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Mechanics' Magazine,

MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE.

No. 112.]

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1825.

[Price 3d.

NEW PATENT STEAM-COACH,

INVENTED BY MESSRS. TIMOTHY BURSTALL AND JOHN HILL, ENGINEERS.

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NEW PATENT STEAM COACH.

Invented by Messrs. TIMOTHY BURSTALL

and JOHN HILL, Engineers.

We gave in a late Number (from the Scotsman) a general idea of the the construction of this Steam Carriage, and now extract the following more particular description of it from the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal:

This invention of a locomotive steam-carriage consists in the combination and employment of principles, some of which are new in their application to this purpose, and others well known and in general use. leading features of the invention may be comprehended under the following heads:

The

1st. The arrangement of machinery, and certain pieces of mechanism, adapted to effect the necessary evolutions of a locomotive carriage.

2ndly. The novel construction of a boiler or generator for the production of steam, and the peculiar kind of pipe or curved passage for conducting the steam to the engine; and,

3rdly. The mode of supplying the boiler with water, by means of pneumatic pressure, as exhibited in the plans and sections.

Description of the Drawings. Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the coach, with the body, &c.

Fig. 2 is a ground plan.

Fig. 3, a section, on an enlarged scale, of the boiler and machinery.

Fig. 4 exhibits the top of the boiler, with the feed-pipe, and receptacles for water, as will be afterwards explained:

the dotted lines in this figure show the fire-place and flues, the arrow being in the direction of the flame to the chimney.

Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, are plans and sections of several parts of the machinery, with different modifications.

Fig. 11, a plan of the ratchet-box, and part of the nave.

Fig. 12 is a top view of a plate fixed to indicate to the conductor the angle on the spindle of the steering-wheel, of obliquity of the two axles. The same letters and figures refer to the same parts in all the plans.

A represents the boiler, which is formed of a stout cast-iron or other suitable metal flue,inclosed in a wrought iron or copper case, as seen in section at fig. 3, where A is the place for fuel, and a, a, a, are parts of the flue, as seen in section; the top being formed, as at fig. 4, into a number of shallow trays or receptacles for containing a small quantity of water in a state of being converted into steam, which is admitted from the reservoir by the small pipe, g, g; while b, b, b, is the outer wrought metal case for containing the steam for the use of the engine. B is the chimney, arising from the centre fiue. D, D, are the two cylinders, which are fitted up with pistons and valves, or corks, in the usual way, for the alternate action of steam above and below the pistous. The boiler being suspended on springs, d, the steam is conveyed from it to the engines through the helical pipe, e,which has that form given to it to allow the vibration of the boiler without injury to the steamjoints. F is the cistern, containing water for one stage, say 50 to 80 gallons, and is made of strong copper, and air-tight, to sustain a pressure of about 60 pounds to the square inch. By e is denoted one or more air-pumps, which are worked by the beams of the engines,

BURSTALL AND HILL'S NEW PATENT STEAM-COACH.

and are used to force air into the water-vessel, that its pressure may drive out, by a convenient pipe, the water into the boiler, at such times and in such quantities as may be wanted. F, F, are two beams, connected at one end with the piston-rods, and at the other with the rocking standards, H, H. At about one-fourth of the length of the beams from the piston-rods, are two connecting-rods, g, g, their lower ends being attached to two cranks, formed at angles of 90 degrees from each other on the hind axle, giving, by the action of the steam, a continued rotatory motion to the wheels,without the necessity of a fly-wheel. The four coachwheels are attached to the axles nearly as in common coaches, except that there is a ratchet-wheel formed upon the back part of the nave, with a box wedged into the axle, containing a dog or pall, with a spring on the back of it, for the purpose of causing the wheels to be impelled when the axle revolves, and at the same time allowing the outer wheel, when the carriage describes a curve, to travel faster than the inner one, and still be ready to receive the impulse of the engine as soon as it comes to a straight course.The box and pall are shown separate, at 11.

Figs. 5, 8, 9, and 10, show a different method of performing the same operation, with the further advantage of backing the coach when the engines are backed. In this plan the naves are cast with a recess in the middle, in which is a double bevil clutch, the inside of the nave being formed to correspond. These clutches are simultaneously acted upon by the rods and small lever, b, with the helical springs, mm, and which, according as they are forced to the right or left, will enable the carriage to be moved forward or backward. To the fore naves are fixed two cylindrical metal rings, round which are two friction-bands, to be tightened by a lever convenient for the foot of the conductor, and which will readily retard or stop the coach when descending hills. K is the seat of the conductor, with the steeringwheel, L, in front, which is fast on the swall upright shaft, 1, and turns the two bevil pinions, 2; and the shaft, 3, with its small piuion, 4, which, working into a rack on the segment of a circle on the fore carriage, give full power to place the two axles at any angle necessary for causing the carriage to turn on the road, the centre of motion being the perch-pin, *I.

437

The fore and hind carriage are connected together by the perch, 5, which is bolted fast at one end by the fork, as seen at fig. 2, and at the other end is secured by two collars, which permit the fore and hind wheels to adapt themselves to the twist of the road.

To ascend steep parts of the road, and particularly when the carriage is used on railways, or to drag another behind it, greater friction will be required on the road than the two hind wheels will give, and there is therefore a contrivance to turn all the four wheels. This is done by the pair of mitre-wheels, 4, one being on the hind axle, and the other on the longitudinal shaft, 6, on which shaft is a universal joint directly under the perch-pin, *1, at 7. This enables the small shaft, 7, to be turned,though the carriage should be on the lock. On one end of the shaft, 7, is one of a pair of bevil-wheels, the other being on the fore-axle, which wheels are in the same proportion to one another as the fore and hind wheels of the carriage are, and this causes their circumference to move on the ground at the same speed.

Fig. 6 is a ground plan, and fig. 7 a section of another way of impelling all the wheels together, where the perchpin is over the centre of the axle. 8 is a wheel turning upon it, which, being put in motion by the wheel 9, will cause it, by means of the wheel 10, to turn the fore-axle, and thereby the wheels.

There are safety-valves and cocks to admit, shut off, and regulate the steam, &c. But as the engraving is necessarily on a small scale, and such things are familiar to mechanicians, we have thought it unnecessary to cumber our account with them.

It only remains for us to say, that the object of the patentees is, in the peculiar construction of a boiler, to make it a store of caloric; they proposing to heat it from 250 to 600 or 800 degrees of Fahrenheit; and by keeping the water in a separate vessel, and only applying it to the boiler when steam is wanted, they accomplish that great desideratum in the application of steam to common roads, of making just such a quantity of steam as is wanted; so that, when going down hill, where the gravitating force will be enough to impel the carriage, all the steam and heat may be saved, to be accumulating and given out again at the first hill or bad piece of road, when, more being wanted, more will be expended.

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