IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Edward Donovan, of Court Duffe, at Castle-
knock, in the County of Dublin, Ireland, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF
RAILWAY ACCIDENTS."
Sealed the 27th May 1863, and dated the 6th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Edward Donovan,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1862.
I, RICHARD EDWARD DONOVAN, of Court Duffe, at Castleknock, in the County
of Dublin, Ireland, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION
OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the prevention of railway accidents arising
from collisions, and consists in so arranging one or more plates or bodies or
series of plates or bodies of metal, wood, or other suitable material, in conjunc-
tion' with one or more moveable bars, both connected to the carriages, trucks.
or locomotive engine of railway trains, that on a collision taking place, the
said bar or bars on coming in contact with another carriage, locomotive, or
other obstacle, is' or are caused to act upon and break, bend, or perforate the
said plate or body, or series of plates or bodies, and thus more or less gradually
expend the force of the concussion before the carriage, truck, or locomotive

page_text: engine can come itself in contact with the obstacle; by which arrangement the
engine, carriages, and consequently the passengers contained in the latter, are
more or less entirely preserved from injury.
The manner of arranging the said plates or bodies and striking bars may be
variously modified, but I prefer to arrange them in the following manner.:-I
fix a series of plates in a removeable manner at certain distances apart, one
behind the other, in a strong frame, or between two frames, fixed to the frame-
work of the carriage, engine, or truck; the striking bar is carried in bearings
in which it is free to slide in front of the plates, one end of the same resting
against the first plate, whilst the other end projects in front or at back of the
carriage, engine, or truck, and is provided with a disc. When a collision takes
place, the projecting end of the striking bar comes in contact with the obstacle,
and by the force of the blow the other end of the same is forced through, and
breaks, bends, or perforates the first of the series of plates; it then comes in
contact with the second plate and breaks it, and so on until the force of the
concussion bas been entirely expended in causing the striking bar to pass
through the plates. After the obstruction is removed the destroyed plates are
replaced by new ones. In some cases I only employ one plate instead of a
series of plates, and I sometimes arrange the striking bar in combination with
the ordinary "buffer" rods.
This apparatus may be placed in front or behind, or both in front and behind
the carriage, engine, or truck, and any number of such apparatuses may be
employed in one train.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Edward Donovan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
EDWARD DONOVAN, of Court Duffe, at Castlenock, in the County of Dublin,
Ireland, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Edward Donovan, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Edward Donovan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Edward Donovan, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: 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 THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION
OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Edward Donovan, 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 Richard Edward Donovan, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention has for its object the prevention of railway accidents arising
from collisions, and consists in so arranging one or more plates or bodies or
series of plates or bodies of metal, wood, or other suitable material in conjunc-
tion with one or more moveable bars, both connected to the carriages, trucks,
or locomotive engines of railway trains, that, on a collision taking place, the
said bar or bars on coming in contact with another carriage, locomotive, or
other obstacle, is or are caused to act upon, and break, bend, or perforate the
said plate or body, or series of plates or bodies, and thus more or less gradually
expend the force of concussion before the carriage, truck, or locomotive engine
can come itself in contact with the obstacle, by which arrangement the engine,
carriages, and consequently the passengers contained in the latter, are more or
less entirely preserved from injury.
The manner of arranging the said plates or bodies and striking bars may
be variously modified, but I prefer to arrange them in the following manner :-
I fix a series of plates in a removable manner at certain distances apart, one
behind the other, in a strong frame, or between two frames fixed to the frame-
work of the carriage, engine, or truck; the striking bar is carried in bearings
in which it is free to slide, in front of the plates, one end of the same resting
against the first plate, whilst the other end projects in front or at back of
the carriage, engine, or truck, and is provided with a disc. When a collision
takes place, the projecting end of the striking bar comes in contact with the
obstacle, and, by the force of the blow, the other end of the same is forced

