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Description: |
| This patent is listed by some sources as being granted on 11 Jun., 1829.
Most of the patents prior to 1836 were lost in the Dec. 1836 fire. Only about 2,000 of the almost 10,000 documents were recovered. Little is known about this patent. Only the patent drawing is available. This patent is in the database for reference only.
"For an improvement in the Rail-road, by which a railway carriage may be made to turn out and in, at the places! intended for that purpose, on a single rail-way; or to pass from one track to another, where the road is double; which mode obviates the difficulties heretofore experienced in effecting this object; James Wright, Columbia, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, June 11.
A plate is in the hands of the engraver, to accompany the specification of this patent, and the one obtained by the same gentleman, in April last."
Journal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 6, Sept. 1829 pg. 175
“Specification of a patent for an improvement on the Rail-Road, by which a Rail-way Carriage may be made to turn out and in at the places intended for that purpose, on a single rail-way; or to pass from one track to the other where the road is double; which mode obviates the difficulties heretofore experienced in effecting this object. Granted to James Wright, Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, June 11th, 1829.
The rail-road carriage which I use, and the kind of rail upon which it runs, are fully described in the specification which I deposited in the patent office of the United States, and for which letters patent were granted unto me, bearing date the seventeenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, to which instrument, with the drawings which accompany the same, reference may be had, for the purpose of more clearly understanding the addition to, or improvement upon, the same, which I am now about to describe. For the purpose of rendering this description clear, I deem it best
, to refer throughout to the accompanying drawings; that marked Fig. 2, Plate 3, representing a single track, with its turning-out place, and that marked Fig. 3, a double track, with the rails for passing from one to the other. In each of these drawings the same letters refer to corresponding parts. The rails marked A, A, are those upon which the rims of the wheels run which are of the larger diameter, and are, therefore, those which have the lesser elevation; those marked B, B, and which are sha are the more elevated rails, upon which the rims run that are of the smaller diameter. Those parts, C, C, that are left blank at the junction of the rails, are openings for the passage of the flanches of the wheels; these openings will not be of such a width as to present any sensible obstruction in the passage of the wheels over them.
It may sometimes be found useful, and I intend, occasionally, to apply a small thin piece of curved rail, of wrought iron or other material, at the commencement of the turn-out, which, when in its place, shall raise the higher rail sufficiently to prevent the larger rim from touching the lower rail, and which will necessarily have the effect of compelling the car to follow the curve; when this is out of its place, the rim of the smaller diameter will not touch the higher rail, and the car will consequently proceed straight forward. Pieces so used may be fixed upon a pivot, or hinge, in a way so simple that it is unnecessary further to describe it.
It will be seen by inspection that the higher rail does not, in any instance, cross the main road, but only occupies the space between the two roads, or tracks, or form one of the rails of the turn-out on the single track, and that the space left for the flanch to pass is always in the lower rail.
By the adoption of the foregoing plan, much of the expense heretofore encountered in constructing turn-out places will be avoided, as the distance to which they must extend will be very considerably decreased. Any friction wheel, applicable to rail-way carriages of any other construction, may be applied to my carriage, constructed to operate on a straight or curved road.
What I claim as my own invention in the above described plan, is the whole arrangement of the rails of greater or lesser elevation, to my rail-road carriage, each wheel of which has rims of different diameters, so as to effect the purpose of turning out, and in, upon rail. road.”
Journal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 7, Oct. 1829 pgs. 271-272
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