CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM' ENGINES, ALSO IN BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES
Year: 1850

page_text: ט
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DE BERGUE, of Arthur Street West, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS' Her most Excellent Maj sty Queen Victoria, by Her Letter's
Patent under the Great Seal of the Uniel Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, in the thir-
teenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Charles De
Bergue, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles De Bergue, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles De Bergue, my
exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
my Invention' of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM'
ENGINES, ALSO IN BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES," within that part of Her said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed; in which
said' Letters' Patent there is' contained a proviso requiring that' I, the said
Charles De Bergue, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said'Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under' my 'hand and seal, and cause the same to be
enrolled'in 'Hér said 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, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
annear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles De Bergue, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by this present Instrument in writing, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Improvements in Locomotive and other Steam Engines, also in Buffers
for Railway Purposes, consist
Firstly, in a novel mode of expanding or pressing the ring or rings of
metallic pistons against the sides of the cylinder, by an arrangement of
mechanism actuated by the pressure of steam within the cylinder, whereby
the friction of the ring or rings against the sides of the cylinder will be
regulated by and therefore dependant upon the elastic force of steam.
The second part of my Invention, which relates to buffers for railway pur-
poses, consists in a peculiar mode of constructing station buffers, whereby I
produce the resistance offered to the train of carriages by the friction of a
beam or beams of timber, which move between two surfaces, one or both of
which is made to give way under the force of the blow. And in order that
the same may be understood and carried into effect, I will proceed to describe
the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which similar letters denote corresponding
Figure 1, on the Sheet of Drawings marked A, represents a plan of
portion of a piston constructed according to my Invention, the top plate or
"junk ring" being removed.
Figure 2 represents a transverse section taken through the line C, D, of
Figure 1, in which Figure a, a, represents a cast iron boss, with six radial arms
a', a¹, and an outer rim a", the centre part of the boss being bored out to fit
the lower end of the piston rod, as shewn at Figure 8, which represents a
transverse section of the boss taken through the line E, F, of Figure 1. b, b,
are two plates or junk rings, which are bored out to fit the projecting part of
the centre boss, and are accurately fitted to the surfaces or edges of the outer
rim a, a, and the whole secured together by means of three or more bolts,
which may be made to pass through the radial arms at c, c. I would remark,
with regard to the junk rings, that the piston may be made with one if
preferred; that which represents the bottom ring or plate in the annexed
Drawings may be cast with the centre part or body of the piston. d, d, is the
expanding ring which is made to fit upon the outer rim a¹¹, of the central boss,
and is also accurately fitted between the junk rings b, b, after which it is cut

page_text: is a
This
open on one side and fitted with two tongue-pieces in the usual manner, to
prevent the escape of steam past the opening. The manner in which the ring
is caused to expand is as follows:-e, e, are two small pistons accurately fitted
into holes bored through the junk rings and into the rim a" of the boss a, so
that one of the small pistons may be acted upon by the pressure of steam from
above the piston, and the other by the pressure of steam from below.
stud, a front and end view of which is shewn separately at Figure 4.
stud, which is made with two projecting arms g, 9, and two projecting fingers
h, h, is made to fit a hole bored in the rim of the central boss, the hole being
at right angles to the piston rod, as shewn in section at Figure 1, a front view
of the hole or opening for the stud being also shewn at Figure 5 and Figure 2,
which latter, it will be remembered, represents a section of the piston taken.
through the line C, D. In each of the small pistons e there is a lateral
opening which receive the projecting arms of the stud, and on the inside of
the piston ring & there is a recess for receiving the projecting fingers. It will,
therefore, be seen that if motion be given to one of the small pistons e or e¹, by
the pressure of steam from above or below the piston, that such piston, e or c¹,
will cause the stud f to move upon its axis, and in so doing the projecting
fingers h, h, will be forced in the direction indicated by the two arrows (see
Figure 2), by which Figure it will be seen that one projecting finger will press
against the upper part of the recess in the ring d, (see also Fig. 1), and the
other finger on the lower part of such recess, thereby causing such ring to
expand, and be pressed against the sides of the cylinder so as to form a steam-
tight packing. It will also be seen that the amount of such pressure will
increase or diminish with the pressure of steam. As there is a possibility of
the steam escaping so as to get below the small pistons, and thereby retard
their action, it is desirable that some plan should. be adopted for its escape,
which may be done in the following manner:-Below each of the small
pistons e, e¹, there is an aperture i, i, leading to the inside of the piston, and
from such part of the piston there is an aperture k, k, which communicates
with a circular opening formed on the under side of the junk ring b, as shewn
in section at Figure 6, which Figure also represents a plan of a small valve so
constructed as to fit steam tight against the rim a", and thereby prevent the
ingress of steam from the top or outside of the piston, but at the same time
will allow of the egress of steam from the inside of the piston, which is
effected by making the valve with grooves across the edge and top, as shewn.
The action is therefore as follows:-Suppose the piston to be ascending with a
power of eighty pounds on the square inch, this amount of pressure will
therefore be exerted upon the small piston e', and the effect will be to drive it
in the direction of the arrow; motion will therefore be communicated. by

page_text: means of the arm g to the stud f, and from thence, by means of the fingers
h, h, in the manner above described, to the packing ring d, which will be caused
to expand or press against the sides of the cylinder. Should there; by any
possibility, be an escape of steam so as to get below or rather on the top of the
small piston e¹, such steam will find its way out through the openings and k;
the small valve being raised will allow the steam to escape to the vacuum side
of the piston, as indicated by the arrow 2 (see Figure 2). A similar valve, m,
is also provided for the piston e when the engine is making its down or reverse
stroke.
Figure 7 represents a mode of effecting the above object without the aid of
the escape valves I, m. In this Figure e, el, represent the two pistons, and
f, g, h, the axis arms and fingers, which are similar in their action to those
above described, the only difference being that the piston e, which passes
through the top plate or junk ring, rests with its lower end upon the bottom
plate b, in which there is drilled a hole smaller in diameter than the diameter
of the piston. When the piston is ascending, the steam, in passing through
the hole, as indicated by the arrow, forces the small piston up, and at the same
time gives motion to the stud f and the packing ring, as described with regard
to Figures 1 and 2. Again, should there be any escape of steam past the
small piston e, such steam will pass at once into the vacuum side of the piston
without retarding the motion of the piston e, as will be clearly understood.
The same effect is produced with regard to the piston e¹.
The object of that part of my Invention which refers more particularly to
locomotive engines, and also to other engines in which the cylinder is placed
horizontal, is to reduce the pressure upon the piston caused by the steam
getting between the upper edge of the piston and the cylinder, the lower edge
being in contact with the cylinder. This will be better understood on referring
to Figure 8, which I will suppose to represent an end view or transverse
section of a horizontal cylinder. The two edges of the piston or junk rings in
this case being somewhat less in diameter than the diameter of the cylinder,
the packing ring gives way.under the weight of the piston, thereby leaving an
open space above the edge of the junk ring, as shewn at o, for the admission
of steam, the lower edge being at the same time in close contact with the
bottom side of. the cylinder. The effect is that in addition to the weight of
the piston rubbing upon the bottom side of the cylinder, there is an additional
weight caused by the pressure of steam getting between the upper edge of the
junk ring and the upper side of the cylinder, the admission of steam to the
lower side being prevented by the giving way of the packing ring, which
admits of a close approximation of the edge of the piston with the cylinder.
The manner in which I propose to remedy this evil is by turning away a

page_text: portion of the edge of the junk ring, as shewn at p, Figure 2, so as to admit
of a circulation of steam all the way round such part of the piston, and let
the weight of the same bear entirely upon the packing rings, which rings
being made to fit the cylinder all the way round, prevent the admission of
steam to produce the effect referred to.
The second part of my Invention, which relates to buffers for railway
purposes, is shewn on Sheet B. Figure 1 represents a longitudinal sectional
elevation of a station buffer constructed according to my Invention. Figure 2
represents a plan shewing the two buffers in their relative position as required
for a station buffer, the buffer marked B being represented with the top plate
removed. a represents a strong iron plate cast with two side cheeks a¹, a',
somewhat in the form of a box or trough. b, b, is a strong cast iron plate
with four grooves in its edges, which receive four projecting pieces c, c, cast
upon the upper edges of the side cheeks a¹, à¹. These two castings, that is,
the box part and the top plate, are secured together by six wrought iron cotter
bolts d, d, d. e, e, e, are iron washers, and f, f, rings of vulcanized india
rubber or other suitable and sufficiently elastic material, for instance, steel
springs may be employed. g', g, is a strong beam of timber which I call a
buffer bean, which is of the same dimensions at the end g¹ as the internal
dimensions of the cast iron box, that is, so as to be capable of sliding through
such box. The buffer beam, which may project beyond the front of the box
about six feet, more or less, I propose to make somewhat taper, say about half
an inch more or less in the six feet, and if required to cover it with plates of
iron on the top and under side. The action is simply as follows:-When the
buffer beams are struck by an engine or train of carriages they are driven
forward between the two cast iron surfaces of the box, that is, the upper and
lower surfaces. The buffer beams being as before stated somewhat taper, the
top plate will be gradually raised and the india-rubber rings compressed,
thereby offering an amount of resistance which, owing to the friction of the
iron plates against the top and bottom of the box and the compressed state of
the india-rubber rings, gradually increases until, the buffer beams come to a
stand, thereby stopping the carriages by a resisting medium which is gradually
increasing in effect, and which terminates without any recoil. After the buffer
beams have been driven up, the cotters i, i, are then to be driven back so as to
slacken the india-rubber, rings, the buffer beams are then to be drawn out
again, and the cotters driven up so as to be in readiness for another train.
Another part of my improvements in buffers for railway carriages consists
in making the cylinder and piston part of vulcanized india-rubber buffers
(which have already been described in one of my former Patents), as shewn

page_text: at Figure 4, in which Figure the cast iron cylinder at a is hollowed out to
receive the projecting rim 6 of the piston, whereby the wood block c, when the
buffer is driven up, comes in contact with the end of the cylinder a in place of
two metallic surfaces coming together, as described in the Specification of my
former Patent.
Another improvement in such buffers consists in fixing the wood end of the
buffer to the piston part by means of four bolts e, e, the heads of which are let
into the wood, and a circular recess fis made in the piston part to receive the
nuts, which are finally covered up with a plate of iron g, as shewn.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise nature of the details as herein-before described, as many
of them may be altered without departing from the peculiar character of my
Invention. But what I do claim as my Invention is,―
First, the application of a small piston or pistons for communicating an
expanding motion to the rings of metallic pistons in the manner herein-before
described, or in any other way analageous to that herein-before described,
whereby a certain amount of pressure upon the expanding ring can be ensured
and regulated by the size of the small pistons e, e¹.
Secondly, I claim the arrangement herein-before described for relieving the
cylinder of a portion of the weight of the piston, by removing a portion of
the junk rings and allowing the piston to rest principally upon the packing
rings, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, I claim the general arrangement and combination of parts as
herein-before described with regard to buffers for railway purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles De Bergue, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
CHARLES (L.S.) DE BERGUE.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
-within-named Charles De Bergue, in
the presence of
FREDERICK WARWICK SMITH.