CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND CARRIAGES, FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS, AND ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF INDESTRUCTABLE AND NON-REBOUNDING CUSHIONS, TO BE APPLIED TO THE ABOVE AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Mathew Fitzpatrick, of Upper Cleveland
Street, Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middlesex, Machinist,
for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND CARRIAGES,
FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS, AND ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE
AND APPLICATION OF INDESTRUCTABLE AND NON-REBOUNDING CUSHIONS,
TO BE APPLIED TO THE ABOVE AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Mathew Fitzpatrick
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his petition,
on the 25th October 1852.
I, MATHEW FITZPATRICK, of Upper Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND CARRIAGES, FOR
THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS, AND ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE AND
APPLICATION OF INDESTRUCTABLE AND NON-REBOUNDING CUSHIONS, TO BE

page_text: APPLIED TO THE ABOVE, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
1st. By means of a compound self-acting double-motion lever (con-
structed in a simple and peculiar manner), by which means the
locomotive is raised from the rails, and rests suspended on 4 legs or
uprights (attached to the front and back of the engine), thereby con-
trolling the power of motion, and the wheels turn void by removing
them from their fulcrum.
2ndly. By means of cushions (herein-after mentioned, attached by
lever arms to 3 braces, which turn on a wrought-iron axle, which axle
is affixed to the front of the engine. Two vertical uprights are attached
to the sashes or housings of the locomotive (by means of braces),
placed in juxtaposition to the axle, supporting the lever arms, in front
of the engine. Each of the vertical uprights support a steel spring
fixed in a wrought-iron sleeper or cross-bar, of the same width as the
sash or housing of the engine; this bar, which binds the lever arms, is
again affixed to two vertical kneed breaks, having at the lower end an
inverted shoe or socket, fitting nearly close to the rails; the break is
kept in a vertical position by being made to pass through a double
system of iron plates, and jutting in a manner to admit of its free
action in its upward and downward motion. A lever is likewise
attached to the bar, to which the cushion is attached, which passes
beneath the engine, thus enabling the driver or other person to stop
the engine when required.
3rdly. When a collision takes place, the lever, having a compound
motion, is brought into action, and the standards or legs are instan-
taneously brought down upon the rails, thus suspending the motive
power of the engine, by raising it from the rails.
4thly. For the carriages, a modification of speed or entire stoppage
is acquired by means of a wedge lever, working upon a sleeper or cross-
bar affixed to the two upright at the front and back of each carriage,
by which means the carriage is raised (the 4 legs or uprights taking
the place of the wheels on the rails); this lever, being affixed to the

page_text: upon a concussion taking place
By means of cushions attached by machinery to the front and back
of locomotive engines, tenders, and carriages, which cushions are
manufactured of wool or other suitable material, together with com-
pressed atmospheric air encased in leather, gutta percha, and India
rubber, or other like suitable materials, which, being made airtight,
decreases and deadens the shock arising from collision.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Mathew Fitzpatrick, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 5th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
MATHEW FITZPATRICK, of Upper Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth Day of October
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Mathew Fitzpatrick,
Her especial licence, that I, the said Mathew Fitzpatrick, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Mathew Fitzpatrick, 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 law-
fully 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
TO BE APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND CARRIAGES, FOR THE PREVENTION
OF ACCIDENTS, AND ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF INDE-
STRUCTABLE AND NON-REBOUNDING CUSHIONS, TO BE APPLIED TO THE AFOVE,
AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Mathew Fitzpatrick, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the

page_text: 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 Mathew Fitzpatrick, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, (that is to say):
My Invention consists,-Firstly, in the construction and combination
of certain part or parts of machinery or apparatus, and which I term
a double-action break. Secondly, in the application of a particular
formed lever, and which I name an anchor-wedge lever, to be applied
to trucks, luggage, and other vans and carriages. Thirdly, in the con-
struction and application of a cushion or cushions, to be attached to the
front and back of locomotive engines, passenger and other carriages,
trucks, and vans, as a resisting power to decrease or deaden the shock
or danger arising from collision or concussion, or accidents of a similar
pature; and which will more fully and at large appear upon reference
being had to the accompanying drawings, and which I will now proceed
to describe, as follows: Figure 1, represents a side elevation of an
ordinary locomotive engine and tender, with my break or apparatus and
cushion attached or affixed thereto: Figure 2, is also a side elevation
of an ordinary goods or ballast truck, showing the application of my
anchor-wedge lever: Figure 3, is a top plain view of a locomotive
engine, delineated for the purpose of showing more distinctly the
different part or parts of my Invention; and Figure 4, is a front eleva-
tion of an engine as it would appear with my apparatus or break and
cushion affixed or otherwise attached thereto. The same letters of
reference denote similar corresponding parts in each of the views, as
shown. A, A, Figures 1, and 4, are two moveable uprights, connected
together by a bar of metal, A', or the uprights and connecting bar A',
may be formed or cast in one piece of iron, or other suitable material or
materials, and being shaped at their lower ends or extremities as an
inverted shoe or sochet, a, a, with a flange to prevent their getting off

