Im- PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Corbett, of 11, Sckforde Street, Clerkenwell,
in the County of Middlesex, Clockmaker, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 16th April 1869, and dated the 5th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Corbett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th November 1868.
I, JOHN CORBETT, of 11, Sekforde. Street, Clerkenwell, in the County
of Middlesex, Clockmaker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway carriages.
In railway carriages as at present constructed when the buffers are
forced in to their full extent the shock is taken by the frames of the
carriages, which consequently in collisions are frequently broken and
the passengers are injured.

page_text: According to my Invention I prevent any injury happening to the
'carriages and passengers when a collision occurs by arranging the buffers
in such manner that when they are forced in to the full extent the buffer
rods meet and abut the one on the other. The buffer rods will then form
as it were continuous bars of great strength passing from end to end
of the train, and the carriage frames will be completely protected from
violence. I provide the inner ends of the buffer rods with heads so that
they may meet each other fairly, and if desired these heads may be
padded so as in part to absorb the shock of a collision. The buffer rods
are by preference arranged to slide in strong guide tubes on the frames,
which prevent them bending under any strain to which they may be
exposed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Corbett in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CORBETT, of No. 11, Sekforde Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of
Middlesex, Clock Clockmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year
of our Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Corbett, aforesaid, Her
special licence that I, the said John Corbett, aforesaid, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Corbett,
aforesaid, 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Corbett, aforesaid, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause

page_text: WICH STX carendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Corbett, aforesaid, do hereby
déclare 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 :-
The continuous or consecutive buffers are arranged to have a traverse
both ways, that is, in and out of the carriages, and to meet in the middle
when the springs are set up, and thus form one rod right through tho
carriages, and if driven in with force sufficient to set up the springs the
buffer ends strike the buffers in the next carriage, and so on from carriage
to carriage, and thus relieve any single carriage from the violence of the
shock in the event of a collision. The buffer rods going right through
the train from carriage to carriage the foremost carriage or the engine
(if it be at the front) is the first that is struck after the springs of the
buffers are set up till the rods meet, thus the whole line of carriages are
frreed from the blow in the event of collisions except the slight one given
by the buffer springs, which will have a tendency to set the train in
motion to be taken up with the coupling links of the first carriage or
engine or truck, the train in motion in reality striking the first carriage
of the train in a state of rest and pushing it forward, it taking the others
after it the same as if drawn by an engine, and as the setting up of the
buffer springs along the whole train will take up some of the force of
the blow there will be little risk of any single carriage receiving injury.
The rod that the coupling links are attached to is attached to the buffer
springs, and this relieves the frames of the carriages from any severe
strain in the event of any sudden blow, and in travelling as the coupling
links are attached to the buffer springs the motion of the train will be
likely to be smoother and freer from any disagreeable jolting. The
arrangement of the buffer rods to form a continuous buffer to hold good
whether they are encased in tubes or go simply through the carriage
frame, and the same with the coupling link rods so long as they are
connected to the buffer springs,, or if they are put outside the carriage
frame to adapt the continuous buffer and coupling link rods to buffer
springs to carriages already in use, with the right to adopt any sort of
spring that is not the subject of a Patent, such as are termed coach
springs, or spiral or india-rubber or any material for springs, so long as the

page_text: carrying out of the principle of " the continuous buffer" and the coupling
link rods attached to buffer springs are the same as in this Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Corbett, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year
.of our Lord 1869.