The Adams axle is a form of radial axle for rail locomotives that enable them to negotiate curves more easily. It was invented by William Bridges Adams and patented in 1865. [1] The invention uses axle boxes that slide on an arc in shaped horn blocks, so allowing the axle to slide out to either side. This is similar to the movement of a Bissell truck, but with the notional centre point of the curve being where the pivot of the truck would be. This design, using slide bearings, is more expensive than one employing a shaft, but takes up less space.
In 1865 the Society of Engineers, London, made direct comparison between the radial axle, invented by William Bridges Adams, and a bogie design with an india-rubber central bearing invented by William Adams: during trials on the North London Railway the laterally sprung bogie was thought superior to the radial axle, [2] but when William Adams moved from the NLR to the London and South Western Railway he adopted the design of his rival William Bridges Adams; [3] the locomotives now known as Adams Radials are named after the LSWR Locomotive Superintendent, but are famous for the axle invented by William Bridges Adams.
Notwithstanding the 1865 comparative trials of the two inventors' products, there is some confusion over the inventor of the axle. Lexicon der Eisenbahn cites William Adams (1823-1904) as the inventor. [4]
A bogie comprises two or more wheelsets, in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached or be quickly detachable. It may include suspension components within it, or be solid and in turn be suspended. It may be mounted on a swivel, as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung, or held in place by other means.
Mason Bogie locomotives are a type of articulated tank locomotive suited for sharp curves and uneven track, once commonly used on narrow-gauge railways in the United States. The design is a development of the Single Fairlie locomotive.
A Mallet locomotive is a type of compound articulated steam locomotive, invented by the Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet (1837–1919).
Orenstein & Koppel was a major German engineering company specialising in railway vehicles, escalators, and heavy equipment. It was founded on April 1, 1876, in Berlin by Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-2-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, two powered driving wheels on one axle and no trailing wheels. This type of locomotive is often called a Jervis type, the name of the original designer.
The Meigs Elevated Railway was an experimental but unsuccessful 19th century elevated steam-powered urban rapid transit system, often described as a monorail but technically pre-electric third rail. It was invented in the US by Josiah Vincent Meigs, of Lowell, Massachusetts, and was demonstrated from 1886 to 1894 in a suburb of Boston called East Cambridge.
William Adams was an English railway engineer. He was the Locomotive Superintendent of the North London Railway from 1858 to 1873; the Great Eastern Railway from 1873 until 1878 and the London and South Western Railway from then until his retirement in 1895. He is best known for his locomotives featuring the Adams bogie, a device with lateral centring springs to improve high-speed stability. He should not be mistaken for William Bridges Adams (1797–1872) a locomotive engineer who, confusingly, invented the Adams axle – a radial axle that William Adams incorporated in designs for the London and South Western Railway.
William Bridges Adams was an English locomotive engineer, and writer. He is best known for his patented Adams axle – a successful radial axle design in use on railways in Britain until the end of steam traction in 1968 – and the railway fishplate. His writings, including English Pleasure Carriages (1837) and Roads and Rails (1862) covered all forms of land transport. Later he became a noted writer on political reform, under the pen name Junius Redivivus ; a reference to a political letter writer of the previous century.
A lateral motion device is a mechanism used in some railroad locomotives which permits the axles to move sideways relative to the frame. The device allows easier cornering.
Rollbocks, sometimes called transporter trailers, are narrow gauge railway trucks or bogies that allow a standard gauge wagon to 'piggyback' on a narrow-gauge line. The Vevey system enables a coupled train of standard gauge wagons to be automatically loaded or rolled onto Rollbocks, so that the train can then continue through a change of gauge.
The LSWR 415 class is a 4-4-2T steam tank locomotive, with the trailing wheels forming the basis of its "Radial Tank" moniker. It was designed by William Adams and introduced in 1882 for service on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR).
A Krauss-Helmholtz bogie (Krauss-Helmholtz-Lenkgestell) is a mechanism used on steam locomotives and some electric locomotives to improve curve running.
A Bissell or Bissel truck is a single-axle bogie which pivots towards the centre of a steam locomotive to enable it to negotiate curves more easily. Invented in 1857 by Levi Bissell and usually then known as a pony truck, it is a very simple and common means of designing a carrying wheel.
A radial axle is an axle on a railway locomotive or carriage which has been designed to move laterally, along the arc of a circle, when entering a curve to reduce the flange and rail wear. William Bridges Adams was an early developer of radial axles.
The Gölsdorf axle system is used on railway Gölsdorf locomotives to achieve quiet running and low wear-and-tear when negotiating curves. The axle system comprises a combination of fixed axles and axles that can slide transversely, all within a single, rigid locomotive frame. The system was invented by a young Austrian locomotive builder, Karl Gölsdorf, around the end of the 19th century. The first locomotive to use this principle entered service in 1897.
The Arnoux system is a train articulation system, for turning on railroad tracks, invented by Jean-Claude-Républicain Arnoux and patented in France in 1838. Arnoux was the chief engineer of the Ligne de Sceaux, which was originally built with very tight radii in the area around Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine.
The leading wheel or leading axle or pilot wheel of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the leading wheels are normally located on a leading truck. Leading wheels are used to help the locomotive negotiate curves and to support the front portion of the boiler.
A cannon bearing or cannon box bearing is an arrangement of bearings on a shaft, usually an axle, where two bearings are mounted in an enclosed tube.
The Java bogie, was a bogie for electric locomotives manufactured by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM). It contained a driving wheel and a trailing wheel. It got its name because it was first installed in the 3000 series express train locomotives delivered to the Electrische Staats Spoorwegen (ESS) on Java in 1925.