IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR PISTONS."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Buckloy, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR PISTONS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Buckley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd February 1878.
WILLIAM BUCKLEY, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SPRINGS FOR PISTONS."
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of springs for pistons
(which may also be termed compensating spring packing for pistons), the especial
object being the production of such springs or spring packing so as to combine the
following important features, namely, simplicity of construction, great elasticity,
strength, durability, and efficiency of action, together with economy of cost and of
space occupied when the springs are in position.
The improved springs may be made of steel or other suitable metal or material of
any desired section, and they may be formed by being coiled round a bar or inan-
dril of a triangular, round, flat, oval, or other suitable section, or by other suitable
methods of manipulation which will produce the herein-after described peculiar
conformation of spring.
According to one method I coil a wire or rod (of steel or other material) round a
bar or mandril, and upon removing the coiled wire from the bar or mandril I set
the coils apart to the required distance, and flatten them in such a manner as to
cause the coils to lie close or nearly together, and to overlap each other to the
desired degree; the peculiar conformation of spring thus produced will be found
very efficient in distending the rings of pistons or pumps so as to render the same
perfectly steam, air, or water tight, and is moreover of much advantage in that in
its distended form its flattened or successive coils lying close or nearly together
take up very little space in the piston.

page_text: As above stated the mandril may be of a round or any suitable section, but I
prefer (though it is not essential) that it should be somewhat of a triangular
section with rounded angles, so that the bends of the successive flat coils shall be as
near as possible of a similar size or radius.
The complete spring is formed by bending this shaped spring into a circle with
one or more suitable joinings, allowing of the diameter of the spring being adjusted
to a slight degree by a screw or other suitable means.
The spring may also be bent or curved transversely to any required angle, and
may be formed into a circle with the edges of the bends or curves either inwards
or outwards.
The complete spring may also be used with pistons, the rings of which have
internal bevilled or curved surfaces, or with those not having such bevilled or
curved surfaces.
The improved springs may also be applied to air or water pump buckets, steam
hammers, stuffing-boxes, and to other uses where similar distending action is
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Buckley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd August
1878.
WILLIAM BUCKLEY, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineer.
MENTS IN SPRINGS FOR PISTONS."
"
IMPROVE-
This Invention, which relates to improved compensating spring packing for
pistons, has for its especial object the production of such springs or spring packing
so as to combine the following important advantages; namely, simplicity of con-
struction, great elasticity, strength, durability, and efficiency of action, together
with economy of cost and of space occupied when the springs are in position.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention I will now proceed to
describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed
or carried into practical effect, and in order that such description may be distinctly
understood I have annexed hereunto one Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and
have marked the same with Figures of reference corresponding with those in the
said following description or explanation thereof.
The characteristic or essential feature of piston springs constructed according to
this Invention consists in the overlapping of the successive or other coils or bends of
the rod or wire of which the spring is formed, such a feature never having been
yet introduced in the manufacture of such spring; and it must needs therefore be
apparent that in constructing piston springs according to this Invention the con-
formation of the coils or bends is altogether immaterial; by which, I desire it
should be understood, I mean to say, that in the formation of the spring the wire or
rod of which it is formed may be coiled around a mandril of a triangular, round, flat,

page_text: oval, or other suitable section, or it may be otherwise bent and distended endways
or sideways, or rolled or flattened, or otherwise manipulated or treated to produce
any suitable or serviceable conformation or bending of the wire or rod, my Inven-
tion having no special reference to any peculiar conformation of the bends nor to
any special methods or means of producing or forming the same, but relating
especially as above mentioned to the overlapping or the successive or other coils or
bends, of whatever shape such coils or bends may be, and however formed.
On the accompanying Drawings the above-mentioned peculiarity of the Inven-
tion is very distinctly shewn in Figures 1 to 5 and also in Figures 6 to 10.
Figures 1 to 5 likewise illustrate various of the very numerous methods or ways in
which the wire may be coiled, bent, or otherwise manipulated to produce any
suitable or serviceable conformation of bending; but in all these cases, which are
taken only as convenient illustrations of the manner in which the wire or rod may,
amongst many other methods, be treated as to its bending, it will be seen that the
principle of the Invention (the overlapping of the coils or bends) is carried out.
These Figures are otherwise self-explanatory and need no further description except
that in the way of example I will describe one of various methods by which the
formation of piston spring illustrated in (say) Figure 1 may be made.
In this case
I coil the wire or rod (which may be of steel or other suitable metal or material,
and of a round, oval, or other suitable section) round a triangular bar or mandril,
the angles of which are rounded off in such a manner as that the bends of the
successive flat coils (in the finished condition of the spring) shall be as near as
possible of a similar size and radius, as shown in Figure 1, and upon removing the
coiled wire from the bar or mandril I distend or set the coils apart to the required
distance, and then roll or otherwise flatten them in such a manner as to cause the
coils to be close or nearly together, and to overlap each other to the desired
degree.
The above described conformation or overlapping of the successive or other coils
or bends of the springs is very efficient in rendering the spring elastic, and con-
sequently efficient in distending the rings of pistons or pumps so as to render them
perfectly steam, air, or water tight, and is moreover of especial advantage in that in
its perfect form, its successive, flattened, or overlapping coils or bands lying close or
nearly together, take up very little space in the piston, while still producing a
very powerful spring, and this is a combination very much to be desired in piston
springs.
The complete spring is formed by bending this conformation of spring into a
circular form, so that it can be dropped into the piston ring for effecting its dis-
tending action thereon.
If desired the spring may be provided with one or more suitable fastenings or
joinings, allowing of. its diameter being adjusted to a slight degree by a screw or
other suitable means.
The springs may be used with pistons, the rings of which have internal bevilled
or curved surfaces, or with those not so formed, and they may also be applied to air
or water pump buckets, steam hammers, stuffing-boxes, and to other uses where
similar distending action is required.
The above-described overlapped springs (whatever the conformation of their
coiling or bends) may also be further bent or curved transversely and in a longi-
tudinal direction to any required degree, as illustrated in Figures 11 to 13, and bent
into a circular form for use with the edges of the bends or curves turned either
inwards or outwards; or the overlapped springs may be used without being thus
bent or curved transversely, and so as to present the appearance delineated in
Figures 6 to 10, and as above described.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention the formation of
compensating spring packing for pistons or other analogous objects by coiling,

page_text: bending, turning, distending, rolling, flattening, or otherwise operating upon a rod
or wire of steel or other suitable metal or material, and of a round, oval, or other
suitable section, in such a manner that the resulting coils, bends, or turns of the
rod or wire shall overlap each other to any desired degree for purposes such as are
herein-before mentioned, substantially in the manner described, and as illustrated
on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Buckley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
777M