Engineers and Mechanics Encyclopedia 1839: Railways: T. S. Holland

Amongst the singular propositions for producing a locomotive action, was that invented by T. S. Holland, for which he took out a patent, dated the 19th December, 1827.

The invention consists in the application of an arrangement of levers, similar to that commonly known by the name of lazy-tongs, for the purpose of propelling carriages. The objects appear to be, to derive from the reciprocating motion of a short lever a considerable degree of speed, and to obtain an abutment, against which the propellers should act horizontally, the direction of the motion of the carriage, instead of obliquely to that motion, as is the case when carriages are impelled by levers striking the earth.

The drawings attached to the specification seem designed rather to explain the principle, than to represent what the patentee would deem an eligible form of its application. a is one of the main wheels of the carriage; attached to the axle is a long guide-rod b-b, extending before and behind, and passing through holes in the blocks c-c, placed over the beds of the propelling wheels d-d; e-e are double palls, acting against two sets of ratchet wheels on the boxes of d-d; f-f standards attached to the beds or axles of d-d, and serving to place them in any required position, by means of the wheels attached to them; g-g a series of expanding levers, the central pair playing upon the main axle; h-h a pair of longer bars, connected with the two bars g-g, at their lower ends, and with each other, at the upper ends, by a bar, shown by dots, between two uprights; the fulcrum l, a lever connected by a rope m, with a counter-weight, supported by two short bars o-o, suspended from the lower bars g-g; p a fly-wheel, connected with the upper extremities of the bars b-b, which rise and fall in grooves, in the upright post q, the fly serving to equalize the motion; r the platform or carriage.

The action is as follows:- Suppose the apparatus in the position shown in the engraving; allow the weight n to descend, and the levers g-g will collapse; but as the wheels d-d can only revolve in the direction of the arrow, on account of the palls e-e, the wheel d1 will remain stationary,, and the wheel d, and the main wheel a, will be drawn towards d1. On raising the weight, the levers g-g will be extended, and g2 now becoming stationary, the centre wheel a and d1 will be pushed forward from d2.

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