Improvements in Means for Springing or Cushioning Railway Carriages and other Vehicles, Seats, Chains, and the like.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Feb., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 18th Nov., 1895-Accerted, 21st Dec., 1895
TRUVIDIONAL DECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Springing or Cushioning Railway
Carriages and other Vehicles, Seats, Chains, and the like.
I, BRUCE GREEN, of Nos. 65 and 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in means for springing or cushioning
railway carriages and other vehicles, seats, chairs and the like and has for its
object, by interposing an air buffer or cushion between the body and under
carriage or wheels of the vehicle or between the seat and frame of a chair or of a
railway carriage or other seat or in a like situation in the case of a vehicle or the
seat of a vehicle, to obviate or modify the vibration which is more or less conveyed
to the rider and in the case of a chair or other seat to effectually cushion the
same and afford a yielding seat and at the same time if desired to dispense with
the ordinary method of springing the same.
For this purpose, between the body of a vehicle and the undercarriage or frame
a suitable number of hollow and inflated india rubber cushions are arranged which
may be either spherical or of a flattened form and these cushions which may be
formed ring-shaped are provided with an axial way therethrough for the purpose
hereinafter described.
In order to mount these cushions in position, one part of the vehicle is provided
with a projecting stud and the other part is furnished with a corresponding tube
or cylinder into which the stud is received telescopically and between the two parts
of the vehicle or between flanges fixed respectively with the stud and cylinder is
arranged the india rubber cushion in such manner that the cylinder and stud pass
through the aperture thereof.
This device may be employed in lieu of or in addition to the ordinary springs of
the vehicle and it will be found in effect to prevent the transmission to the rider
of the unpleasant shock that the springs alone do not effectually arrest.
In lieu of, or in addition to, the arrangement hereinbefore described, inflated
cushions may be placed between the bottom of the vehicle and the frame or sup-
ports of the seats.
In applying the invention to the seat of a railway carriage or other vehicle or to
the seat of a chair the means employed are substantially the same as those herein-
before described.
Sometimes, the inflated cushion is provided with a telescopic or other bush.
The cushion is provided with a suitable valve through which it may be inflated
by the aid of a pump in a similar manner to that employed in connection with
inflated tyres.
It will be readily understood that the fatigue and other consequences of vibra-
tion of travelling will be greatly lessened in the case of railway carriage seats
fitted with this appliance.
Dated this 16th day of February 1895.
VAUGHAN & SON,
Agents for the Applicant,

page_text: Improvements in Means for Springing or Cushioning Railway
Carriages and other Vehicles, Seats, Chairs, and the like.
I, BRUCE GREEN, of Nos. 65 and 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in means for springing or cushioning
railway carriages and other vehicles seats, chairs and the like and more particularly
it consists in an improved construction of such vehicles, carriages, seats, chairs
and the like or of parts of them by which I am enabled to interpose and retain in
place for effective operation an air buffer or cushion in such a manner that in the
case of a carriage or vehicle it will obviate or modify the communication of vibra-
tion to persons in such vehicle and in the case of a seat, chair or the like, other
than those in such vehicles, it may effectually cushion the same and afford a
yielding seat and at the same time if desired replace other means for springing
or cushioning the same.
This invention is illustrated in the annexed drawing which also shows several of
the methods by which I carry out the construction aforesaid and apply it to
different parts or in different places in the vehicle.
Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the application of this invention
to a railway carriage. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same;
Fig. 3 shows another form of modification of the structure as applied to a rail-
way carriage;
Fig. 4 is a section illustrating the construction of a chair.
In the improved construction I divide the vehicle or the chair, seat or the like
into two main portions the one being the body proper or inner body namely that
which immediately receives and supports the occupant or occupants of such
vehicle, chair or the like, which part I shall hereinafter term the body the other
main portion being the supporting frame, outer body, housing or casing by which
the aforesaid portion is carried or within which it is situated and which second por-
tion in the case of a vehicle is more immediately carried directly or indirectly by
the wheels, this portion I shall hereinafter term the frame.
These two parts are so made that the body has substantially horizontal surfaces
situated above and corresponding to substantially horizontal surfaces belonging to
the frame, and between these surfaces I place the pneumatic cushions previously
referred to and means for guiding the surfaces in a direction perpendicular to each
other, in such a way that the body is vertically or substantially vertically guided
and is supported upon the frame by virtue of the said pneumatic cushions."
I may also provide between vertical or oblique surfaces of the body and similar
surfaces of the frame other pneumatic cushions for instance at the backs of seats in
carriages, or at the backs and sides of such seats and in such case with or without
means for guiding any of the parts so that in the latter case the body may be
entirely insulated by the cushions from the frame.
In the accompanying drawing A represents the portion that I here term the
body and B the portion that I have termed the frame. In Fig. 1 the frame B
comprises the floor b and the two raised under seat shelves or frames b¹, b¹, which
may be inclined at a slight angle in accordance with the angle of the seats above
them. The body A here comprises the two seats a-a, their backs a¹ a¹ and the
foot plate a carried for instance by hangers a³, a³. from the front edges of the
seats a, a. The bearing surfaces A¹ of body A are in this example formed by the

