AN IMPROVED SPRING OR IMPROVED SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES.
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Pimlott Oates, of Lichfield, in the
County of Stafford; Surgeon; for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
SPRING OR IMPROVED SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES.".
*PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Joseph Pimlott
Oates at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, 'with his
* Petition, on the 13th October 1852. T
I, JOSEPH PIMLOTT OATES,. do hereby declare the nature of the
5said Invention- for. AN IMPROVED SPRING OR IMPROVED SPRINGS.* FOR
CARRIAGES" to be as follows:-
My improved spring consists of a series of rings or bands of
vulcanised caoutchouc placed upon two rods or axes, and held
between plates secured. upon the said axes. When the said "spring
0 is used for carriages, the body of the carriage 'is hung on the lower
-axis, and the upper axis is attached to the frame of the carriage.
When the said spring is used for railway buffers, one of the said axes
is connected with the said buffers, and the other with the framing of
the carriage. The said rings or bands of vulcanised caoutchouc may
5 be circular oi elliptical or of any other convenient figure, and I prefer
placing them side by side, so that the planes of the said rings shall
be perpendicular to the axes of the rods on which they are placed.
I sometimes construct my improved spring by cutting rings from

page_text: vulcanised caoutchouc tubing, the said rings being of such sizes that
they may be placed, in one another, and I place a series of the said
concentric rings upon the rods or axes above mentioned; but I do not
limit myself to the precise method of using the said rings or bands,
the essence of my Invention consisting in obtaining elasticity by the
extension of the said rings or bands, instead of by the compression of
caoutchouc, and applying the same to carriage springs and buffers for
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Pimlott Oates in the Great Scal Patent
-Office, on the 8th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH PIMLOTT OATES, of Lichfield, in the County of Stafford, Surgeon,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates, Her especial license
that I, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates,.
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 In-
vention for "AN IMPROVED SPRING OR IMPROVED SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Pimlott
Oates, by an instrument 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 Joseph Pimlott Oates, do hereby

page_text: declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:
My Invention consists in making springs for carriages (in the
manner herein-after particularly explained) of vulcanised caoutchouc or
india-rubber, that is to say, of caoutchouc or india-rubber treated with
sulphur, or treated in any other way whereby it is rendered permanently
elastic; and when I herein-after use the word caoutchouc I wish it to
be understood that I mean caoutchouc which has been so treated, as
well as that which has not.
The Drawing represents various methods of carrying my Invention
into effect. I usually construct my improved springs of a series of
perforated discs or washers of caoutchouc placed side by side, and I
sometimes construct them of short concentric tubes placed within one
another, or a combination of both. Figure 1, represents a spring
constructed according to the former, and Figure 2, a spring constructed
according to the latter method of construction. a, a, Figure 1, åre a
series of rings, washers, or perforated dises of caoutchouc placed face to
face so as to form a compound spring; one of the discs is shewn in front
view at a. b, b, Figure 2, the several concentric layers of one of my
springs, when the same are made by placing short pieces of different sized
tubes within one another. The spring constructed according to either.
of the methods represented in Figures 1, and 2, is mounted upon two
axles, as shewn in Figure 3; one of these axles is represented separately
in Figure 4; circular plates c, c, are fixed on the ends of the axles to
keep the rings of caoutchouc in their place on the said axles. When
the said springs are used for carriages, the body of the carriages is hung
on the lower axis, and the upper axis is attached to the frame of the
said carriage.
'
In applying my Invention to the buffers of railway carriages I
proceed as follows:-I attach the rods of the said buffers to a cross
piece d, d, as represented in Figure 5, which said Figure represents
in plan the frame and buffers of a railway carriage to which my
Invention is applied.

page_text: The said cross piece d, is parallel to a second fixed cross piccc e,
attached to the frame f, of the carriage. The ends d, e, of the said
cross pieces have a semi-cylindrical figure, so that when the ends of tho
moveable and fixed cross pieces are brought into contact, as shown in
the cross pieces at the end g, of the carriage, Figure 5, they form
cylindrical core, on which the rings of caoutchouc a, a, are placed, the
said rings being preserved in their places by semicircular flanges h, h;-
on the application of pressure to the buffers the cross pieces d, e,.
separate, and the rings of caoutchouc expand, as shown at the end i, of
Figure 5.
Figure 6, represents in end view the flanges of the cross pieces d, e,
and the rings of caoutchouc. I sometimes (in the construction of safety
breaks, for instance,) carry my Invention into effect in the ways repre-
sented in.Figures 7, and 8; that is to say, I sometimes use a spring made:
by combining two of the springs represented in Figure 3; one of the
axles.of each of the said springs h, k, are joined together by their flanges.
1,1, as represented in the said Figures 7, and 8, and the said double.
spring is sometimes used in the manner represented in the Figure 7;.
that is to say, the outer ends m, m, of the two springs are affixed to tho
stationary or non-yielding body, and the yielding body to the centic'n;
and the said double spring is sometimes used in the manner represented
in Figure 8; that is to say, the fixed or non-yielding body is attached to
the centre n, and the yielding body to the ends m, m, of the said double
spring.
I sometimes make a. double or compound spring in the manner
illustrated in Figure 9, and which said spring may be used in the ways,
described with reference to the double springs, Figures 7, and 8. The
spring. Figure 9, consists of three flanged axles o, p, q, and two sets of
caoutchouc rings, one set being put upon each of the outer axles 0, 1,
but both sets being hung upon the middle axle p, the said two sets
of caoutchouc rings alternating upon the said middle axle p.
.
I sometimes modify my improved spring so as to make it applicable
to carriages in which steel springs are used.. When so applied my
Invention has the advantage of preventing or diminishing the tremor
which is usually observed in carriages baving steel springs.
This modification of my Invention consists in placing within the iron

page_text: link 1, Figure 10, by which said link the body and springs of a car-
riage are connected, a lining or ring of caoutchouc s; the pins which
pass through the said link have their bearing against the said caoutchouc
ring or linings, and the tremor of the springs is not transmitted to the
carriage owing to the imperfect manner in which caoutchouc transmits
vibrations.
I sometimes modify this last-described part of my Invention in the
manner illustrated in Figure 11; that is to say, I put caoutchouc rings
t, t, round the pins u, u, instead of lining the link v, with the said
caoutchouc.
Пaving now described the nature of my said Invention, I wish it
to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise methods of
carrying my Invention into effect herein-before described and represented
in the accompanying Drawing, as the sanic may be varied without
departing from the nature of my said Invention. But I claim,-
Firstly, the construction of springs for carriages and railway buffers
in the manner herein-before described, and represented in Figures 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, of the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, the construction of springs (to be used in carriages having
metallic springs) to intercept the vibration of the metallic springs of
the said carriages, and prevent the communication of the said vibration
to the said carriage, as herein-before described, and represented in
Figures 10, and 11, of the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSEPHI PIMLOTT OATES. (L.S.)