IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
.J, LOUIS STERNE, of the Crown Iron Works, Glasgow, in tho County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS to be as follows:
"
My said Invention has for its object to combine rubber and steel in an improved
manner and so as to obtain an increased resistance within a given range of
compressive movement as compared with that of some existing springs having the
same quantity of rubber. My improved springs are also of moderate cost and not
liable to the rapid wear which in some springs is caused by frictional or chafing
action on the rubber.
"
In a spring made with my improvements the rubber is in the form of a
cylindrical, spheroidal, or ellipsoidal block made with or without a hole through its
axis; and its middle or equatorial part is encircled by a zone or belt of spring steel
made so that one end overlaps the other more or less. The zone is of such a
breadth that each end of the rubber block projects from it, and its edges serve as
stops to limit the movements of the plates by which the compression is effected.
The edges of the zone are by preference flared out to prevent the expanding rubber
from being cut by them; whilst the body of the zone may be of various shapes but
is by preference corrugated. An essential feature of the device is the application
of a spring steel zone or belt which is discontinuous so that it can open or expand
to accommodate the expanding rubber when compressed, the elastic resistance of
the zone or belt controlling and regulating the expansion of the rubber assisting the
return of the rubber when the compression is removed.
When a rod is passed through the axis of the rubber block the plates are made
with projecting sleeves or tubular bosses which enter the hole in the rubber and
prevent friction between the rod and the rubber.
The improved spring is very well suited for drawing, buffing, and bearing
purposes in railway rolling stock as well as for many other applications.

page_text: "
I, LOUIS STERNE, of The Crown Iron Works, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS and in what manner the same is to be perforined,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
that is to Bay :-
My said Invention has for its object to combine rubber and a suitable spring
metal such as steel in an improved manner, and so as to obtain an increased
resistance within a given range of compressive movement as compared with that
of some existing springs having the same quantity of rubber. My improved
springs are also of moderate cost, and not liable to the rapid wear which in some
springs is caused by frictional or chafing action or the rubber.
In a spring mado with my improvements the rubber is in the form of a
cylindrical, spheroidal, or ellipsoidal block made with or without a hole through its
axis; and its middle or equatorial part is encircled by a zone or belt of spring steel
made so that one end overlaps the other more or less. The zone is of such a
breadth that each end of the rubber block, when in an uncompressed state, projects
from it, and its edges serve as stops to limit the movements of the plates by which
the compression is effected.
An essential feature of the device is the application of a spring steel zone or
belt, which is discontinuous so that it can open-or-expand-to-accomodate the
expanding rubber when compressed, the elastic resistance of the zone or belt
controlling and regulating the expansion of the rubber and assisting the return of
the rubber when the compression is removed.
My improved spring is very well suited for drawing, buffing, and bearing
purposes in railway rolling stock, as well as for many other applications.
On the accompanying sheet of explanatory drawings ono modification of my
improved springs is shown in figures, 1, 2, and 3, figure, 1, being a side elevation,
figure, 2, a vertical section and figure, 3, a horizontal section. In this modification
the rubber block, R, is. solid and of a cylindrical form and is placed between
plates, P, by which compression is applied to it. To prevent the rubber block, R,
from getting out of its proper position between the plates, P, it is formed with
projections, A, which enter holes made for them in the plates.. These projections
and holes may be dovetailed as shown in figure, 5. The middle of the rubber
block, R., is encircled by a zone or belt, B, of spring steel which is not a continuous
ring but is made by bending a strip or band of steel so that one end overlaps the
other. The edges of the belt, B, are flared out to prevent the expanding rubber
from being cut by them; and in order to prevent the inner end etge of the belt
from cutting or chafing the rubber, a sinall metal guard, G, is placed in a recess
formed for it in the side of the rubber block, R, and has a pin fixed in it and
projecting into a hole in the inner end of the belt, B, whereby the belt, B, is kept
with its inner end always at the same part of the rubber block.
Figure, 4, is a vertical section of a modification in which the rubber block, R, is
solid but with its sides of an ellipsoidal or curved form; and it is formed with
central indents or recesses, D, at its ends for the entrance of projections on the
plates between which the spring is compressed these projections keeping the rubber
block in its place.
Figures, 5, and 6, are respectively a sectional side elevation, and a plan of a
modification in which the rubber block, R, is male with a central hole through it
instead of being solid. This modification is suitable for a draw spring, or for other

page_text: .
applications in which it may be necessary or desirable for a rod, D, to pass through
the axis of the spring. The central hole, H, through the rubber block, R, is larger
than the rod, D, and the rubber block being kept in position by the dovetailed
projections, A, is not touched or acted on frictionally by the rod. In the modifica-
tion shown in vertical section in figure, 7, the plates, P, are made with projecting
sleeves or tubular bosses, E, which enter the central hole, H, in the rubber and
prevent frictional action between the rod and the rubber. Figures, 8, and 9, are a
sile elevation and a vertical section showing the spring in its completely compressed
state. The breadth of the zone or belt, B, is proportioned to the uncompressed depth
of the rubber block, R, and to the estimated safe maximum compressibility so as to
act as stops to limit the compressing movements of the plates, P.
The middle part of the zone or belt, B, between the flared edges may be plainly
cylindrical as shown in figures, 1, 2 and 3, or it may be of any other suitable form;
I however prefer to make it of the corrugated forin shown in figures, 5 to 9, the
rubber block, R, being made with an equatorial projecting part shaped to fit the
interior of the corrugation of the belt.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my snid
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
A spring in which a rubber block to be acted on compressively has applied to it
a discontinuous zone or belt of spring metal substantially in the manner h-rein-
before described.
Dated this thirtèouth dox of January 1885.