A NEW APPLICATION, CONSTRUCTION, AND ARRANGEMENT OF SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1853

page_text: Sealed the 3rd November 1853, and dated the 7th June 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bazett
Colvin Leverson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 7th June 1853.
*
I, GEORGE BAZETT COLVIN LEVERSON, of No. 12, Saint Helen's
Place, in the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "A NEW APPLICATION, CONSTRUCTION, AND
ARRANGEMENT OF SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES," to
be as follows, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
which make a part thereof:
My new arrangement and construction of springs consist in com-
bining two india rubber or gutta percha cylindrical compressing springs,
or springs composed of such like substances, with an eliptical steel or

page_text: metal or wooden spring or jointed rod, by straightening which the
rubber or other springs are compressed and thus brought into action.
A curved bar spring (a,) has on either end a flanch of circular form (b,.).
which is screwed on with a double nut (c,.) by which it can be set out
and in, as hereafter described. The two ends of this spring enter short
tubes (d) having a flanch (,) affixed thereto, beyond which there is a
joint (f) by which it is jointed to a clip (2,) or wooden or metallic
projection from a spring bar (i,) or axle. Between the flanches (b,
and e) are placed cylindrical rubber or gutta percha springs sur-
rounding the tubes, and the disks being kept in place by the tube (d)
and ends of the spring (as) as clearly shewn in Fig. 2, (two), by this
arrangement it will be seen that any force brought upon the curved
spring (a) will cause the rubber, gutta percha, or like springs to be
compressed, while the motion round the joint (f) prevents all tearing
of and about the projection (h). A modification of this arrangement
is, instead of the steel, metal, or wooden spring (a), a jointed bar, see
Fig. 3, (Figure three,) may be employed with similar effect, especially
in cars, waggons, and carriages, for railroads.
Having thus described my improved construction and arrangement
of springs, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is, the combination of india rubber or gutta percha springs, or
springs of like character, with a bar spring or toggle joint, substan-
tially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Bazett Colvin Leverson in the Great
Seal Patent Office, on the 6th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE BAZETT COLVIN LEVERSON, of No. 12, Saint Helen's Place,
in the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-

page_text: teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Bazett Colvin Leverson, Her
special licence that I, the said George Bazett Colvin Leverson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Bazett Colvin Leverson, 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 lawfully 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 "A NEW APPLICATION, CONSTRUC-
TION, AND ARRANGEMENT OF SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES, AND SUCH LIKE PUR-
POSES," communicated to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Bazett Colvin Leverson, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the 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 George Bazett Colvin Leverson,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:
The Invention relates to a certain new application, construction, or
arrangement of compressible springs in combination with an clastic
bar or a toggle joint, as herein-after described.
Figure 1, is a perspective view of a spring constructed and arranged
according to my Invention. Figure 2, is a section of one end of the
same. The same letters indicate similar parts in each Figure. A, is
an elastic bar or spring of steel, the ends of which are screwed, and
carry flanges B, B, screwed upon them. C, C, are set nuts for securing
the flanges B, in their places. D, is a short tube with a flange E, and
a projecting lug or joint piece F, which is jointed by a pin to the
support H, on the bar I. K, is a tube or ring of vulcanized india

page_text: rubber placed between the flanges B, and E. A helical steel spring L
may be substituted for india rubber spring K, if preferred. The
action of the spring is as follows: when pressure is applied on the
centre of the bar A, this bar is partially straightened, and its two ends
are forced outwards, and the springs K, K, are compressed between
their respective flanges B, and E. The strength of the spring is
adjusted by screwing the flanges B, nearer to or farther from the ends
of the bar A, and fixing them by the nuts C. A toggle joint, consisting
of two rigid levers M, M, jointed together, as shewn in Figure 3, may
be substituted for the elastic steel bar A. It will be seen that the
bar A, is not connected directly at either end to the bar I, as is
the case with the ordinary straight springs employed for carriages, but
that the springs K, intervene between the ends of the bar A, and its
supports. Any sudden end motion of the bar I, is thus relieved by the
springs K, K, instead of being communicated directly to the bar A.
These springs are applicable to ordinary carriages and other vehicles,
to railway carriages, seats of carriages and chairs, the floors of ball
rooms, door springs, and many other purposes. Thus, if the spring
shewn in Figure 1, he inverted, the bar I, may represent the sole bar
of a railway or other carriage, and the centre of the bar A, may rest
upon the axle box in the case of a railway carriage, or may be attached
to the axle in the case of an ordinary carriage. Or I, may itself form
the axle, the carriage resting on A. Two of these springs may be
combined together, as shewn in Figures 4, and 5. Figure 4, is an
elevation of a double spring, consisting of two springs, similar to that
shewn in Figure 1, connected to one bar I. This spring may be
employed in lieu of the ordinary elliptical steel springs, by fixing the
centre of the upper bar A, to the carriage, and fixing the centre of
the lower bar A, to the axle. Figure 5, is an elevation of a double
spring made with toggle joints, and applied to an ordinary carriage.
M, M, are the levers of the toggle joints connected at m, and n. The
pin of the upper joint m, is connected to the framing of the carriage O,
so as to allow freedom of motion to both levers. The lower joint n, is
so constructed that one of the levers M, is attached to the axle, while
the other lever is free to move. The bar I, is connected by a short

page_text: link N, to the framing of the carriage. Or this double spring may be
applied to a railway carriage by connecting the pin of the upper
joint m, to the body of the carriage, and the pin n, of the lower joint to
the axle box, which is made to work in a fork or axle guard in the
ordinary manner.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not claim generally the application of rings or tubes of india
rubber to the construction of springs; but what I claim as the Inven-
tion intended to be secured by the aforesaid Letters Patent is,--
Firstly, the construction of springs by the combination of an elastic
bar with compressible springs, in manner herein-before described.
Secondly, the construction of springs by the combination of a toggle
joint with compressible springs connected or jointed to a rigid bar, in
manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bazett Colvin Leverson
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of Decem-
ber, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
GEORGE B. C. LEVERSON. (L.S.)