page_text: the rails; these uprights are strengthened and secured in their proper
position by means of braces, b, b, screwed or otherwise firmly attached
to the frame of the locomotive. The moveable uprights A, A, ascend
and descend through the slots, c, c, c. B, B, B, Figure 3, are three
levers formed of the configuration, as seen at Figure 1, having shoulders
or projections at b', with apertures therein for the purpose of fitting in
or resting upon the bars A'. The extremity of the levers B, B, B, are
formed with apertures or slots, through which pass a bar or rod of
metal, nutted or otherwise secured in plates, d, d, of iron or other suit-
able material, and which said plates work upon a centre, e. C, C, is a
rod running longitudinally beneath the framework of the locomotive,
and to which it is attached and supported in its proper position by iron
supports, 1, 2, 3, through which it works, and having at one end a
handle f, f, working as a lever on the fulcrum g. At the other end of
the rod C, C, is a coupling chain D, attaching it to one or more of the
levers B, B, B. E', E', are vertical uprights, formed as shown at
Figure 1, and supporting spiral springs F, F, which springs support and
regulate, by being attached or affixed to a casing of iron F', or other
suitable material or materials formed to receive the cushion G, (herein-
after described). H, H, are stops attached to the front part of the
locomotive for the purpose of regulating and modifying, if necessary,
the action and working of the levers B, B, B.
I will now proceed to describe that part of my Invention which I
term the anchor-wedge lever, and by means of which the speed of each
carriage, truck, or van to which it is applied is regulated upon
descending an incline. I, Figure 2, is an iron upright, attached or
affixed to a truck or van, and having at its top a hook N, from which
is suspended a spiral spring E, which spring supports the cushion G.
To the casing or backstay of the cushion is affixed a wedge or wedges, K,
made of iron or other suitable material, which wedge or wedges, when
acted upon by pressure, being applied to the cushion G, works into a
chamber or chambers running along the bottom of the truck, carriage,
or van, as shown by the dotted lines 4, 4. When the guard or other
person in charge requires to stop the truck or van, he is enabled to do

page_text: so by pressing on the lever handles L, L, by means of which the wedge,
having a connecting-rod attached to it, and pass through the
chamber 4, 4, to a centre 5, is acted upon by the lever, and drawn
within the chamber, thereby raising the truck or carriage from the
rails, by causing the uprights M, to descend, and thereby act as a
resisting force to the momentum. The uprights are kept at a proper
distance from the rails by means of the springs E, to which they are
attached by hooks and eyes, o, or any other means best adapted for the
purpose.
I will now proceed to describe my indestructable or non-rebounding
cushion, herein-before referred to, and which I form of a square, or any
other figure I find most suitable. The case or outside I make of strong
leather, or India-rubber, or India-rubber and gutta percha, or any other
suitable material or combination of materials; within this case I enclose
a quantity of wool, or other suitable substance or substances, and
atmospheric air; I supply the cushion with air by means of one or
more valves, fixed in the top, bottom, or sides of the case; I also
provide for the escape of air through an escape valve or valves attached
to that part of the cushion found most suitable, and I prefer the sides of
the cushion being scolloped, so as to allow of their compression without
injury to the material or materials of which they are composed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, I would
remark, that I do not confine myself to any particular form or forms of
which the different parts of my Invention consists, as it may be found
necessary in some cases to alter or modify some of the part or parts
thereof; nor do I confine myself to the material or materials of which
the same may be composed; and I would likewise remark, that it may
sometimes be found advantageous for the cushion attached or affixed to
the back or front of a carriage, truck, or van to be connected to or with
the front or back cushion of the next carriage, truck, or van.
what I claim as my Invention is,-
But
Firstly, The peculiar construction and combination of apparatus or
machinery, as herein-before described, for the prevention of accidents
on railways;

page_text: Secondly, The construction of a resisting cushion or buffer, as before
escribed; and,
Thirdly, Its application for the purpose above mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Mathew Fitzpatrick, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of April One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness, A. C. RAMSAY.
MATHEW FITZPATRICK. (L.S.)