stored up and utilized, essentially as horeinbefore. 2
described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Harry Booth, have hereunto set my hand,
and seal, this Twenty eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.