CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BUPPERG
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CRAND WILKINS, of Long Acre, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of
May, and in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did, give and grant unto
me, the said William Crane Wilkins, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Crane Wilkins, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as
adññiors, and assigns, should
I, the said William Crane Wilkins, my exors,
at any time agree with, during the continuance of the term granted by the
said Letters Patent, and no others, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
on-Tweed, an Invention communicated to me, the said William Crane Wilkins,
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BUPPERG;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Crane
Wilkins, to cause a particular description in writing under my hand and seal,
of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery

page_text: within six calendar months next ensuing from the day of the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Crane Wilkins, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following instrument, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention relates to improvements in buffers for the purpose of diminish-
ing or altogether neutralizing the injurious effects arising from the concussion
of carriages on railways. These improved buffers are not intended to super-
sede the ordinary buffing apparatus, but to be applied as auxiliary thereto, and
I propose so to arrange my improved buffer that it shall remain in a state of
inaction during any minor or slight cases of concussion, but at the same time
be in readiness for action when the force of collision is to a dangerous
extent.
The improvement consists in the interposition of sand or silica as a resisting
medium to the force of severe concussion; sand or silica, unlike the ordinary
substances used in buffers, does not possess the property of resilience, but, on
the contrary, is of such a nature as to absorb (so to speak) the blow or force
of the shock produced by the concussion of one carriage running violently
against another. The sand or silica I prefer for the purpose is the ordinary
sand of the sea shore, as being more uniform in its granulation than any other
sand. The sand used should be perfectly dry, as any moisture would mate-
rially detract from its efficacy as an absorbent of the force resulting from con-
cussion. The Sheet of Drawing annexed shews my improved buffers applied
to the framing of a railway carriage, and in which Figure 1 represents a side
elevation, and Figure 2a plan, of two of the railway carriages coupled
together, the usual buffer heads A, A, A, A, of which are drawn together by
the coupling in the ordinary manner; and Figure 3 is an end view of the
samo; B, B, are the improved buffers, which are separately represented at
Figures 4, 5, and 6, the cases or coverings of which consist of leather or other
suitable material made sufficiently tight to prevent the escape of the sand. lic
buffers B, B, must be capable of withstanding great pressure, and also capablo
of preserving with tolerable rigidity their original and proper form. To this
end I construct the cases of two or three thicknesses of sole leather b, b, or
gutta percha may be used for the inner casing, the outer covering I so construct
as to envelope five of the sides of the buffer B, using the leather as a means of

page_text: securing it to the framing of the carriages. For this purpose the.edges of the
leather d, d, e, e, are extended beyond the buffer and bolted to the .framing
C, C, by bolts fff; metal plates 9, 9, are placed between the heads and nuts
of the bolts, and the leather, so as to distribute the pressure or hold of the bolt
over the entire length of the flaps d, d, and e, c. In order to afford the buffer
some support in addition to the rigidity of the leather, I extend the plate g¹
some distance under the buffer, as seen in the under side plan, Fig. 4. For the
better protection of the said buffer, I apply an extra piece of leather / on the
faco or contact surface; i is an orifice by which the sand is introduced, it is
closed by a cap k, which may be removed from time to time for the addition of
a further supply of sand if necessary. As will be seen by the sections, Figures
5 and 6, the buffers aro to be filled with sand, and, to be maintained in such
condition during use. As before mentioned, the ordinary buffers A, A,
of railway carriages are not at all interfered with when using this present im-
proved buffer, as will be seen by reference to the Drawing. These buffers
'A, A, I intend should receive and resist all ordinary shocks produced by
concussion, and also the first impulse of any extraordinary compression.
On the power of the buffers A, A, being overcome, they will be driven home
to such an extent that the opposing faces of the said buffers B, B, will come in
contact with each other, and they will receive the excessive force of the shock.
As is well known the granular nature of sand renders it capable of arresting
projectiles or bodies in motion, and applied as a medium for the resistance of
concussion in railway carriages, it will prevent the violent transmission of
concussion from one carriage to another by absorbing a great portion at least
of the force.
In representing these improved buffers, I have shewn them attached to the
transverse beam or end of the carriage framing between the buffers A, A, but
in new carriages this may be varied according to the judgment of the builder,
as the position of buffers A and B if reversed the concussion would perhaps
be less liable to affect the framing.
Although I prefer using my improved buffers as an auxiliary to the ordinary
buffers in passenger trains, it is by no means necessary these ordinary buffers
should be employed, and I reserve the right to use my improved sand buffer
alone or in combination with ordinary buffers for passengers and goods
carriages or in railway trucks.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
it is to be performed, I desire it to be understood that what I claim
as an improvement in railway buffers is the use of sand interposed as a

page_text: medium for the reception of some of the force resulting from violent concussion
with a view to prevent as much as possible the transmission of such force
through the train.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Crane Wilkins have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
JEFFERSON.
WILLIAM CRANE (L.s.) WILKINS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid William Crane Wilkins came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.