CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS APPLICABLE TO CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
JOSEPH BARLOW, of Rusby, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the
fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Joseph Barlow, His especial
licence, that I, the said Robert Joseph Barlow, my exors, admiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Joseph Barlow, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS APPLICABLE TO CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Robert
Joseph Barlow, shall 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 His 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Joseph Barlow, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention.
to consist in the use of springs having very little elastic play, whereby I am

page_text: DESCRIPTION
HE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a carriage having my improvements applied thereto.
Figure 2 represents part of the framing of the carriage drawn to full size,
in which a recess or mortice is formed to receive the six short pieces of spring
plate a, b, c, d, e, and f, arranged as here shown, when they are intended for
an ordinary chariot. These steel plates or springs are divided into two sets,
three in each set, or into an upper and a lower set; the two sets are divided
or kept apart from each other any required distance by two iron stops g, g.
The stops have flanches at h, h, to keep them in their places. The plates of each
set or spring lie one on the other without requiring any fastenings, the recess,
which I shall hereafter call the mortice, or spring mortice, in the framing of
the carriage being formed of a suitable figure to receive such springs or plates,
as is clearly shown in this Figure. The stops g, g, I prefer to be about the
thickness of four plates. This arrangement is intended for good roads, but if
the carriage is desired to be used for travelling on bad roads these stops may
be removed and thinner ones placed between, by which means two or more
plates may be introduced into the spring mortice in order to obtain greater
stiffness of spring. It should be remarked that, although the springs are
represented as open to view, it should be understood that they are covered
when in use. is a bolt of iron or steel, which is placed below the springs,
and is a bolt placed above the springs. The bolt j rests on the top plate of
the upper set, moving easily up and down through an aperture made for that
purpose in the framing.
Having now explained one manner of arranging short plates so as to form a
light cheap spring with but little elastic play, I will proceed to describe the
manner of applying them to carriages.
In Figure 1 it will be seen the chariot is hung in the usual way to what
appears to resemble an ordinary carriage spring, but which is in fact a rigid

page_text: curved lever turning on a fulcrum at r, and therefore having two arms, 1 being
the long arm and m the short arm. The construction of this lever will be more
readily understood by an examination of Figure 3, where the parts are on a
larger scale. The lever is composed of a centre piece of wood inclosed between
two outside plates of iron or steel, the whole being rivetted firmly together.
The metal plates are formed with a boss or beak at one end, as shown at n in
this Figure, and more clearly at Figure 4, where it is drawn to a larger scale.
This beak n acts upon the upper spring bolt j, while the fulcrum is kept from
rising by means of the metal strap o, which it will be seen passes under the
spring mortice and framing; consequently when the end p of the lever l, m, is
depressed by the weight or motion of the body of the carriage, the two sets of
springs are pressed together by the nipping or nutcracker action of the two
spring bolts i and j, and the quantity of elastic play, though small with respect
to the springs themselves, is multiplied before it is communicated to the sus-
pended body by the long arm of the lever l, m, which will readily be under-
stood by any competent mechanic.
Now, whereas it is evident that the principle of my said Invention is
susceptible of various modifications in its application; thus, for instance,
Figure 5 represents a mode of applying my said Invention by means of spring
bolts and levers, so placed as to act in a lateral direction on the springs, in
which case the body of the carriage should be hung with shackles at the end
of each of the long arms of the lever, something like the manner of hanging
mail coaches now in use. It will be observed that the levers in this case are
straight. I would also remark that is not essentially necessary that the springs
should be in two sets, though I prefer such to be the case, for it will be evident
that a series of plates similar to one set before described, and supported at
cach end, will have a similar effect; thus, in Figure 6 it will be seen that a
single set only are shown, and the beaks of the short arms of the levers act
upwards upon the under spring or plate by means of the straps s, s. This
arrangement is also adapted for mail coaches, tilburys, and the like carriages.
Fig. 7 shows another arrangement of spring within a mortice, consisting of
an air cushion or bag of atmospheric air. This bag or cushion I prefer to
form in the following manner :-I obtain a bag or bladder of caoutchouc, and
fill it with air, and close the opening by cementing it together. This bag I
inclose in one or more covers of leather sewed closely over the caoutchouc bag.
By this means I produce a spring, having little extent of elastic play in itself,
which is to be placed in a mortice, as shown in Figure 7, A, A, being the
mortice; B, a plate of metal, which is acted on by the bolt in like manner, as
above described, for producing the required extent of elasticity to the carriage;

page_text: and in order to regulate the extent of elasticity given off to the shorter arm
of the lever by this arrangement of spring, I employ the following means:-
C is a plate which is capable of contracting the dimensions of the air bag or
cushion by pressing it more closely together by the screws D, D, and thus
causing the same to offer less elastic play to the short end of the lever I, m.
And whereas it is also evident that my said Invention is perfectly applicable
to the hanging of the seats of easy chairs, as shown at Figure 8, or to sedans
as shown at Figure 9.
But whereas I claim as my Invention such springs as are herein-before
described, having little elastic play in themselves (and therefore lighter and
more easy of construction and repair than those now in use), but acted upon
by unequal armed levers in such manner that by suspending or placing the
carriage body or other weight to be supported from or on the long arm of the
said levers, any required degree of elastic play may be given to the said weight
or body. And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, entirely new and never before used within that part of His said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His
said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe
this my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve
or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby clain to maintain exclusive right
and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Joseph Barlow, have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our
Land One thousand sight hundred and thirty-five
Inrolled the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and thirty-five.