IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE SPRINGS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Josias Catterson, of Islington, in tho
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE SPRINGS."
Scaled the 12th May 1854, and dated the 15th November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Josias
Catterson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th November 1853.
I, JOHN JOSIAS CATTERSON, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE SPRINGS" to be as follows:-
I combine together two long single springs with one double spring
as shown in Figure 1, which is an elevation, and in Figure 2, which is
a plan shewing one of my improvements; A, is one long single spring,
and B, is the other; they are fixed to the framing of the carriage at
a and b. C, is the double spring fixed in the centre to the axle D,
and connected at the ends c and d to the springs A and B. The sprin
C may be made in various ways: thus it may be made of two short
single springs fixed to the axle as shewn separately in plan in Figure
3, or it may be one long spring curved as shewn in Figure 4, or placed

page_text: diagonally as shewn in Figure 5, or it may be placed parallel to the
springs A and B, as in Figure 6, the ends of the long springs being
suitably shaped for attaching them to it, or the springs A, and B,
may be placed sufficiently far apart, as shown in Figure 7, to enable
their ends to be connected to the opposite ends and on opposite sides
of the spring C, and other similar modifications may be made.
Another arrangement of the three springs consists in placing one of the
long single springs A above, and the other B below the spring C, as
shewn in elevation in Figure 8, and in plan in Figure 9. Figure 10 is an
elevation, and Figure 11 is a plan, of six springs arranged on a similar
principle. A, A, and B, B, are the long single springs, and C, C, are
the double springs attached to the axle D. These springs C, C, are
placed at right angles to the springs A, B, instead of parallel with
them, or nearly so, as in the previous arrangements. These various
arrangements may be placed longitudinally or transversely to the
carriage, or may be inverted if preferred, the framing being constructed
accordingly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Josias Catterson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN JOSIAS CATTERSON, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said John Josias Catterson,
Her special licence that I, the said John Josias Catterson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Josias Catterson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at

page_text: all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and law-
fully 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 CARRIAGE SPRINGS," upon the condition,
(amongst others) that I, the said John Josias Catterson, by an in-
strument 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 John Josias Catterson, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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 thereof, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:
I combine together two long single springs with one double spring,
or four long single springs with two double springs, in manner herein-
after described. And I wish it to be understood that by a "double
spring" I mean a spring fixed at or near its centre, and having two
elastic arms; and that by the term "a long single spring" I mean a
spring which is fixed at one end, and has therefore only one elastic arm,
and is of a length exceeding one half of that of the double spring which
is applied in combination with it.
Figure 1 in the accompanying Drawing is an elevation shewing one
of my improvements. Figure 2 is a plan of the same. A, is a long
single spring fixed to the framing of the carriage at a. B, is a similar
long single spring fixed to the framing at b. C, is a double spring, the
centre of which is fixed to the axle D. This spring C may be con-
structed in various different manners: thus it may be made of two
single springs fixed to the axle as shewn separately in plan in Figure 3,
or it may be one long spring curved as shewn in Figure 4, or placed
diagonally as shewn in Figure 5, or the spring C may be a straight
spring placed parallel to the long single springs A and B, as shewn by
the dotted lines in Figure 6, and the ends of the long springs may be

page_text: curved or bent to facilitate the connection of them to the ends of the
double spring, or the two long single springs A, and B, may be
placed sufficiently far apart, as shewn in Figure 7, to permit of their
ends being connected to the opposite ends and on opposite sides of the
spring C. Various other similar modifications may be made. Figure 8
is a plan shewing an axle D, with a set of springs similar to those
shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, at each end of the axle.
Another arrangement of the two long single springs A, and B, and
the double spring C, is shewn in clevation in Figure 9, and in plan in
Figure 10. One of the long single springs A is placed above the
spring C, and the other single spring B is placed below the spring C,
so that in this arrangement all the three springs are in the same plane.
Figure 11 is an elevation, and Figure 12 is a plan of an arrangement
of six springs, somewhat similar to that shewn in Figure 8, but with
the double springs C, C', placed at right angles, instead of parallel, or
nearly so, to the long single springs A, B, and A', B. Thus the springs
A, A', are connected to the double spring C, and the springs B, B', are
connected to the double spring C. The double springs C, and C, are
connected to the axle D, as before, so that the long single springs are
arranged transversely to the carriage, instead of being placed in the
direction of its length, as in Figure 8. Figure 13 is an elevation, and
Figure 14 is a plan of an arrangement of six springs, in which the
double springs C are fixed to the axle D, as before, and the long single
springs A, A, are placed over them, as in Figure 8, while the springs
B, B, are placed transversely to the carriage, as in Figures 11, and 12.
The letters a, and b, indicate the parts of the springs which are fastened
to the carriage.
It will be seen that the amount of elasticity is similar at each end of
the springs C in all the arrangements, and consists of the clasticity of
half the spring C, together with that of one of the long single springs.
The springs are represented in the Drawing as applied to the axles of
ordinary two-wheeled or four-wheeled carriages, which axles do not
revolve. In applying them to railway carriages the springs C would
rest upon the axle boxes, instead of being attached to the axles.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim is,-
Firstly, the combination of one double spring with two long single
springs placed side by side, as herein-before described in reference to
Figures 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8, or one above the other, as in Figures 9,
and 10.
Secondly, the combination of two double springs with four long
single springs arranged side by side in pairs, as in Figures 11, and 12,
or two of which are arranged side by side, and the other two placed
over the double springs, as in Figures 13, and 14, in manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Josias Catterson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
0
Witness,
CHARLES COWPER,
JOHN JOSIAS CATTERSON. (L.S.)
20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.