IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND CARRIAGES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Andrew Fairbairn, of the City of Man-
chester, Engineer, and George Haslam, of the said City, Mechanic, for
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Andrew Fairbairn
and George Haslam at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 11th October 1855.
We, WILLIAM ANDREW FAIRBAIRN, of the City of Manchester, Engineer,
and GEORGE HASLAM, of the said City, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND
CARRIAGES" (to be as follows) :-
These improvements, in the first place, have for their object arrangements
which will allow the wheels of railway carriages to accommodate themselves to
the curved portions of the way, and thus diminish the wear of their flanges,
and which will also provide against wear on the sides of the axle boxes. The
arrangements referred to consist in giving liberty or play to the axle boxes
laterally within certain limits and at certain times, determined by a spring
action formed on each side of the axle boxes, or within the jaws holding the

page_text: axle boxes, and acting on each side of them. The spring action may be formed
by india-rubber or other elastic substance placed in recesses in the jaws
holding the axle boxes, which will exert its elastic force upon the sides of the
axle boxes by acting against plates loosely fitted in the recesses in the jaws,
which plates come against the sides of the axle boxes. The force of the spring
action is intended to be sufficient to keep the axles of the wheels at right
angles to straight portions of the railway, but to give way to pressure created
by friction of the rails upon the wheels in curved portions of the way, and by
this means allow the axles to assume that position which will accommodate the
wheels to the curve of the way. As the spring action will keep the axle boxes
in close contact with the jaws, so as to be at all times a good fit, the necessity
for lining them, resulting from wear, as ordinarily arranged, will be obviated.
These improvements relate, in the second place, to arrangements in the rods
connecting the piston rods with the cranks of locomotive engines, to act as a
provision against undue strains, which arrangements consist in giving liberty
to the steps or brasses within certain limits, determined by a spring action
arranged in the slots of the connecting rods of like character, and acting upon
the steps or brasses, in a manner similar to that described in reference to the
improved axle box arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Andrew Fairbairn and George Haslam in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 11th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
ANDREW FAIRBAIRN, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, and GEORGE
HASLAM, of the said City, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Andrew Fairbairn and George Haslam, Her especial licence
that we, the said William Andrew Fairbairn and George Haslam, our execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Andrew Fairbairn and George Haslam, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of

page_text: Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND CARRIAGES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Andrew Fair-
bairn and George Haslam, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Andrew Fairbairn and George
Haslam, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is
to say):-
Our improvements, in the first place, have for their object arrangements
which will allow the wheels of railway carriages to accommodate themselves
to the curved portions of the way, and thus diminish the wear of their flanges,
and which arrangements will also provide against wear on the sides of the axle
boxes. The arrangements referred to consist in giving liberty or play to the
axle boxes laterally within certain limits and at certain times, determined by
a spring action formed on each side of the axle boxes, or within the jaws
holding the axle boxes, and acting on each side of them. The spring action
may be formed of vulcanised india-rubber or other elastic substance, placed in
recesses in the jaws holding the axle boxes, which will exert its elastic force
upon the sides of the axle boxes by acting against plates loosely fitted in the
recesses in the jaws, which plates come against the sides of the axle boxes.
The force of the spring action is intended to be sufficient to keep the axles of
the wheels at right angles to the straight portions of the railway, but to give
way to the pressure created by friction of the rails upon the wheels in curved
portions of the way, and by this means allow the axles to assume that position
which will accommodate the wheels to the curve of the way. As the spring
action will keep the axle boxes in close contact with the jaws, so as to be
at all times a good fit, they will not require "lining," in consequence of wear,
as those do of ordinary arrangement.
The best method with which we are at present acquainted for carrying into
effect this part of our Invention is represented in the Drawings annexed here-
unto by Fig. 1, a side elevation of an axle box between the holding jaws;
Fig. 2, a plan view of the same, one side being shown in section; Fig. 3, a
front view of the recessed part, forming one side of the jaws holding the axle

