IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGE SPRINGS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Hyde, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGE SPRINGS."
-A communication.
Sealed the 1st March 1859, and dated the 4th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hiram Hyde at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th September 1858.
I, HIRAM HYDE, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
CARRIAGE SPRINGS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of spring, which will offer an
elastic sustaining power to carriage bodies proportionate to the varying weight
of the passengers or goods which they may be required to carry. To this end
the curved leaves or plates of which the spring is composed are made of equal
length; and to avoid friction they are separated from each other, except at
their central parts and near their ends. At their centre, where a slight
increase in the thickness of metal is provided, the leaves are connected
together by clamps and bolts, and at their extremities the metal is thickened
to ensure a space between the leaves. Any given number of these leaves bent to
the same curve may be provided to sustain the weight of a minimum load, and
below these are other leaves (the curves of which vary and decrease gradually)

page_text: to receive in succession the weight of the superincumbent load according as
that load is increased, and an increasing elastic sustaining power is required.
This spring is completed by placing beneath the pile of steel plates or leaves
a curved bar of steel of greater strength, but of somewhat similar form, and
of the same length as the plates, but having its ends curved downwards. The
use of this bar is to permit of clamps being attached thereto which will hold
down the lower layers of leaves, and allow of the free play of the upper leaves,
while, at the same time, when the upper leaves are found unequal to sustain
the load, these lower leaves will (one or more) come into action, and receive
and sustain the pressure of the load. These clamps are made of different
lengths, and capable of fitting one within the other, their office being to hook
on to the end of a leaf when it has been drawn down towards the clamp bar,
and retain it in that position. By means of a set of these clamps, the lower
leaves are therefore held down, but when a pressure comes upon them from
above, they are free to act (the clamps sinking with them), and severally
afford their support as required to the load. When the clamps are used, the
leaves need not be set to varying curves, as above mentioned. To secure the
clamps more perfectly to the leaves, they are provided with studs, which take
into holes made in the leaves, and as they will naturally preserve a vertical
position, there will be no danger of their being accidentally disengaged from
the spring.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hiram Hyde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th
March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIRAM
HYDE, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Hiram Hyde, Her special license that I, the said Hiram Hyde, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hiram Hyde,
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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF CARRIAGE SPRINGS," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hiram Hyde, by an instru-
ment 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 Hiram Hyde, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the 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 a novel construction of spring, which will offer an elastic sustaining power
to carriage bodies proportionate to the varying weight of the passengers or
goods that they may be required to carry.
The improved spring will be found to combine several valuable characteristics,
viz., it is light, relatively to its power, carries its load with remarkable ease,
and is cheaply made, and it is so constructed that the upward movement or
rebound of the spring is very trifling. The leaves of which the spring is
composed are of an equal length, and for the purpose of avoiding friction
between the leaves they are separated from each other, excepting at their
central parts and near their ends. By this device the elastic parts of the
spring are allowed to move with remarkable ease and freedom of motion, and
with exceedingly little friction. In order that the spring may be made to
bear or carry a light or heavy load with equal ease, or, in other words, that the
spring may accommodate itself to varying pressures, the Inventor proposes to
secure any number of the leaves of the improved spring in such positions, that
the leaves so secured can act in conjunction with the other leaves of the spring
only at such times as the pressure upon the spring may render it desirable
that they should be brought into action. And to this end clutches are
employed, the construction and operation of which will be herein-after fully
described. Sometimes also a curve or elevation is given to the ends of one or
more of the leaves of the spring, different from that of the other leaves, by
which means the leaf or leaves to which the different curve or elevation is
given, will occupy any desired position without being held by the clutches.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents in perspective view a
spring constructed after the principle of this Invention, and composed of ten

