IMPROVE- MENTS IN BUFFING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILKINSON TAYLOR, of Barrowfield House, Westham, in the County of
Essex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the First day of February, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Wilkinson Taylor, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said William Wilkinson Taylor, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Wilkinson Taylor, my
exors, adiiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BUFFING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Wilkinson Taylor,
should cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wilkinson Taylor, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say-
My Invention relates to the application of felt in a series of layers in the
constructing or making buffing apparatus for railway purpose. And in order
that my Invention may readily be understood, I will procced to describe the
best means I am acquainted with for performing the same. I take any of the
felting fibres, but in preference I employ ox and cow hair, and I make sheets
of felt, as is well understood, of the size and shape desired; and supposing I
am going to pad the buffing apparatus now in use by the application of felt,
according to my Invention, I form holes in the buffer head or surface, and
punch holes in felt to correspond in position with the holes in the buffer head
or surface, which has heretofore been stuffed in a different manner, and as is
well understood; and by means of such hole I attach any desired number of
sheets of felt to the buffer head, by passing strong string or cord, either linen,
woolen, or catgut, through the various layers of felt and through the buffer
head, and fasten the ends of the strings employed. I then cover the padding
thus obtained to the buffer head with leather or other suitable material, which
should be as waterproof as possible; and in stuffing a buffer head such as is
now used, a series of layers of felt equal to twelve to fourteen inches will be
sufficient. But the elasticity of felt when so combined into a series of layers
is such that I prefer to dispense with the use of the ordinary springs and
apparatus now used, and simply depend on the elasticity offered by applying a
buffing apparatus to each carriage, such as is shown in the Drawing at
Figure 1, and to the locomotive engine an apparatus such as is shown in
Figure of the Drawing. Each of these apparatuses consist of a series of
layers of felt, as is shewn, attached as before described to a board or surface
a, a, which is of a length to pass from side to side of the railway carriage, and
is affixed to the side framings thereof by means of the projecting bars b, which
pass through sockets (fixed to the side framings of a carriage), and they are
securely held by keys. The only difference of the buffing apparatus used
between the railway carriages and the buffing apparatus attached to a
locomotive engine is, that there is a space cut away or left vacant, as is shown,
and there is a hole through the board or surface a, and through the layers of
felt, in order to allow of the passage of the ordinary coupling irons, as will be
readily understood on examining the Drawing. The buffing apparatus being

page_text: thus formed, is to be covered with leather or other suitable material, which, as
before stated, should be as waterproof as possible.
I would remark, that I do not confine myself to any particular shape of
buffing apparatus, nor to the mode of attaching the series of layers of felt by
means of strings, as described, as variations may be made, so long as the
apparatus consists of a series of layers of felt suitably combined together.
And I would also remark, that in making sheets of felt for the purposes of my
Invention, I usually make them of about three fourths of an inch thick, and
so that the sheets will weigh at the rate of eight ounces per square foot; but
I do not confine myself thereto. But I hereby declare. that what I claim as
the Invention secured by the present Letters Patent is, the mode of con-
structing buffing apparatus for railway, by applying felt in a series of layers, as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilkinson Taylor, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of July, in the