Improvements in Buffer Stops for Cliff Railways.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Sept., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 14th June, 1897-Accepted, 17th July, 1897
PROVISIONAL
ON.
Improvements in Buffer Stops for Cliff Railways.
I, GEORGE CROYDON MARKS, of 18 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
London, W.C. Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved forin of checking device or buffer for use
upon cliff railways, the object of the invention being to produce a buffer or
gradual stopping device which can be conveniently applied to vehicles travelling upon
an inclined railway.
In carrying my invention into effect I arrange my buffers in the form of two pairs
of hydraulic cylinders having within them rams which work from glands or other
bearings, and I connect one pair of cylinders to the other so that the liquid flows from
one pair of cylinders to the opposite pair, the object being to so arrange the cylinders
of the end of each double track that when the car buffers strike the fixed bydraulic
buffers, these buffers travel inwards and force outwards the opposite buffers on the
track which has no car then upon it; the rate at which the free buffers travel out
being determined by a throttle valve or cock placed upon the communicating pipe
passing from one set to the other.
When desiring to provide for an immediate travelling down of the buffers after the
car has struck the ram heads and brought itself to rest, I arrange a lever gearing or
other connection so that the valve may be opened and the water or liquid allowed to
flow more freely from one part or from one pair of eylinders to the other, thus enabling
the car to come to its lower or bottom position more rapidly than would be possible
under its normal condition of working.
I do not limit the application of my invention to any particular form of cylinder
or arrangement of rams or type of valve or throttling cock, neither do I limit the
arrangement to any special form of release mechanism but I modify the essential
features of one pair of buffers working against the other as hereinbefore described to
suit any particular requirements.

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particulary described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improved form of checking device or buffer for use
upon cliff railways inclined tramways or the like the object of the invention being to
produce a buffer or gradual stopping device which can be conveniently applied to
vehicles travelling upon an inclined railway.
In the accompanying sheet of explanatory drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional
elevation of my improved buffer stop and Figure 2 is a plan to a smaller scale showing
four such stops in position at one end of a cliff railway or like track.
In carrying my invention into effect I arrange my buffers in the form of two
pairs of hydraulic cylinders A A', B B having within them rams C, C1, C2, C3, which
work through glands or other bearings D and I connect one pair of cylinders A A¹ to
the other B B so that the liquid flows from one pair of cylinders to the opposite pair,
the object being to so arrange the cylinders of the end of each double track or line of
rails E that when the car buffers F strike the hydraulic buffer heads G the buffers or
rams CC travel inwards and force outwards the opposite buffers on the track which
has no car then upon it; the rate at which the free buffers C2 C3 travel out being
determined by a throttle valve or cock H placed upon the communicating pipe K
passing from one set to the other.
When desiring to provide for an immediate travelling down of the buffers after the
car has struck the ram heads G and brought itself to rest, I sometimes arrange a
lever rod gearing or other connection so that the valve H may be opened and the
water or liquid allowed to flow more freely from one part or from one pair of cylinders
to the other, thus enabling the car to come to its lower or bottom position more
rapidly than would be possible under its normal condition of working. I sometimes
employ one central buffer which forces outwards another single buffer similarly to the
manner herein before described when arranging my buffers in pairs.
I do not limit the application of my invention to any particular form of cylinder or
arrangement of rains or type of valve or throttling cock, neither do I limit the
arrangement to any special form of release mechanism but I modify the essential
features of one buffer or pair of buffers working against the other as hereinbefore
described to suit any particular requirement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is;-
. 1. In a cliff railway, inclined tramway or the like the improvements in buffer stops
substantially as and for the purpose herein before described and as illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
2. The combination and arrangement of a cylinder containing liquid and having a
ram working into it which forces the liquid out through a throttled or adjustable
passage into another similar cylinder so as to force outwards a ram or plunger from
such connected cylinder substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described
and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents.