IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND TRUCKS, AND LOCOMOTIVES."
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Edwards, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan,
Carpenter, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY
CARRIAGES, AND TRUCKS, AND LOCOMOTIVES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Edwards at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th March 1879.
DAVID EDWARDS, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan, Carpenter. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND TRUCKS, AND LOCOMOTIVES."
My Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of the said buffers
in the manner herein after described, whereby great efficiency in action and great
facility in taking the buffer to pieces for repairing or for other purpose are secured,.
as well as the preservation of the wood of that part of the carriage or truck to
which the buffer is attached from the injury consequent on the ordinary method of
attachment.
I secure the plunger of the buffer in the neck of the case or body of the buffer
by cutting away a portion of the cylindrical surface of the plunger at that part
which occupies the neck of the case or body, the length of the cut away part being
equal to the range of motion of the said plunger. In the neck of the case are two
holes opposite each other through which a pin or cotter may be passed. When the
plunger of the buffer is inserted in the case the cut away part is so placed that the
pin or cotter referred to when inserted in its place engages in the cut away part of
the plunger and connects it to the case or body, while allowing it to have the
requisite motion therein.
I make the spring of the buffer of a series of circular discs of vulcanized india
rubber or other like elastic material having holes in their middles, through which
holes the plunger passes. These discs have on one or both sides a series of con-
centric grooves or corrugations as well as radial grooves crossing the said concentric
grooves. Each disc has a metallic ring fitted in the hole in its middle, so that
under pressure the hole cannot contract so as to bind the plunger. These discs are
packed in the case of the buffer with thin metallic discs between them.

page_text: The thrust collar by which the motion inwards of the plunger of the buffer is
made to compress the spring is connected to the plunger by a conical hole in the
said collar bearing on a conical shoulder on the plunger.
I make a series of corrugations on the inner side of the back plate by which the
buffer is attached to the carriage or truck. These corrugations, when the said plate
is fixed to the carriage or truck, are vertical, and any wet collecting between the
back plate and the part of the carriage or truck to which it is attached rapidly
passes away and the wood is thereby preserved. The ribs or projecting parts
between the depressions or corrugations give the back plate a very firm grip on the
wood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said David Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
September 1879.
DAVID EDWARDS, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan, Carpenter. "IMPROVE
MENTS IN BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND TRUCKS, AND LOCOMOTIVES."
My Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of the said buffers
in the manner herein after described, whereby great efficiency in action and great
facility in taking the buffer to pieces for repairing or for other purpose are secured,
as well as the preservation of the wood of that part of the carriage or truck to
which the buffer is attached from the injury consequent on the ordinary method of
attachment.
☐ I secure the plunger of the buffer in the neck of the case or body of the buffer
by cutting away a portion of the cylindrical surface of the plunger at that part
which occupies the neck of the case or body, the length of the cut away part being
equal to the range of motion of the said plunger. In the neck of the case are two
holes opposite each other through which a pin or cotter may be passed. When the
plunger of the buffer is inserted in the case the cut away part is so placed that the
pin or cotter referred to, when inserted in its place, engages in the cut away part of
the plunger and connects it to the case or body, while allowing it to have the
requisite motion therein.
I make the spring of the buffer of a series of circular discs of vulcanized india-
rubber or other like elastic material having holes in their middles, through which
holes the plunger passes. These discs have on one or both sides a series of con-
centric grooves or corrugations as well as radial grooves crossing the said concentric
grooves. Each disc has a metallic ring fitted in the hole in its middle, so that
under pressure the hole cannot contract so as to bind the plunger. These discs are
packed in the case of the buffer with thin metallic discs between them.
The thrust collar by which the motion inwards of the plunger of the buffer is
made to compress the spring is connected to the plunger by a conical hole in the
said collar bearing on a conical shoulder on the plunger,

