IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES TO REDUCE THE PREJUDICIAL EFFECTS OF COLLISIONS TO PASSENGERS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
CHESSHIRE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Surgeon, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by Petition, humbly represent unto Her most Excellent
Majesty Queen Victoria that I had invented "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
TO BE APPLIED TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES TO REDUCE THE PREJUDICIAL EFFECTS OF
COLLISIONS TO PASSENGERS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES;" and Her said Majesty,
being willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions that may be for
the public good, was graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date at Westminster, the Third day of February (One thousand eight hundred
and forty-six), in the ninth year of Her reign, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, to give and grant unto me, the said Edwin Chesshire, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I or they, by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputies,
servants, or agents, or such others as I or they should agree with, and no others,
during the term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention,
within that part of Her said Majesty's Dominions called England, Her
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to
me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, shall seem meet, and as that
I or they shall enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of the
said Invention during the said term of fourteen years; and whereas the said

page_text: Letters Patent contain a proviso. obliging me, the said Edwin Chesshire,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same (reference
being thereto had) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edwin Chesshire, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and
ascertained in manner following, and by the aid of the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed (that is to say) :—
The object of my said improvements is to preserve those railway carriages
which are intended to convey passengers from being materially injured in case
of collision taking place, which, according to circumstances, may be either at
the hinder end of the train of carriages, in consequence of some other engine
or train overtaking and running rapidly against the hindmost carriage of the
train when that train is standing still, or only moving slowly onwards; or else,
may be, collision taking place at the front end of the train, in consequence of
the engine and its tender at the foremast end of the train being suddenly
stopped or greatly retarded in the velocity of their motion by meeting with
and striking against some engine, waggon, or other obstruction on the line of
rails, or being suddenly stopped or retarded in order to avoid such striking, or
being suddenly stopped or retarded by running off the rails, in either of which
cases the several carriages in such train will be subjected to a tendency to run
with a force of collision one towards another, and according to the degree of
such force of collision and the rapidity of its action, the passenger or other
carriages, or some of them, may be broken and crushed, so as to endanger the
passengers within them. The ordinary spring buffers, wherewith the carriages
are usually provided, are intended to react against the said tendency of the
carriages to remove towards another, and to reduce the shocks of collision
resulting therefrom, and to a certain extent have that effect; for the carriages
are coupled or connected together into a train with an elastic union by adjust-
able screw links or coupling irons, which are applied one between every two
contiguous carriages to hooks at the ends of spring drawing bars within the
under framing of the carriages; and the said links are screwed up so as to
bring the corresponding buffer heads of the contiguous carriages into close
contact and with a considerable compression of the buffer springs and drawing
bar springs, and consequently with a considerable elastic pressure of the buffer
heads, one against another, occasioning a corresponding. elastic tension of

page_text: the said adjusting screw links, which are applied at the middle of the breadth
of the carriages, whilst the buffer heads are applied at each side of the said
breadth, and by those means a constant reciprocal action and reaction of
elasticity is kept up between the buffer springs and the drawing bar springs,
the drawing bar springs acting with an attractive tendency to draw the con-
tiguous carriages one towards another, but the buffer springs reacting with a
tendency to separate the said carriages one from another. And the same
springs can be made to perform the double functions of buffer springs and
drawing bar springs as aforesaid, by applying the buffers so as to push at each
end of each spring, and the drawing bar to pull at the mid-length of the same
spring; or distinct springs may be used for the buffers and for the drawing
bar; all which being in common use is well known. In the ordinary course of.
travelling on level parts of the line of rails, or up ascents or down descents
of the line, also in stopping at stations, and in starting away therefrom in a
gradual and proper manner of starting the train and stopping the same, the
buffer springs are sometimes more compressed (whereby the drawing bar
springs become less compressed), or vice versa. At other times the buffer
springs are less compressed (whereby the drawing bar springs become more
compressed), so as that on the whole the requisite operations of gradually
starting the several carriages from rest, drawing the same with more or less
force along the rails when in motion, and gradually stopping the said motion
when required, are performed by means of an elastic transmission of force,.
owing to the aforesaid reciprocal action and reaction of the buffer springs and
drawing bar springs, so as to greatly avoid or diminish the jolts, shocks, and,
concussions to which the carriages would otherwise be subjected. But in.
cases of collision or emergency, such as herein-before mentioned, the force
of collision, wherewith the carriages of a train tend to run one towards
another, is greater than the buffer springs are adapted to resist, and the
carriages are in consequence subjected to very violent shocks of collision,
by which they are liable to be broken and crushed, so as to endanger.
the passengers.
In a train which is chiefly composed of passenger car-
riages, the engine and tender being at the foremost end of the train,
in case of collision from. behind, the hindmost carriage will receive the first,
shock thereof, and that shock will be communicated from such hindmost
carriage, with reduced violence, to the next of the carriages, and therefrom,
with still less violence, to the next carriage, and so on in succession to all the.
carriages, which being done through the medium of their several buffer
springs, those springs have a tendency to diminish the violence of the shock.
that is received by each carriage, and to transmit only a reduced shock there-