page_text: box; and Fig. 4, a sectional view of the same, and the plate bearing against
the axle box taken on the line A, B, Fig. 2 and 3.
a is the axle box; b, sides or jaws which hold the axle box. These parts
are recessed, as shewn, to admit of the plates c being fitted loosely into them,
and also to contain the vulcanised india-rubber, which is used in the form of
washers (c), that are placed in circular cavities as shewn. The outside of
these circular cavities is made conical in form (as will be understood by
inspecting the Drawings) to allow the india-rubber space to spread when
compressed, the increase or diminution of this space reducing or increasing its
power of resisting compression. The space between the plates c and the parts b
is about one-eighth part of an inch, and the india-rubber rings used are about
thirteen-sixteenths of an inch in thickness, and are compressed in the circular
cavities to about ten-sixteenths of an inch in thickness. When the pressure
upon one of the plates c is greater than the elastic force of the india-rubber
will resist, it is arranged so as to bear upon the edge of the part b, and the
bottom of the recess formed in it, which thus limits the lateral movements of
the axle box. That amount of elastic force exerted by the compressed india-
rubber on each of the sides of the axle box, which we have found to work well,
is equal in weight to about one ton, but this pressure may be increased or
diminished to suit the circumstances of each case. Axle boxes arranged
according to our Invention may be applied to all railway carriages, and to
the "leading" and trailing wheels of locomotive engines, or to those wheels
or axles which have not cranks formed on them.
Our improvements, in the second place, relate to arrangements in the
connecting rods of locomotive engines, and relate principally to those rods
connecting the cranks in wheels to be coupled together, and they are intended
to act as a provision against undue strains to which such rods are subjected.
The arrangements consist in giving liberty to the steps or brasses within
certain limits, determined by a spring action arranged in the slots of the
connecting rods of like character, and acting on the steps or brasses, (which
may be considered to represent the axle box,) in a manner similar to that
described in reference to the improved axle box arrangement.
The manner in which we carry this part of our Invention into effect is
shewn in the Drawings by Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8, which exhibit two modifications,
varying in detail. Fig. 5 and 6 are sectional views, taken in planes at right
angles to each other, of one modification; and Fig. 7 and 8, similar views of
the other modification.
The arrangements shewn may be applied either to one or both ends of the
connecting rods. d is the end of the connecting rod; e, the brasses or steps

page_text: grasping the crank pin; f, two cotters, which have an elastic abutment formed
by a part g, having a recess into which a plate h is fitted, the vulcanised india-
rubber being placed in the recess, and is compressed into it by the plate h.;
The india-rubber does not quite fill the recess in the part 9 when uncom-
pressed, a space being left for it to spread. In Fig. 5 and 6 the india-rubber
is compressed to the extent required by a set screw or screws (9'), which serve
to prevent it from expanding beyond the limit fixed upon, but allows it to be
still further compressed, so that the cotters f have what may be considered a
solid abutment till they exert a pressure equal to the force of the compressed
india-rubber, and thus the cotters may be made to cause the brasses to bear
upon the journal part of the crank pin with any amount of pressure less than
that exerted by the compressed india-rubber; but this is not the case in the
modification shewn by Fig. 7 and 8, where the india-rubber is not indepen-
dently limited in its expansive action by a set screw or screws (9¹), as in the
modification, Fig. 5 and 6; consequently the pressure exerted by the elastic
force of the compressed india-rubber will be exerted by the brasses (e) in the
journal of the crank pin; but if this should be found excessive, it may be
removed or limited by causing the brasses to come in contact when they bear
sufficiently on the journals of the crank pin. The cotters fin Fig. 5 and 6
are prevented from working loose by a piece l, attached to the under side of
the connecting rod through slots, in which the ends of the cotters (f) pass,
and are there held by set screws f¹.
In Fig. 7 and 8 the compression of the india-rubber between the parts g
and his effected, and they and the brasses (e) are kept in their places by a
screw m passing through the end of the connecting rod (d), which is prevented
from working loose by a check nut (m') screwed upon it. The elastic action
is limited (to about one-sixteenth of an inch in the examples shewn in the
Drawings) to the space left between the edges of the parts g, and the ends
of the slot in the end of the connecting rod in Fig. 5 and 6, and between the
parts g and h in the other modification. To permit freedom to the elastic
action in the modification, Fig. 5 and 6, the slots in the connecting rod through
which the cotters pass are made with space to allow of their movement, and
the piece 1, in which their ends are secured, is also left at liberty to move with
the cotters; the set screw l', by which it is attached to the connecting rod,
passing through a slot made in the part 1, in the direction in which the move-
ment of the cotters takes place; space is also left in the ends of the slot of the
connecting rod for the heads of the set screws (9¹), which limit the expansion
of the india-rubber.
We have now particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the