IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Bennett of Belwood House, Church Street,
Chelsea in the County of Middlesex, and Charles Henry Rosher of Fulham
Park Gardens in the same County, Civil Engineer for an Invention of
८८
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John Bennett and
Charles Henry Rosher at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
26th August 1882.
WILLIAM JOHN BENNETT of Belwood House, Church Street, Chelsea in the
County of Middlesex, and CHARLES HENRY ROSHER of Fulham Park Gardens in
the same County, Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
Our improvements in the construction of carriages are intended to apply chiefly
to the superstructure of railway carriages, or that part of them above the level of
the travelling platform and wheels but the invention may be applied to the
building of other carriages for use on roads or tramways.
A large number of fatalities arising out of railway collisions, are directly due to
the breaking up of the travelling platform or floor of the carriage, and the
consequent telescoping of the superstructure, or compartments containing the
passengers; the splintering up of the flooring and woodwork generally causing a
large percentage of the injuries.
Now the object of the present invention is to afford greater security for the
passengers in such a catastrophe, and to this end we propose to fit or mount upon
the travelling platform a cylindrical compartment, or preferably a series of
cylindrical compartments constructed and arranged in a manner to be presently
described; which cylindrical compartments will be splinter proof and capable of
offering the greatest resistance to the forces in action.
The cylinders or their equivalent will be so mounted on the beams or frames
of the travelling platform as to become detached from their beds or bracket

page_text: supports in the event of the frame breaking up in a collision, and they will be
projected or squeezed upwards instead of being crushed; the bottom of the series
of cylinders being about level with the buffers; and their axes being above the
probable lines of force due to two trains colliding. This principle of construction
may be carried out in several ways and compartments of other than completely
cylindrical form may be used; though for strength and simplicity of construction
the cylindrical compartments are preferred.
Thus the compartments may be elliptical in cross section, or slightly barrel-
shaped, or they may have semi-octagonal tops, and semi cylindrical bottoms. The
compartments may rest on and be suitably attached to inclined or curved blocks or
brackets bolted or otherwise secured to the frame of the carriage. The end of one
inclined or curved block may overlap the end of the other block, so as to slide
thereon, should the frame break up, thereby giving an upward thrust to the
cylindrical or equivalently formed compartment; or a simple arrangement of levers,
or their equivalents may be used to effect the release of the superstructure from
the frame.
The compartments are preferably composed of sections of malleable iron or steel,
suitably flanged and rivetted together and they may be lined internally or
externally with wood if desired. The ends of the metal cylinders or their
equivalent are formed of plates of iron or steel suitably cast or stamped out with
apertures to receive the doors and windows.
The seats are carried by iron bracket pieces bolted to the lower part of the
cylindrical compartment, and in order to utilize the angular space between the
outer surfaces of two adjacent compartments, this angular space may be enclosed
with a top and sides of wood or light metal, and openings from the inside or
outside of the compartments be made, thus allowing baggage to be stowed away
in the enclosed space.
No alteration of consequence will be necessary in the travelling platform of
existing carriages, or in the mode of mounting the platform on its wheels in order
to adapt our invention to existing plant, as our invention relates essentially to the
construction of the superstructure of the carriage and the mode of mounting such
superstructure on the travelling platform.
These splinter proof cylindrical compartments cannot collapse, unless two equal
and opposite forces act upon them along a line passing through their axes, which is
a contingency most unlikely to occur, as the said axes are considerably above the
ordinary direction of the lines of force of a collision.
Means are provided for fixing the usual railway carriage fittings and lamps and
the compartments being of some seven feet in diameter, will give ample room for
the passengers, either sitting or standing.
For the sake of additional strength the doors may be made of iron, lined with
wood or leather, or upholstered in any well known manner.
The invention may be applied to tramcars or to cabs and similar vehicles, but such
vehicles experience less risk of collapsing and will not as a rule require such
strength of build as a railway carriage compartment.
Bowles or rollers may be used below or between the several compartments if
necessary to assist their upward motion, in case of collision, and means to give
steadiness to the series of compartments without preventing such upward motion
taking place at the proper moment, may be provided.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William John Bennett and Charles Henry Rosher in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 26th February 1883.
WILLIAM JOHN BENNETT of Belwood House Church Street Chelsea in the
County of Middlesex and CHARLES HENRY ROSHER of Fulham Park Gardens in
the same County Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES
Our Improvements in the construction of carriages are intended to apply chiefly
to the superstructure of railway carriages or that part of them above the level
of the travelling platform, and wheels, but the Invention may be applied to the
building of other carriages for use on roads or tramways.
