IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING OR CONNECTING THE BEARING SPRINGS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGONS TO THE AXLE BOXES OF THE SAID CARRIAGES AND WAGONS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Nurthall Brown, of Handsworth, in the County
of Stafford, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING
OR CONNECTING THE BEARING SPRINGS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGONS TO
THE AXLE BOXES OF THE SAID CARRIAGES AND WAGONS."
Scaled the 29th August 1863, and dated the 8th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Nurthall Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th April 1868.
I, JOHN NORTHALL BROWN, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SECURING OR CONNECTING THE BEARING SPRINGS OP RAILWAY CARRIAGES
AND WAGONS TO THE AXLE BOXES OF THE SAID CARRIAGES AND WAGONS," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to secure or connect the bearing springs of
railway carriages and wagons to the axle boxes more effectually than can be
done by the use of the ordinary tie bolts or clips.
The methods at present in use for securing the springs to the axle boxes of
railway carriages and wagons are very defective. Where tie bolts are used
they are screwed up, while the spring has its full compass or camber, and
when the wagon is loaded and the spring in consequence becomes deflected or
straightened the bolts get slack, and the nuts getting loose gradually work off.

page_text: The bolts are lost, and the springs are in this way sometimes set at liberty.
Where the spring is secured by a hoop fitting into a recess at the top of the
axle box, if the wagon is unequally loaded and the weight thrown upon one
corner, the other corner is liable to be raised so high as to lift the spring shoes
above the ends of the spring, and the spring is liable to fall off the axle box.
My Invention has for its object the remedying of these defects, and consists
of the methods herein-after explained of securing the springs to the axle boxes.
According to one of my improvements I substitute for the spring rivet an
eye bolt, the head of which eye bolt passes through the top of the grease
chamber in the axle box. A bolt or pin is passed through the sides of the
axle box underneath the top of the grease chamber, and through the eye of
the eye bolt. This being done the nut of the eye bolt at the top of the spring
is screwed up, and the spring is then firmly secured to the axle box.
Another of my improvements consists in extending the lugs which form part
of the spring hoop a sufficient distance down the sides of the axle box to
enable a bolt to be passed through the said lugs and underneath the top of the
grease chamber as before. Or instead of using a bolt the same object may
be accomplished by using a screw stud on each side of the axle box, the said
screw studs being tapped into the axle box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Nurthall Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NURTHALL BROWN, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Nurthall Brown, Her special licence that I, the said John
Nurthall Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Nurthall Brown, my 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 Invention

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING OR CONNECTING THE BEARING SPRINGS OF
RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGONS TO THE AXLE BOXES OF THE SAID CARRIAGES AND
WAGONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Nurthall
Brown, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Nurthall Brown, 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 :-
The object of my Invention is to secure or connect the bearing springs of
railway carriages and wagons to the axle boxes more effectually than can bo
done by the use of the ordinary tie bolts or clips.
The methods at present in use for securing the springs to the axle boxes of
railway carriages and wagons are very defective. Where tie bolts are used
they are screwed up, while the spring has its full compass or camber, and
when the wagon is loaded and the spring in consequence becomes deflected
or straightened the bolts get slack, and the nuts getting loose gradually work
off. The bolts are lost and the springs are in this way sometimes set at
liberty. Where the spring is secured by a hoop fitting into a recess at the top
of the axle box, if the wagon is unequally loaded and the weight thrown upon
one corner, the other corner is liable to be raised so high as to lift the spring
shoes above the ends of the spring, and the spring is liable to fall off the
axle box.
My Invention has for its object the remedying of these defects, and consists
of the methods herein-after explained of securing the springs to the axle
boxes.
According to one of my improvements I substitute for the spring rivet an
eye bolt, the head of which eye bolt passes through the top of the grease
chamber in the axle box. A bolt or pin is passed through the sides of the
axle box underneath the top of the grease chamber, and through the eye of
the eye bolt. This being done the nut of the eye bolt at the top of the spring
is screwed up and the spring is then firmly secured to the axle box.
Another of my improvements consists in extending the 'lugs which form
part of the spring hoop a sufficient distance down the sides of the axle box to
enable a bolt to be passed through the said lugs and underneath the top of the