page_text: from to the next carriage in succession, therefore the several carriages are sub-
jected to less and less violence according as each one is farther away from the
hinder end of the train which has received the first and full violence of the
collision, and the engine tender in front of all the carriages will receive least
of all, although better qualified than passenger carriages to endure the greatest
part of the shock of the collision. And, on the contrary, in case of collision
at the foremost end of the train suddenly stopping or greatly retarding the
velocity of the motion of the engine and its tender, then the tendency of the
several carriages in the train to remove towards another will cause the most
forcible shock of collision to be given to the foremost of them, and the several
carriages will be subjected to less and less force of collision according as each
one is farther away from the said foremost end of the train, or from the engine
tender. The effect of my improvements will be to provide the passenger
and other carriages of a train with an additional means of resistance against
being broken and crushed up so as to endanger the passengers within them,
and thereby my improvements will reduce the prejudicial effects of collisions
to passengers in railway carriages. When my improvements are applied to
the several passenger and other carriages of a train, I recommend a van or
luggage waggon to be invariably placed behind all the carriages to form the
hinder end of the train, and the passenger and other carriages will by operation
of my improvements be in a great measure protected from the aforesaid effects
of collision, which in case of taking place from behind and giving the
first and most violent shock to the said van or luggage waggon at the hinder
end of the train, the chief force of that shock, (which without my improve-
ments would be communicated to the passenger and other carriages) will be
transmitted direct to the engine tender at the foremost end of the train (or
to a van or luggage waggon, which may be placed behind the engine tender
and before the train of carriages) without imparting any great portion of the
said stock to the intervening passenger and other carriages. And so in case
of collision at the foremost end of the train, suddenly stopping or greatly
retarding the velocity of the motion of the engine and tender, the tendency of
the van or luggage waggon at the hindermost end of the train to run on
towards the passenger and other carriages will be resisted by operation of
my improvements, and the chief force of the shock (which without my
improvements would be communicated to the passenger and other carriages)
will be communicated direct to the van or luggage waggon in front (or to the
engine tender), and therefrom by reaction will cause an instantaneous recoil of
the van or luggage waggon at the hindermost end of the train, without
imparting any great portion of such shock to the passenger and other carriages..

page_text: The apparatus requisite for my said improvements is as follows:-In addition
to the ordinary apparatus of buffer heads and their springs, drawing bars and
their springs, and adjustable screw links, screwed up tight, with the buffer
heads in elastic contact, in the usual manner, as already stated, beneath the
body of each of the passenger or other carriages, a strong rod or straight
inflexible unyelding bar of iron or wood (or of iron and wood combined), and
which I term a safety buffer, is to be applied at the middle of the breadth
of the carriage, with the lengthway of such rod or bar disposed in the
direction of the motion of the carriage, or in other words parallel to the rails
whereon the wheels of the carriage run, in order that the said rod or bar when
moving along with the carriage may advance endways in the direction of its
own length. The said rod or bar is to be supported, and its weight sustained
by lodging it in any suitable kind of bearing sockets, at the under part of the
framework of the body of the carriage, or other equivalent means of guidance
or suspension, which will retain the said rod or bar in its intended position, as
aforesaid, but will permit an endway motion of the rod or bar to take place
in respect to the carriage; and each end of the said rod or bar is to terminate
with an enlarged head, suitable for occasionally meeting and applying in
contact with a corresponding head at the extremity of a like rod or bar,
which is the safety buffer, belonging to the next adjacent passenger or other
carriage in the same train, but the whole length of the said rod or bar,
including its said heads, is somewhat less than the length occupied by the
carriage beneath which it is applied (including the ordinary buffer heads at
each end of the carriage in that length so occupied, and those buffer heads
being in their ordinary state of forcible contact), wherefore the heads at
the extremities of the said rods or bars, which are the safety buffers of the
several passenger and other carriages that are connected together into a train,
will not reach one head to the other so as to be in contact when the said carriages
are in their ordinary state of connection in the train; that is to say, when the
several carriages are connected with their screw links so adjusted as to bring
the four buffer heads at the two ends of each carriage into forcible contact with
the corresponding buffer heads of the carriage which precedes, and of the
carriage which follows, the said contact being so forcible as to cause a con-
siderable compression of the several buffer springs and drawing bar springs,
as already stated. The said rods or bars or safety buffers which are so applied
beneath the several passenger and other carriages of the train are not intended
to have any effect or operation in the ordinary course of travelling, when
each carriage will be drawn forwards by its elastic connection with the carriage.
which is before it, nor any effect or operation in tho act of stopping the motion.

