Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Nov., 1887
Specification Accepted, 16th Dec., 1887
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The invention hereinafter particularly described is embodied in the application to
the individual cars, which, when coupled, will compose a train, of a frame-shaped
plate arranged in a vertical plane, parallel with a vertical transverse plane passing
through the car-body and projecting by means of backing springs for a short distance
beyond the end of the car. The height of said frame-plate, for the best results, should
be substantially that of the height of the car to which it is attached, and the same should
be so shaped as to allow a free communication between the ends of adjacent cars for
the passage of persons through such frame-plates.
The purpose of the improvement is two-fold :-first, to diminish the racking effect
upon a car-body due to its momentum when it is suddenly brought from a state of
motion to a state of rest from any cause, as well as the same injurious consequences
when a car is suddenly started from a state of rest; and, secondly, to diminish the
tendency to a swaying or oscillating movement, which is developed whenever a train
is running at high speed upon an ordinary railroad track.
I have illustrated my improvement in the drawings by exhibiting the same in
connection with another improvement in car-construction, which consists of a vestibule
attachment to the ends of railroad cars, for the purpose of completely enclosing the
sides of the car-platform and of allowing of a continuous enclosed aisle or passage-way
between the adjacent ends of the coupled cars of a train. This vestibule feature is no part
of the present invention. My improvement can be usefully applied to cars constructed
with such vestibules, or to cars of ordinary construction having unenclosed platforms.
Figure 1, shows, in perspective, the ends of two cars coupled together, with my
improvement added.

page_text: single car.
Figure 3 is a plan of the platforms and portions of two cars coupled together, one
portion showing a horizontal section through the vestibule and a part of the platform
removed, and a part in a more elevated plane, showing the roof of the car with a
portion of the hood removed.
Figure 4 is an isometric perspective drawing with a portion of the roof and end of
car removed.
Figure 5 is a front elevation of the upper part of the vestibule of a car with a
portion of the roof removed.
Figure 6 is a vertical longitudinal section of the upper part of a car provided
with a vestibule.
So much of the drawings as represent the arrangement and construction of a
vestibule attachment are not illustrative of any invention set forth in this patent,
except as the same show in combination therewith the improvement hereinafter
specifically described.
In the drawings a indicates a frame-shaped plate of iron of about six inches in
width, and about five-eighths of an inch in thickness. It is best shown in front view
at Figure 2, and in perspective at Figure 4. The said dimensions are not material,
provided the area of the face surface of the frame-plate is sufficient to furnish, when in
contact under pressure with the frame-plate of an adjacent car in train, the needed degree
of frictional resistance to the impulses which, in the running of a train, generate the
disposition in the cars to oscillate laterally, as hereinafter more fully set forth; and
provided also that the thickness of the frame-plate be sufficient to furnish the necessary
strength to meet the conditions which exist when cars are being coupled into a train,
or when the cars are subjected to the shocks incident to sudden stoppages and startings
of the train. It is far preferable that the frame-plate a should be made of either cast
or wrought iron or steel, but other material, as, for example, oak or other hard woods,
may be substituted therefor.
The height of the frame plate a should, for the best results, be something over six
feet in height, or as high as the wooden plate, girders of the frame of the car-body,
and sufficient to allow head room for a free passage or communication between the
adjacent platforms of coupled cars. These frame-plates are arranged, as shown in the
drawing, at each end of a car in vertical planes which are parallel, or substantially so,
with vertical transverse planes passing through the body of the car, and, when the ear
is detacheal from a train, these frame-plates will be projected beyond the ends of the
car by the influence of lacking springs, such as pre indicated at Figure by
The arrangement of these lacking spring so that they will perform their office, uny
be various and according to the judgment of the con-tructor; the end to
accomplished is to cause the frame-plates to act as spring-buffers whenever cars ar
being coupled, or whenever a train is suddenly checked or started, and also to act as
frictional resistance-plates to oppose or counteract the influences which tend to induce
a swaying or oscillating movement in the several cars of a train.
In the present instance the front ends of the upper set of backing springs take their
bearings at the two upper corners, respectively, of the frame-plate, or, as shown in the
drawing, against shoulders on the bars c c', which bars are jointed to the frame-plate at v
The rear ends of the springs abut against the ends of keepers kk, and through the eyes
of these keepers the bars c c' can slide. These keepers are shown in the drawings as
bolted to the sides of the vestibule extension of the car-body and the coiled springs tt
are, for convenience, wound around the rods or bars c c. In case there be no vestibule
extension of the car-body, the keepers may be attached in any convenient way to the
main body of the car, so as to furnish resisting abutments for the pressure springs and
guides for the rods connecting with the frame-plate.
The spring pressure to act against the lower portion of the frame-plates is obtained.
as exhibited in the drawings, from the coiled spring n which takes a bearing at one
end against the solid frame-work of the car, and at the other end against a cross-head
beneath the entrance platform of the car, which cross-head, by means of the rigid

