US Patent: 5,644X
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| Inclined Railway Locomotive Carriage, Using Chain, &c. & Drum
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Patentee:
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| Sands Olcott (exact or similar names) - Harsimus Bergen County, NJ |
| Manufacturer: |
| Not known to have been produced |
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Patent Dates:
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| Granted: |
Sep. 11, 1829 |
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Joel Havens
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Description: |
| 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. There are no patent drawings available. This patent is in the database for reference only.
“For an improvement in the Application of Machinery to the Inclined Plane, for Rail-roads and Canals; Sands Olcott, Harsimus, Bergen county, New Jersey, September 11.
The drawing and description, as given by the patentee, present a rail-road carriage, across the centre of which there is an axle, or shaft, supposed to be driven by a steam engine, which shaft communicates motion to the axles of the carriage wheels by means of drums and chains. When an inclined plane is to be ascended, or descended, a chain reaches from its foot to its summit, being fastened at each end to fixtures in the ground; when out of use, this chain lies upon the ground, and is then called the ground chain. Upon the middle of the main shaft, there is a drum, which, when the carriage travels upon a level, is not in use, but when it is to ascend an inclined plane, the ground chain is to be unfixed, then passed twice round the drum, and its end again fastened to the standard in the ground; the carriage wheels are to be thrown out of gear, and the engine started, the friction of the chain upon the drum will then cause the carriage to ascend. When it is to descend, the chain is fixed in like manner upon the drum, the back and front wheels to be put in gear with the drum shaft, and the steam engine thrown out of gear. The carriage is then to descend by its gravity, its motion being regulated by a brake, acting upon a fly wheel.
The claim is to the applying the principle of the ground chain, or rope, and drum, to the use of inclined planes for rail-roads and canals.
The use of chains, ropes, and racks, employed in various ways, is well known to those who have attended to the subject in question, and we are at a loss to discover the peculiar advantage of the plan now proposed. Will a locomotive carriage, which is intended for drawing a train of loaded carriages upon a level road, draw this train up an inclined plane? We wot that the gravitating force would be too great for this, excepting the plane were but little inclined. What is the use of the chain in descending? If the carriage is to descend by its own gravity, what necessity for anything more than the braker How is this carriage to be applied on the inclined plane of a canal? This we are not told, and to us it seems that a fixed engine at the top, which had not to perform the labour of carrying itself up, would be more effective than a locomotive engine.”
Journal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 9, Dec. 1829 pgs. 406-407
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