IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR WHEELED CARRIAGES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th March 1880.
WILLIAM EDWARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineor. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR WHEELED CARRIAGES."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein after described in springs for
wheeled carriages, by which improvements the manufacture of carriage springs
is much simplified, and great strength and lightness in the said springs are
obtained.
In making an elliptic carriage spring according to my Invention I form cach
half or part of the spring of a single bar or thick plate of steel, the said steel bar
or plate having on each edge of its outer or convex face a strong rib or flange, the
said ribs or flanges being deepest at the middle of the bar or plate and gradually
diminishing in depth as they approach the ends of the plate, near which ends the
ribs or flanges entirely disappear. The outer or convex face of the bar or plate of
steel having a rib or flange at each edge, as described, has the general figure of a
trough. By means of the said edge ribs or flanges great strength is imparted to
the plate, and an elliptic carriage spring made of two of the said plates combined
together with their concave faces presented to each other is capable of supporting
a heavy load. When however additional strength is required in the spring,
short thin plates of steel may be placed and fixed in the trough like convex face
of cach half of the spring.
I make steel bars or plates, having the sectional figure described, by rolling
plain or flat bars of steel in properly shaped rolls. I prefer to roll a long bar or
plate and cut it into the lengths required for the halves or parts of the springs,
and bend the said lengths into the desired bow figure. The ends of the halves
or parts of the springs are fashioned and connected together in the ordinary
way. I do not however limit myself to any particular method of manufacture.
My Invention is applicable to carriage springs consisting of a single part or bow,
commonly called a grasshopper spring, and to springs for railway carriages and
vehicles, as well as to road carriages and vehicles.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
September 1880.
WILLIAM EDWARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR WHEELED CARRIAGES."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein after described in springs
for wheeled carriages, by which improvements the manufacture of carriage
springs is much simplified and great strength and lightness in the said springs are
obtained.
In making an elliptic carriage spring according to my Invention I form each
half or part of the spring of a single bar or plate of steel, the said steel bar or plate
having on each edge of one of its facos a strong rib or flango, the said ribs or
flanges being deepest at the middle of the bar or plate and gradually diminishing
in depth as they approach the ends of the plate, near which ends the ribs or flanges
entirely disappear. The ribs or flanges described are made on the inner or concave
face of the top half or part, and on the outer or convex face of the bottom half of
the elliptic spring. Or the ribs or flanges may be made on the outer or convex
face of each half of the spring, The face of the bar or plate of steel, having a rib
or flange at each edge, as described, has the general figure of a trough. By means
of the said edge ribs or flanges great strength is imparted to the plate, and an
elliptic carriage spring made of two of the said plates combined together with
their concave faces presented to each other is capable of supporting a heavy load.
When however additional strength is required in the spring, short plates of
steel may be placed and fixed in the trough like face of each half of the spring.
I make steel bars or plates, having the sectional figure described, by rolling
plain or flat bars of steel in properly shaped rolls. I prefer to roll a long bar or
plate and cut it into the lengths required for tho halves or parts of the springs, and
bend the said lengths into the desired bow figure.
The ends of the halves or parts of the springs are fashioned and connected
together in the ordinary way. I do not however limit myself to any particular
method of manufacture.
My Invention is applicable to carriage springs consisting of a single part or bow,
such as sido or grass hopper and end springs, and to springs for railway carriages
and vehicles, as well as to road carriages and vehicles.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the
manner in which my Invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal section an elliptic carriage spring made
according to my Invention; Figure 2 represents a plan of the underside of the said
spring; Figure 3 represents an end elevation, and Figure 4 a cross section of the
said spring, the said section being taken on tho dotted line, Figure 1. The same
letters indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
It is
The halves or parts of the elliptic spring are marked a, each half or part being
made of a singlo bar or plate of steel. Ou one face of each bar or plate a and along
each edge a strong rib or flange is made, the said ribs or flanges being marked b.
The steel bar or plate a, b, thus made has the general figure of a trough.
preferred to make the ribs or flanges b, b, on the inner or concave face of the top
half of the spring, and the ribs or flanges b, b, on the outer or convex face of the
bottom half of the spring, as represented in the Drawing, but the said ribs or

page_text: flanges may be mado on the convex faces of both halves or parts of the elliptic
spring. The said ribs or flanges b, b, are deepost at the middle of the bar or
plate and gradually diminish in depth as they approach the ends of the plate,
near which ends the ribs or flanges entirely disappear, as represented in Figures 1
and 3. The edge ribs or flanges b, b, give great strength to the plate on which
they are made, and an elliptic spring composed of two of the said plates combined
together with their concave faces presented to cach other is capable of supporting
a heavy load.
I make the trough plates a, b, or plates having ribs or flanges on their edges, as
described and represented, by rolling a long flat bar of steel by means of properly
shaped rolls, and I cut the long shaped bar into the lengths required to form the
halves or parts of the springs, and afterwards bend the said lengths into the desired
bow figure and fashion their ends in the ordinary way, but pieces of bar steel of
the proper lengths to form each half or part of the elliptic spring may be rolled
of the sectional form represented, and bont into the bow figure by the rolling
operation.
The ends of the halves or parts a, b, of the elliptic spring are connected together
by the ordinary box heads and screw bolts and nuts at c, c, or in any other
convenient way.
When elliptic springs of great strength are required to be made the ribs or
flanges bare formed of greater depth than those represented, and plates of steel
are placed and fixed in the trough like face of each half of the spring, as herein
after described and represented with respect to a grasshopper spring.
Figure 5 represents in longitudinal section, and Figure 6 in plan of underside
a grasshopper spring made according to my Invention; Figure 7 represents an end
elevation, and Figure 8 a cross section of the said spring. The said grasshopper
spring, Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, consists of a single steel bar or plate a having edge ribs
or flanges on its convex or outer face, the said plate being made in the manner
herein before described with respect to an elliptic spring. The eye ends d, d,
of the grasshopper spring are connected to the carriage in the ordinary way.
Figure 9 represents in longitudinal section, Figure 10, in end elevation, and
Figure 11, in cross section, a grasshopper spring constructed according to my
Invention, strengthened by filling the trough like face of the plate with plates of
steel; Figure 12 represents a plan of the underside, and Figure 13 a plan of the
upper side of the spring. In the said Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, a is the steel
plate of which the body of the spring is composed, having on its convex face the
edge ribs or flanges b, and e, e, are two (or more) filling up plates placed in tho
trough like face of the body of the spring and fixed at their middle to the said
body by the screw bolt and nut at f.
When a compound spring is to be made the edge ribs or flanges are made deepor
than for a single plate spring.
When the grasshopper springs represented are employed as end springs they
are used in an inverted position, that is, with their convex sides uppermost, as is
well understood:
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in which
the samo is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention, the improvements in springs for wheeled carriages herein before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, making
elliptic springs and grasshopper springs for wheeled carriages of bars or plates
of steel, baving on each edge a strong rib or flange so as to give the said bars or
plates the general figure of a trough, elliptic springs being composed of two of the
said trough like plates, and grasshopper springs of a single trough plate, sub-
stantially as described and illustrated; also strengthening the said elliptic and

page_text: grasshopper springs when required by placing and fixing in the trough like face
of the plate one, two, or more plates of steel, substantially as described and
illustrated.
-
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edwards, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
WILLIAM EDWARDS. (LS.)