AN IMPROVED DRAW AND BUFFER SPRING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, of Sheffield, in the
County of York, Steel and File Manufacturer, for the Invention of" AN
IMPROVED DRAW AND BUFFER SPRING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES.”–
A communication from abroad by John Parker, of Florence.
Sealed the 12th June 1860, and dated the 14th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Buckingham
Ibbotson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th December 1859.
I, ALFRED BUCKINGHAM IBBOTSON, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Steel and File Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED DRAW AND BUFFER SPRING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY
CARRIAGES," (communicated to me from abroad by John Parker, of Florence,)
to be as follows:-
This spring apparatus consists of rings of vulcanized india-rubberseparated
from each other by intersecting plates or washers of metal, the last rubber
ring in the series at each end fitting into a flanged collar, and the whole
pressed rather tightly together and enclosed in a box or case. An aperture is
[Price 8d.]

page_text: formed in both ends of the case, and a shaft is passed through the case,
collars, washers, and rings; two slots are so formed in this shaft that a key
driven through each of the flanged collars passes through the farthest end
(from the centre of the shaft) of each of these slots, so that when the buffer
heads or draw bar hooks are united to both ends of this shaft, this spring
apparatus answers equally for both ends of the carriage to which it may be
attached, both for buffers and draw springs, besides giving the draw springs
the advantage of working through the whole train at the same instant.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
BUCKINGHAM IBBOTSON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel and File
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth 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 Buckingham Ibbotson, Her special licence that I, the said
Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED DRAW AND BUFFER SPRING APPARATUS
FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES," (communicated to me from abroad by John Parker,
of Florence,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Buckingham Ibbotson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Buckingham Ibbotson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
This spring apparatus consists of rings of vulcanized india-rubber separated
from each other by intersecting plates or washers of metal, the last rubber
ring in the series at each end fitting into a flanged collar, and the whole
pressed together and enclosed in a box or case. An aperture is formed in
both ends of the case, and a shaft is passed through the case, collars, washers,
and rings; two slots are so formed in this shaft that a key driven through
each of the flanged collars passes through the farthest end (from the centre of
the shaft) of each of these slots, so that when the buffer heads or draw bar
hooks are united to both ends of this shaft, this spring apparatus answers
equally for both ends of the carriage to which it may be attached, both for
buffers and draw springs, besides giving the draw springs the advantage of
working through the whole train at the same instant.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan of a draw and buffer
spring apparatus constructed according to this Invention; and Figure 2 is an
end view of the same, shewing the apparatus attached to a carriage. A, A; are
the rings of vulcanized india-rubber, which are separated from each other by
intersecting iron washers B, B. The last rubber ring at each end of the series
fits into a flanged cast-iron collar C, C, and the whole is pressed closely
together and enclosed in a cast-iron box or case D, D. This box or case is
formed with apertures at its ends, to admit a wrought-iron octagonal shaft
E, E, which passes through the centre of the case, collars, washers, and rings.
F, F, are slots formed in this shaft, in such manner that the keys G, G, which
are driven through each of the flanged collars pass through the farthest end
(from the centre of the shaft) of these slots, so that when the draw bar, hooks,
or buffer heads are united to both ends of the shaft, this spring apparatus acts
equally well for both drawing and buffing at both ends of the carriage to
which it is attached, besides acting through the whole train at the same
instant. To attach these springs (if for draw springs) to the carriages, place
an oak or ash plank H, H, between (and well mortised into) the two centre
cross bearers of the frames under the floor of the waggon or carriage. The
spring apparatus is then securely fastened on the exact centre of centres on the
under side of this plank with the bolts I, I, strengthened by the lugs J, J.
The short lengths of iron K, K, must be disconnected and welded to the shafts
of the draw bar hooks, and then readjusted by means of the keys L, L.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, aud in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the construction

page_text: of draw and buffer spring apparatus for railway carriages, essentially in
the manner herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
ALFRED B. IBBOTSON. (L.S.)