IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES
Year: 1839

page_text: DE MAURIER'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
MATHURIN BUSSON DU MAURIER, of Lombard Street, in the City of London,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of January, in the second year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Louis
Mathurin Busson du Maurier, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege,
and authority, that I, the said Louis Mathurin Busson du Maurier, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Louis
Mathurin Busson du Maurier, my executors, admors, or assigns, should at-
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPRINGS
FOR CARRIAGES," being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad;:
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said Louis Mathurin Busson du Maurier, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Louis Mathurin Busson du Maurier, do hereby declare that the nature of the
said Invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed are-
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
These improvements in springs for carriages consist in a combination of
levers and slides in conjunction with peculiar shaped springs. The advantage
to be derived from such improved system is, the lessening of the number of
springs, and at the same time preventing carriages, coaches, or any other
vehicles to which these improved springs may be applied, from overturning,
even though one of the wheels on the same axletree were to be twelve inches
higher than the other.
.
In order to make the improved system of springs more readily under-
stood, I have represented in the accompanying Drawings several views of
parts of a coach or other vehicle to which the said improvements are adapted;
and I would here remark, that although I have represented a three-bodied
coach or diligence to which the improvements are applied, it is evident that
the same may be adapted to any four-wheeled vehicle, and I shall afterwards
describe a method of applying the Invention to a two-wheeled carriage. In
all the Figures of the accompanying Drawing the same letters of reference
indicate similar parts.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal elevation of a three-bodied coach or diligence
with the Invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal view of the
framing of the carriage, the body and the wheels being removed to avoid com-
plexity; Fig. 3 is a plan of the four-wheel part of the carriage, the body of the
coach being only partly indicated by an outline. In this Figure the carriage is
supposed to be travelling on a level road; Fig. 4 is a view of the same part of
the carriage, but in this Figure one of the wheels is supposed to be considerably
bigher than the other, perhaps from being elevated on a bank, and it will be
seen that the axletree is greatly inclined, although the body of the coach
remains in a horizontal position; Fig. 5 represents a view of the hind part
of the same coach and supposed to be running on a level road; Fig. 6
represents the hind part of a coach on a greatly inclined road; A, A, is an
iron or wooden bar supporting the springs B, B, which are connected with
the levers C, C, by means of links or bridle pieces D, D, that are attached to
the ends of the said levers. The bar A is placed transversely under the body
of the carriage, and just above the axletree this bar is wider than it is thick,
and is so placed that you see. its width in the Drawings. A similar bar is

page_text: fastened to the sides of the body of the carriage both at the front and hind
part. The levers C, C, are mounted in bearings made on the under part of
the said bar A, and the springs B, B, are fastened together at their centre by
a stay with screws and nuts. The upper spring being the larger bears
I directly on two friction plates b, b, screwed on the bar A; the lower spring
bears on an elastic plate c, c, and at each extremity of the springs a friction
roller may be placed so as to render their motion more easy; C, C, are levers.
mounted in the under part of the bar A, A, as above described; one end of
these levers being connected at the point f. f, with the link or supporter D,
the reverse end being made forked at 9, as will be hereafter described. The
double links or supporters are jointed at their lower ends to the short arm of
the lever C at f as before mentioned, and are united over the top of the
springs B, B, on which they both bear by a screw bolt and nut. At each end
of the links D, D, there is an increase of thickness to allow of a recess being
bored to receive the head of the levers C, C, jointed to the said links D, D.
This is done to strengthen the links and to prevent the whole weight of that
part of the carriage from bearing on the jointing bolt, and to avoid the danger.
of their being broken; E, E, are two curvilinear slides, in which a friction
roller F runs; this friction roller is mounted in the fork g at the end of the
levers C, C; these slides are fastened by their foot to the axletree and a
supporter G, strongly fastened on the axletree, or on the cross bar supports
the slide at its outer end. The curve of these slides is calculated according to
the degree of inclination it is desired the coach should stand at, and may be
so constructed as to allow the carriage to support an inclination of about
thirty inches without overturning. In order to prevent the friction roller F
from wearing too rapidly, it may be made of iron case-harded, or of steel or
cast iron. H, H, Figures 1 and 2, are stays fastened by one end to the
springs B, B, and by the other to the beam of the carriage, or to the other axle-
tree. These stays are used to prevent the springs B, B, from deviating from the
vertical, and inclining either forward or backward in cases of ascent and
descent. In many carriages the fore wheels are not united to the hind wheels
by a beam or by swan necks. The present system would also be applicable
to such carriages as well as to any other construction of four-wheeled carriage:
in that case the body would be linked or chained to the fore or aft part of the
carriage framing by rods or chains as at G, G, Figures 1 and 2. The same
system might easily be adapted to two-wheeled carriages by placing the above
described apparatus on a frame instead of placing it upon the axletree. The
action of these compound springs is as follows:-When the carriage runs on
level ground, the elasticity of the springs B, B, is sufficient to prevent any

page_text: shaking of the body of the carriage, the links preserving always the vertical.
position, and the rollers F of the levers C, C, bearing on the middle of the
slide E, as shewn in Figures 3 and 5. But when one of the wheels is higher
than the other, then the lever near the lowest wheel rises on the slide, and
the lever on the highest wheel descends in the same proportion, as shewn in
Figures 4 and 6. Thus the levers C, C, always preserve the same horizontal
position and thereby maintain the body of the coach horizontally, and the
roller F gradually resumes its former position as the wheels get on even
ground.
In conclusion I wish it to be understood that I do not claim the method of
transferring the weight of the carriage to the springs B, B, by means of the
levers C, C, and bridle pieces D, D, as I am aware that carriages have.
been hung by levers acting on springs, but I claim as the Invention secured.
to me by the present Letters Patent,--
Firstly, the use and adaptation of the slides E, E, as connected with a
system of springs for carriages; and secondly, the arrangement of the several
parts, together with the slides E, E, by means of which I can construct such
a system of springs as above described, which will in a great measure prevent
carriages being overturned..
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Mathurin Busson du Maurier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of July, in the
year of*
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
L. BUSSON (L.S.) DU MAURIER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of July, in the third
year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Louis Mathurin
Busson du Maurier came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Third day of July, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
nine.