page_text: of the train easily in the usual and proper manner of stopping on arriving at
stations, in which case each carriage tending to continue its own onward
motion those tendencies will cause some further compression and yielding of the
several buffer springs in their usual and proper manner, but not to such an
extent as to bring the heads at the ends of the several rods.or bars, which are the
safety buffers, into contact one head with another. Nevertheless in case of the
engine and tender at the foremost end of the train being suddenly stopped or
retarded by any collision, or in order to avoid a collision, or in consequence of
running off the rails, whereby the carriages are rendered liable to run with an
unusual force of collision one towards another, so that the ordinary buffer
springs will be forced to yield to an unusual extent, then the heads at the ends
of the said rods or bars, which are the safety buffers aforesaid, will come into
immediate contact one head with another, and the said rods or bars will tend
to prevent the several passenger and other carriages which are provided with
the safety buffers as aforesaid from being crushed or materially injured, because
the said rods or bars, when their heads are all come into contact one with
another, will become conjoined as it were into one continuous length of
inflexible and unyielding rod or bar, which extends beneath all the length of
the several passenger and other carriages, with the head at the hindmost end
of the long continuation in contact with a corresponding head, either fastened
to or else fitted with springs to the van or luggage waggon at the hinder end
of the train, also with the head at the foremost end of such long continuation
in contact with a corresponding head, either fastened to or else fitted with
springs to the van or luggage waggon in front of all the passenger and other
carriages, or to the engine tender, if there is no such van or luggage waggon
in front; and it is by means of the said continuous length of conjoined rods or
bars that the requisite communication is established between the van or
luggage waggon at the hinder end of the train and the van or luggage
waggon at the foremost end thereof (or else with the engine tender) for a
direct transmission of the chief force of violent shocks of collision, in the
manner already explained, along all the length of the several passenger and
other carriages, without materially affecting them, for they will be protected
from so much of the force of such shocks of collision as is thus transmitted by
the conjoined rods or bars. The said rods or bars which constitute the safety
buffers of the passenger and other carriages, may be of wood, from three to
six inches square or diameter, and the wood may be plated with iron: ; or the
rods or bars may be of wrought iron, either of solid rods or bars, from three
inches to four and a half inches diameter; or, what is preferable, they may be
hollow like tubes, three and a half to six inches diameter externally, and the

page_text: metal about one fourth to one half of an inch thick, and the interior hollows
of such tubes may be filled up with wood; the aforesaid dimensions being in
case of carriages for railways of the narrow or ordinary gage, but for railways
of broader gage the said dimensions to be proportionably greater. Each such
rod or bar which is to serve for a safety buffer is to be supported in a suitable
bearing socket at each end of the carriage beneath which it is applied, with
one or two other like bearing sockets at intermediate places in the length
of the same carriage, to prevent lateral bending of the rod or bar when it is in
the act of transmitting a forcible shock. The enlarged heads at each end of each
rod or bar may be of the same kind, and about the usual size, of the ordinary
buffer heads. The surfaces of the heads which will come in contact may be flat,
or slightly convex, or one may be convex and another which comes in contact
therewith concave, so as that the two will correspond; and in order to retain each
of the said rods or bars in due place endways beneath the carriage to which it
belongs, the rod or bar may be tied with small cords, so as to prevent any needless
endway motion of the rod or bar in its bearing sockets during the ordinary course
of travelling, but which cords will easily break in case of collision, and leave
the rod or bar moveable in its bearing sockets, as it will then require to be;
and stuffed buffers or india-rubber wadds may be applied at the ends of the
carriage, around the ends of the rod or bar where those ends extend beyond
the bearing sockets at the ends of the carriage; those buffers will act between
the said sockets and behind the heads at the ends of the rod or bar, to avoid
any material concussion by the said heads when the endway motion of the rod
or bar in its bearing sockets has reached its intended limit. The said rods or.
bars which form the safety buffers are disposed beneath the carriages at a
lower level than the usual drawing bars, to the hooks whereof the coupling
irons or adjusting screw links are applied, as already stated, so that the said
links will be above the enlarged heads at the ends of the rods or bars which,
are the safety buffers. And the handle for turning the screw by which each
coupling iron or adjustable link is screwed up may be similar to the handle for
the screw of a blacksmith's vice, in order that the screw may be turned
without interference of the handle with the rod or bar or the enlarged heads
of the safety buffer, and such handle may be retained by a loop or fastening to
hold it above the said heads. The van or luggage waggon which is to follow after
all the passenger or other carriages, and form the bindmost end of the train, must.
have its safety buffer with an enlarged head to correspond to the like head of
the safety buffer at the hinder end of the last of the passenger and other carriages.
The rod or bar of the said safety buffer head for that van or luggage waggon
may either be firmly fastened to the framework of the said van or waggon, or

page_text: otherwise the said rod or bar may be fitted into a bearing socket at the end of
the van, so as to be capable of moving endways therein; but in that case the
said rod or bar should not extend beneath all the length of the van, but only
so far as to connect with strong springs, which may be applied in the manner
of buffer springs in the framework beneath the van, in order to reduce the
effect of a collision when the head at the foremost end of the van, by pressing
forwards the corresponding head at the hinder end of the last of the passenger
or other carriages will have brought the heads at the ends of the several
rods or bars of all the passenger or other carriages into contact for
forming a long conjoined rod or bar, which will communicate the chief
force of a shock to a van in front of all the passenger or other carriages,
(or to the engine tender,) as already explained. The said springs beneath
the van, by their yielding at the moment of such transmission, will allow
the said van to move forward some space without absolutely obliging its
safety buffer to move forwards with it, and consequently so much of the
force of collision as is expended in bending the said springs beneath the van
will not be transmitted, but will tend to give a recoil or rebound to the van
or luggage waggon at the hinder end of the train an instant after the collision
has taken place. The van or luggage waggon which is to precede all the
passenger and other carriages (or if no such van is used, then the engine
tender), may have its safety buffer head constructed in the same manner as
already described respecting the van which is to follow after all the passenger
and other carriages; that is to say, either with the rod of that safety buffer
head firmly fastened to the framework at the hinder end of the said foremost
van or waggon (or of the tender), or otherwise the said rod or bar may be
fitted into bearing sockets in the said van (or in the tender), so as to be
capable of moving endways therein, and with springs applied beneath the said
van (or beneath the tender), in the manner of buffer springs, to the said rod or
bar. The van or luggage waggon, which is to follow after the
and
passenger
other carriages, and be at the hindmost end of the train, should have its
ordinary buffers provided with easy yielding springs, which with the same
force applied to them will allow those buffers to move through a much greater
space in respect to the van than the ordinary buffers of the passenger and
other carriages will move in respect to the several carriages to which they
belong; and in consequence of the said ordinary buffers of the hindmost van
being so yielding, they will not act with much force against the corresponding
hindmost buffers of the hindmost passenger or other carriage in case of a
collision. And in like manner the said hindmost buffers of the bindmost
passenger or other carriage may, if thought desirable, also have very yielding

