IMPROVEMENTS IN TRUCKS OR BOGIES FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Francis Fairlie, of Victoria Street, in the
City of Westminster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TRUCKS OR BOGIES FOR RAILWAYS."-A communication from abroad
by George Dixon, of Toronto, Canada.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Francis Fairlie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th March 1873.
I, ROBERT FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of Victoria Street, in the City of West-
minster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRUCKS OR BOGIES FOR RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
The truck or bogie which forms the subject of this Invention is more
particularly applicable to what are commonly called "narrow gauge
railways" where one of the most important points in the construction
of the rolling stock is the lowering of the centre of gravity.
The essential feature of the Invention is that elliptic springs are placed

page_text: side of the bolster, there being of course four springs, two on each side
of the truck or bogie. Links support the stirrups, passing over a
carrying pin which rests on the cross timbers of the truck or bogie. In
other trucks or bogies where elliptic springs are used they are either
placed above or below the bolster, but by placing them on each side, as
herein-before explained, the carriage or wagon can be carried lower than
with any other position of the springs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Robert Francis Fairlie in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Francis Fairlie, Her
special licence that I, the said Robert Francis Fairlie, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Francis Fairlie, 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 TRUCKS OR BOGIES FOR RAILWAYS," (a com-
munication from abroad by George Dixon, of Toronto, Canada), upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Francis Fairlie, my
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 Robert Francis Fairlie, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, that is to say :-
The truck or bogie which forms the subject of this Invention is more
particularly applicable to what are commonly called "narrow gauge
railways," where one of the most important points in the construction
of the rolling stock is the lowering of the centre of gravity.
The essential feature of the Invention is that elliptic springs are placed
on each side of the bolster. These springs sit in stirrups, one on each
side of the bolster, there being of course four springs, two on each side
of the truck or bogie. Links support the stirrups, passing over a
carrying pin which rests on the cross timbers of the truck or bogie.
The Invention will be fully understood on reference to the annexed
Drawing, in which A, A, are the elliptic springs sitting in a stirrup C,
one on each side of the bolster B; D, D, are the links which support the
stirrups C, passing over carrying pins E which rest on the cross timbers e
of the truck.
I am aware that elliptic springs in trucks or bogies are sometimes sup-
ported by a stirrup, links, and carrying pins, I therefore do not claim
them further than their arrangement and shape for the purpose of
supporting the elliptic springs A, A, on each side of the swinging
bolster B. In other trucks or bogies where elliptic springs are used
they are placed either above or below the bolster, but by placing them
on each side, as herein-before explained, the carriage or wagon can be
carried lower than with any other position of the springs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Francis Fairlic, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of
September One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
ROB. F. FAIRLIE. (L.S.)