page_text: through, and breaks, bends, or perforates the first of the series of plates; it then
comes in contact with the second, and breaks it, and so on until the force of
the concussion has been entirely expended in causing the striking bar to pass
through the plates. After the obstruction is removed, the destroyed plates
are replaced by new ones. In some cases I only employ one plate instead of
a series of plates, and I sometimes arrange the striking bar in combination
with the ordinary "buffer" rods.
.
This apparatus may be placed in front or behind, or both in front and behind,
the carriage, engine, or truck, and any number of such apparatuses may be
employed in one train.
On the accompanying Drawing are shewn various arrangements of which
my Invention is susceptible, but I wish it to be understood that I in no way
limit myself to the arrangements, here shewn and described, as these may be
variously modified without departing from the nature of my Invention, and
they are only intended to set forth clearly the manner in which my Invention
may be performed.
Figure 1 shews a plan of the arrangement which I prefer to employ; A, A¹,
is part of the framing of a railway carriage, truck, or locomotive, between
which is fixed the frame B, B, carrying the plates or bars of wood, metal, or
other substance C, C, C, which may be arranged to drop into grooves formed
in the frame B, B, so as to be readily inserted and removed; D is the striking
bar provided with a dise d, and capable of sliding backwards and forwards in
the guides a, a, attached to the framing A¹ at the end of the carriage. From
this arrangement it will be seen, that if the carriage, truck, or locomotive be
moving in the direction of the arrow, and an obstacle or impediment to its
motion be situated in front of it, upon the line, then the disc d of the striking
bar D, projecting, as shown, beyond the end A' of the carriage, will come in
contact with the said obstacle, and, by the force of the blow, the other end of
the bar will be forced against and will break, bend, or perforate the plates,
bars, or bodies C, C, C, in succession, and will thereby gradually and more
or less entirely expend the force of the impact before the carriage itself can
come in contact with the obstacle, whereby the carriage, and consequently also
the passengers, will be preserved more or less entirely from injury. Instead
of acting only upon one of the bodies C at a time, two or more may be placed
close together, and be broken, bent, or perforated simultaneously.
Figure 2 shews a plan of a similar arrangement, in which the striking bar D
is at the same time the ordinary "buffer" bar of the carriage. It is for this
purpose provided with an ordinary buffer spring at E, resting against a pin or
shoulder F attached in such a manner to the bar D, that when the latter

page_text: receives a blow. of greater force than the spring E is calculated to resist, the
pin or shoulder F will give way, and the bar D will then come in contact with,
and act upon the plates or bodies C, C, C, as before described with reference
to Figure 1. A, A¹, is, as before described, the framing of the carriage, and
B, B, the frame carrying the bodies C, C, C.
Figure 3 shews a plan of an arrangement in which the plates, bars, ropes,
or bodies C, C, C, are connected to the striking bars D, D, which are con-
nected together in any suitable manner, and which, by being forced back on
coming in contact with an obstacle, bring the plates or bodies C, C, in contact
with the fixed stud or stop G, and thereby effect the breaking or bending of
such plates, bars, ropes, or bodies in succession, as before described. a, a, b, b,
are guides for steadying the bars D, D, during their motion. Instead of
having separate bars D, D, these may be arranged as a framing.
Figure 4 shows a perspective view of another modification of my Invention.
Here the striking bar D is formed with a hinged fork d, d, as shewn, the
ends of which fork are attached by hinges to the sockets H, II, capable of
sliding upon the rod I, attached to the framing A of the carriage. The
sockets H, H, are connected together by ropes or chains C, C, C, C, of various
lengths, as shewn, and it will be seen that on the bar D coming into violent
contact with an obstacle the fork d, d, will tend to force apart the sockets H, H,
and will thereby cause the ropes or chains C, C, to be ruptured in succession,
thus gradually expending the force of the impact before the carriage can itself
come in contact with the obstacle.
Figure 5 shews a plan of another arrangement. The striking bar D is
here formed with a rack d upon it, which is in gear with a toothed wheel J,
fixed to a spindle K carried in any suitable manner by the framing A,. A', of the.
carriage. Upon the same spindle K is fixed a drum L to the circumference
of which are attached in a removable manner the plates, bars, or bodies C, C, C.
To the framing A of the carriage is fixed a stud or stop G, with which the
plates, bars, or bodies C come in contact when the drum K rotates in the
direction of the arrow. The bar D on being forced inwards by coming in
contact with an obstacle causes the wheel J, and with it the drum K, to rotate
in the direction of the arrow, and in thereby bringing the plates C in contact
with the stop G causes the former to be bent or broken in succession, thus
gradually expending the force of the impact.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim the
lessening of the shock of impact caused by an obstacle impeding the motion of
a railway carriage or locomotive by causing a bar projecting from the latter to

page_text: come in contact with the obstacle, and to be thereby made to overcome the
resisting force of a spring, as this arrangement is that ordinarily employed for
buffers to railway carriages and to locomotives; but I claim so arranging one or
more plates, bars, ropes, or other bodies in combination with one or more move-
able bars or their equivalents, connected to and projecting from railway carriages
or other rolling stock of railways, that on a collision taking place the said
moveable bar or bars, or its or their equivalents, are caused to act upon, and
break, bend, tear, or pierce, or cause to be broken, bent, torn, or pierced, the
said plates, bars, ropes, or other bodies in succession, and thereby more or less
wholly expend the force of the impact upon such breaking, bending, tearing,
or piercing, before the carriages or other rolling stock. themselves come in
contact either with each other or with the obstacle that caused the collision.
And I claim the construction of apparatus for preventing or mitigating the
destructive effect of collisions upon railways, in which a bar, or rod, or its
equivalent projecting from the carriage or other rolling stock of railways is
caused, on a collision taking place, to break, bend, or pierce, one or more
plates, bars, or other bodies also connected to the carriage in succession, and
thus expend more or less entirely the force of the impact before the carriages
or other rolling stock can themselves.come in contact, either with each other,
or with the obstacle causing the collision.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Edward Donovan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
RICHARD E. DONOVAN. (L.S.)