page_text: links ss, is connected with the threshold of the frame-plate a, the said links or
bars ss being knuckle jointed to the threshold plate o." In place of the arrange-
ment of springs shown to exert pressure upon the frame-plate, it is obvious that any
other can be substituted, which will meet the requirements of necessity or convenience,
according to the judgment or choice of the constructor.
The operation of my improvement in railroad-car construction will be readily under-
stood from the foregoing description and drawings referred to in the same. To employ
this improvement it is not necessary that the ordinary spring-buffers in use should be
dispensed with. In my judgment it would be well to retain such appliances to diminsh
the effect of shocks, but it is plain that they can be superseded by my improvement, if
desired. The common spring-buffers in use are arranged in a horizontal plane,
coinciding substantially with a plane passing through the framing sills of the car
platform. Whenever in coupling cars together in.a train, or whenever the movement
of a train is suddenly arrested by the application of the brakes, the superstructure of
cars of ordinary construction, provided with such common spring-buffers, has a
tendency to continue in movement, and this tendency is only restrained by the framing
and braces which attach such superstructure to the platform upon which the car-body
rests. By my improvement the body of the car is stayed against the racking effect of
such shocks by the yielding frame-plate buffer which is applied, not merely in the line
of the horizontal planes of the platforms, but also in the lines of vertical planes
extending substantially to the top of the superstructure, whereby the duration of the
life of the car is greatly promoted.
At Figure 1 two cars, provided with my improved frame-plates or frame-buffers,
are shown coupled together. The frame-plates à of the respective cars are necessarily
brought face to face, and are in close frictional contact, each being backed by powerful
springs under tension and held in this relation to each other by the effect of the coupler
attachments, such as are now in general use.
It is a common experience that when a train of drawing room or sleeping cars is
travelling at high speed, there is induced in each car a tendency to sway or oscillate
laterally. The force which induces this tendency may be relatively a slight matter,
but its continued repetition results in aggregation of impulses which accelerate the
oscillations and cause unpleasant effects upon the passengers, especially when the
road-bed has reversed curves, even of great radius. Again the effect of this motion
and the arresting of it when the train takes a curve in the opposite direction is severely
racking upon the frame-work of the cars. Especially is this experienced in trains of
sleeping-cars which are provided with upper sleeping berths, constituting, when
occupied, a weight elevated high above the centre of gravity. The effect of my improve-
ment is to provide a resistance to this tendency to oscillation by checking the same at
the outset before the impulses which produce it have accumulated. The surfaces of
the spring-backed frame-plates in contact are capable of resisting all ordinary impulses
to oscillation induced by the movement of the train. Moreover, as the cars of a train
do not generally sway in unison, but oscillate according to the effect of particular
accidents or influences, the effect of combining the cars of a train by the aid of
frictional surfaces in contact under considerable pressure, such as I have shown, is to
dissipate all the lateral movements of each car throughout all the other cars so
connected and thus give steadiness to the whole train. This result will not only
greatly facilitate the ease in passing from one car to another, but will enable trains of
the same weight and motive power to be run safely and comfortably at higher speeds
over the same road-bed than heretofore.
While I have described and shown a frame-plate backed by springs as the preferred
form for my vertically arranged spring-buffer, which also performs the said office of
counteracting the impulses which generate oscillating or swaying movements in trains
of cars in motion, I do not limit myself to the physical presence of a frame or
rectangular plate of metal or wood backed by springs, as described. If the entrance
platforms of the cars are to be enclosed by a vestibule, as shown in the drawings, then
a frame is obviously most desirable, because it enables the joint between two adjacent
coupled cars to be tightly closed against the entrance of dust and cinders, but my

page_text: invention will be embodied if, in place of a continuous frame a there be substituted a
system of separate plates or buffers backed by springs arranged frame-wise and so as
to carry out the modo. of operation of the frame-plates as hereinbefore described, and
therefore in this specification-I include under the term "frame-plate" the construction
specifically shown, as well as the formal and obvious modification suggested. My
invention will also be employed if, in combination with the ordinary platform-buffer in
common use in railway carriages, there be arranged a spring-buffer above the door way,
or near to the roof of the car, so that when the said cars are coupled, the confronting
faces of the said elevated buffers upon each of the cars will press frictionally against
each other under the force of pressure-springs supplied to the rear faces of the buffer.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent I declare that what I claim is.
First The combination, with the end of a railway car, of a frame-plate, or equivalent
series of buffers, backed by springs, arranged with its face in a vertical plane, and
normally projecting beyond the end of the car, whereby upon the coupling of two cars
a spring-buffer will be interposed between the super-structures of such adjacent cars
above their platforms, and also frictional surfaces under opposing spring pressures to
prevent the racking of the car frames upon sudden stoppages and to oppose the
tendency of the cars to sway laterally when in motion, substantially as hereinbefore
set forth.
Second-The combination of a spring buffer or friction-plate with the ends of cach of
the adjacent cars of a train, said buffers being located on the ends of the super-structures
of the cars respectively and substantially at the tops of the same, and so arranged that
when the two cars are coupled the faces of the buffers will bear against each other in
contact under pressure, substantially as, and for the purposes, specified.
Dated this 20th day of October 1001.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.