Iм- PROVEMENTS IN UK CONNECTED WITH BUFFERS FOR RAH RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Dugald Drummond, of Cowlairs, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "Iм-
PROVEMENTS
IN UK
CONNECTED WITH BUFFERS FOR RAH
RAILWAY
ROLLING STOCK.
Sealed the 25th February 1876, and dated the 30th August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Dugald Drummond
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th August 1875.
I, DUGALD DRUMMOND, of Cowlairs, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY ROLLING
STOCK," to be as follows, that is to say:-
-
This Invention has principally for its object to reduce the heavy tear
and wear of railway rolling stock which, under the system of fitting and
applying buffers at present almost universally in use, arises from the
strains from the buffing action taking effect on the carriage or wagon
framing.

page_text: The Invention consists in fixing the casings containing any known
kind or arrangement of volute or other metal springs or rubber springs,
or springs of metal combined with rubber or other elastic material, at
the middles of the side frames or "side soles," and in connecting the
plungers which bear on the springs by long rods to the buffer heads.
The casings are made open backed, and the two for the opposite ends of
each side are fixed back to back, and with nothing or at most a movable
disc between the springs of each. With this arrangement any ordinary
concussion takes effect for the most part between the buffer rods and not
on the carriage or wagon framing.
The arrangement has the further advantage, as compared with some
existing buffer-a
-arrangements, of allowing space for a better and more
convenient mode of fitting and applying the draw bars and their springs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Dugald Drummond in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PREŞENTS SHALL COME, 'I, DUGALD
DRUMMOND, of Cowlairs, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Dugald Drummond, Her special
licence, that I, the said Dugald Drummond, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Dugald Drummond,
my executors, administrators, and assigns; should at any time agrec
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 OR CONNECTED WITH BUFFERS FOR RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Dugald

page_text: Drummond, 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 Dugald Drummond, 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 following statement in writing, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say:
My said Invention has principally for its object to reduce the heavy
tear and wear of railway rolling stock which, under the system of fitting
and applying buffers at present almost universally in use, arises from.
the strains from the buffing action taking effect on the carriage or wagon
framing.
•
My Invention consists in fixing the casings containing any known
kind or arrangement of volute or other suitable metal springs, or rubber
springs, or springs of metal combined with rubber or other non-metallic
elastic material, at the middles of the side frames or "side soles," the
casings being made open backed, and fixed back to back, so that any
ordinary concussion takes effect for the most part between the buffers,
buffer rods and springs, and not on the carriage or wagon framing.
My improved arrangement has the further advantage, as compared.
with some existing arrangements, of allowing space for a better and
morc convenient mode of fitting and applying the draw bars and their
springs.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing a
railway carriage sole frame as fitted with my improved buffer details.
In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the
same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 is a plan of the carriage sole framing, showing the complete
buffer and draw bar arrangements. Figure 2 is an enlarged horizontal

page_text: section showing one compound set of the buffer springs and their
casings; and Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal section explanatory of
the mode of applying the draw bar springs. The buffer heads 4 are
formed with long rods 5, passing through external guide trunks 6, and
through the frame 7, to the middle compartment of the frame, where
each rod 5 is socketed and keyed into the hollow plunger or movable
part 8, working in a casing 9, which is bolted to the side frame, or
sole 10. The two casings 9, 9, for one side are fixed with their backs
which are open close to each other, and when the springs in one casing
are compressed they act on the springs in the other casing, and through
them on the buffer rod 5 at the opposite end of the framing, and exert
no strain on the framing until the opposite buffer has been forced out
as far as it can go.
The compound arrangement of springs shown for each side comprises
a central rubber ring 11, having next to it on each side an iron disc 12,
between which and the end there are a pair of conic volute steel
springs 13, 14, separated by an iron disc 15. The draw bars 16 pass.
through the centres of discs 17, connected to each other and forged in.
one piece with a pair of rods 18. A conic volute spring 19 is placed
on each draw bar, between the disc 17 and a washer 20, fixed on the
inner end of the draw bar by a screw nut, and a boss or tube 21 is
formed on the washer or a separate tube is put on the bar to limit the
extent to which the spring can be compressed.
·
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the
manner of performing the samé, I have to state that I do not claim
generally the combining of buffer springs, so that the strain is trans-
mitted from the buffers at one end to those at the other end of a carriage
or wagon, as I am aware that certain unsatisfactory plans have been
proposed or tried for obtaining such an effect; but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The fixing and arranging of combined buffer springs, casings, and
plungers at the middle part of a carriage or wagon framing, so that
strains acting on the buffer heads at one end of the framing are
transmitted through the buffer rods and springs to the buffer heads at
the other end, as herein-before described.

page_text: 2. The combining of the improved arrangement of buffers and their
springs with the arrangement of draw bars and their springs, herein
described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Dugald Drummond, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six: