The TRIANGULAR
MONORAILROAD
(SUPPLEMENT)
Describing Subsequent Proceedings
Ike TRIANGULAR
MONORAILROAD
(SUPPLEMENT)
By THOMAS CARL SPELLING
Description of Two Subsequent Inventions, etc.
Published By THE AUTHOR,
115 Broadway, New York City
COPYRIGHT 1915
BY
Thomas Carl Spelling
Description of Two Important Inven¬
tions Subsequent to the Triangular
Monorailroad — Usable There¬
with, Though Generally
Useful.
The triangular monorailroad is fully described in the
booklet on that subject. I will, as part of what follows,
describe two subsequent inventions of great importance,
all of them to be treated as a single interest for present
purposes.
It cannot be said that the two inventions technically de¬
scribed in the appended patent office documents are
mere extensions of the triangular monorailroad covered
in the booklet, because these later inventions are adapt¬
able and adjunctive to all means of travel and transpor¬
tation. These would be important and very valuable
independently of the monorailroad. And yet it will
promptly come to the mind of any one who gives due
attention to these matters that if this new form of rail¬
way construction meets an economic need, an important
use of the two later inventions will be in connection there¬
with.
In the booklet, it is pointed out that trains on the
monorail may, because of the absence of friction and bet¬
ter retention of momentum, ascend grades much steeper
than would be possible for trains proceeding on two
rails ; and the reasons are there stated. But it is evident
that the qualities which make that practicable would fall
short of meeting the necessities of the situation where the
1
grade is not only steep but of considerable extent, as
where it is desired to reach the apex of a mountain range.
The improvement embodied in Appendix A hereto con¬
sists in the provision of a rack and cog wheel which will
continue in engagement, automatically, while the wheels
are traversing curves, and regardless of the rocking of
the wheels. That feature is new, important and valuable
in connection with either a monorailroad or a two-rail
road.
It will be noted that, in its main feature and essence,
the other invention, embodied in Appendix B, is a mere
extension of and improvement upon the principle of the
continuous frame and peculiar triangular form of over¬
head support.
A valuable feature of this new plan for rack and cog¬
wheel consists in the fact that the same engine or motor
which draws the train over the part of the track provided
with the toothed racks can be used without interruption
or change on the main track where no such racks are re¬
quired. Heretofore, engines specially constructed had
to be substituted when the specially constructed por¬
tion of the road was reached.
It will be seen that the submerged tubular construction
shown in the drawings and described in one of the specifi¬
cations of Appendix B will answer the double purpose
of a bridge and tunnel, and can be constructed for much
less than the cost of a bridge. And it can be put across
anywhere, regardless of the width of the waterway. It
can connect the respective territories to be served at any
desired point, whereas the narrow point must usually be
selected for the bridge For instance, a half dozen rail¬
roads, at present served with terminals on the Jersey
shore but having none in New York Citv, could avail
themselves of such a facility to deliver freight and passen¬
gers in New York, instead of at Jersey City, Hoboken,
Weehawken, etc. A bridge across the Hudson River
to connect New York City with New Jersey, and to cost
$100,000,000, has been long talked of. But the method
here described of uniting the two territories to be served
should now be given serious consideration.
2
The tube may be made adaptable to all forms of rail¬
road construction, as will be readily seen and compre¬
hended, if one takes the trouble to read and consider
the appendices hereto. It would constitute too much of
a diversion if I attempted to describe in detail the con¬
structive work. But sections of the tube containing- sec¬
tions of the structure will be completed on shore and low¬
ered by cranes into coffer dams, after by means of the
latter, the support, whether of concrete, earth or pillars,
for a corresponding length has been prepared. The de¬
tails can be specified by any experienced engineer or
contractor.
Since the booklet, entitled "The Triangular Monorail-
road," was published in December, 1914, the feasibility,
cost and economy of it as a transportation plant have
been discussed with numerous men of affairs. The only
reason its successful career has not begun in visible and
tangible form is the timidity of some who took the trouble
to inject into the subject the prevailing industrial and
trade depression. In other cases their ultra-conservatism
barred the way. They refuse to believe that the old way
of doing things can be improved upon. It is the policy
of the large majority to wait until others have reaped the
cream of the profits, always appropriated largely by the
pioneer, before becoming themselves interested finan¬
cially. And the more important an invention the more
distinct and general is this strange trait of human nature.
But, often, the same individual is wofully inconsistent.
He will invest thousands, or millions, in enterprises, not
founded on any new idea or invention, in the presence of
known and demonstrable hazards. In this instance, a few
such have refused to accept the positive assertions of well-
known and reputable engineers and manufacturers as to
feasibility, workability and cost of construction. In spite
of the opinion of experts that the cost per mile of a line
of over 25 miles, for construction and equipment, would
not exceed $7,000 per mile, and would be even less for a
long line, one party said. "Why the cost will be pro¬
hibitory." Another, losing sight of the fact that the only
form of stress or force exerted on the monorail is a verti-
3
cal and steady pressure, with only the slightest friction
or concussion, and that it is in continuous contact with
firm nether support, said: "Your rail must do the work
of two rails ordinarily in use ; therefore it must be twice
as large." Another, losing sight of the fact that the only
Teason for grooving or dishing the side supports is to in¬
crease their strength, and taking it for granted, without
examination of what was set forth by me, and contrary
to the fact, that the groove was in fact a trench just ample
to accommodate the thickness of the horizontal wheel,
also of the fact that there is no irregularity in the plane
on which the vehicles move, said : "When the engine
or car strikes a depression, it will break these side rollers
right off." These horizontal rollers turn between upper
and nether lubricated plates with which they lightly con¬
tact. The plates are circular in form exteriorally extend¬
ing almost to the circumference of the flat surface of each
wheel. By this contrivance, the wheels are made to move
forward in an absolutely straight line and without fric¬
tion. Another said that trouble would be encountered
when it came to constructing the line across public roads
and on streets. The character of the structure is such
that that difficulty promptly suggests itself to the mind.
While the modification for use as an elevated line in
cities was described in the booklet (pp. 24 and 25), little
attention was paid to highway and farm crossings. But
specific construction in both these latter situations is
described in Appendix B hereto. Another, one whose
professional avocation would imply a better practical
knowledge of things mechanical, said: "But the running
of a train in the structure will cause it to topple over
bodily." When it is considered that for a train to leave
the enclosure involves either the breaking short off of all
the longitudinal parts at the same point in the same in¬
stant, or the upsetting of the entire frame throughout its
entire extent, such a suggestion seems positively silly.
Still another said he could not understand how three rails
could cost less than two. But as he must have paid no
attention to what he had reacf or might have read, in the
4
booklet, no attention need be paid to his irrelevant crlt-
cism.
Another was a sweeping objection that the amount of
material required, whether of steel, iron or wood, or of
combinations of them, would be very great and result in
great cost. That objector had given no consideration
to the subject of the distribution of strains and stresses
which is here so important an element. The force to be
exerted by a moving train in this structure is distributed
at any immediate point among a plurality of members,
while the utmost force exerted at any point is checked
and minimized by the inertia of the whole train through¬
out its entire length. Nor is the entire propulsive force
of the whole train borne by a definite part of the struc¬
ture. It is distributed for an indefinite distance behind
and ahead of it. No such distribution is provided for in
any other form of transportation mechanism. Instead of
the massive girders columns and beams now seen, for in¬
stance in bridges and on elevated lines, bars and rods
of very moderate sizes will be ample. Let the fact be not
overlooked that the dominant idea in the invention is the
triangular formation of a continuous frame which dis¬
tributes strain and utilizes tensive strength, permitting
all the parts to be comparatively small.
There are certain phases of the matter to be provided
for when actual construction is undertaken so easily at¬
tended to that it was not thought necessary to discuss
them in the booklet. One party, being unable to urge
any other objection said he did not see how trains could
be switched or pass each other if they met on a single
track. But it is obvious that a short section can be built
on a platform on which is also a curved section, the plat¬
form resting on rollers on which it can be moved at right
angles to the roadway. Instead of firmly jointing in the
straight section it may be simply locked in. If it be de¬
sired to run a train out on a sidetrack structure, the
straight section is unlocked and rolled out. Simultan¬
eously and as part of the same action the curved part is
moved in, which being in place connects the part of main
track containing the train with the switch track. If in-
5
stead of being a switch it is a branch line, the action is the
same. In the one case the train proceeds on its way over
the branch line. In case it be the meeting of two trains,
then after one train has taken its place on the sidetrack
the platform is moved again, the straight section being re¬
stored, whereupon the unswitched train proceeds on its
way. The whole process is then repeated to allow the side
tracked train to continue to its destination. Another
was curious to know how the cars were to be loaded or
unloaded and taken care of at terminals. I deem it un¬
necessary to go into a long explanation of a phase of the
matter so free from difficulty. Indeed, this form here
has many marked advantages. A collection of cars and
engines at a terminal needs no separate warehousing
structure, in the form of sheds or buildings. The structure
in itself can be treated as the framework of a building and
either covered permanently at terminals or used to sup¬
port temporary covering.
It may be merely the good fortune of a few that many
others carry closed brains. But if so it is also provi¬
dential that one or more open-minded individuals can
always be found. These become the beneficiaries of new
ideas and the financial leaders of their time. No tangible
object is ever removed at will from one place to another
without a machine, except such as can be effected by
the human body in the exercise of its members. Even
when a domesticated animal is used, it becomes, for that
purpose, a mechanical agency. Why not then employ a
perfected machine? The principal obstacles to artificial
locomotion are inertia, gravitation and friction. But
when inertia is overcome, gravitation is also taken care
of. The advantages of the triangular monorailroad in
the economy of power is fully shown in the booklet. Fric¬
tion, resolves itself into wear and tear, discomfort, depre¬
ciation of value, profitless investment and danger. But
these phases of transportation are greatly minimized, or
almost eliminated, in this new form of construction, as is
shown in the booklet.
If we ignore all else except the proposed new method
of track elevation, that alone is a valuable suggestion, not
6
to speak of it as an invention at all, even when we lay tnc
monorail idea out of mind.
How about provision within the same continuous
frame for rapid transit and comparatively slower mo¬
tioned vehicles, etc.? Altogether it will cost less mile
for mile than the construction of a good cross-country
dirt road, and a great deal less per annum for unkeep.
And the peculiar position and corelation of the parts so
distributes the strains and stresses that all the advantages
of a bridge across depressions, roads and farms can be
realized, with no more cost above that of surface construc¬
tion than is involved in extending the perpendicular
members downward to solid bases and putting on the
diagonally criss-crossing side braces.
This is also an important facility for guarding against
external collision, from which a few wires or a wire-
netting attached to the supports affords complete protec¬
tion. In five years over thirty thousand persons who
were neither passengers nor railroad employees were
killed in railroad accidents, having been struck by trains.
During the same period there was an enormous loss from
the killing and crippling of domestic animals. The pecu¬
niary losses aggregated an enormous sum. Is not a plan
of construction and operation which obviates all that
worth considering on that account, even if only for that
utility ?
Two years ago, the Interstate Commerce Commission
referred to the fact that the use of elevated structures in
cities had done much to reduce the number of accidents
and fatalities in cities. In that suggestion there is much
food for thought relevant to the present subject. There
are a score or more of serious injuries to persons and sev¬
eral fatalities daily in New York City alone due to street
cars, automobiles and other surface transportation. Tak¬
ing the whole country over such accidents with serious
or fatal results far exceed those on the steam railroads.
There is, of course, no means of ascertaining the money
loss from breakage, wear and tear of vehicles, streets and
roads, but it runs into hundreds of millions. Nearly all
of this loss would be obviated and convenience and com-
7
fort greatly promoted by the use of this partitioned facil-
it>'-
Now I will briefly refer to the use of longitudinal mem¬
bers in lieu of ties. If you should investigate where the
truth can be elicited from disinterested sources, as in the
reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission for 1911
and 1912, you would learn how serious is the cross-tie
problem. You will also find a description of futile at¬
tempts to solve, by the provision of substitutes ; that
neither stone nor concrete will do, because they lack re¬
siliency and are too brittle ; that there are insuperable ob¬
jections to paper or pulp, and so forth. But you will find
that no one down to the date of applying for this patent
had thought of using wooden sills attached to cross bars,
in connection with a continuous and unyielding super-
structural adjustment which prevents the vehicles push¬
ing apart the track where the lunge of a heavy engine
occurs, or bending or disjointing a rail and causing a
wreck. This plan making feasible the substitution of
longitudinal sills for ties, whether pursued in constructing
the one rail or the other kind of railroad, is covered in
the specifications and claims. Every day's delay in be¬
ginning construction and operation on the plans so set
forth is a wasteful consumption of valuable time. Even
if the two-rail method should be adhered to, the combi¬
nation of the railroad, automobile and carriage way, foot
path and conduit for wires, pipes, etc., must soon come
to stay. No one can calculate how much further the
country would have progressed in prosperity had these
improvements been adopted thirty or fifty years ago.
The course pursued by the railroad oligarchy with ref¬
erence to the triangular monorailroad invention justifies
a brief discussion by me of the country's railroad situation.
My every move in this matter has been watched by the
railway magnates and their backers. Both their avowed
representatives and their spies have called on me and
endeavored in various ways to ascertain my plans and to
tie up myself and my inventions. They charge up to
these inventions, and to the limited publicity given the
first two, some of their difficulties in the financial mar-
8
kets, and with legislative and administrative bodies. To
all of which I must, in part at least; plead guiltv. They
are putting forth stupendous efforts to forestall me by
increases of rates, which means the accumulation of large
surpluses, some of which have been already made and
approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, with
other increases in contemplation. The plea which they
made for increases to recoup them for dull business and
weakened credit resulting in part at least from foreign
wars was of course absurd, in view of the fact that all
other interests were suffering even more. But, though
they have an army of lobyists, attorneys, officials, hire¬
lings, publicists and writers boosting and rooting for
further increases, the freightpayers of the nation have
somehow divined the truth. Commissioners and other
officials who adopt the railroad view in this matter are
tempting the mighty undercurrent of public sentiment
and are likely any day to find themselves legislated out
of office in compliance with an irresistible popular de¬
mand.
In these days a great deal is being publicly spoken and
published by railroad officials and other spokesmen for
the railroads and in favor of further aggrandizement of
the railroad interest. The idea sought to be firmly im¬
planted in the public mind is that one great need is the
upbuilding of railroad credit as an indirect but short way
to the restoration of business prosperity. But the real
cause of decrease in railroad profits may be also the cause
of still greater distress of the freightpayer. so that the
extra dollar with which to pay the increased rate or fare
may be much harder to earn than heretofore. Very little
has been said or published on that phase of the matter,
and subservient official bodies have given it scant con¬
sideration.
In saying here that the matter of rates and fares is the
most important with which the government has to deal,
I only echo what is said by railroad officials, though I
stand in direct opposition to them with respect to the
proper treatment of it. The railroad view has been ex¬
pressed some thousands of times, but I must limit myself
9
to a quotation of the latest expression. In a recent news¬
paper interview, Mr. A. L. Mahler, President of the
Union Pacific, declared that more revenue, to be obtained
only by rate increases, is necessary to protect the securi¬
ties of many lines. The significance of this is that, ac¬
cording to his view, rates should be sanctioned adequate,
under all circumstances, to sustain railroad stocks and
bonds in the markets of the world. Rules for making
and maintaining rates which both federal and State com¬
missions and courts have established already tend
strongly to an acceptance of this pro-railroad standard.
The twenty billions of steam railroad securities and the
fifteen billions of municipal utility issues will have to
stand in the same category in order to avoid chaotic
financial conditions. To have the one practically guaran¬
teed by the federal government and the other left to the
vicissitudes of the stock market would be a disjointure
fraught with disastrous consequences. Here then is a
situation of immediate concern to all the people of this
country. With fixed interest charges, and dividends
standardized at rates above the normal interest rate, on
thirty-five billions of dollars, saddled on them, wherein
will the conditions of European peoples, staggering under
the burdens of war, be worse than theirs? And yet their
attention is being diverted to the miseries of other coun¬
tries whilst this stupendous imposition is being consum¬
mated in their own. Corporate dividends and interest
are eating up this country, just as are taxes in other coun¬
tries. And since American rates are higher, they will
eat more ravenously and rapidly here than elsewhere.
The proposition that governments, in the exercise of a
regulating power, must not exercise it below a line which
marks the base of an unreasonably hight rate and separ¬
ates it from a reasonable rate, and must never sanction a
rate which would appear to the rate-regulating body un¬
reasonably low, is of far-reaching effect and monstrously
vicious. It requires no statemanship, nor a legal or sci¬
entific mind, to understand that it puts the government in
the position of an underwriter, guaranteeing fixed in-
10
comes on oceanic issues of corporate stocks and bonds
in which the general public have no definite interest.
What rates adequate for the purpose stated are to be is
indicated by recent events. The firm of financiers which
negotiated a loan to France of $50,000,000 also undertook
the negotiation of a loan of a loan of $100,000,000 to the
New York Central Railroad, and said that foreign gov¬
ernments were borrowing here at 7 and 8 per cent. Dur¬
ing the year 1915, over a half billion dollars of short
term notes issued by the railroads must be met, and most
of them are held in countries which are borrowing here
at rates which the railroads must meet. An influential
New York newspaper, subserviently friendly to every
railroad interest, commenting editorially, stated the rail¬
road view of the situation substantially as I have inter¬
preted it, and then added these significant words: "There
cannot be general prosperity without prosperity for the
railways, and they are hard pressed in the same manner
as foreign borrowers of the highest credit."
We marvel at the folly of European rulers who brought
on these horrible wars ; but their folly scarcely equals
what will be that of the people of the United States if they
permit this process of financial absorption and mastery to
proceed to its finality. The average annual net profit in
the form of permanent additions to capital, according to
Adam Smith, did not in his time exceed three per cent.
It has increased in our day, but does not now exceed an
average of three and one-half per cent., embracing all
forms of capital embarked in business. It should not be
difficult to figure out how long it will take thirty-five
billions of public utility capitalization, that being about
one-third of all capital, or its representation, drawing
from all other business over seven per cent., to absorb
or destroy it all. Of course no one believes it can go
on. All know that the process, as manifested in con¬
stantly increasing rates, must halt and that lower rather
than higher rates will be demanded. And the conse¬
quences, both to public service interests and the public,
will be less serious if halted now than later.
The proposition that investors in corporate stocks are
11
entitled to have secured to them a reasonable return, equal
to or a little above the ruling rate of interest is so plausi¬
ble that it finds a ready acceptance by those who do not
take the trouble to investigate the subject historically
and legally, or to study its operation economically and
socially. The business of public utility corporations is
regulated because of its public and monopolistic charac¬
ter, both as to practices and rates. But by regulating it,
no resulting duty or obligation is incurred by any gov¬
ernment with respect to rates, except that the constitu¬
tional prohibition against confiscation shall not be vio¬
lated. And there is a very important and material differ¬
ence between a low, or an unreasonably low, rate and one
that is confiscatory. The distinction was clearly pointed
out in earlier decisions by the Federal Supreme Court,
which held that so long as some profit remained, how¬
ever small, or so long as there was no actual loss from
operation, a legislatively or commission-made rate was
not objectionable from a consitutional point of view
merely because it was low, or even unreasonably low.
-But, latterly, corporate and capitalistic influence has made
as great progress in the courts, as elsewhere. The latest
view can be found in recent decisions by the Supreme
Court and in promulgations from the Interstate Com¬
merce Commission.
Now let any one engaged in a private avocation of any
kind, anywhere, reflect upon the advantages of having
the general government or his state standing as security
to him for a given fixed income from his business. Even
if it were as low as three per cent., with the privilege of
making as much more as possible, the guarantee would
at least secure him against insolvency, and if onlv to that
extent, be exceedingly valuable. Let him also reflect that
the guarantee of governments to public utility corpora¬
tions to be made good through rates, is much more than
three per cent., and even above the prevailing rates of
interest. He will then be ready for the next step in the
train of reflection, namely, he has no such security; only
public service corporations enjoy it. As for the ordinary
business man, or farmer, or wage earner, he is left to all
12
the vicissitudes and hazards of his environment, exposed
to possible bankruptcy from competition or from other
causes.
The foregoing statement of an existing situation is a
proper argument in favor of public interest being taken
in these inventions, the most important and comprehen¬
sive ever patented in any nation. When I take into con¬
sideration the fact that political action is largely con¬
trolled by banking and railroad syndicates representing
combinations, that progress has been and is being made
toward a complete subordination of official to financial
policies, I feel justified in calling attention to it and sug¬
gesting as an alternative the construction of this mechan¬
ism, to escape general impoverishment of the masses on
the one hand, or government ownership of all public
utilies on the other, just as I would suggest the opening
of a sluiceway to prevent the bursting of a dam in a large
stream and wholesale loss of lives and property below.
Discussion of the broader phases of the railroad ques¬
tion cannot of course be here extended, but I cannot for¬
bear calling attention to the fact that the zeal of some of
the railroad officials in advocacy of increasing rates has
led them into disclosures of their ultimate purpose. They
say that 100,000 miles of new lines or feeders are now
needed, and without these increases of rates and fares to
replenish their surpluses they cannot be constructed.
The fact that the present lines were first built or subse¬
quently paid for by the public has been, to a great extent,
suppressed so far. The parasites who own the stocks
and thrive on dividends now demand that their properties
be further improved by additions and extensions, with
other people's money. But really the country needs, not
100,000 miles of additional rapid transit, but 1,000.000
miles. One hundred thousand miles of the kind of
railroad now in use would cost to construct and equip
$75,000 per mile or $7,500,000,000, and the fixed yearly
dividend and interest charges as heretofore sanctioned bv
the Interstate Commerce Commission would amount to
$825,000,000. Triangular railroad construction would
cost one-tenth that amount, for 100,000 miles and the
13
freight and passenger charges could be reduced one-half
and still pay fixed charges according to the standard
so sanctioned. Or, at the same cost of constructing and
equipping 100,000 miles of the two-rail system, 1,000,000
miles of monorail system could be produced on every
mile of which the rates could be profitably fixed at one-
half or less than one-half existing rates.
In 1906, when the spirit of popular resistance to rail¬
road exploitation was strongly in evidence and the Inter¬
state Commerce Commission felt constrained to con¬
form to some extent to the prevailing sentiment, it was
shown by its statistics that of the fifteen billions of dol¬
lars of railroad capitalization nine billions represented
nothing substantial, or in common parlance, was water.
Since then overcapitalization and looting by railroad
managers have gone on more boldly and recklessly than
ever, so that of the present capitalization of twenty bil¬
lions it is safe to say that twelve billions represent no
substantial investment. And yet the claim is loudly and
clamorously made that the people should stand successive
increases in rates in order to pay interest and dividends
at much above average rates on all these monstrously
fraudulent issues. And preposterous as is the idea it finds
favor among financiers and bankers and in some commer¬
cial circles. Meantime, the agriculturalists and other
toilers, the ultimate freightpayers, appear to be slumber¬
ing. But they will soon wake up, and then we shall have
a new reckoning. They are supposed to be politically
interested in tariffs, but no form of tariff taxation ever in
force meant more than a possible one-tenth the burden
of railroad transportation which is $158 per annum for
each family. It is fair to admit the counter claim that a
large proportion of this impost, that is to say, about two-
thirds of it is redistributed. The redistribution is not,
however, general, but only among railway employees in
the form of inadequate wages and to producers of railway
supplies at fancy prices and handsome profits in which
railway managers openly, though none the less scandal¬
ously, participate. Then out of the remaining third the
interest on bonds and sinking funds are first taken care of
14
and the balance inures to stockholders, either directly
in the form of dividends or indirectly in improvements,
or additions to their properties. As a rule, neither the
properties nor the stocks,—the latter being the paper
muniments of ownership,—cost the original owners any¬
thing, and it is no function of government to take care
of speculators. The roads were built and equipped with
money advanced by the bondholders and the proceeds of
federal, state, county and municipal bond issues. The
transcontinental lines were presented, first and last, with
250,000,000 actes of public lands, or an area greater than
is now contained in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, which six states have
an area of only 242,000,000. By the criminal conduct of
lawmakers and executives the promoters and builders
were enabled to select the best land, much of which is now
held out of the market, fenced off and rented to stock¬
men, whereby homeseekers are excluded from it.
Appeals by railroad officials and their cohorts are made
to the public to let bygones be bygones and make further
sacrifices for railway promotion and extension. It is re¬
markable that such appeals find acceptance and welcome
in many directions. I suppose that if the laws against
piracy were suspended and a strong-handed band of Cap¬
tain Kidds got control of the high seas, thus becoming
financially powerful, therefore respectable, there would
be plenty of politicians and business men demanding for
them not only immunity but tribute.
It may be that, in spite of the dishonest financiering and
all the other vices and shortcomings of the present sys¬
tems, they would not only be maintained in their present
forms but vastly extended were it not that they are me¬
chanically antiquated and unscientific and did not the
near exhaustion of available timber for ties and of iron
ores for other parts clearly indicate the inexorable neces¬
sity for a change. Nor is the increasing cost of heat gen¬
erating fuel to be ignored.
Well informed people know that the American railway
system cannot endure as now projected. President Rip¬
ley, of the Santa Fe, says the whole system is breaking
15
up. The idea that he probably intended to convey was
that it is so water-logged that it is sinking. At certain
crop-moving seasons there is a shortage of rolling stock,
just as there may be rush days and scarcity of salesmen
in a store so located or managed that it has no large
volume of regular trade.
The central and important territory of the country has
an over-supply of the prevailing type of railroads. This
statement is corroborated by very high railroad authority.
President Ripley, of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railroad Company, on October 24, 1914, said: "Every
night five magnificent trains leave Chicago at practically
the same hour for Kansas City. Each train carries every
modern device for the comfort of passengers, and not one
of them is loaded to capacity. Six trains leave Chicago
for Omaha nightly and five for St. Paul, and of all of
them the same could be said. Probably one of these
trains—certainly two of them—would amply care for al
the business and a great saving would result from dis¬
continuing the other four." It is to maintain not only
the solvency but dividends on this excessive construction
and operation that increases of rates and fares are de¬
manded.
But the plethoric rulers of two-rail transportation, and
their servants, official and unofficial, had just as well
recognize the presence of that which appears to all others
inevitable, and conform to it at the earliest practicable
moment. Their revenues have been for several years
seriously affected by what we may fitly term minor com¬
petition. First came the trolley cars, then automobiles,
now the triangular monorailroad. There can never be
any major competition, that is to say, there will never be
any form of transportation more massive than that now
in use, and evolution has recently been toward smaller
mechanisms and smaller shipments. There is less gener¬
alizing and wholesaling and there is an immense increase
in specializing and retailing. If the introduction of the
monorailroad is to be opposed because of its economic
or financial disturbance, what is to be done about the in¬
creasing number and spread in the use of automobiles?
16
In 1914, 515,000 cars, valued at $485,000,000, were built
and sold in the United States alone. Express companies,
a creation of comparatively recent times, made the first
inroad. Now we have the parcel post, which is the first
governmental recognition of the changing demand. The
next step will be the employment of means for turning
the parcels post to greater public use freed from de¬
pendence upon existing railroad monopolies. The
government will resort to the mechanism herein de¬
scribed. And the former will, to that extent feel their
power slipping away. There is, however, a normal open¬
ing in the transportation service for the new form, even
if those existing remain.
As the extortion and oppression of monopoly grow,
desperate poverty resorts to new methods of prying off
and sequestering some of the profits of transportation
service. This accounts for the recent innovation in the
form of five cent jitneys in local service, truly menacing
to rapid transit public service companies. The news¬
papers which defend and uphold the companies at all
points as to all their policies and practices have taken
up the fight against the jitneys, and even gone so far, in
some instances, as to advocate repressive legislation.
And the irresistible economic tendency in the field of long
distance transportation, and the imperative demand for
facilities costing less, operated at less expense and per^
forming long distance service at lower rates, will inevitably
establish the new forms of construction embodied in these
inventions.
Few persons have taken the trouble to study the com¬
parative safety and profitableness of investments in the
business of transportation, considered merely as such, as
to which a few words will be here added to what is said
in the booklet (pp. 34-36). There has been recently
published a showing of the results of the operation of
transportation facilities other than steam railroads. It
appears that in every section of this country public serv¬
ice business has exceptionally prospered, and its net earn¬
ings and dividend rates have increased, in spite of pre¬
vailing depression in other lines of business resulting
17
from foreign wars and otherwise. A Supreme Court
justice recently made this comment regarding a public
utility company from the bench : "An interest in such a
business is as near a safe and secure investment as can
be imagined with regard to any private enterprise."
Thus far little has been said about important minor
parts of the structure technically described in Appendix
B. The pressing need for just such a postal telephone
and telegraph facility as is described in the booklet (pp.
31-32) will be readily seen by all. The other uses can¬
not be overestimated. Surely the governmental depart¬
ment charged with the duty of conserving the revenues
cannot be long blind to the advantages thus offered.
There is sufficient utility in these minor parts alone to
fully justify the expenditure of the entire cost of con¬
struction, even if the parts set apart for railways, road¬
ways, water and power transmission, etc., were not util¬
ized at all.
When the booklet was written the inventions embodied
in the appendices had not been perfected, and as there are
essential features of military uses in this new form of con¬
struction, such military uses were not discussed. But
their inestimable advantages in military operations must
clearly appear to any intelligent person who is open-
minded on the subject.
Even if I were competent, it would not be necessary
for me to discourse at length on the subject of military
operations, strategy and tactics. I need only call atten¬
tion to transportation as a factor therein. Without rail¬
roads and motor cars belligerents are no better off than
the warriors of 100 or a thousand years ago. Railroads
in the control of one force give it an immense advantage
over another without them ; but the advantage is limited
and only occasional, in the very nature of things. And
so are uses that can be made of automobiles, a very im¬
portant limitation consisting in their cost and the ease
with which they can be located and wrecked with artil¬
lery fire. We saw much in the news about the move¬
ments of these spectacular war engines in the beginning
of the European War, but as very little or nothing was
18
said about them in the later stages, they must have been
found practically useless or too luxurious. And this ap¬
plies with the same force to armored as to unprotected
cars. For most purposes, the one is about as helpless and
unsafe as the other.
Viewing the matter in a broad aspect, let me ask, would
not the presence of numerous minor lines of rapid transit,
extending in all directions and supplementing the present
lines and systems be an immense military advantage,
especially when we view it from a defensive standpoint?
It is with reference to field operations after the scene of
action has become approximately definite in outline that
attention should be given to these inventions as military
facilities.
The military engineer must have been deeply impressed
by the weakness of defensive preparations at Port Arthur
and the folly which left the crests of 303 Metre Hill and
The Eagle's Nest without heavy ordnance with which
to oppose advances to the main fortifications. But to
have placed the heavier guns there required the cogged
wheel and rack, or something performing its function.
Many illustrations just as strong were developed in the
European War. Had the Germans possessed such mech¬
anisms as the triangular monorailroad, with those shown
in Appendices A and B as adjuncts thereto, the result at
Steinbach, at Nieuve Chapelle, and at several other strat-
egetical points might have been different, and the entire
history of, and sequel to, the war might have to be writ¬
ten every differently. Without particularizing, I may say,
generally, that modern warfare is not merely a matter of
the number or of the fighting quality of men but more
strikingly one of the best machinery. The vast machine
on either side is made up of both animate and inanimate
integers. All know that transportation machinery is in
full sense vital to a people in times of peace, and that it
is doubly so in times of war. An army has no advantage
merely because it has longer guns better manned than
the opposing army if it have no means for mobilizing
them. On the other hand an army has an advantage if
better able to rapidly move, shift and use its guns, though
19
they may be of less calibre and less effective on reaching
the target than those of the opposition.
The movement of troops, munitions and supplies, are
of equal importance.
I am not bound to assume that the United States will
very soon or remotely become engaged in hostile conflict
with foreign nations. I need only point to the settled
policy of keeping the country in a state of preparedness
for such a contingency. And I will first call attention to
the use that could be made, in the event of such conflict,
of the cogged wheel and rack.
Without a cogged wheel a traction power only equal to
the cohesion between two smooth surfaces produced by
the weight of the engine is available. Consequently only
very moderate grades can be overcome. Heretofore, in
the use of cogged wheels, the contact has been such that
there had to be an exact correspondence between the rack
and the toothed part of the wheel. And loss of contact
caused, for instance, by a rocking of the wheel or any
sidéral movement, threw the teeth of the wheel out of
the rack, so that either a serious accident resulted or the
train was halted until machinery could be brought to
jack the engine back into alignment. There was no such
thing as a curved rack, or toothing adaptation thereto.
Consequently, only such elevated points could be reached
as were accessible by moving on straight lines. Of course
there are ascents so steep that they cannot be directly
made bv using any cogged wheel device, and there are
moderate elevations to which the approach must be on
lines of irregular gradation, necessitating curves, and
because heretofore no such device adaptable to curves
was provided, they could not be made at all. Almost any
elevation may be attained where vehicles can be drawn on
a railroad which is zigzagged. The invention described
in Appendix A meets these requirements. The teeth and
rack with which they contact are in a form insuring con¬
tinuous engagement, in spite of turns to right or left,
and in spite of lateral oscillation. The triangular mono¬
rail form of construction is vast economy and efficiency
herein, but, for the benefit of adherents to the existing
20
antiquated and wasteful form, I will reiterate that this in¬
vention is as adaptable to the one form as to the other.
With existing means of transportation heavy guns and
their equipments cannot be carried to any point consider¬
ably elevated at all, and only to moderate elevations at
great cost and with consumption of much time. By use
of the plan of this invention, especially with the triangular
monorailroad form of construction, they can be in a few
hours or in a few days, at most, placed in as elevated
situations as are ever desirable, and their efficiency
thereby immensely increased.
No one will be able to fully appreciate the possibilities
of these inventions in military use without keeping in
mind the uniformity and continuity of the triangular
structures. In defensive or offensive preparation, all the
parts can be kept in stock or quickly manufactured to
order bv pattern, and then, upon emergency, put together
speedily.
The divisional roadway structure embodied in Appen¬
dix B also contains important points of novelty and
utility when viewed as a military facility.
Not many years ago much doubt existed whether lines
of subway construction and operation for local travel
were feasible within any permissible cost. Since then
steel tubes of large space areas have been constructed, not
only under streets and buildings but under the Hudson
and East Rivers. Through them trolley and standard
guage trains are constantly and safely run, both ways.
These tubes reach a depth of 70 and 80 feet below the
surfaces of the rivers, being extended through mud and
quicksand. Such depths were sought in order to reach
below the extremest depths of the streams. And the
question arises why they were not simply imbedded in the
bottoms of the rivers until the deepest channels or deep¬
est recesses were reached and then simply extended
across through the water. A depth of 40 feet, or even
35 feet would be beyond any possible interference with
navigation. There may have been other reasons, but one
important reason probably was that the tubes as then
projected were not self-supporting in suspension, that is
21
to say, they had to have solid nether support at all points.
Governments should interest themselves in these in¬
ventions. Our government should view them not merely
through the eyes of the Secretary of War, but from the
viewpoint of other departmental chiefs as well. Indeed,
it would be difficultt for me to say which department I
think should have the greater interest. When I think
of our immense mineral and timber resources, unavailable
because destitute of transportation facilities, I think of the
Interior Department. When I reflect on the backward¬
ness of agriculture, its attendant wastes, and the need for
its scientific and intensive development, I think of the
Agricultural Department, in this relation. And I re¬
spectfully call attention to one item among many that
might be mentioned. These farmers need, above all else,
abundant and cheap fertilizers. The supply of these is
now controlled by a trust having various plants. Few
farmers are able to obtain needful nitrates and phosphates
because of high prices and prohibitive rates.
The Postoffice Department expends a sum each year
for carrying the mails which added to what the people
pay excessively for interstate telegraphing and telephon¬
ing would equal the cost of constructing, equipping and
operating for postal telephone and telegraphic purposes
alone, twenty thousand miles of the triangular monorail-
road. I have not mentioned the huge Departmental
payments for telegraphing and telephoning which might
be thus saved. For all its uses, the smaller triangle
would be ample. In case the government did not care to
engage in railroad transportation, it could lease the main
roadway and its equipment for as much more.
The sides, and the roof and floor of present subways
and tubes are of a thickness which involves a needless
and wasteful investment which are avoided to a large ex¬
tent by arranging the internal supports as shown by the
drawings and specifications of Appendix B. And, in
crossing broad waterways, under water, in lieu of a
continuing nether support, parts of the internal frame¬
work are extended downward at intervals to points where
solid support exists or can be created. Where merely
22
laid on the bottom, or extended across deep recesses, the
tubular parts need be only of sufficient thickness to resist
the water pressure, but for actual subway uses would
have to be of increased thickness. Where actually con¬
structed underground, the form of the structure will be
more substantial with much less cost, and the partitioning
economizes space and allows passageways for various
uses as described in the specifications.
I cannot engage in such extensive discourse as would
describe what might have been accomplished aggres¬
sively or defensively along the Yser and upon other
scenes of European conflict, or adjacent to the Darde-
nelles, by the prudent and timely use of some or all these
various new facilities, nor fully as to what might be done
therewith by our own government. But space can be
given to the asking of a few questions. Would it not
greatly strengthen the defenses around New York, or San
Francisco, or any other of our large cities, if artificial
thoroughfares were constructed on the supporting beds
of the adjacent waters for not only slowly moving vehicles
and pedestrians but rapid transit power engines and
trains? Would there be anything fantastical or imprac¬
ticable in a suggestion that the emplacement and removal
of heavy ordnance could be better provided for than at
present? To give point and pertinency to this question,
I call attention to a recent news item to the effect that in
an attempt to place a 14-inch gun on elevated ground
in the Necos Island near the Panama Canal, the chains
slipped. The gun and its carriage rolled to the bottom
of the acclivity, and one of the many men engaged in the
effort to elevate it was killed. That was just one of the
many guns necessary to fortify the place. Probably mil¬
lions have been needlessly spent in doing such work in
that crude way. All the parts of a section of the cogged
wheel and rack construction sufficient for quick and
economical emplacement could have been carried on the
ship that carried the guns and their carriages. And where
one or more strategetical points around a seaport city or in
a field of definite military operations supplement and
mutually depend on each other, would it not be quite a
23
convenience and advantage if some reasonably cheap and
amply protected connection were made between them,
such as can be provided by the partitioned continuous
frame, with the unprotected parts placed under the earth
surface, or underwater? It is important here to keep in
mind the adaptability of this form to any dimension and
quality of material, to meet the necessities of any par¬
ticular case. And I again call the attention of sticklers
for ancient forms and methods to the fact that the inven¬
tions described in Appendixes A and B are as available
for two-rail roads as for those of the monorail type.
The fact should not be lost sight of that the wasteful,
burdensome and unscientific character of the two-rail
open overhead system has been recognized for years.
