AN IMPROVED FENDER
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
TURK FORDER, of Leamington Priors, in the County of Warwick, Solicitor,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of March, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said Augustus Turk Forder, my exors, admors,
and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Augustus Turk Forder, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Augustus Turk Forder, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times hereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in our Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alder-
ney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED FENDER;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said Augustus Turk
Forder, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Augustus Turk Forder, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of an improved fender, so constructed and arranged
as to absorb any probable amount of force which may be exerted against it in
the event of a collision on a railway. I attach this fender to the carriages
and prevent all injury to them by causing the fender to receive and absorb the
whole force of the shock. A train upon a railroad consists of an engine,
carriages or trucks, and van or luggage wagon, the united weight of which
varies considerably according to the number of engines, carriages or trucks,
and the amount of the load. Assuming a train to consist of an engine and
tender weighing ten tons, each joined together as usual by coupling irons or
adjusting screw links secured to the hooks of drawing bars at each end
of the carriage, and to be travelling at the rate of thirty miles an hour, it
would be equal to twenty-eight tons moving at the speed of thirty miles
an hour; but the engine and each of the carriages have a separate and
independent impetus, and should such train be suddenly stopped the engine
and the carriages would crush or injure each other by the impetus or
speed in them. To prevent the injurious effects of a collision taking place at
the front end of the train in consequence of any obstruction on the line of rails,
or by the train being suddenly stopped, or at the back end of the train on its
being overtaken and run into, one of my improved fenders should be fixed at
each end of every carriage and luggage van, and also before the engine and
bebind the tender.
My improved fender is made of different sizes, with different absorbing
powers, so as to be an equivalent to the force of any probable collision
arising as aforesaid. Thus it may be made equal to a force of five tons
travelling five miles an hour, more or less, or to a force of fifty tons travelling
fifty miles an hour, more or less, and is intended to be made and used
according to the weight and speed of the train.
My fender is a mechanical contrivance whereby a shock or collision is
divided into several parts, and diffused over an appendage to railway carriages,
the object of the Invention being to divide the shocks into so many parts that
each shock or dividend would not of itself have the power of injuriously

page_text: affecting the carriages composing a train. If a train weighing altogether
thirty tons, and travelling thirty miles an hour, were to be suddenly stopped
by any impediment, the shock would be equal, say, to nine hundred tons
moving one mile an hour; were that divided into one hundred parts, then the
shock would be divided by one hundred, each of which dividends would only
be equal to nine tons travelling one mile an hour. The shock thus divided
would result in one hundred successive slight shocks, each equal to nine tons
moving at the rate of one mile an hour.
The improved fender is made as follows:--First, must be ascertained the
approximate weight of the engine and tender and of each of the carriages.
The dimensions of the fenders in height and breadth must not exceed the
transverse section of the carriage. My improved fenders may, as before
stated, be made of various sizes. They consist of two parts; one is called
the striker, and the other the receiver. By way of exemplification, I will
describe a fender for a carriage of an assumed weight, say, five tons, and
Where fenders are
moving at an assumed velocity, say, thirty miles an hour.
to be applied to carriages of a greater weight, and moving at a greater
velocity, they must of course be proportionally enlarged. I construct the
fenders for such a carriage and velocity as follows:-The striker consists of
two boiler plates of wrought iron an inch thick, four feet broad, and two
feet eight inches high. I let into the plates ninety-six pieces of round steel:
(not so highly tempered as to render it brittle) of different dimensions both in
diameter and length (which bars of steel I call the striking bars). The
length of the striking bars varies from one foot to the eighth of an inch. The
longest bar is one foot; the next 11 inches ths; the next 11ins.; the next.
11 ins., and so on, each successive bar being th of an inch shorter than its.
precedent. The annexed Plans shew the parts of the fender..
No. 1, Figure 1, represents the side elevation of a fender 2 feet 8 by 4 feet,
without a covering, in which No. 1 is the receiver, and No. 2 the striker. In
the receiver a and b are plates of boiler iron inch thick, 4 feet broad, by
2 feet 8 inches high, parallel, and placed 1 foot asunder, and united by
wrought-iron stays, shoulders, and rivetted into each plate.
Figure 2 shows the manner of shouldering and rivetting the stays
into the plate, where a is a stay, and 6 the plate. The plate a is to be
5 perforated with apertures symmetrically arranged, as represented in the
plan, Figure 2. The bottom or lowest apertures being 3.55 inches from
the edge to the centre of the hole, and the remainder in the perpendicular,
also measuring from centre to centre 3.55, the first row on either side is to
be 3.55 inches from the extreme edge, and each subsequent row, measuring

