CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COILED SPRINGS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF COILED SPRINGS."-A communication from abroad by Carlos French,
of Seymour, New Haven, Connecticut, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 1st May 1860, and dated the 2nd December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd December 1859.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane.
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF COILED SPRINGS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to preserve the proper elasticity and com-
pactness in coiled springs while giving them sufficient strength to sustain great
pressure. To accomplish these objects the spring is composed of two or more
coiled leaves according to the pressure to be resisted, or each leaf is made of
two or more leaves sufficiently thin to bend without breaking, the leaves of the
compound leaf being placed the one above the other and welded together at

page_text: one or both ends. The compound leaves should be placed nearly parallel and
in close proximity with each other that all or most of them may yield at the
same time so as to afford their combined rigidity and elasticity, while a suffi-
cient space is left between the outer leaves of the coil to allow sufficient yielding
or contraction. The spring is much more powerful and durable when both
ends of the leaves composing the set are welded together, but a great improve-
ment over any coiled spring in use is produced by welding them at one end
only. The coil may take the form of a spiral, or the rising volute form.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COILED SPRINGS,"
being a communication from abroad by Carlos French, of Seymour, New Haven,
Connecticut, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates
to the composing of coiled springs of two or more leaves placed the one below
the other and united together at one or both ends, so that each of the com-
potent leaves preserves its original elasticity, while all of them combined have
sufficient strength to sustain the required pressure.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents, in vertical central section,
a helical spring constructed according to this Invention; and Fig. 2 is a per-
spective view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical central section of a rising volute
spring, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the same, similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Coiled springs as heretofore constructed have consisted of a single plate or
rod bent or coiled into the desired form, which, when but little resistance is
required, will be found to answer, but when great pressure is to be resisted:
it has been found necessary to multiply the springs, and they have been placed
side by side or one within the coil of another of larger diameter, and the
plates have been made taper in their width and thickness, but these ex-
pedients have been found very objectionable and even impracticable when
very powerful and compact springs have been required, such as railway
carriage springs for example. The lateral space required (if the leaves are
made conveniently thin) to accommodate the requisite number is too great for
compactness and convenience, and if the leaves be made thick enough to
support the pressure with little lateral expansion of the box in which they are
placed, they will be too thick and rigid for the proper elasticity, will hardly
possess the qualities of a spring, but will be likely to cause sudden jarring, and
to break rather than bend.
The object of this Invention is to avoid all these inconveniences and preserve
a proper elasticity and compactness while sufficient strength is ensured to
sustain the required pressure. To accomplish these objects each leaf is
divided into two or more according to the pressure to be resisted, or each leaf
is made of two or more leaves sufficiently thin to bend without breaking, the
leaves of the compound leaf being placed the one above the other and welded
together at one or both ends. The compound leaves should be placed nearly
parallel and in close proximity with each other, that all or most of them may
yield at the same time so as to afford their combined rigidity and elasticity,
while a sufficient space is left between the outer leaves of the coil to allow
sufficient yielding or contraction. The spring is much more powerful and
durable when both ends of the leaves composing the set are welded together,

page_text: but a great improvement over any coiled spring in use is produced by welding
them at one end only. The coil may take the form of a helix, as shewn at
Figures 1 and 2, or of a rising volute, as represented at Figures 3 and 4, both
equally possessing the feature of division for elasticity, and union for strength
and rigidity with less lateral expansion than any heretofore known of equal
power. In all the Figures A represents the compound leaf, and a, b, c, the
component leaves. When made in the rising volute form of Figures 3 and 4,
the leaves should be welded at the bottom in a form to add little to the diameter
of the coil, but to give sufficient vertical thickness to support the spring.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
Coiled Springs, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim composing
coiled springs of divided or compound leaves in the manner and for the purpose
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)