IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING, BEARING, AND DRAW SPRINGS, AND BUFFER CASES, FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bridges, of Bridgewater, in the County of
Somerset, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING,
BEARING, AND DRAW SPRINGS, AND BUFFER CASES, FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES."
Sealed the 8th September 1857, and dated the 14th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bridges at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
March 1857.
I; HENRY BRIDGES, of Bridgewater, in the County of Somerset, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING,
BEARING, AND DRAW SPRINGS, AND BUFFER CASES, POR RAILWAY PURPOSES," to be
as follows:-
My improvements consist in placing or inserting in a frame or case layers
or laminations of vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable elastic substance of
convenient thickness and form, and separated or alternated by dividing plates
or blocks of metal or wood having recesses on one or both sides thereof to
receive the india-rubber or other elastic substance contiguous thereto, and such
recesses having one or more projecting pin or pins to pass through or partly
through a hole or holes in the layers or laminations of such india-rubber or
other elastic substance, to preserve them in their required position in the frame
or case. At one end of the frame or case I have a shoe or plate, made so as
to slide or pass freely backwards and forwards therein, and having the buffer
rod or plunger inserted therein or otherwise connected therewith; and by
means of wedges of wood or metal placed or driven in at the other end of the
case, I compress the spring so composed of india-rubber or other clastic-
substance and wood or metal to the extent required. The above arrangements:

page_text: may be easily applied for bearing and draw springs for railway purposes; and I
construct buffer cases in suitable metal, and of any convenient form, in two or
more sections or parts, and bolt or screw such sections or parts together; and
in one or more of such sections or parts I have a recess, groove, or channel
formed to receive one or more projections or stops on the buffer rod or plunger,
so as to prevent it falling or being forced out on a rebound of the spring or
from other causes; or the recess, groove, or channel may be in the buffer rod or
plunger, and the projection or stop, or projections or stops, on one or more of
such sections or parts of the buffer case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bridges in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BRIDGES, of Bridgewater, in the County of Somerset, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Henry Bridges, Her special licence, that I, the said
Henry Bridges, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henry Bridges, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING, BEARING, AND DRAW SPRINGS, AND BUFFER CASES,
FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Bridges, 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 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 Henry Bridges, 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 follow-

page_text: ing statement, and by reference to the Sheet of Drawings which accompany
this my Specification, and the figures and letters marked thereon :-
My improvements consist in placing or inserting in a frame or case layers or
laminations of vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable elastic substance of
convenient thickness and form, and separated or alternated by dividing plates
or blocks of metal or wood having recesses on one or both sides thereof to
receive the india-rubber or other elastic substance contiguous thereto, and
such recesses having one or more projecting pin or pins to pass through or
partly through a hole or holes in the layers or laminations of such india-rubber
or other elastic substance, to preserve them in their required position in the
frame or case.
At one end of the frame or case I have a shoe or plate made
so as to slide or pass freely backwards and forwards therein, and having the
buffer rod or plunger inserted therein or otherwise connected therewith; and
by means of wedges of wood or metal placed or driven in at the other end of
the case, I compress the spring so composed of india-rubber or other elastic
substance and wood or metal to the extent required. The above arrangements
may be easily applied for bearing and draw springs for railway purposes; and
I construct buffer cases in suitable metal, and of any convenient form, in two
or more sections or parts, and bolt or screw such sections or parts together;
and in one or more of such sections or parts I have a recess, groove, or
channel formed to receive one or more projections or stops on the buffer rod
or plunger, so as to prevent it falling or being forced out on a rebound of the
spring or from other causes; or the recess, groove, or channel may be in the
buffer rod or plunger, and the projection or stop, or projections or stops, on one
or more of such sections or parts of the buffer case.
Fig. 1 is an elevation, Fig. 2 a vertical section, Fig. 3 a horizontal
section of my improved buffer springs, as applied inside the carriage framing.
A are cones of india-rubber, with dividing blocks of wood B placed between ;
cup spaces are formed in the faces of the blocks of wood large enough to
receive the india-rubber when the blocks B are pressed together; circular
projections are left in the centres of the cup spaces to retain the cones in their
places. I prefer to use the cones and spaces according to the system known
as George Spencer's, and for which he has obtained Letters Patent for the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; but I do not limit myself to
that system. In some cases I use cylinders or rings of rubber, taking care to
leave space enough in the wood blocks for the rubber to retire into when the
wood blocks are driven up. The series of blocks and springs are contained in
cases or boxes formed by the two fixed pieces of timber C and the two loose
plates of iron D, which are bolted to the fixed pieces C, thus giving access to