page_text: in the breadth, is to be 3.55 inches from centre to centre. Eight inch bars, as
shown by A, A, Figure 1, and in the positions indicated by A, A, A, A, A, A, A, A
Figure 2, are firmly fixed and rivetted to the striker, and corresponding
apertures are made in the boiler plate of the receiver a', b', No. 1, Figure 1,
to enable the striker to slide home, as these eight bars have to support the
weight of the striker, and they project 13 inches beyond the plate a² of the
striker. The ends must be screwed with nuts e to prevent the striker from
sliding off. The receiver is fixed to the end of the carriages, either by plates
or screws, or by any other suitable means. Steel spring plates B, B, 3 inches
long and 2 inches broad and of an inch thick, tempered that they may have
an elasticity of 1 inch before breaking, are placed over each aperture, of the
shape shewn in the Drawing, Figure 2, and are fastened by bars of iron
inch thick by an inch broad, bolted over the ends of the steel plates, and
secured to the boiler plate, as shown. The situation of the bolts is denoted
by D, D.
The striking part of the fender is represented by No. 2, Figure 1, and is
constructed similarly to the receiver, that is to say, there are two half inch
plates of boiler iron, four feet long by 2 feet 8 inches high, placed one foot
apart; through both of these plates, round steel bars called striking bars
C', C', are passed, the position of which corresponds with the centre of the
apertures in the receiver plate, and are securely shouldered and rivetted
to both plates. The steel of the bars must not be so highly tempered as to
render it brittle. The length which the striking bar projects from the
plate a varies from 1 foot, which is the longest, to th of an inch, which is
the shortest; thus the longest is 12 inches, the next 11 inches and ths, the
next 11 inches, and so on, gradually reducing each by th of an inch, until
we reach the minimum length of th of an inch. The diameter of the
striking bars is as follows, viz*:
in.
The 1st 12 are 1
diameter at the base, and
in.
1 at the point.
1 at the point.
at the point.
at the point.
2nd 12 are 1
diameter at the base,
3rd 12 are 1
4th 12 are 1
5th 12 are 1
6th 12 are
diameter at the base,
diameter at the base,
diameter at the base,
diameter at the base,
7th 12 are
diameter at the base,
at the point.
8th 12 are
diameter at the base,
at the point.
at the point.
at the point.
Figure 3 is a plan of the striking part, showing the position of the striking
bars. A piece of wood (shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 1) 1 foot thick,.

page_text: 2 feet high, and 8 feet broad, is fixed to the outer side of the plate 6' of the
striking part, for the purpose of first receiving the concussion caused by
the collision, and conveying it to the fender, or the supporting bars A, A, as
shewn in the Drawing, Figure 1, may be made to slide within the receiver,
and not to project more than two inches when struck home. The ordinary
buffer rods, coupling irons, and connecting bars, must be altered to allow of
the fender being fixed to the carriage, so as not to interfere with their action.
The two parts of the fender being fastened together, by the guiding bars of
the receiver being placed into the holes before described in the plates of the
striker, it will, in case of a collision of the nature before mentioned, operate as
follows-The collision will cause the ends of the carriages to approach each
other, and, after the ordinary buffers are driven home, the wood at the outside
of the striker will receive the shock and communicate it to the striker, which
will be driven on the guiding irons, close or nearly so (in proportion to the
force of the shock) to the front of the receiver. The striking steel bars,
during the onward motion of the striker, would one by one successively bend
and break its antagonistic spring steel plate placed over the apertures in the
receiver as before mentioned, until the force of the shock is expended. The
number of steel spring plates broken will of course depend upon the force of
the collision or shock.
The fender above described would not be of sufficient resisting force to
defend a carriage above five tons, and, therefore, it is not intended to be used
before engines and behind their tenders which require fenders of the same
description but of larger dimensions; and where the resisting power required
is very great, it will be best to place them upon a carriage, in which case the
fender should be made as follows:-The fenders will have three compartments,
the centre compartment with receivers at each end, and, where strikers must
be placed, one at each end, and small enough to slide into it. The centre
compartment is fastened firmly on a railway truck of the same length, the
bottom of which must be made open, or, if intended for use at railway stations
or sidings, may be permanently fixed.
Although, in the exemplifications given, I have described the exact propor-
tions I followed in the fender designed by me, I do not limit myself to such
proportions, it being necessary only to construct the fenders so that each strik-
ing bar shall come directly opposite the centre of the apertures in the receiver,
and of sufficient strength for the work they are intended to perform.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention. and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as of my Invention

page_text: the improved fender, substantially as herein-before mentioned, and represented
in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Turk Forder, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.