page_text: undersides of the seats a, a, and foot plate a², and the corresponding surfaces of
B¹ of frame B are made by the floor b and the shelves b', b².
Between these surfaces I place the guides and pneumatic buffers previously
referred to C represents hollow and inflated pneumatic cushions made of rubber
and canvas of suitable strength in any manner well known to manufacturers of
pneumatic wheel tires. They are annular and preferably of the form shown in the
drawing. In order to mount these cushions in position, one part of the vehicle,
chair or the like, usually the body A, is provided with studs or bolts C¹ projecting
perpendicularly from its surfaces A' and the other part, usually the frame B, is fur-
nished with a corresponding tubular passage-way C2 fitted if desired with an
internal lining or with an equivalent tube or cylinder for receiving said stud or bolt
which is usually provided with a nut at its end to prevent its withdrawal and to
adjust if desired the outward thrust of the pneumatic cushion C which surrounds
the stud or bolt C¹. In the example shown there are two rows of such cushions
and guides under each seat and one row under the centre of the foot plate, but if
desired the latter row may be omitted; the number of cushions in each row may
also vary.
It will be obvious without further illustration that the foot-plate in Fig. 1 may
be omitted and that then the seat on the one side will be separately supported from
that on the other side. The seats may then also be themselves separated on each
side, for instance, into a number equivalent to the number of occupants. The
floor-plate may also be retained but be separate from the seats and may be then
wider than is shown in Fig. 1 and supported on two rows of cushions.
In Fig. 3 the foot-plate extends to nearly the full width of the carriage com-
partment and the seats are carried directly by the foot-plate. The foot-plate is
then spaced from the under floor or frame B and is supported by two rows of
pneumatic cushions of the same construction.
The backs of the seats in this and the previous examples, and in any case
where such seats are movably and resiliently supported in this manner in vehicles,
may be connected to what I have termed the frame by loose fillets of leather or
fabric connected along their edges respectively to the seat backs and the frame as
shown at D.
In Fig. 4 the invention is shown as applied to a chair which may be made with
or without the foot-board. The aforesaid reference letters and description apply
equally to this figure. The cushions are preferably four in number.
The annular air cushions are provided with valves E, Fig. 1, of any suitable
known construction so that they may be inflated to the pressure desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is;
(1.) The improvements in the means for spring or cushioning railway carriages
and other vehicles consisting in forming the body of the vehicle which more
immediately supports the occupant or occupants, as a separate part or parts from
the frame or housing, the two parts having substantially horizontal opposed sur-
faces between which pneumatic cushions are arranged with means for guiding the
surfaces in a direction perpendicular to each other or substantially so in the
manner herein described.
(2.) The construction of carriages with separate inner body or bodies forming
seats, or seats and foot boards, and outer casing or frame adapted to support said
inner body or bodies with interposition of the pneumatic cushions with means for
guiding substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 of the
drawings.
(3.) The construction of carriages with separate inner body or bodies forming
seats or seats and foot boards, and an outer casing or frame adapted to support
said inner body or bodies with interposition of pneumatic cushions, beneath the

page_text: seats, beneath the floor if separate from. the frame and behind and laterally of: the
seats so as to insulate said body or bodies from the frame.
(4.) The construction of seats chairs or the like for vehicles or otherwise,. of two
parts offering substantially horizontal opposed surfaces to one another, the one
part having studs or bolts projecting therefrom adapted to slide in sockets in or on
the other part, with annular pneumatic cushions surrounding said bolts and means
for inflating. such cushions.
Dalcu
Tot day of November lov.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C.,
Agents to the Applicant.