IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFERS AND SPRINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Hustwick and William Bean, of the Town
or Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull; in the County, of the same. Town or
Borough, Carriage and Harness Manufacturers, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Hustwick and
William Bean at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 3rd January 1855.
We, CHARLES HUSTWICK and WILLIAM BEAN, of the Town or Borough of
Kingston-upon-Hull, in the County of the same Town or Borough, Carriage
and Harness Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFERS AND SPRINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER
PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in placing fourteen or other convenient number of
curved steel plates in a box, to which the buffing, or bearing, or drawing
apparatus is connected. These plates may be of the same or of various
thicknesses, and they are curved in such wise that the outer extremities are in
contact, whereas the centre portions are a little, though of unequal-distances,
apart. By this arrangement, when the pressure is applied, the steel plates are
at liberty to yield some three or four inches, thereby, producing a strong and
elastic buffer, or bearing, or drawing spring.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Hustwick and William Bean in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 3rd July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
HUSTWICK and WILLIAM BEAN, of the Town or Borough of Kingston-upon-
Hull, in the County of the same Town or Borough, Carriage and Harness
Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Charles Hustwick and William Bean, Her special license that we, the
said Charles IIustwick and William Bean, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles Hustwick and William Bean,
our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFERS AND SPRINGS FOR
RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Charles Hustwick and William Bean, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of either of
us, 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 we, the said Charles Hustwick and William Bean,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following Specification thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings (that is to say).-
Our said Invention consists of an improved arrangement of springs, formed
of curved steel plates, contained in a box to which the buffing, bearing, or
drawing apparatus of railway carriages is connected, the said improvements
being partly applicable to other carriages. We have in the said Drawings
given Figures for shewing how our improvements in buffers and in bearing
and drawing springs may be constructed, similar parts in each of these Figures
being marked with similar letters of reference.
Figure 1 of the said Drawings is a plan, partly in section, of our improved

page_text: drawing spring; and Figure 2, a transverse section of the same. In Figure 1,
a is part of the woodwork of a railway carriage; b, the draw hook; c, the bar
of the draw hook, jointed to the bridle d, within which are the curved steel
plates e. These plates are in three sets, namely, four in the centre set and
six in each of the outer sets, but this number of plates and the arrangement
thereof in sets may be varied, according to circumstances. The outer ends of
the springs enter into the boxes f, and sufficient space must be allowed for the
springs to play without coming in contact with the box. When the hook bis
acted upon by the draw chain in the usual manner, the pull on the hook causes
the bridle d to compress the steel plates e, and as there is an interval of space
between all these plates except in the two points where the three sets meet, it is
evident that the pull on the draw hook will cause the plates to approach each
other at the centre, thereby forcing the ends thereof outwards, or towards the
sides of the box.
Figures 3 and 4 are two views of our improvements as applied to a buffer
for railway carriages. a is part of the buffer board; g, the buffer, the spindle
of which is furnished with a bridle or plate, acting on the springs e, shewn by
dotted lines contained in the box f. In this instance the pressure on the buffer
compresses the springs, in the same manner as the pull on the draw hook, in
the arrangement above described.
Figure 5 is a front view of our improvements applied to the bearing or axle
box of a railway carriage. a is part of the carriage frame; h, the axle box,
a projection from which enters into the box f, which contains the springs e, as
shewn by the dotted lines. By the above-described arrangements, when the
pull is applied by the draw hook, or the pressure by the buffer or axle box, a
strong and elastic resistance is offered by the springs.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the details herein set forth, as the same may be varied; but that
what we do claim is, the arrangement of springs formed of curved steel plates
within a box, for buffing, bearing, and drawing purposes, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Hustwick and William Bean,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
CHARLES HUSTWICK. (L.S.)