The one rail with wheels moving thereon in single file and
overhead confinement was seen to be a vast improve¬
ment, if that could be consummated. But, heretofore, no
means, for meeting the latter need had been discovered.
And it is worthy of note that no one has thus far had the
temerity to deny that the overhead requirement is fully
answered in the triangular arrangement, or to claim that
it is not adaptable to every need in point of strength and
resisting power.
In each large city in the United States, and elsewhere,
there is a need of long standing for enlarged local rapid
freight transportation. Most large cities cover many
square miles of territory and the interchange of freight
between railroad terminals and stores and warehouses,
and between manufacturers and distributors, a business
of vast proportions, is now done wastefully as regards
labor and expense, not to mention the public expenditure
for repair and reconstruction of streets. Much of it could
be avoided and the public comfort and convenience sub¬
served by the construction of belt and cross lines accord¬
ing to the forms described in Appendix B. Vast benefits
could also be enjoyed in the other utilities therein pro¬
vided for, a description of which will not be here re¬
peated. Nor is it necessary to here repeat arguments up¬
holding the superiority of the triangular monorail form
of construction for the rapid transit compartment of the
24
structure, since all the advantages of the latter as fully
appear whether one rail or two supportings rails be em¬
ployed. Nor is it necessary to argue the comparative
advantages of the elevated over the subway plan, or
vice versa.
When the idea of lighting London by the combustion
of gas made from coke was first broached in Parliament,
it was denounced by Lord Cavendish as preposterous,
and he remarked that it was an insult to bring such a
fantastic proposition before the House of Commons.
There may be many Lord Cavendishes in our govern¬
ment today. Whether there are or not remains to be
seen. When Bessemer read his essay describing a new
process before a thousand ironmakers, he was derided
and hooted, by all save one. That single exception had
an open mind, and he became a multi-millionaire. The
minds of the others had been "queered" by the failure
of previous efforts to do what Bessemer had succeeded
in doing. So, many may now close the avenues to their
minds when the subject of the triangular monorailroad is
presented because of knowledge that other monorail
structures have broken down in use. To all such, I ex¬
tend an invitation to open their minds for the reception
of a new idea.
25
Appendix A
SPECIFICATIONS AND CLAIMS.
This invention relates to improvements in monorailroads
of the general type suggested in my patents Nos. 1,058,481 of
April 8, 1913, and 1,105,540 of July 28, 1914.
The object of the present invention is primarily to provide
for use in a monorailroad system, though capable of service
elsewhere, an improved combination of traction wheel and
rail designed to assist in overcoming possible objections flow¬
ing from the travel of a car over regions including steep
grades, as in ascending a hill, either in a straight inclined
plane or by a circuitous route.
In the construction exemplified in my above mentioned
patents, the rail therein employed had a smooth tread and
the traction wheel both smooth periphery and flanges. This
construction is obviously, at all times, desirable in approxi¬
mately level country, or where but relatively slight inclina¬
tions are encountered, and my present aim is to maintain this
desideratum while at the same time improve the co-operating
elements, so that, as distinguished from the mere frictional
traction engagement, I obtain an interlocking or positive
traction engagement between the wheel and rail when travel¬
ing up severe inclines.
An ancillary feature of the invention embraces the pro¬
vision of means enabling relative bodily shifting of the trac¬
tion wheel laterally of its rail,—as when the car sways in
turning curves,—while retaining a positive or interlocking
traction engagement between the wheel flange or flanges,
and complementary portions of the rail member.
The foregoing and other advantageous characteristics of
my improvements will more fully appear from the detailed
description hereinafter presented, when read in connection
with the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, and
wherein several preferred embodiments of the invention are
illustrated.
26
In the drawings.
Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view through the frame¬
work, and associated parts, constituting the way within which
a car may travel, the car being shown in elevation.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view of the
rail and co-operating traction wheel.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a side view of the rail and wheel.
Fig. S is a view similar to Figure 2, exhibiting a modified
construction of the rail, and
Fig. 6 is a like view of a further modified construction.
Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein like
reference characters designate corresponding parts in the
several views, and first with reference to the first four figures,
A represents the framework of a monorailroad, the same be¬
ing of approximately triangular formation; B is a car of any
designed type adapted to pass through the frame; C are a
pair of lateral rails extending along the frame; and D are
yieldable buffer wheels or equivalent devices, not necessary
to be specially defined herein, adapted normally to center the
car, but permitting the same to yield under a cushioning in¬
fluence when the car sways in rapid travel, and especially
when rounding curves. The buffer wheels D traverse grooved
portions of the rails C, as shown.
E represents the driving traction wheels supporting the
car and arranged centrally thereof, and similarly centrally
of the base portion of the framework in position to engage
the corespondingly centrally disposed rail F. Of course, any
number of traction wheels may be employed, in keeping with
the requirements attending any particular service, or type of
car, it being deemed sufficient to typify the same by the in¬
clusion of but one wheel in this application. The traction
wheel or wheels are driven through the medium of any known
or preferred source of power.
The rail F is provided with a broad strong central portion
G merging at its lower opposite edges into securing flanges
F, utilized in fixedly securing the rail with reference to the
framework in any practical and efficient manner. Projecting
upwardly centrally of the rail is a broad rounded tread por¬
tion J, the same being smooth on its upper surface to re¬
ceive the correspondingly shaped base K of the peripheral
groove in the traction wheel E.
At opposite sides of the tread J, the base portion G of
the rail is curved downwardly and outwardly, as at L, and
the sides of the tread portion are curved outwardly as repre¬
sented at M, to gradually merge into the curvature of the
upper surfaces L, to which I have just referred. These upper
surfaces L and the lower portions of the side walls of the
tread member J are formed into similarly curved teeth N,
adapted to constitute racks along the two sides of the said
27
29
tread member, and the traction wheel E is formed peripher¬
ally of its flanges O with teeth P to convert said flanges
into a double integral gear, as will be readily understood.
The flanges are rounded, as shown, to dispense with corners
at the opposite ends of the teeth. From the construction
thus far defined it will be appreciated that when the traction
wheel E traverses the usual smooth-tread rail, as shown in
my prior patents, the flanges O will be free with reference
to their peripheral portions, and relative to the securing
flanges of the rail, so that the only bearing between the
wheel and the rail will be on the top of the smooth tread and
between the same and the smooth base portion K of the
groove in the traction wheel, so that in passing over approxi¬
mately level country of comparatively slight undulations
the toothed portions of the wheel flanges perform no action,
and all of the advantages incident to a smooth tread and
smooth wheel accordingly preserved. When, however, se¬
vere or steep inclinations are encountered, it is my purpose
to install suitable sections of the present improved type of
rail to permit engagement of the gear portions of the trac¬
tion wheel with toothed racks, and hereby provide a posi¬
tive interlocking connection and drive or traction between
the wheel and the rail until' the summit of the inclination is
attained, when the cars may pass on to other continuations of
smooth rails, if desired.
It will also be apparent from the disclosure herein made,
that swaying of the car in turning curves on up grades, while
effectually maintaining the double gear wheel in mesh with
one of the racks, or both racks, as the case may be, is en¬
abled by the curved or arc-shaped longitudinal formation of
the teeth N of the racks and the teeth P of the traction wheel,
it being noticed that as the wheel may tilt on the tread por¬
tion, the tooth flanges will simply shift by the wheel rocking
on said tread as a pivot, and the intermeshing teeth changing
their engaging position correspondingly and without becoming
disengaged.
In Figure 5, I have provided another arrangement for
overcoming any tendency of accumulations to pack between
the teeth of the racks, the result being accomplished, in this
instance, by forming the racks in a transverse downwardly
diverging relation, so that at opposite sides of the tread por¬
tion, the racks incline outwardly and downwardly, to the
end that any material falling in the spaces between the teeth
may work outwardly and fall at the sides of the rail. These
inclined portions of the racks are illustrated at R.
In figure 6, I show still another formation which would
be useful in keeping the teeth of the racks in a clear or clean
condition. This form embraces a base S, having a centrally
disposed upwardly projecting web T, on which the tread U
is formed, and at points intermediate of the securing flanges
30
W of the base portion and the web T, I form integrally with
the base, upwardly and inwardly extended ledges X having
horizontally disposed teeth Y, constituting the racks adapted
to engage the gear-peripheries of the traction wheels. By
this arrangement, ample spazes Z are left below the racks
and and between the base and web to permit any material
tending to clog the teeth to fall thereinto. The particular type
of structure also presents an arrangement which may be easily
cleared of accumulations by the introduction of any suitable
implement, adapted to that purpose, through the slots Z
between the tread U and the racks.
In figure 4, 1 have illustrated at 5, a portion of a smooth
rail devoid of the racks, occupying an approximately hori¬
zontal plane, and running into an inclined rail portion at 6,
provided with the racks.
While I have herein disclosed several convenient embodi¬
ments of my invention, it will be apparent that said inven¬
tion is capable of embodiment in still other forms and de¬
vices, all as will appeal to persons skilled in the art to which
this invention pertains.
I claim:
1. In a monorailroad, a vehicle, a traction wheel therefor
having a grooved peripheral portion and peripherally toothed
flanges, and a rail having a tread portion adapted to enter
the grooved portion of the wheel and oppositely disposed
toothed ledges adapted to engage the peripherally toothed
flanges of the wheel, the toothed flanges and the toothed
ledges being rounded longitudinally of the teeth to permit
the wheel to rock while maintaining intermeshing engage¬
ment, substantially as and for the purposes described.
2. In a monorailroad, a vehicle, a traction wheel therefor
having a grooved peripheral portion and peripherally toothed
flanges, and a rail having a tread portion adapted to enter
the grooved portion of the wheel and oppositely disposed
toothed ledges adapted to engage the peripherally toothed
flanges of the wheel, the tread portion and the base of the
grooved portion of the wheel being smooth, the toothed
flanges and the toothed ledges being rounded longitudinally
of the teeth to permit the wheel to rock while maintaining in¬
termeshing engagement, substantially as and for the pur¬
poses described.
3. In a mono-railroad, a vehicle, a traction wheel therefor
having a grooved peripheral portion and peripherally toothed
flange, and a rail having a rounded tread portion adapted to
enter the peripheral grooved portion of the wheel to permit
the wheel to rock thereon, and a toothed ledge adapted to be
engaged by the peripherally toothed flange, the peripherally
toothed flange and the toothed ledge being rounded to main¬
tain intermeshing engagement in the varying positions of
the wheel.
31
4. In a monorailroad, a vehicle, a traction wheel therefor
having a grooved peripheral portion and peripherally toothed
flange, and a rail having a rounded tread portion adapted to
enter the peripheral grooved portion of the wheel to permit
the wheel to rock thereon, and a toothed ledge adapted to be
engaged by the peripherally toothed flange, the peripherally
toothed flange and the toothed ledge being rounded to main¬
tain intermeshing engagement in the varying positions of
the wheel, the tread portion and the base of the peripheral
groove of the wheel being smooth, substantially as and for
the purposes described.
5. In a monorailroad, a vehicle, a traction wheel therefor
having a grooved peripheral portion and peripherally toothed
flange, a rail having a rounded tread portion adapted to
enter the peripheral grooved portion of the wheel to permit
the wheel to rock thereon, a toothed ledge adapted to be
engaged by the peripherally toothed flange, the peripherally
toothed flange and the toothed ledge being rounded to main¬
tain intermeshing engagement in the varying positions of
the wheel, the tread portion and the base of the peripheral
groove of the wheel being smooth, and a portion of the rail
being devoid of the toothed ledge, substantially as and for
the purposes described.
6. In a monorailroad, a vehicle, a traction wheel therefor
having a grooved peripheral portion and peripherally toothed
flange, a rail having a rounded tread portion adapted to enter
the peripheral grooved portion of the wheel to permit the
wheel to rock thereon, a toothed ledge adapted to be engaged
by the peripherally toothed flange, the peripherally toothed
flange and the toothed ledge being rounded to maintain
intermeshing engagement in the varying positions of the
wheel, the tread portion and the base of the peripheral groove
of the wheel being smooth, and a portion of the rail being
devoid of the toothed ledge, the last mentioned portion ot
the rail approximating a horizontal plane with reference to
the toothed ledge portions thereof, which occupy a relatively
ascending inclined plane, substantially as and for the pur¬
poses described.
7. The combination with a rail, of a wheel mounted to
rock on the rail, a rack associated with the rail, and a com¬
plementary toothed portion mounted to rotate and rock
in consonance with the movements of the wheel, said rack
and toothed portion being formed and arranged to maintain
intermeshing engagement during the rocking of the wheel on the
rail, substantially as described.
8. The combination with a rail, of a wheel mounted to
rock on the rail, a rack member associated with the rail, and
a complementary toothed member mounted to rotate and rock
in consonance with the movements of the wheel, one of said
32
members being rounded longitudinally of the teeth thereof,
substantially as described.
9. -The combination with a rail, of a wheel mounted to
rock on the rail, a rack member associated with the rail, and
a complementary toothed member mounted to rotate and
rock in consonance with the movements of the wheel, the
rack member being concaved lengthwise of the teeth thereof,
substantially as described.
10. The combination with a rail, of a wheel mounted to
rock on the rail, a rack member associated with the rail, and
a complementary toothed member mounted to rotate and
rock in consonance with the movements of the wheel, the
rack member being concaved lengthwise of the teeth thereof,
and having outlet openings leading from the low central por¬
tions intermediate of the teeth, substantially as described.
11. The combination with a headed rail, of a wheel adapted
to traverse the same, rack members associated with the rail
and located below the head thereof, continuous flange por¬
tions on the wheel arranged to present at all times an un¬
broken surface for engagement with the side surfaces of
the headed portion of the rail, and toothed peripheral por¬
tions on said flanges adapted to mesh with the racks, said
teeth, in their meshed positions, being entirely below the
headed portion of the rail, for the purpose set forth.
33
Appendix B.
SPECIFICATIONS AND CLAIMS.
This invention relates to a structure adapted to primarily
constitute a continuous, integral and rigid roadway and trac¬
tion way, capable of being used on the surface, on bridges,
overhead, under water and under ground, in keeping with
the topographical conditions and requirements surrounding
any particular service for which the same is needed or use¬
ful, said service at times possibly requiring all of the fore¬
going uses in combination and at other times separately.
The invention comprehends as features ancillary to the
main object above stated, the formation of the road or trac¬
tion ways of suitable frames coupled together and strongly
reinforced by means of braces associated to render the com¬
pleted structure as compact as possible, and said braces sub¬
dividing the frames into relatively small spaces adjacent to
the relatively large road or traction ways, adapted to be
utilized for many and various purposes, as will hereinafter
more fully appear.
The invention further has for its object the provision of a
structure which will be simple, and relatively inexpensive,
so that its field of service is practically unlimited, the same
being capable of use not only after the fashion of ordinary
elevated systems, bridges, subways and tunnels, but may
also be employed as roadways through farming and coun¬
try districts without seriously impairing the property above
which the same may be constructed, it simply being required
that suitable supports attached to the structure and form¬
ing parts thereof or provided and erected separately, rela¬
tively widely associated, be used to sustain the weight of the
structure at a suitable distance above the ground, and these
supports being relatively widely associated, the same may
cross farms and the like without serious inconvenience,
which would overcome to a large extent, the usual difficul¬
ties in securing rights of way. Similarly, the structure may
be installed either in lieu of or supplemental to a natural or
existing country road, on the one hand by laying the struc¬
ture on the road surface or on the other hand supporting
the structure thereabove without seriously obstructing the
normal road.
34
It is another purpose of the present invention to provide
a structure, the parts of which shall be of standard metal or
other formations fashioned to be expeditiously assembled,
and correspondingly maintained in serviceable condition at
comparatively cheap cost.
In that embodiment of the invention employed to cross
over streams, topographical depressions, and other elevated
situations, the same may be of a single span over narrow
waterways or hazardous land depressions, in which connec¬
tion it is of a type capable of being self-sustaining when rest¬
ing and anchored at opposite ends upon suitable embank¬
ments, or the same may be formed in duplicate spans of con¬
tinuous arrangement to overhang wide waters or valleys
when partially supported intermediate of the terminals, af¬
ter the accepted manner of bridge engineering; and inter¬
mediate the piers or bank supports, towers may be provided
and between the towers the vertical parts of the structure
may be continued downward until they reach and rest upon
suitable fixed surface supports.
The preferred embodiment of my invention, when availed
of for any of the various purposes to which I have alluded,
comprises the formation of the structure of a plurality of
open metal or other frames, reinforced and partly formed
of transversely disposed triangular portions to impart to the
frame the undeniable strength flowing from such special
shape, and the frames being strongly braced and tied to¬
gether through the medium of side brace rods arranged for
example, in criss-cross fashion, or similar brace rods, where
desired, also uniting the upper portions of the frames to¬
gether by longitudinal sills or bars rigidly secured to the
various frames, and in the case of an elevated or bridge
structure, the bottom portions of the same being additionally
braced by rods or beams constituting tension members there-
below, associated with suitable interposed struts therefor,
bearing in line with the base members of the triangular por¬
tions previously mentioned, to the end that the supporting
strains are distributed from the bottom brace rods or ten¬
sion members upwardly through the struts over the triangu¬
lar frame aligned, with the struts, and around the frame¬
work, as will later on clearly appear.
Heretofore I have referred to the sub-division of the in¬
terior of the main frames into small ways or spaces border¬
ing the main road or traction ways, and reverting to that
matter, it may be here observed that such spaces are con¬
veniently formed intermediate of the upwardly converging
triangular frame members, and the side members of the main
(preferably rectangular) frames, and within the crowns or
apex portions of the triangular frame members. These
spaces may be devoted to roadways for slow-moving, and
rapidly-moving vehicles, respectively; and suitable foot paths
35
or ways for pedestrians. They, or similar spaces (provided
with floors and enclosing walls or partitions if desired), may
be utilized as ways or conduits to receive conductors for
electric lighting, telegraph, telephone, water, gas or power
transmission; pneumatic or other dispatch tubes, or minia¬
ture automatically controlled conveyors,—traction or other¬
wise propelled,—for transporting merchandise and mail and
express packages from place to place without the necessity
of attendants or manual control. Other uses may be resorted
to, but those here mentioned will suffice in imparting the
understanding of the wise sphere of usefulness attending
these minor passageways, performing the useful function in
my construction, and overcoming the great waste of space
and expense incident to the present non-use of equivalent
space.
It will be understood, however, that the provision of these
subordinate features of my invention is optional, and will de¬
pend largely upon the intended uses for which the structure
may be designed, and the size thereof.
The improved details in the construction and arrangement
of parts of a structure made in keeping with my invention,
and capable of accomplishing the desired results to which I
have'made reference, will be apparent from the specific de¬
scription hereinafter contained, when read in connection with
the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, and wherein
preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is an end view, partly in section of an elevated struc¬
ture.
Fig 2 is a side elevation of the same employed as a bridge.
Fig. 3 is a plan view, in single formation, of the structure
duplicated to present the suggested double formation of
Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a section of an elevated struc¬
ture adapted to be supported from the ground or street.
Fig. 5 is a side view, partly in section of a subway or tun¬
nel, and,
Fig. 6 is a sectional view through Fig. 5.
Referring more specifically to the drawings wherein the
same reference characters designate like parts in the several
series of views, and first with relation to Figures 1, 2, and 3,
A represents a series of frames formed of metal bars, or com¬
binations of metal bars and wooden members, suitably joined
and conveniently of rectangular outlines, the same being
spaced suitable distances apart, in keeping with the length
of structure desired, these frames being in either single or
double formation, as will be clearly understood from a mere
inspection of Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings, the lines of
division between the double frames being constituted by
vertical bars B; the purpose of a single frame, when used
36
being in keeping with a single stretch of road, and the double
frame in keeping with a double road serving as outgoing and
return portions.