page_text: springs. The said hindmost van or luggage waggon may be drawn forward
by means of a spring drawing bar in the usual manner, and by the yielding of.
the spring of that bar the, said van will be drawn with an elastic tension; and
the coupling iron or connecting link between the last of the passenger or other
carriages, and the said hindmost van or luggage waggon for drawing the same
forwards, should be constructed of slighter strength than ordinary coupling
irons, so as to be sufficiently strong for the ordinary traction of the said van or
waggon in the usual course of travelling, but nevertheless so slight that the
said coupling iron will break off and leave the said hindmost van or luggage
waggon disconnected from the train, in case of a collision taking place at the
foremost end of the train, for then the motion of the engine and tender and of
the van or luggage waggon next to the tender (if there is such a van or
waggon), being suddenly stopped or greatly retarded in the velocity of their
motion, either by such collision, or else in order to avoid the same, or else by
running off the rails, the tendency of the bindmost van or luggage waggon
to continue its onward motion, instead of acting with collision on the passenger
or other carriages (as would be the case without my improvements), will be
resisted by the several safety buffers of the passenger or other carriages when
the several rods or bars come with the head of one in contact with that of
another, so as that the several rods or bars become conjoined as it were into
one continuous length of inflexible and unyielding rod or bar, as already
explained; and the motion of the hindmost van or luggage waggon being
suddenly stopped or greatly retarded by the resistance of the said long con-
tinuation of the several rods or bars, a recoiling action instantly succeeds, and
will, according to the degree of force thereof, cause the hindmost van or
luggage waggon to rebound and run backwards along the rails. When such
rebounding takes place with any moderate degree of force, it will operate to
pull back the last of the passenger or other carriages which are provided with
safety buffers according to my improvements, and will operate so instanta-
neously after the collision as to have an advantageous tendency for holding
back and stopping the remaining motion of those said carriages which are
provided with safety buffers according to my improvements, for, in consequence
of the elasticity of their buffer springs, by which their motion will be stopped,
those carriages will not stop so suddenly as the engine and tender (and luggage
van next to the tender, if there is any such, will be stopped by the collision, or
else to avoid the collision, or else by running off the rails; nor will those said
carriages be stopped so suddenly, as the hindmost van or luggage waggon will
be stopped by aid of my improvements in manner aforesaid; wherefore the
said recoil or rebounding of the hindmost van or luggage waggon will take

page_text: place before the motion of the passenger or other carriages is wholly stopped,.
and in time to assist in stopping their remaining motion. But in case of very
violent collision and very sudden stoppage, when the said recoiling and
rebounding of the hindmost van or luggage waggon would be violent, it would
be better that it should break away from its connection with the last of the
passenger or other carriages, which it will do by breaking the coupling iron, if
the same is made slight, in manner before mentioned, so as to be only of suffi-
cient strength to be sure to avoid breaking by ordinary traction, but without
more strength than requisite therefor, in which case the recoil of the hindmost
van or luggage waggon will pull back the hindmost of the passenger or other
carriages with a force equal to the strength of the coupling iron, but with no
greater force than that strength. And whereas safety coupling chains are
usually applied to hang slackly between the several carriages of a train by way
of security, in case of the usual coupling iron, or the drawing bars, or their
springs, or other of the connecting parts giving way, in which case the said
slack chains will become tight, and keep up the traction, without allowing the
train to become disjointed. Such coupling chains are to be omitted between
the hindmost of the passenger and other carriages and the hindmost van or
luggage waggon, when my improvements are applied, because it is intended
that the said hindmost van or luggage waggon should break away its coupling
iron, and detach itself from the train, as already stated, in case of a violent and
dangerous collision, but not in any ordinary case of travelling. And the said
van or luggage waggon being the last of the train, the said coupling iron for
it will have only the traction of that van or luggage waggon to sustain, which
it will do very effectually, although made much slighter than the ordinary
coupling irons, which are adapted to sustain the traction of several car-
riages, one after another, in a train, and yet the said slight coupling
iron will easily break in case of a violent and dangerous collision. And
note, respecting the vans. or luggage waggons herein-before mentioned,
wherefore is to go at the hindmost end of the train in all cases when my
improvements are adopted, and in case of another van or luggage waggon
being required in the train, then that other is to follow next after the engine
tender, and to precede all the passenger or other carriages which are provided
with the safety buffers as aforesaid. The said vans or luggage waggons
should be lower than usual, so that their centres of gravity will be on a
level nearer to that of the rails than can be conveniently done in the passenger
or other carriages, and so as that the said centres of gravity shall be as near
as can be to the level of the rods or bars of the safety buffers of those vans
or luggage, waggons, which rods or bars will of necessity be at the same:

page_text: level with the rods or bars of the safety buffers beneath the several passenger
and other carriages. And in case of no van or luggage waggon being wanted
to follow next after the tender, then the tender itself should be lower than
usual in like manner as already mentioned respecting the vans or luggage
waggons. And the tender, in the aforesaid case of no van or luggage waggon
being next after it, is to have a safety buffer head applied to the hinder end
of the tender, either with the rod of that safety buffer head firmly fastened to
the tender, or else fitted thereto with springs applied in the manner of buffer
springs, as already mentioned, and as already explained respecting a van or
luggage waggon which is to follow next after the tender; and the tender, in
the aforesaid case of no van or luggage waggon being next after it, is to
have ordinary buffers with buffer springs and an ordinary drawing bar with
springs at the ordinary heights or levels for those said parts respectively at
the hinder end of the tender, for connecting it by an ordinary adjusting screw
link or coupling iron, and in the usual manner of screwing up that link, to
the foremost of the passenger and other carriages, which are provided with
safety buffers according to my said improvements, in order that the connection
between the tender and the said foremost of the passenger or other carriages
may be of the same kind and at the same height as the connections between
the several passenger or other carriages which follow one after another, except
as to the safety buffer, the rod or bar whereof extends beneath all the length
of each passenger or other carriage, with a safety buffer head at each end of
each such rod or bar, without attachment thereof to the carriage in an endway
direction (otherwise than by being tied with slight cords which will easily
break in case of collision, as herein-before mentioned, whereas the one safety
buffer head at the hindmost end of the tender (in the case above stated and
now describing) is either firmly fastened to that hindmost end, or else fitted
thereto with springs applied in the manner of buffer springs, as already stated.
And the same is to be said of a van or luggage waggon which may, if required
follow next after the tender; it is to be connected with the tender in the
usual manner of connection between the tender and the carriage which follows
next after the tender, and also the hinder end of the said van or luggage
waggon is to be connected with the foremost end of the foremost of the
passenger or other carriages in the usual manner of connection by ordinary
drawing bars with springs, ordinary adjusting screw link or coupling iron,
and with ordinary buffers with springs at the ordinary heights or levels for
those said parts respectively, so that the connection between the said van
or luggage waggon which follows next to the tender will be of the same kind
and at the same height as the connections between the several passenger or

page_text: other carriages which follow one after another, except as to the safety buffer
head at the hinder end of the said van or luggage waggon, the rod or bar of
which is either to be firmly fastened to the said hinder end of the van or
luggage waggon, or else fitted thereto with springs in the manner of buffer
springs, as already stated in respect to the tender in case of no van or luggage
waggon being next after it. And note, whereas it has been herein-before
stated that the hindmost van or luggage waggon is to have very yielding
buffer springs at its foremost end, and also that the hindmost buffer springs
of the hindmost of the passenger or other springs may likewise have very
yielding springs, it is nevertheless to be understood that all the other buffer
springs at all other parts of all the other passenger or other carriages, or the
tender, or the van or luggage waggon which is to follow next to the tender,
are to be buffer springs of the ordinary force and extent of yielding. The
hindmost end of the hindmost van or luggage waggon may be provided with
stuffed buffers without sliding rods and buffer springs, or it may have mere
unyielding stopping blocks (which latter would be preferrable) so as to be
suitable for receiving the shock of a collision from behind, because it is not
intended that any carriage of any kind shall in any case be drawn after
the said hindmost van or luggage waggon, but it is in all cases to form
the termination of the train, and therefore it should have no drawing bar
or hooks for attaching any chains or coupling iron at the hinder end of it.
Note, in case of a collision in front, or suddenly stopping or greatly retarding
the motion of the engine and tender to avoid a collision, or by running off
the rails, then the onward motion of the hindmost carriage of the train will,
without my improvements, continue longest, and it will be the last to stop,
but with my improvements the van or luggage waggon which is to be the
hindmost carriage in the train will be stopped and recoiled and rebounded,
as already mentioned, before the motion of the passenger or other carriages
which are provided with safety buffers has ceased. And it is in consequence
of the suddenness wherewith the onward motion of the hindmost van or
luggage waggon is so stopped, and the direction of its motion instantaneously
reversed to that of a recoil or rebounding motion, that so much of the shock
of collision is averted from the passenger and other carriages which are
provided with safety buffers as herein-before described. And so many of
the passenger or other carriages as it is intended to protect (in a degree)
from the extreme violence of a collision are to be provided with safety buffers
of the kind herein-before described, being long, inflexible, and unyielding rods
or bars with a head at each end of each rod or bar, and one such being applied
beneath each such carriage as aforesaid, but having no attachment to that car-

page_text: .
riage in an endway direction (otherwise than being tied, as already stated, with
slight cords which will break in case of a collision), and the adjacent safety buffer
heads at the ends of such bars belonging to contiguous carriages not being in
actual contact one with another, in the course of ordinary travelling, but only in
case of a collision taking place; and the corresponding safety buffer heads at the
foremost end of the van or luggage waggon at the hinder end of the train, and
at the hindmost end (either of the tender or else) of a van or luggage waggon
following next after the tender, being, with the rod or bar of such safety buffer
head, either firmly fastened to the said foremost end and hindmost end
respectively, or else applied thereto with springs in the manner of buffer
springs, as already explained. And for the more complete explanation of my.
said improvements the annexed Drawing represents a horizontal plan of a train
of carriages (except the engine and tender, which are omitted), with my.
improvements applied thereto, as herein-before explained. The carriages are
supposed to be inverted or turned over, and only their under sides are exhibited.
A is the van or luggage waggon which follows next after the tender, or in case
there is no such van or waggon, then A will represent the tender itself.
B, C, D, E, and F, are five consecutive passenger or other carriages, provided:
with safety buffers b, c, d, e, and f, of the kind herein-before described, and G
is the van or luggage waggon forming the hindmost end of the train. The:
said seven carriages are united one to another in the usual manner of uniting
railway carriages, namely, by coupling irons or adjusting screw links, hooked
to hooks at the ends of drawing bars at each end of each carriage, in the
middle of the breadth thereof, none of which parts are seen, being hidden by
the safety buffer bars or rods b, c, d, e, and f, which are immediately below the.
said parts; but the several springs for the said drawing bars appear at 9, 9, I, I,
in each carriage; also safety draught chains x, x, are applied, and hang slack,
and the carriages are kept asunder by the contact of their respective buffer
heads h, h, h, h, h, h, at each side of each end of each carriage. Those buffer
heads being at the ends of the cylindrical rods i, i, i, i, i, i, sliding freely
through sockets in the frame along each side of each carriage, and the said.
rods being acted upon at their ends by the extremities of the buffer springs
k, k, k, k, in each carriage (the buffer springs and drawing bar springs being in.
this case distinct springs), all which may be as usual, except that the buffer
spring 1, 1, for the foremost buffers of the hindermost van or luggage waggon G
is to be much more yielding than usual, and so may the buffer spring m, m,
for the hindmost buffers of the hindmost passenger or other carriage F; also
the coupling iron which connects the said carriage F with the van or luggage
waggon G is to be slighter than usual, and likewise there are to be no safety

page_text: draft chains between those two carriages F and G. The hindmost buffers n, n,
of the hindmost van or luggage waggon may be mere unyielding stopping
blocks, or may be elastic buffers without sliding rods or buffer springs, but
there is to be no drawing bar or hook or any safety draft chains at the hinder
end of the hindermost van or luggage waggon G. The foremost end of the
foremost van or luggage waggon A (or the tender) is to be provided with
buffers w, w, of the same kind as are usually (or as may be applied to act
between an engine and its tender; and the same may be said of the coupling
between the engine and tender for traction of the latter. The several rods or
bars of the safety buffers b, c, d, e, and f, have a head y, z, y, z, at each end of
each such rod or bar, and each such rod or bar is sustained in bearing
sockets o, o, at each end of each carriage, and with intermediate bearings p, p,
so as to be well sustained as to the weight of each bar, and prevented
from lateral deviation, but so as to leave each rod or bar capable of moving
freely endways, except as may be restrained by tying each rod or bar with
slight cords, which will break in case of collision, and in which state of
temporary restraint the heads y, z, of contiguous bars will be separated
about two or two and a half inches apart from actual contact one with the
next. a, a, represent the stuffed buffers or india-rubber wadds, which'
are applied, as already mentioned, at the ends of the carriages and behind
the heads y and z, to avoid any material concussions by those heads. The
safety buffer heads r and s of the vans or luggage waggons G and A (or the
tender) are at the ends of rods or bars t and v, which may be either firmly
fastened to the framework at the ends of the said vans or luggage waggons G
and A, or those rods or bars t and v may be fitted to slide in sockets fastened
to the said framework, and with very strong springs u, u, applied at the other
ends of the said bars t and v, in the manner of buffer springs, as already
explained. q, q, are flat iron bars fixed to the framework for retaining the
springs u, u, in place, but allowing them to play, and those bars may be longer
than represented, so as to receive and retain two (or even four) more such
springs as u, u, for acting in concert therewith and giving more elasticity.
Having now described my said improvements, I, the said Edwin Cheshire,
do hereby declare that the new Invention, whereof the exclusive use is granted
to me by the Letters Patent herein-before recited, consists in the application"
to the passenger and other railway carriages of a train of safety buffers of the
kind herein-before described, and marked in the Drawing hereunto annexed
b, c, d, e, f, y, z, 0, 0, and p, p, also r, s, and t, v. These said safety buffers
being in addition to (and not in substitution for the ordinary buffers) with
buffer springs, drawing bars, withdrawing bar springs, and coupling irons or