page_text: the springs for examination or adjustment. E and E' are wedges of wood,
used to compress the spring into its position. If, by use, the springs should
take a set, one wedge is removed, an additional thickness of wood inserted,
the wedge put in position, and the whole bolted up. F is a cast-iron socket
piece, secured to the end of the buffer rod G, and slides in the case when the
spring is compressed. In this arrangement of buffer, the force of the blow is
received on the series of wooden blocks, which assist in deadening the effect,
and no rod is required to pass through the springs. In the spring just
described, as well as in those following, I have shown wooden dividing blocks
which I prefer, but the dividing blocks may be made of metal. Fig. 4 shows
an arrangement for a double inside buffer, placed by preference in the centre
of the side timbers of the carriage; the box springs, dividing blocks, and
wedges are formed in a similar manner to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and are denoted
'by the same letters of reference. Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 show my
improvements in buffer cases, which admit of springs of the same kind being
used, either with or without a guide rod. The main feature of this part of
my Invention is the forming the buffer case in two or more pieces, bolted,
hooped, or otherwise secured together by known means, so as to allow of
removing the piston or plunger and spring without taking down the whole
buffer case, and also so forming the piston that it cannot drop out of the case
or be lost.
Fig. 5 is a section, and Fig. 6 an elevation, of one of these buffers. A are
the springs; B, the dividing blocks as before, but shown without the cup
space; H is the plunger, of wrought or cast iron, having a projection formed
on the end contained in the case. The buffer case I is cast in two pieces,
I and I', which are bolted together, and has a projection, shown in the section,
to retain the piston. The spring is contained in the plunger; and a block J,
supporting the spring, works in the plunger.
Figs. 7 and 8 show another form of my buffer case, similar in general
arrangement to the last, but having a guide rod for the springs, and having
the buffer case divided through the base plate. In some cases I use a
wrought iron band or bands round the buffer case to hold the two pieces
I and in contact, either with or without bolts, as before described, and I
make the band in one piece, and shrink it on while hot, or I make it in two
segments, which I bolt or rivet together, or I pass the wrought-iron band
round the case and bolt, or rivet the ends together.
Figs. 9 and 10 shew another modification of my buffer case with single
cones between the dividing blocks; the division of the case is the same as in
Fig. 6.

page_text: All these buffer springs are shown without confining cups, but blocks of
wood or metal, similar to those described in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, with confining
or cup spaces may be used.
Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 show three modes of forming a draw
spring according to my Invention. In each case A is the india-rubber spring;
13, wood blocks; C, the draw rod, and they are so contrived as to have a
double action.
With regard to the projection for preventing the loss of the plungers, it
may be, as in the Drawings, a ring entirely round the plunger or in separate
projections. I do not claim any novelty in the projection itself, which is old,
but only in combination with the other parts of buffer cases when cast in
two or more pieces, which, by being separated, allow of the removal of the
plunger; whereas bitherto the plunger has been put into the case from
behind, so that a flange to these plungers for supporting the head could not be
used, as they may be according to my Invention.
In these buffers I have shown india-rubber springs in the form in which 1
prefer them, but any kind of known clastic substance, or steel springs in
common use, either by themselves or combined with india-rubber, may be
used.
I have shown several modes of dividing the cases, but I do not confine
myself to these precise details.
I form a bearing spring by attaching the piston block J to the axle-box of
carriage, and the plunger II to the under frame of carriage which contains the
india-rubber and blocks, as shown in Figure 8.
'
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is or may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
as my Invention any of the parts or materials aforesaid taken separately, or
the use or application of vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic substance in
combination with wood or metal for the purposes of springs; but that I claim
as my Invention the particular combinations and arrangements as herein-before
specified, as my improvements in buffing, bearing, and draw springs, and
buffer cases, for railway purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bridges, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
HENRY BRIDGES. (L.S.)