The frames are connected together longitudinally thereof
by base bars C, top bars D, and sills C', and the sides are re¬
inforced, and the various frames further rigidly united and
braced by brace rods E arranged in criss-cross fashion as
illustrated; and usually the same criss-cross arrangement of
brace rods will be employed to connect across the top of
the structure with the opposite longitudinal members D
thereof, as indicated at F. -The upper members of the frames
A also constitute transverse braces D'.
The sills C. to which I have just referred are arranged
longitudinally of the structure and are firmly attached to the
cross members of the frame on which the same rest, as
clearly indicated in Figures 1 and 6. These sills give added
strength to the structure, assist in maintaining the frame
members in their proper separated relation, and owing to the
rigidity thereof will be found useful as supports for rails,
in which connection, that is when the rails are securely fas¬
tened to the sills, both the sills and rails as combined ele¬
ments will still further strengthen the completed device. The
sills may be of any suitable material, for example, wooden
parts or sectional steel jacketed together so as to make the
same continuous, but it is unnecessary in this case to disclose
the specific construction of the sills or the connecting devices
between the sections thereof.
The foregoing arrangement provides an unbroken enclosed
and unyielding framework capable of bearing the supporting
strains to which the same is to be subjected.
The frames are still further strengthened laterally by inter¬
mediate cross bars or plates G fastened to the upright por¬
tions of the rectangular frames and extending through either
a single frame when used alone, or entirely through both
frames when used in the double formation.
The main road or traction ways are represented at H and J.
These ways are bordered by rectangular frames strongly re¬
inforced though the medium of conveging bars K extending
from the lower outer corners of the frames upwardly to a
point of juncture centrally of the top bars of the frame, this
arrangement of the bars K with the base bars L of the frames
constituting triangles, the characteristics of which are pecu¬
liarly appropriate in the combination, in which the strength
of the triangle and the distribution of the forces and strains
throughout the same will serve to maintain the structure in
rigid and permanent operative condition. The base bars L
operate in conjunction with the cross rods G, and top trans-
vers bars D' to tie the side members of the frame and ren¬
der the same as rigid as necessary,—other and as many base
bars, either as part of or separate from the triangles being
37
39
utilized wherever desired, the same being connected in an
obvious manner to the longitudinal bars C of the frame and
serving as adequate supports for those parts of the sill C
located between the triangles.
The cross-brace rods G are rigidly attached to the up¬
wardly converging side members K of the triangles, and
these brace rods are intended to serve another function,
namely, as supports for a suitable road-bed M serviceable
for slow-moving and rapidly-moving vehicles respectively,
the necessity for special ways for which in elevated and bridge
structures has long been recognized. Below the roadways B
and within the somewhat narrower spaces between the up¬
right members of the rectangular frame A and the inclined
members of the triangles K, I mount foot paths or ways M
for pedestrians. However, any or all of the spaces desig¬
nated at 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, IS, 16, 17 and 18, between the
side members of the main frames and the inclined side
members of the triangular portions, as well as the spaces 19
and 20 beneath the apeces of the triangular portions may be
utilized for any of the purposes herein-before outlined or
analogous purposes, as may be found expedient.
The opposite ends of the structure upon suitable concrete
foundations or embankments represented in a general way at
O at the opposite sides of the space to be spanned by the
bridge, and the bridge is aditionally strengthened and an¬
chored in place by cables P passing around the upper por¬
tion of the bridge structure,—preferably on bearings near the
upper points of the triangles,—and other cables Q passing
below the bridge structure conveniently in grooves therefor
formed in the bottoms of the longitudinal base bars C, suit¬
able anchoring means, as indicated at R, being embedded in
the concrete or other foundation.
S represents supporting bars extending downwardly below
the central portion of the bridge and extending to the em¬
bankments to constitute the tension members of the struc¬
ture, said tension members being of any desired number and
being sustained in position by traces or struts T extending
therefrom to the base portions L of the triangles, so that the
supporting strains are carried from the tension members S
in a direct line upwardly to the top of the bridge through
and around the triangular frame portions, this desirable result
being accomplished by the vertical alignment of the triangu¬
lar frame portions with the struts just defined.
In lieu of or in addition to the struts T above defined, it will
be clear that I may carry down the vertical members of the
frame work to constitute supports T' extending to the base
of waterways or to suitable fixed supporting surfaces where
the structure is used as an elevated roadway, said vertical
extension which may be properly designated supporting
standards being represented by dotted lines in Fig 2.
40
Assuming the ways H and J to be approximately level with
the surfaces from which the bridge leads, it is desirable to
provide steps U leading to the foot paths N, at the opposite
ends of the bridge, and gradually inclined approaches U ex¬
tending from the ground surface upwardly to the road por¬
tions M of the bridge.
While in Figure 2 I have shown the double formation of
the bridge, for the sake of economy of space, I have illus¬
trated in Figure 3, but a single width frame, it being under¬
stood that in the double construction of the instance now be¬
ing particularly defined, the showing of Figure 3 is merely
duplicated.
From the above description, it will be appreciated by per¬
sons skilled in this art that in a practical, simple, inexpensive
manner, I have furnished a structure capable of service in
many situations and under varying conditions, one that may
be quickly assembled or taken apart. It may, as clearly illus¬
trated, be used as a bridge alone or as a continuation of other
systems; it may be satisfactorily employed as a road or trac¬
tion way in traversing routes wherein the structure may rest
directly, entirely or partially, upon the ground, or entirely or
partially underground or in water when suitably incased, as
will presently appear.
Instancing the use of the invention in an overhead or com¬
monly styled elevated system, I refer to Figure 4 wherein the
framework, with slight modification, is illustrated at 21, the
same being supported in proper raised position with refer¬
ence to the ground or street surface 22 by suitable supporting
standards 23 disposed in vertical line with the triangular por¬
tions 24 of the framework, the standards being suitably
braced in any convenient manner, as by cross rods 25. The
modification in this frame work to which I have just referred
consists in bringing the triangular portions in closer relation,
so that the adjacent inclined side members 24 are overlapped
and secured together as at 25, to present the advantage of the
additional strength to be derived therefrom, the vertical di¬
vision bars B' in this instance passing through the points or
juncture of the cross triangular members, as clearly seen in
figure 6.
An embedded or submerged tunnel or subway structure is
illustrated in Figure 5,—also in detail Figure 6,—from which
it will be noted that the framework is encased in a suitable
tube or hermetically sealed casing or conduit 26 formed in
sections interfitting, as in 27, and riveted together at 28. It
will be appreciated that a subway formed in this manner will
be of great strength, by reason of the triangular supporting
members, and this additional example will serve to empha¬
size the rather universal application of my invention to roads
and ways of the usually recognized types. As clearly shown
in Figure 5, the tube formation may rest upon the bottom of
41
waterways or the same may be entirely embedded, or par¬
tially embedded in the earth and partially exposed, or en¬
tirely raised from the ground, as may be found advantageous
in pursuing a level course for my mechanical or artificial
road or way across the base of submerged territory; it be¬
ing understood that when the tubular formation is supported
in a submerged, but elevated position with reference to the
bed of the waterway, the vertical portions of the frame mem¬
bers 21 are extended downwardly to suitable rigid resting
points at said bed of the waterway, as indicated at 21', Fig.
5. Perhaps it will be found that in this last referred to em¬
bodiment of my invention, the various spaces formed within
the framework may be best utilized for the ancillary purposes
set forth in this specification, said spaces being denominated
29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40, the main ways
being indicated at 41 and 42. It will be instantly appreciated
that by my arrangement in addition to the provision of a
continuous rigid and integral structure, I make use of and
render valuable these various spaces, which have heretofore
been entirely wasted, and the saving in cost as compared to
the making of independent conduits, etc., is obviated.
From the disclosures herein made, it will be obvious that 1
have presented a roadway which, owing to its various em¬
bodiments, will be capable of use to meet all conditions en¬
countered in the building of systems of the character to which
the invention relates in that although the several embodi¬
ments which I have defined may be used individually where
desired, they may also be used collectively in a single system,
said system including in its course undulating land portions,
elevated portions as at street crossings, or through populated
districts, and over farms; underground or subway portions in
cities or elsewhere, bridges over waterways or limited width,
and tunnel portions through relatively wide waters, in which
latter connection the varying surface configuration of the
submerged bed or bottom of the waterway may be met in
substantially the same manner as on land, and as sufficiently
indicated in Fig. 5 to impart the general or underlying idea
involved.
While I have herein disclosed the preferred embodiment of
my invention, it will be understood that the invention is still
capable of embodiment in other forms and devices without
departing from the spirit thereof, all as may be in keeping
with the hereto appended claims.
Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:
1. A structure of the character described comprising a
triangular way having frame portions surrounding the same
subdivided into other ways, substantially as and for the pur¬
pose described.
2. A structure of the character described comprising a
triangular way having frame portions surrounding the same
42
subdivided into other ways, and the apex portions of the tri¬
angular ways being also divided from the main portions
thereof.
3. A structure of the character described comprising a
triangular way having frame portions surrounding the same
subdivided into other ways, a part of the subdividing means
comprising reinforcing bars extending from the sides of the
outside frame members to the frame members of the tri¬
angular way.
4. A structure of the character described comprising a
triangular way having frame portions surrounding the same,
and road portions located between the sides of the frame
members of the triangular way and the sides of the outside
frame.
5. A structure of the character described comprising a
triangular way having frame portions surrounding the same,
road portions located between the sides of the frame mem¬
bers of the triangular way and the sides of the outside frame,
and similar road portions between the same members located
below the first mentioned road portions.
6. A structure of the character described comprising par¬
allel triangular ways having frame portions surrounding them
both, substantially as described.
7. A structure of the character described comprising tri¬
angular ways having frame portions surrounding them both
and subdivided into other ways, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
8. A structure of the character described comprising para-
lel triangular ways having frame portions surrounding them
both and subdivided into other ways, a part of the subdivid¬
ing means comprising reinforcing bars passing through both
triangular frame members and connected to the opposite
sides of the outside frame members.
9. A structure of the character described comprising par¬
allel triangular ways having frame portions surrounding them
both, and a road portion located between the adjacent inner
side of the frame members of the triangular way.
10. A structure of the character described comprising par¬
allel triangular ways having frame portions surrounding them
both, and superposed road portions located between the sides
of the adjacent frame members of the triangular way, and
corresponding road portions between the outside frame mem¬
bers and the outer sides of the frame members of the tri¬
angular way.
11. A structure of the character described comprising a
triangular way having frame portions surrounding the same,
a similar triangular way parallel with said first mentioned
way having similar frame portions surrounding the same, a
road portion located between the adjacent inner side of the
frame members of the triangular ways, and a similar road
43
portion located between the outer sides of the frame members
of the triangular ways and the outside members of the sur¬
rounding frame.
12. A structure of the character described comprising
parallel roadways formed of inside frame portions and out¬
side reinforcing frame portions, and a plurality of subor¬
dinate ways formed intermediate of the inside and outside
frame portions, substantially as and for the purpose described.
13. A structure of the character described comprising a
roadway formed of inside frame portions and outside frame
portions, and means connecting and bracing the frame por¬
tions together and dividing the space there-between into a
plurality of subordinate ways substantially as described.
14. A structure of the character described comprising a
roadway formed of side frame portions and outside frame
portions, and a plurality of subordinate ways located between
the inside and outside frame portions, substantially as and
for the purpose described.
15. A structure of the character described comprising a
roadway formed of inside frame portions and outside frame
portions, and cross brace rods passing through both frame
portions and subdividing them into a plurality of ways, sub¬
stantially as and for the purpose described.
16. A subway of the character described comprising a
main roadway formed of inside frame portions and outside
frame portions, connecting means therebetween, and a tubu¬
lar casing enclosing the structure, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
17. A structure of the character described comprising a
main roadway formed of inside frame members and outside
frame members, a plurality of subordinate ways located be¬
tween the inside and outside frame members, and a tubular
casing for the structure, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
18. A subway of the character described comprising a main
roadway formed of inside frame members of approximately
triangular shape and surrounding outside frame members,
connecting means therebetween, and a tubular casing enclos¬
ing the structure, substantially as and for the purpose de¬
scribed.
19. A subway of the character described comprising a
main roadway formed of inside triangular frame members
and surrounding outside frame members, a plurality of sub¬
ordinate ways located between the inside and outside frame
members, and a tubular casing for the structure, substantially
as and for the purpose described.
20. A subway of the character described comprising main
roadways formed of a pair of triangular frame portions
crossed at their inner sides, and a casing therefor.
21. A subway of the character described comprising main
44
roadways formed of inside triangular frame portions crossed
at their inner sides, outside frame members, and a casing en¬
veloping the structure.
22. A subway of the character described comprising main
roadways formed of a pair of triangular frame portions
crossed at their inner sides, brace rods extending through
the frame portions, and a casing enveloping the structure.
23. A subway of the character described comprising main
roadways formed of inside triangular frame members crossed
at their inner sides, outside frame members and brace rods
extending through the inside and outside frame members,
and a casing enveloping the structure.
24. A structure of the character described comprising a
pair of roadways formed of triangular frame portions crossed
at their inner sides and secured and braced together, substan¬
tially as described.
25. A structure of the character described comprising
main roadways formed of inside triangular frame members
crossed at their inner sides, outside frame members, and brace
rods extending through the inside and outside frame mem¬
bers, substantially as described.
26. In a bridge, a frame of approximately rectangular for¬
mation having a series of triangular means disposed along the
same and constituting a way therewith, substantially as de¬
scribed.
27. In a bridge, a frame having a series of triangular mem¬
bers disposed along the same and constituting a way there-
within, substantially as described.
28. In a bridge, a frame of approximately rectangular for¬
mation having a series of triangular members disposed along
the same and constituting a way therewithin, in combination
with cross braces connected to the side members of the trian¬
gular portions and to the outer side members of the frame.
29. In a bridge, a frame having a series of triangular mem¬
bers disposed along the same and constituting a way there¬
within, in combination with cross braces connected to the
side members of the triangular portions and to the outer
side members of the frames, and roadways supported on
said cross members.
30. In a bridge, a frame having a series of triangular mem¬
bers disposed along the same and constituting a way there¬
within, in combination with cross braces connected to the
side members of the triangular portions and to the outer side
members of the frame, roadways supported on said cross
members, and in combination with foot paths also supported
between the side members of the triangular portions, and the
outer side members of the frame.
31. In a bridge, a frame having a series of triangular
members disposed along the same and constituting a way
therewithin, in combination with cross braces connected to
45
the side members of the triangular portions and to the outer
side members of the frames, roadways supported on said
cross members, and approaches to the roadways affording
access to their elevated positions.
32. In a bridge, a frame having a series of triangular mem¬
bers disposed along the same and constituting a way there-
within, in combination with cross braces connected to the
side members of the triangular portions and to the outer side
members of the frames, roadways supported on said cross
members, in combination with foot paths also supported be¬
tween the side members of the triangular portions and the
outer side members of the frame, and approaches to said foot
paths and roadways affording access to their elevated posi¬
tions.
33. In a structure of the character described, an outer
frame, an inner frame of triangular members constituting a
way therewithin, and a roadway formed between one of the
inclined sides of the triangular members and the outer frame
members, substantially as described.
34. In a structure of the character described, outside frame
members, and inside frame members of approximately tri¬
angular formation constituting a way therewithin, and means
for supporting the structure comprising cables engaging the
base portions of the frames and the upper portions thereof.
35. In a structure of the character described, outside frame
members, and inside frame members of approximately trian¬
gular formation constituting a way therewithin, and means
for supporting the structure comprising cables engaging the
base oortions of the frames and the upper portions thereof
near the apeces of the triangular portions.
36. A bridge of the character described comprising a way
constituted by a series of triangular frame members spaced
apart and connected together, and an under brace therefor
comprising a tension member extending longitudinally of the
bridge, and struts between said tension member and the bases
of the triangular portions, substantially as and for the pur¬
poses described.
37. A bridge of the character described comprising a way
constituted by a series of triangular frame members spaced
apart and connected together, an under brace therefor com¬
prising a tension member extending longitudinally of the
bridge, struts between said tension member and the bases
of the triangular portions, and anchoring cables passing over
the bridge and engaging the apeces of the triangular por¬
tions.
38. A structure of the character described comprising an
outer frame portion and an inner frame portion of triangular
formation, in combination with criss-cross braces for the
side members of the outer frame portions.
39. A structure of the character described comprising an
46
outer frame portion and an inner frame portion of triangular
formation, in combination with criss-cross braces for the
side members of the outer frame portions, and similar bracing
over the top portions of the bridge.
40. A structure of the character described comprising
double ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly
connected triangular frame members, substantially as de¬
scribed.
41. A structure of the character described comprising
double ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly
connected triangular frame members, the same including out¬
side frame members.
42. A structure of the character described comprising
double ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly
connected triangular frame members, the same including out¬
side frame members, and cross rods connected to the side
members of the frames and to the inclined members of the
triangular portions.
43. A structure of the character described comprising
double ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly con¬
nected triangular frame members, the same including outside
frame members, cross rods connected to the side members
of the frame and to the inclined members of the triangular
portions, and criss-cross bracing for the side members of the
frame.
44. A structure of the character described comprising
double ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly
connected triangular frame members, the same including out¬
side frame members, cross rods connected to the side mem¬
bers of the frames and to the inclined members of the tri¬
angular portions, criss-cross bracing for the side members
of the frame, and similar criss-cross bracing for the top por¬
tions of the frames.
45. A structure of the character described comprising dou¬
ble ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly con¬
nected triangular frame members, the same including outside
frame members of the frames and to the inclined members
of the triangular portions, and under tension members for
the bridge structure, and struts spacing the tension members
from the base portions of the triangular frames.
46. A structure of the character described comprising
double ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly con¬
nected triangular frame members, the same including outside
frame members, cross rods connected to the side members of
the frames and to the inclined members of the triangular por¬
tions, criss-cross bracing for the side members of the frame
and under tension members for the bridge structure, and
struts spacing the tension members from the base portions
of the triangular frames.
47. A structure of the character described comprising dou-
47
ble ways constituted by closely associated and rigidly con¬
nected triangular frame members, the same including out¬
side frame members, cross rods connected to the side mem¬
bers of the frames and to the inclined members of the trian¬
gular portions, criss-cross bracing for the top portions of
the frames, under tension members for the bridge structure,
and struts spacing the tension members from the base por¬
tions of the triangular frames.
48. A structure of the character described comprising a
way formed of triangular inside frame members, outside
frame members, suitable braces between the frame members,
and vertical continuations of the frame members depending
therefrom to constituting supporting columns, substantially
as described.
49. A structure of the character described comprising a
way formed of triangular inside frame members, outside
frame members, suitable braces between the frame members,
and vertical continuations of the frame members depending
therefrom to constitute supporting columns, in combination
with a casing enclosing the frame structure and through which
the depending supporting columns project.
50. In a structure of the character described, a way formed
of suitable frame members rigidly connected and braced, a
tubular casing enclosing the same, and depending support¬
ing standards rigidly connected to the frame and passing
through the tubular casing, substantially as and for the pur¬
pose described.
48
This book is a preserv ation facsimile
produced for the Northwestern University Library.
It is made in compliance with copyright law
and produced on acid-free archival
60# book weight paper
which meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper)
Preservation facsimile printing and binding
by
Acme Bookbinding
Charlestown, Massachusetts
2012