page_text: adjusting screw links for uniting the hooks at the ends of those drawing bars,
and being screwed up to an elastic tension of the drawing bars and their
springs, and contact of the contiguous buffer heads, with elastic repulsion or
compression of their buffer springs as usual and as herein-before explained,
and under which circumstances the contiguous safety buffer heads y, z, s, y,
and z, r, are none of them in contact one with the next, so that the said safety
buffers will have no action whatever so long as the travelling is performed in
the usual manner and with safety, but it is only in case of collision, as herein-
before explained, that the safety buffers have any operation, and then the
safety buffers breaking the slight cords by which they were tied and restrained
from any endway motion in respect to the several carriages beneath which they
are applied, the contiguous heads y, z, at the ends of the several rods or bars b, c,
d, e, and f, come into contact one with another, and also the heads s, y, and z;
and then the safety buffer protects the passenger and other carriages B, C, D,
E, and F, from part of the violence of the shock of collision to which they
would without the safety buffers be subjected. And whereas inflexible rods or
bars, with a head at each end of each such rod or bar, have been heretofore
applied beneath the several railway carriages of a train, very similar in
appearance to those herein-before described; but whereas the said heads were
always in contact and were linked together, and were substitutes for ordinary
buffers and buffer springs, drawing bars and drawing bar springs, and coupling
irons or adjusting screw links, and also the said rods or bars had the buffer
springs and drawing bar springs applied to them, and were wholly different in
their effect and operation from the safety buffers herein-before described';
wherefore, although I have in the terms and under the conditions aforesaid
claimed the said safety buffers herein-before described as my improvements,
nevertheless I make no claim to the application of any such rods or bars
as b, c, d, e, and f, to the several passenger or other carriages of a train in case
of the said rods or bars having any kind of springs applied to them for acting
as ordinary buffer or drawing springs, to be operative in ordinary travelling,
nor in case of the several contiguous heads y, z, s, y, and z, r, of such rods or
bars being continually in contact in ordinary travelling for keeping the several
carriages apart one from another, nor in case of the said contiguous heads
being coupled or united together for drawing the several carriages one after
5 another in ordinary travelling, nor in case of no other buffer heads, buffer
springs, drawing bars and drawing bar springs, coupling irons, or adjusting
screw links being used for ordinary travelling, my improvements being, as
already stated, safety buffers of the kind herein-before described applied in
addition to (and not in substitution for) the ordinary buffers, buffer springs,

page_text: drawing bars, drawing bar springs, coupling irons, or adjusting screw links,
which said ordinary parts are solely operative in their usual manner in ordinary
travelling, and the safety buffers are then wholly inoperative, and continue so
to be until a collision takes place, and then, without at all interfering with the
usual operation of the said ordinary parts for moderating the violence of the
shock of the collision, the said safety buffers come instantaneously into opera-
tion to reduce the prejudicial effects of collisions to passengers in the manner
herein-before fully described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Cheshire, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-six
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named Edwin Chesshire
(being first duly stamped), in the
EDWIN (L.S.) CHESSHIRE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of August, in the
tenth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Edwin
Chesshire came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein 2
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Third day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-six.
Sic in MS.