AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING ELASTICITY TO CERTAIN PARTS OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES REQUIRING THE SAME
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
SPINKS the Younger, of John Street, Bedford Row, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of November, in the sixth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Spinks, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said John Spinks, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Spinks, my exors, adñors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING ELASTICITY TO CERTAIN PARTS
OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES REQUIRING THE SAME," communicated from
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
John Spinks, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said"
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her 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 in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Spinks, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention of an
Improved Apparatus for giving Elasticity to Certain Parts of Railway and
other Carriages requiring the Same, to consist in substituting for the ordinary

page_text: coach springs a metallic cylinder and a metallic piston, made to fit air-tight
into the cylinder. Between the top of the cylinder and the piston such a
quantity of atmospheric air or other permanently elastic gas is forced as to
enable that compressed air, by means of the apparatus in which it is confined,
to give elastic support to carriages, in lieu of the ordinary springs now in
general use, and to give elastic resistance between carriage and carriage on
railways, in lieu of the buffers now in general use. And in further compliance
with the said proviso, I, the said John Spinks, do hereby describe the manner
in which my said Invention is to be performed, by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and
marked thereon (that is to say):--
Figure 1 represents a section of part of one of the frame sites or a
railway carriage, with my improved apparatus underneath it, shewn also in
section.
Figure 2 represents my improved apparatus placed upon the axle box of a
carriage under the framing, and giving elastic support to that carriage at
that point.
Figure 3. represents two pairs of my improved apparatus placed horizontally
within and attached to the framework of a railway carriage, to prevent such
carriage on a railway coming in too sudden contact with the carriages in front
of or behind it.
In Figure 1 a represents a section of part of the framework of a railway
carriage. 6 represents in dotted lines one of the bolts by which the cylinder
is secured through its flange to the frame side. c is the top of the cylinder.
d is a tap screw which is fitted into the cylinder top, and which closes in an
air-tight manner one end of a channel e, which channel is closed at the
other end in an air-tight manner by the conical valve f. 9 is a steel spring
attached to the under side of the cylinder top by the screw h. This spring
presses against the under side of the valve f, and thereby keeps it in the
conical recessed part of the channel e. i, i, is the cylinder which, with its top
and bottom, are here supposed to be made of cast iron. j is the space in the
cylinder containing the compressed air, or other permanently elastic gas, which
air or other gas gives elastic support to the carriage. k is oil, floating on the top
of the piston, for the purpose of lubricating the sides of the cylinder and of
preventing the compressed air escaping from the upper to the lower side of
the piston. is the piston rod, accurately turned with a screw n at the upper
. end of it. m, the disc of the piston, through which the piston rod passes, and

page_text: which is firmly secured to it by the nut o, o.
P, P, is a cup of leather, used as
packing. q, q, is a metal cap. The metal cap and the packing are securely
held in their places by the nut 0, 0, screwing the disc of the piston tight
r is a
gainst the shoulder and the conical part turned on the piston rod l.
space left underneath the piston to admit of the cylinder moving upwards, as
the spacej admits of its moving downwards in its passage over uneven roads.
8, s, is a small hole bored through the cylinder, to admit of air passing in or
out by the motion of the cylinder, the carriage in this case being supposed to
be unloaded. t, t, is the bottom of the cylinder bolted to the cylinder through
flanges in the usual manner. u, u, is a packing of candlewick and oil to hold
the cylinder tight against the piston rod. This packing is held tight in its
place by the metallic piece v, v, which is screwed into the cylinder bottom.
w is a part of the axle box, with a cup or concavity on its upper side. The
lower end of the piston rod 1, which is convex, is made to conform to and to
work in this cup.
In Figure 2, a is the carriage frame. b, b, are two of the bolts which pass
through the top flange of the cylinder and the frame of the carriage, and by
which they are united. c is the top of the cylinder. d is a tap screw which,
when the carriage requires to be raised, owing to a greater weight being put
into it, or to other causes, is withdrawn, and an air pump is screwed to the
cylinder at the aperture, by which such an additional quantity of air is forced
in as will raise the carriage to the required height. When the action. of the
pump ceases, or the pressure of the air along the channel e (see Figure 1)
is not greater on the top of the valvef than of that contained in the chamber,
the valve presses, so tight against the conical space in the channel e as to
prevent any of the enclosed air escaping. When the pump is withdrawn, the
tap screw d is again inserted. y, y, is what is called a guard iron, moving up
and down-with the cylinder and frame, to keep it in its proper position over
the axle.
Figure 3 represents part of the framing of a railway carriage with the
carriage taken off for the purpose of shewing my Invention applied
to the purposes of buffing. i, i, on each side of the carriage frame,
are two cylinders fastened to the frame sides by bolts, shewn at x, x, x, x, x, x.
These cylinders are similar in their internal formations to those shewn
in Figures 1 and 2. They are, however, made longer, and the air con-
fined in them need not therefore be so dense as that in the cylinders
which support the carriage. d, d, d, d, are tap screws fixed in the open-
1, 1, 1, 1, are
ings through which the air is passed into the cylinders.
piston rods. w, w, w, w, are concave recesses in the ends of the four

page_text: buffer rods to receive the convex ends of the four piston rods. When the
buffers of another carriage come in contact with the buffers on a carriage with
my improvements attached, the air, as it is driven back into the cylinder,
becomes more and more condensed, and thereby gives a gradually increasing
resistance.
Now whereas it will be obvious to persons conversant with the construction
of carriages that my apparatus may be attached to any description of car-
riage requiring elastic support, and I do not claim any of the parts sepa-
rately which I have herein-before described, nor do I confine myself to the
particular description of metal I have named, but whereas I claim as my
Invention the apparatus herein-before described for giving elasticity to the
buffers of railway carriages, and for supporting the bodies of railway and
other carriages generally by means of air or other permanently elastic gas,
acted upon by a piston in a cylinder, and supplied as occasion may require, as
herein-before described; and such my Invention being, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, entirely new and never before used within that part of
Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, Her Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do
hereby declare this to be my Specification of the said Invention, and that I do
verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and
without reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Spinks the younger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
JOHN (LS.) SPINKS Lun
Enrolled the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-three.