A large number of fatalities arising out of railway collisions are directly due to
the breaking up of the travelling platform or floor of the carriage, and the
consequent telescoping of the superstructure or compartments containing the pas-
sengers; the splintering up of the flooring and woodwork generally causing a large
percentage of the injuries.
Now the object of the present Invention is to afford greater security for the
passengers in such a catastrophe and to this end we propose to fit or mount upon
the travelling platform a cylindrical compartment or preferably a series of cylin-
drical compartments constructed and arranged in a manner to be presently described
which cylindrical compartments will be splinter proof and capable of offering the
greatest resistance to the forces in action.
The cylinders or their equivalent will be so mounted on the beams or frames of
the travelling platform as to become detached from their beds or bracket supports
in the event of the frame breaking up in a collision and they will be projected or
squeezed upwards instead of being crushed, the bottom of the series of cylinders
being about level with the buffers and their axes being above the probable lines of
force due to two trains colliding.
The Invention will be understood on reference to the accompanying drawings in
Sheet I of which, Fig: 1 is a side elevation of a railway carriage composed of four
cylindrical compartments constructed and mounted according to our Invention,
Fig: 2 is an end view of the carriage; Fig: 3 is a transverse vertical section of a
compartment on the line 1, 2, of Fig: 2; and Fig: 4 is a longitudinal sectional view
on the line 3, 4, of Fig: 3.
In these figures AAA are the cylindrical or approximately cylindrical
compartments their upper half being somewhat enlarged to give more head room
over the seats.
These compartments A rest upon blocks B secured to the platform C of the
carriage and their bottoms are about on a level with the top of the buffer C'.
In a collision the lines of force may be expected to act along a line situate below
the level of the longitudinal centre line a a of the carriage, or somewhere about the
line xx of Fig: 1.
Contrary forces acting along such a line as xx would consequently tend to thrust
the cylindrical compartments together at their lower parts, and cause the centre
compartments to rise or fly up, instead of being telescoped or squeezed out of shape,
as shown in the diagram Fig: 1°.
The compartments A are held to their blocks B B by long vertical tie rods D

page_text: having heads engaging with bracket projections E bolted to the walls of the com-
partments. Their lower ends are looped to fit over bolts F projecting from the side
beams of the platform C and means are provided for releasing the tie rods from
their connections and disengaging the several compartments in the event of a
collision. These means are illustrated in detail in Sheet II, and will be fully
explained hereafter.
The compartments A are preferably composed of sections of malleable iron or
steel suitably flanged and rivetted together, and they may be lined internally or
externally with wood if desired.
The ends of these cylindrical metal compartments are formed of plates of iron or
steel suitably cast or stamped out with apertures to receive the doors and windows,
as indicated in Figures 1 and 3.
The seats G are carried by iron brackets g bolted to the lower and truly cylin-
drical part of the compartment, and in order to utilize the angular space H between
the outer surfaces of two adjacent compartments this space may be enclosed with a
top and sides of wood or light metal as indicated in dotted lines in Fig: 1, and
openings from inside or outside of the compartments be made thus allowing baggage
to be stowed away in the enclosed space H.
It should be remarked that Fig: 3 shows on the left hand side of the central
line, the fittings for a Third Class Carriage, and on the right those of a First Class
Carriage.
Figures 3 and 4 show clearly the construction of the iron or steel shells of these
compartments and the wooden lining with which they are fitted. A portion of this
lining is shown broken away in Fig: 4 to expose the flanged and rivetted iron or
steel plates
Referring now to Sheet II of the drawings Fig: 5 is a view of the lower part of
a compartment seen from the inside of the side beam of the platform C showing
one mode of holding the compartment to its seat and the means for disengaging
the compartment in the event of a collision.
Fig: 6 is a similar view shewing other analogous means for effecting this release
Fig: 7 is a view on an enlarged scale of a tie rod D fitted with a right and left
screw collar for drawing it tight
Figures 8, 9, and 10 are respectively back front and side elevations of a bracket I
attached to the side beam of the platform C, by which bracket a powerful spring K
is supported and bears against the lower end of the tie rod D tending to thrust it
off from the bolt F when the retaining keys ƒ ƒ (Figures 5 and 6) are withdrawn as
will be presently explained.