page_text: grease chamber as before.
Or instead or using a voit, the same object may be
accomplished by using a screw pin on each side of the axle box, the said
screw pins being tapped into the axle box.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, represent an axle box and portion of a spring, the
said spring being secured or connected to the box according to one of my
improvements; Figure 1 being a front elevation; Figure 2 a vertical section
taken in a plane at right angles to the spring; Figure 3 is a front elevation,
and Figure 4 is a vertical section taken in a plane passing through the spring
in its longest direction. The same letters indicate the same parts in Figures 1,
2, 3, and 4.
a is the axle box; b is the grease chamber; and c is the end of the axle
working in the said axle box; d is the bearing spring, and the hoop
encircling it. The said spring d is secured or connected to the axle box a by
means of the eye bolt f, the shank or stem of which is passed through the
hoop e and spring d, and the head f³ of the said bolt is passed through the top
of the grease chamber 6, as best seen in Figure 2. When in this position a
bolt or pin g is passed through the sides of the axle box a, underneath the top
of the grease chamber b, and through the eye of the eye bolt f. The nut h is
then screwed on the screwed end of the bolt g, and the said nut fixed by the
cotter i. The nut f³ at the top of the eye bolt f is afterwards screwed up and
made to bear upon the hoop e. The bearing spring d is thus firmly secured
to the axle box a.
Figures 5, 6, and 7, represent another axle box, the spring of which is
connected thereto according to another of my improvements; Figure 5 being
an end clevation; Figure 6, a vertical section taken in a plane at right
angles to the spring, and Figure 7 a vertical section taken in a plane passing
through the spring in its longest direction. The same letters indicate tho
same parts in Figures 5, 6, and 7. In this arrangement of my Invention I
extend the lugs of the hoop 1, which encircles the spring o some distance
down the sides of the axle box p, so as to constitute a fork to the said hoop,
and I pass through the said lugs or fork and underneath the top of the
grease chamber ma pin or bolt n, which said pin or bolt is fastened in its
place by the screw nut and cotter 9. The forked hoop 1, P, being made to
clip the axle box p, the said hoop is fastened thereto by the pin or bolt n; the
nut of the vertical bolt r which connects the spring o to the hoop is then
screwed up, and the bearing spring o is thereby firmly secured to the axle

page_text: box p.
Instead of fastening the forked hoop 1, 13, to the axle box by means of
a bolt or pin passed through the lugs or fork of the said hoop, a screw pin at
either side of the axle box may effect the same object. This modification of
my
Invention is represented in front elevation in Figure 8 of the Drawing, in
which said Figure 8 the lugs or fork of the hoop are marked P, and the screw
pins working in hollow screws tapped into the axle box p are marked s.
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 do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented in the Drawing
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion; but I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, the improvement in securing or connecting the bearing springs of
railway carriages and wagons to the axle boxes of the said carriages and
wagons herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, by means of an eye bolt passed through
the hoop spring and top of the grease chamber of the axle box, the said eye
bolt being fixed in its place by a pin or bolt passed through the eye, and
bearing against the under side of the top of the grease chamber.
Secondly, the improvements in securing or connecting the bearing springs
of railway carriages and wagons to the axle boxes of the said carriages and
wagons, herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, of
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, by means of prolonged lugs or a
fork at the bottom of the spring hoop clipping the axle box, the said lugs
being fixed in their places either by a bolt or pin passed through the said lugs
and underneath the top of the grease chamber of the axle box, or by screw
pins at either side the axle box screwed into the said axle box.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Nurthall Brown, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
0 Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
JOHN NURTHALL BROWN. (L.S.)
Birmingham.