page_text: leaves, the first six or upper leaves being shewn in the position they would
assume when loaded with a weight which they could carry with ease. The
dotted lines a, a, a, a, a, a, show the height to which the first six or upper
leaves would rise if all the weight upon them were removed. Fig. 2 shews
the same spring in longitudinal sectional elevation, the section being taken
through the centre. Fig. 3 represents in elevation a spring that may be used
without clutches. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a single leaf detached from
the spring, its ends being elevated by the removal of the pressure indicated as
being borne by the upper leaves in Figures 1, 2, and 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective
view of the clutch bar. Figures 6 are perspective views of each of the four
clutches used in Figures 1 and 2. Figures 7 shew the two steady pins.
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the yoke; Fig. 9, a similar view of the strap;
and Fig. 10 is an edge view of a clutch shewing the stud m as attached to
each clutch. The same letters refer to similar parts in all the Figures.
The leaves of the spring are made of an equal length, for the purpose of
distributing the whole pressure on the spring amongst the leaves, which are at
any one time brought into action, each leaf being thus made to bear a portion
of the whole pressure. By means of the clutches b, b, b, b, a portion of the
leaves are held down, or may be held down in such parcels and at such
distances from the other leaves as not to be brought into action except at
such times as the leaves so held by the clutches are required to act on the
weight or pressure on the leaves above them; but, by giving the leaves
different curves, as shewn at Fig. 3, where c, c¹, c², c³, c, c³, c, and c, indicate
the positions, curves, or elevations of eight of the lower leaves, the use of the
clutches may be dispensed with, and the spring will be rendered self-graduating,
in like manner as in Figures 1 and 2; for, as the pressure on the spring
increases, more of the leaves are brought into action, and as the pressure is
diminished, many of the leaves cease acting. The strap e (Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 9,) is made of iron, the iron being one inch and a half wide, and three-
eighths of an inch thick, with a screw cut on each of its upturned ends. The
yoke d of the strap is also made of iron of the same width and thickness as
that employed to make the strap, and has a hole w, w, near each end of it,
through which the screws on the ends of the strap pass. The steady pins h, h,
(Figures 2 and 7,) are made of steel one-quarter of an inch in diameter, with
an annular projection i, (Figures 2 and 7,) near their lower ends. The steady
pins extend from the under side of the strap to the top of the yoke.
The clutches b, b, b, b, (Figures 1, 2, 6, and 10,) are made of steel, three-
sixteenths of an inch thick, or of sufficient strength for the work they have to
perform; their lips k (Figures 1, 2, 6, and 10,) are made tapering, as shewn

page_text: in the Drawings, and are bent in a curve to correspond with the curve of the
projections 1, (Figures 1, 2, and 4,) on the leaves on which the lips of the
clutches rest; the curve of the lips of the clutches is of such a shape that
when the lip is pressed between the leaf on which the clutch rests and the
leaf above it, the pressure will not throw or have a tendency to throw the
vertical part or legs of the clutch out of a vertical line or off from the clutch
bar. A strong steel stud m (Figures 2 and 10), one quarter of an inch in
diameter, and long enough to fill either one of the holes n, n, (Fig. 4,) near
the ends of the leaves, is fastened or rivetted firmly to the lip k of each clutch;
these studs m entering the holes n, n, in the leaves, are for the purpose of
keeping the clutches b, b, b, b, in their proper positions. The feet o (Figures
1, 2, 6, and 10,) of the clutches are one inch long, and are bent upward a
little above a horizontal line for the purpose of giving them an inclination to
hug closely up to the ends of the clutch bar. The feet of the clutches are
curved upward a little so as to correspond to the curve on the under side of
the clutch bar, as shewn in the Drawings in Figures 1 and 2. The clutch
bar p, (Figures 1, 2, 3, and 5,) is made of steel and tempered with a good
'spring temper;" it is forged into shape by the hammer, or may be rolled
into the proper shape in the same manner as the leaves; it is of the same
width and length as the leaves of the spring, and is made tapering from near
its centre to each end; it is half an inch thick at its central part, and one-
quarter of an inch thick at each end; it has a short curve near each end, so
that its ends on the upper side will correspond in form to the rounded pro-
jections or bearings near the ends of each leaf. It has a flat seat or projection s
in its central part of the same dimensions as the flat seats on the leaves; its
extreme ends are slightly curved downwards, as shewn in the Drawing, for
the purpose of better seizing and holding the feet of the clutches; it is curved
upward one-eighth of an inch in its whole length. As shewn in the Drawing,
in Figures 1 and 2, it has a much greater curve, but this is owing to its being
bent upward by the upward strain of the leaves held down by the clutches.
The purpose of the clutch bar is chiefly to aid the clutches in holding down
such leaves of the spring as are grasped by the lips of the clutches, yet it is
capable of acting in concert with all the leaves of the spring upon any extra-
ordinary occasions, when an enormous load from any cause may be unexpec-
tedly thrown upon the spring. The leaves u (Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4,) of the
spring, one of which is shewn separately in Fig. 4, are made of steel, and are
taper from their central parts to their necks near the projections or bearings
on their ends. They have hitherto been made five thirty-seconds of an inch
thick at the points indicated by the dotted lines 9, 9, (Fig. 4,) near their

page_text: centres, and one-sixteenth of an inch thick at their necks, or at the points
indicated by the dotted lines r, r, (Fig. 4,) the rounded projections or
bearings (Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4,) near the ends of the leaves, being three-
sixteenths of an inch thick at their thickest part. The tapering of the leaves
is preferred, because this form greatly economizes the use of metal.
The leaves in the spring represented in the accompanying Drawing are
three inches wide and twenty-five inches long. On the inner or concave side
of each leaf, midway between its ends, there is a flat seat or projection s
(Fig. 4), one thirty-second of an inch in height, and one inch and a half long,
extending across the leaf. The taper of each leaf commences where this flat
seat terminates; the flat seat or projections near the central part of each
leaf, and the rounded projections or bearings 1 near the ends of each leaf are
for the purpose of separating the leaves from each other, except at these points,
and thereby preventing surface friction between the leaves. The leaves may
be forged by the hammer into the form desired, but it is preferred to roll them;
this may be done by the aid of a pair of rolls, the periphery of one of which
has been shaped so as to correspond to the varying thickness to which each
leaf is desired to be reduced. The steel having been heated is then passed
between the rolls, and brought to the desired section; the leaves are next
trimmed, and bent into the curve required. In the spring represented in the
Drawing the ends of the leaves are curved or elevated four inches above their
centres, or above a straight or horizontal line, as shewn in Fig. 4; but the
leaves from c to c', in Fig. 3, are curved, as shewn in that Drawing. The
leaves are now to be tempered by any of the well-known methods of tempering
springs, but in the most careful manner. After tempering, each leaf should
be tested separately and thoroughly, to make sure that it is free from flaws or
other imperfections.
As many leaves as are required for one spring are now piled one upon
another, and fastened (with the clutch bar at the bottom of the pile) firmly in
the iron strap e by turning down the nuts g, g, on to the yoke d. When
piling the leaves together, and before putting them into the strap, there is
interposed between the leaves that are to be held down by a clutch, a plate of
iron or steel t (Fig. 2), of the thickness of the thickest part of the lip of a
clutch, and large enough to cover the flat seat or projections (Fig. 4) on the
concave side of the leaf. Two holes f, f, are next drilled through the piled
spring to receive the steady pins h, h, (Figures 2 and 7,) by which the several
parts of the spring are retained in their proper positions. The holes n, n,
near the ends of each leaf may be drilled before the leaves are piled in the
strap. These holes are for receiving the studs m on the lips of the clutches.

page_text: After drilling the holes ff, the nuts g, g, and the yoke d are taken from off
the strap, and the clutch bar and all the leaves are removed from the strap;
the holes f, f, on the under side of the clutch bar are then so countersunk as to
receive the annular projections i, i, near the lower ends of the steady pins.
The lower ends of the steady pins are now inserted in the holes f, f, in the
bottom of the strap, as shown in the Drawing at f, f, in Fig. 2. The clutch
bar is next put in the strap and on the steady pins, and all the leaves and
plates of the spring are placed in their proper order in the strap and on the
steady pins. The yoke is then put on the strap, the upper ends of the steady
pins passing through the holes f, f, in the yoke, and the nuts g, g, are turned
down so as to hold the spring firmly in its proper shape. The leaves which
are to be held down by the clutches are now pressed down by a hand vice or
other convenient means, and the clutches are put on to keep the leaves in the
position desired, and as shown in the Drawings in Figures 1 and 2. The
spring is now ready for use, and may be placed above the journals or boxes of
the vehicle for which it was intended; or the vehicle may be hung on the
spring by straps, being properly secured by any of the well-known methods
adopted for such purposes.
The operation of the sg is as follows:-Suppose one such spring as is
represented in the Drawings in Figures 1 and 2 to be placed over each of the
journals of the wheels of a four-wheeled car, and that the weight of the car
alone presses the first six or upper leaves of each spring down to the position
shewn in the Drawings; then, as the weight of the car is increased, the first
six leaves of each spring will be further depressed until they descend to the
first leaf held down by the upper clutch, which leaf then takes its part in
sustaining the load, and on yielding to the pressure the upper clutch will come
down with the leaf connected with it, and its feet o will leave their hold on the
under side of the clutch bar, passing down below and beyond the said clutch
bar. This movement will relieve the clutch bar from the upward strain of the
leaf held down by the upper clutch. On the weight of the load increasing,
the second clutch will be pressed down in the same manner as the first,
producing a like effect upon the clutch bar of the next succeeding leaf, and so
on successively through the whole series, until all the leaves of the spring are
brought into such positions that each leaf will sustain its proportion or share
of the whole weight upon the spring. When, however, the weight of the load
is diminished, a reverse action will take place. The lower clutch will be the
first to rise as the pressure on the spring is removed, and in its upward move-
ment its feet will be caught by the ends of the clutch bar, and the lower
clutch and the leaf connected with it will be held in the position or very

page_text: nearly in the position shewn in the Drawings in Figures 1 and 2. As the
decrease in the weight of the load continues, each of the clutches, one after
another, will rise, and the feet of each will be caught by the ends of the clutch
bar until all the clutches and the leaves connected with them assume the
positions represented in the Drawings in Figures 1 and 2.
The operation of the spring represented in the Drawing at Fig. 3 is similar
to that represented at Figures 1 and 2 just described. When the first six or
uppermost leaves in the spring represented in Fig. 3 are pressed down so as
to come in contact with the ends of the leaf at c, and the pressure is still
increased, the leaf at c will descend till it reaches the leaf at c¹. A further
increase in the pressure will carry down the leaf at c¹ to the leaf at c³, and
so on until all the lower leaves of the spring from c to c successively are
brought into such positions that each leaf in the spring will sustain its
proportion of the whole weight. The spring made as shown in the Drawing
at Fig. 3 is sometimes convenient, but is not so economical as that
shown in Figures 1 and 2, for it requires more leaves and consequently
more metal to give it the power of the spring shown in the Drawings in
Figures 1 and 2. The clutch bar is used in Fig. 3 to act with the leaves
above it whenever an enormous load may be unexpectedly thrown upon
the spring.
In using the improved spring to sustain vehicles whose weights or loads are
at all times unvarying, it is not so necessary to hold down any of the lower
leaves, either by the clutches b, b, b, b, (Figures 1 and 2,) or by fixing the
leaves in different curves, as shown from c to c in Fig. 3.
Yet as one
important purpose of either and both these devices is to check any sudden
upward movement or rebound of the spring, it is desirable not to omit to use
one or the other of them.
I have herein described the spring as being made of a definite size and
proportions, but I do not mean to confine myself to the use or construction of
a spring of any especial dimensions or proportions.
For the purpose of more completely checking the rebound of the whole
spring beyond a certain height, and also for the convenience of attaching it to
some carriages, it will be found desirable under some circumstances to place
one clutch on each end of the spring of sufficient length and strength to
embrace and hold all the leaves, and by this means confine the upward move-
ment or rebound of all the leaves within certain fixed limits.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improvements in
the construction of carriage springs, as communicated to me by my foreign

page_text: correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim, constructing carriage springs in the manner above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hiram Hyde, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
C. J. WINTERSGILL,
66, Chancery Lane.
H. HYDE. (L.S.)
1