Figures 11 to 16 are detail views of parts of Figures 5 and 6 and will be
readily understood.
The same letters of reference indicate in all these figures like or corresponding
parts.
L is a sliding rod or bar adapted to be forcibly thrust back in the event of a
collision but so placed with respect to the ordinary buffers as to be unaffected by
the usual connecting and shunting operation.
The inner end of this rod L bears against a spiral spring which serves to keep
it in its normal position.-Pivotted to lugs or brackets on this rod L are the keys
ff entering holes in the ends of the bolts F as already explained to retain the tie
rods D in place thereon.
When the rod L is forced back or retracted the keys fare withdrawn and the
springs K (figures 10 and 16) force the tie rods off the bolts F and the compartments A
are free to rise as the compressing forces tend to squeeze them together. A swinging
lever, normally prevented from undue oscillation by means of light retaining
springs, may also be arranged to permit of the disengagement of the tie rods D
should a collision occur. Such swinging levers in that case would be caused to fly
violently backwards or forwards and allow the rods D to be pushed off the bolt
heads F and released.

page_text: The above described principle of constructing railway carriages may be carried
out in several ways, and compartments of other than completely cylindrical form
may be used though for strength and simplicity of construction the cylindrical or
nearly cylindrical compartments are preferred.
Thus the compartments may be elliptical in cross section or slightly barrel shaped
in longitudinal section, or they may have semi-octagonal tops and semi-cylindrical
bottoms.
Other means than those shewn in the drawings may be used to effect the release
from the carriage platform of the detachable cylindrical compartments A.
To prevent lateral motion the cylindrical compartments are flanged as shewn at
Figures 2, 3 and 4, and these side flanges a¹ lie within and closely against the inner
sides of the supporting beds or blocks B B.
No alteration of consequence will be necessary in the travelling platform of
existing carriages or in the mode of mounting the platform on its wheels in order
to adapt our Invention to existing plant as our Invention relates essentially to
the construction of the superstructure of the carriage and the mode of mounting
such superstructure on the travelling platform.
We would observe that we do not propose that every carriage in a train should
be constructed according to our Invention but that one or two of such carriages
should be placed at each end of the train where in the event of a collision they
would absorb the shock by the compartments yielding and rising up under the
opposing forces and would not be crushed themselves nor yet telescope into the
adjoining carriages.
These splinter-proof cylindrical compartments cannot collapse unless two equal
and opposite forces act upon them along a line passing through their axis as from a
to a in Fig: 1 which is a contingency most unlikely to occur as the said axis is
considerably above the ordinary direction of the lines of force of a collision.
Means are provided for fixing the usual railway carriage fittings and lamps and
the compartments being of some seven feet in diameter will give ample room for
the passengers either sitting or standing.
For the sake of additional strength the doors may be made of iron lined with
wood or leather or upholstered in any well known manner.
The Invention may be applied to tramcars as to cabs and similar vehicles but
such vehicles experience less risk of collapsing and will not as a rule require such
strength of build as a railway carriage compartment.
Bowles or rollers may be used below or between the several compartments if
necessary to assist their upward motion in case of collision and additional means to
give steadiness to the series of compartments, without preventing such upward
motion taking place at the proper moment, may be provided.
Having now set forth the nature of our said Invention of "Improvements in the
construction of railway and other carriages" and explained in what manner the
same may be carried into practical effect we wish it to be understood that we
claim―
First Constructing railway and other carriages with splinter proof compart-
ments of cylindrical or approximately cylindrical form substantially in the manner
described with reference to the drawings and mounting the said cylindrical com-
partments on their platforms in such a way that they shall become detached from
the said platforms in the event of a collision and shall be free to rise up and occupy
less area substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Secondly: The means described for holding the cylindrical or approximately
cylindrical compartments A in place upon their beds or on blocks B carried by the
platform C and for disengaging the tie rods or their equivalent D and effecting the
release of the compartments A in the event of a collision.
Thirdly The combination with a cylindrical iron or steel compartment such as
A mounted on a travelling platform such as B, of blocks B and tie rods D
for holding the said compartment in place, and means for releasing the said

page_text: compartment in the event of a violent endway shock being imparted to the said
platform by collision or otherwise substantially as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof we the said William John Bennett and Charles Henry
Rosher have hereunto set our hands and seals the twenty third day of
February in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty
three
WILLIAM JOHN BENNETT
(L.S.)
CHARLES HENRY ROSHER (L.S.)