IM- PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE INTENDED TO NEUTRALIZE THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS ARISING FROM THE COLLISION OF TRAINS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Faure, of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE INTENDED TO
NEUTRALIZE THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS ARISING FROM THE COLLISION OF
TRAINS."
Sealed the 28th December 1865, and dated the 30th June 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Faure at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th June
1865.
I, LOUIS FAURE, of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS. ARE
INTENDED TO NEUTRALIZE THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS ARISING FROM THE COLLISION
OF TRAINS," to be as follows:-
This apparatus is thus arranged:--Two buffers with long rods are mounted
parallelly on a carriage with four coupled wheels; one of the couples is
moveable in such wise as to permit the buffer rods to slide in its rings, when

page_text: on receiving the shock each of these rods enters the tube facing it. These
two couples of wheels are held or recalled to their respective distance by a
spiral spring which coils freely on each buffer rod. Two hollow tubes
mounted parallelly on the sides of the locomotive receive when the collision
takes place the above-mentioned buffers, which are therein checked and the
shock deadened on a spiral spring with which the inside of each is furnished.
Each carriage as well as the locomotive may be provided with the double
lateral tube above described, and spring plates be placed in form of arc in
front of the yoke which couples the buffer wheels; a buffer may be placed
in each of the spring tubes to continue if necessary the action of the main
buffer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Faure in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
FAURE, of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries, Paris, in the Empire of
France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Louis Faure, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Faure, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis
Faure, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
CARRIAGES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE INTENDED TO NEUTRALIZE THE DESTRUCTIVE
EFFECTS ARISING FROM THE COLLISION OF TRAINS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Louis Faure, ny executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Louis Faure, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 Sheet of Drawing hereunto annexed and
forming part of this my Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference
placed thereon.
The apparatus, the subject of this Invention, is thus arranged:-Firstly,
two buffers, with long rods A, A, (Figure 1) are mounted parallelly on
a carriage with four coupled wheels. The couple B is moveable in such-
wise as to permit the buffer rods to slide in its rings C, when on receiving
the shock each of these rods enters the tube which faces it; these two couples
of wheels are held at or recalled to their respective distance by a spiral
spring D, which coils loosely on each buffer rod. Secondly, two hollow
tubes E (Figure 2) mounted parallelly on the sides of the locomotive, receive,
when the collision takes place, the above-mentioned buffers, which are therein
checked and the shock deadened on a helical spring F, with which the interior
of each is furnished.
I would here remark, firstly, that each carriage, as well as the locomotive,
may be provided with a double lateral cylindrical tube (see Figures 2 and 3,
where the tender is added to the locomotive to receive the charge or shock
of the driven in buffers); secondly, spring plates may be arranged in form of
are or bow on the front of the yoke which couples the wheels of the buffers;
thirdly, a buffer may be fitted in each of the spring tubes to continue, if
necessary the action of the main buffer A, A.
And I would further observe, that although the arrangement I have above
set forth and represented on the Drawing appears to me the most preferable,
yet where a more simplified arrangement is desired I make the following
modifications:Firstly, I suppress the couple of moveable wheels B, C, as
well as the spring D which twists round the buffers; secondly, I compress the
springs on their tubes, so as to shut up the respective buffers in these same
tubes; thirdly, I keep the whole in position by a mechanical catch of any
known description. On the approach of danger the guard or engine-driver
will lift the catch by means of a lever or the steam, and the buffers pushed by
their springs would, on the two wheels which are left them, go and present
to the enemy their resisting front; but I répeat that this method, more
easy in the putting together of the train because the buffers always form one
body with the locomotive and move with it, appears to me much inferior to
my detached carriage as regards its preservative effects, and I have only here
mentioned this optional modification in order to show that I do not confine

page_text: myself to the precise details herein given and illustrated on the Drawing,
so long as I do not depart from the main characteristics of my improvements.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Faure, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
L. FAURE. (L.S.)