IMPROVE- MENTS IN BUFFING AND COUPLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill, of 16, Rutland Gate,
and Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley, Esquire, of 14, Princes
Gate, both in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BUFFING AND COUPLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES."-
A communication to them from abroad by Archibald Hamilton Rowand, of
Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 19th November 1861, and dated the 27th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lord Alfred Spencer
Churchill and Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th May
1861.
We, Lord ALFRED SPENCER CHURCHILL, of 16, Rutland Gate, and EDWARD
WYNDHAM HARRINGTON SCHENLEY, Esquire, of 14, Princes Gate, both in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BUFPING AND COUPLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in buffing and coupling
apparatus for railway carriages. The apparatus is so arranged that in case of
sudden check in the speed of the carriages the violence of the concussion may be
relieved, and injury to the passengers and carriages prevented. For these pur-
poses a case or box is fixed to a carriage containing a system of springs, which

page_text: are capable of being pressed towards the sides of the box and away from each
other, when a wedged or heart-shaped block is forced between them, and such
wedged or heart-shaped block is forined on or forms part of the stem to which
the coupling links are attached, hence, when a train of carriages is suddenly
checked, the wedged or heart-shaped blocks of the several carriages are pressed
in between the springs (which are on either side of such blocks) and force
them apart, the resistance becoming greater as the blocks are more and more
forced in between the springs. When the train is again moved forward, the
wedge or heart-shaped blocks again move outwards to some extent from
between their springs, the closing together of the springs against the inclined
sides of the blocks, aiding to force the blocks back.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lord Alfred: Spencer-Churchill-and-Edward Wyndham
Harrington Schenley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Lord
ALFRED SPENCER CHURCHILL, of 16, Rutland Gate, and EDWARD WYNDHAM
HARRINGTON SCHENLEY, Esquire, of 14, Princes Gate, both in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill and Edward Wyndham Harrington
Schenley, Her special licence that we, the said Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill
and Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill and
Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley, 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, exercise, and vend,, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING AND COUPLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY
CARRIAGES," a communication to us from abroad by Archibald Hamilton
Rowand, of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Lord Alfred Spencer

page_text: Churchill and Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley, our executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Wyndham Harrington
Schenley, on behalf of myself and the said Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
5
This Invention has for its object improvements in buffing and coupling
apparatus for railway carriages.. The apparatus is so arranged, that in case of
sudden check in the speed of the carriages, the violence of the concussion may
be relieved, and injury to the passengers and carriages prevented. For these
purposes a case or box is fixed to a carriage containing a system of springs,
which are capable of being pressed towards the sides of the box and away from
each other. When a wedged or heart-shaped block is forced between them
and such wedged or heart-shaped-block is formed on or forms part of the stem
to which the coupling links are attached, hence, when a train of carriages is
suddenly checked, the wedged or heart-shaped blocks of the several carriages
are pressed in between the springs (which are on either side of such blocks),
and force them apart, the resistance becoming greater as the blocks are more
and more forced in between the springs. When the train is again moved
forward, the wedge or heart-shaped blocks again move outwards to some
extent from between their springs, the closing together of the springs against
the inclined sides of the blocks, aiding to force the blocks back.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, we will proceed
more fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING,
which represents a perspective view of apparatus combined according to
the Invention, the cover or outer part being removed in order that the interior
may be exposed to view.
a, a, is a case or box in which the springs b, b, and c, c, c¹, c¹, are placed; d
is a heart-shaped block on the stem or rod c. The box or case a, a, is to be
securely fixed to one carriage, whilst the stem e and heart-shaped block is
attached to another carriage by the link or bolt f and pin g, or the stem e may

page_text: be fixed directly to another carriage where other modes of coupling carriages
together are resorted to. The heart-shaped block is placed between the ends of
the springs b,b; but when two carriages thus coupled together are forced more
closely together the heart-shaped block will be pressed more and more into the
box or case, and the block will be more and more resisted when the force
pressing the two carriages towards each other ceases and the springs are per-
mitted to react, they will gradually force back the block without that sudden
reaction which other forms of buffers are liable to.
We would state that we make no claim to the parts separately, nor do we
confine ourselves to the precise details or shapes of the parts; but what we
claim is the mode herein described of combining apparatus for buffing and
coupling railway carriages.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.