page_text: I make a series of corrugations on the inner side of the back plate by which the
buffer is attached to the carriage or truck. These corrugations, when the said plate
is fixed to the carriage or truck, are vertical, and any wet collecting between the
back plate and the part of the carriage or truck to which it is attached rapidly
passes away and the wood is thereby preserved. The ribs or projecting parts
between the depressions or corrugations give the back plate a very firm grip on the
wood.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing,
the manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in perspective, and Figure 2 in horizontal section, a buffer
for a railway carriage, truck, or locomotive constructed according to my Invention;
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 represent one of the elastic discs of the buffer drawn half the
full size, Figure 3 representing an edge view of the disc, Figure 4 a side elevation,
and Figures 5 and 6, sections taken in planes at right angles to one another.
The same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing.
a is the case of the buffer, and 6 is the neck of the same; c is the plunger of the
buffer, the said plunger being secured in its place by cutting away one side of that
part of the cylindrical surface of the plunger which works in the neck b, as repre-
sented at d, Figure 2, the length of the said cut away part at d being equal to the
range of motion of the plunger. On the neck b of the case tubular snugs e, e,
Figure 1, opening into the case, are made. Through these snugs a pin f is passed,
the said pin taking into the cut away part d in the plunger c. By means of the
pin and slot f, d, the plunger is connected to the case, the said pin and slot
permitting the plunger to have the required rectilinear motion, but prevents its
rotation in the case.
The spring of the buffer is composed of a series of circular discs g, g, of india
rubber or other elastic material alternating with thin galvanized iron or metallic
washers h, h. The said discs g, g, have holes in their middles, in which holes
metallic rings i, i, are fixed, the said rings being of a size proper to fit accurately
on the reduced part of the plunger c, as represented in Figure 2. By means of the
said rings i, i, the holes in the india rubber discs g, g, cannot contract under pressure
so as to bind the rings to the plunger. Each face of the rings g, g, is provided
with a series of concentric grooves or corrugations k, k, and also with radial
grooves, l, crossing the concentric grooves k, k, as best seen in Figure 4. The
radial grooves on one face of the disc are not opposite the radial grooves on the
other face of the disc, but break joint, as seen in the edge view, Figure 3.
the thrust collar on the plunger c by which the motion of the plunger is made to
This thrust collar has a conical hole in it
compress the spring g, g, of the buffer.
and a shoulder at the base of the conical hole. The plunger c has a corresponding
conical figure and shoulder part at n for the conical hole and shoulder of the thrust
collar m to seat themselves upon. By this construction the thrust collar seats itself
with extreme steadiness on the seat of the plunger.
m is
p is the back plate by means of which the buffer is attached to the carriage or
is made. These
truck. In the said back plate p a series of corrugations at
corrugations q, when the buffer is fixed to the carriage or truck, are vertical, and
any wet collecting between the back plate p and the part to which the buffer is
attached rapidly passes away by the said corrugations q, and the wood is thereby
preserved. The ribs or projecting parts between the corrugations q give the back
plate a very firm grip on the wood. The parts of the buffer are arranged in the
case in the following manner:-The plunger c is first placed in the case and secured
in its place by the pin f. The thrust collar m is next made to seat itself on its
seat on the plunger at n. The alternating india rubber discs 9, 9, and galvanized
iron washers h, h, are then strung on the plunger c, and the corrugated back plate p
is fixed to the flange of the case. The buffer is now ready to be affixed to the
railway carriage, truck, or locomotive.
The parts of the buffer are thus readily put together for use and separated for
renair

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention of improvements in buffers for railway carriages, and trucks, and loco-
motives,―
First. Making the spring of the buffer of a series of corrugated discs of india
rubber or other elastic material having metallic rings at their middles and alternating
with thin metallic washers, the india rubber or elastic discs and metallic washers
being strung upon the rear end of the plunger and taking their bearing against a
thrust collar on the said plunger, substantially as herein before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly. Fixing the plunger in its case, and preventing its rotation and limiting
its range of motion by means of a cut away part or slot and pin, as herein before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Thirdly. The arrangement of parts for seating the loose thrust collar in its place
on the plunger herein before described, and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
Lastly. Constructing the back plate of the buffer with corrugations for the
purpose and as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Edwards, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand-eight-hundred-and-seventy-nine-
Witness,
THOMAS THOMAS,
132, High Street,
Merthyr Tydfil.
DAVID EDWARDS. (L.S.)