IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wilson, of West Bromwich, in the County of
Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS
FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 8th May 1857, and dated the 18th November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wilson at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
November 1856.
I, JOHN WILSON, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SPRINGS FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in making springs for carriages of steel,
having a curved or convex figure in its cross section instead of the flat steel
ordinarily employed.
Secondly, in making springs for carriages from steel which, besides having
the curvature already described, has a convex curvature running at right angles
to the former curvature.
Thirdly, in a new spring for road carriages without a perch. This spring
is of the ordinary form, but its ends are connected in the following manner :-
Connecting rods or links jointed to the ends of the spring approach each

page_text: other nearly in the same line, and are jointed to a rod nearly at right angles
to the said links. The body of the vehiclo is supported on the last-named
rod.
Although I prefer to make the steel used in carrying into effect the first
and second parts of my Invention of the curved figures described, yet the 5
figure of a semi-polygon may be employed with the same or nearly the same
effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I JoпN
WILSON, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Wilson, Her special licence that 1, the said John Wilson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Wilson, 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 SPRINGS FOR RAILWAY AND
OTHER CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Wilson, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Wilson, 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, that is to say:-

page_text: My Invention consists in making springs for railway and other carriages
from steel having a curved or convex figure, instead of the flat steel ordinarily
employed.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in transverse section a
series of plates of steel, having a curved or convex figure in their cross section,
according to my Invention. I sometimes make the steel of the form repre-
sented in cross section at a in Figure 2, longitudinal section at b, and in
plan at c; that is to say, besides the curvature in the transverse section a,
I give the said steel a curved figure in the direction of its length, as shewn
at b, Figure 2. I sometimes bend the plates of steel, Figure 1, in a direction
contrary to that represented at b, Figure 2, that is to say, I bend the ends
upwards instead of downwards. The steel, Figure 2, may be employed for
making the top part of elliptical springs and all kinds of cross springs, that is,
all those springs which have their shorter plates on the top side or uppermost.
The plates of steel, Figure 1, having their ends bent upwards, may be used
for making grasshopper and other bearing or buffing springs, or those springs
which have their shorter plates on the bottom side or underneath.
Figure 3 represents in side elevation, and Figure 4 in transverse section,
an elliptical spring made according to my Invention; and Figure 5 represents
in side elevation, and Figure 6 in transverse section, a bearing spring made
according to my Invention. The spring, Figures 5 and 6, and the lower half
of the spring, Figures 3 and 4, are made of plates of the form Figure 1, the
said plates being curved upwards from their middle to their ends. The upper
half of the spring, Figures 3 and 4, is made of plates of the form represented
in Figure 2, that is, of plates of the section Figure 1, curved downwards from
the middle to their ends. The transverse sections, Figures 4 and 6, show the
position of the transverse curvature in the springs Figures 3 and 5. I some-
times make the steel, of which bearing, elliptical, and other springs are to be
made, of the form represented in transverse section in Figure 8, that is to
say, the said steel has a curved groove running in the direction of its length,
and marked d in Figure 8. The edges of the plates are as thick as or thicker
than the intermediate parts, as shown at e, e, Figure 8. When the plates
are thickest at their edges, the said plates only touch each other at their said
edges e, e. The curve d, Figure 8, may either be downwards, as represented,
or the curve may be turned upwards.
For the purpose of diminishing upward resistance, especially in the bearing
springs of railway carriages, I make the upper plate of the bearing spring,
Figure 5, of a curvature of shorter radius than the second plate, and the

page_text: second of a curvature of shorter radius than the third, and so on through tho
whole series, the bottom plate boing of a curvature of the longest radius and
the top one being of a curvature of the shortest radius of the series. By this
method of construction the top plate does not bear on the second plate until
sufficient pressure has been applied to the top plate to press it into the form of
the second plate, and the second plato does not come in contact with the ends
of the third plate until the pressure has increased sufficiently to flatten the
said second plate to the figuro of the third, and so on with the rest. This
method of construction may also be applied to the ellipitical spring, Figures
3 and 4. I sometimes also employ steel of the form represented in Figure 8 A,
that is to say, I make one side of the said steel flat and the other concave,
as represented.
.
Although I prefer to make the steel used for making springs according to
my Invention of the forms illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 8, yet I do not
limit myself to those precise forms, as instead of the precise curves repre-
sented other curves may be employed; and although I prefer a curvo figure,
yet a series of planes approximating in figure to the curves represented in
Figures 1 and 8 may be employed instead of curves.
"
My Invention consists further in a new spring for such road carriages as are
without a perch. This part of my Invention is represented in elevation in
Figure 9 of the accompanying Drawing. The spring is of the ordinary
form, but its onds g, h, are connected together in the following manner :-
Connecting links i, k, jointed or attached to the ends of the spring are
situated, as represented, nearly in the same line, and are jointed to a rod / in
the manner shewn in the Drawing. The joints m, n, by which the rod / is
connected with the links i, k, are situated in a line nearly at right angles to
the said links i, k. The body of the vehicle is supported on the rod o, con-
nected, as represented, to the rod l. I propose to make the link k of the usual
leather band, tightened by the roller and ratchet p.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to bo understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention ; but
I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, constructing springs for railway and other carriages of plates of
steel, having the forms berein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2,
8, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 8 A of the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, constructing springs of such carriages as are without perch in the

page_text: manner herein-before described and illustrated in Figure 9 of the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say, connecting the ends of the spring together
by means of links or junctions, jointed, as represented, to a rod of which the
body of the vehicle is attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wilson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JOHN WILSON. (L.S.)