IMPROVEMENTS ON RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Johnston, of Comely Bank, near Edin-
burgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Gentleman, for
T
Sealed the 4th March 1864, and dated the 6th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Johnston at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th October 1863.
I, ALEXANDER JOHNSTON, of Comely Bank, near Edinburgh, in the County
of Mid Lothian, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS ON RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to and is intended to lessen or remove the irregular
or rocking motion from side to side which very often occurs among the
carriages in a railway train, causing annoyance and inconvenience to the
passengers and sometimes even danger, and consists of forming on each of the
flat-headed buffers of each of the carriages in the train at its outer end or head
an oval or oblong box-shaped apparatus placed on end, having the sides and
ends projecting outwards from the buffer-head, and the width just sufficient to
receive within it the opposite round buffer head belonging to the adjoining
carriage.
Or, (secondly,) I form on each of the round-headed buffers of each of the
carriages in the train at its outer end or head, a similar oval or oblong.box-

page_text: up-
shaped apparatus of width just sufficient to receive within it the opposite
flat buffer-head belonging to the adjoining carriage. All the carriages in the
train being provided with the above apparatus in one or other of its forms above
mentioned, it will be obvious that each carriage, owing to the oval or oblong
shape of the apparatus, will have freedom of motion vertically to meet the
and-down motion of the springs, but will be restrained laterally, and thus the
aforesaid irregular or rocking motion from side to side of the carriages will
be materially lessened or removed and greater steadiness of motion obtained.
(Thirdly), I also by another method attain the same object by constructing
in the face of each of the flat buffer-heads of the carriages in the train a
groove or hole of suitable shape and size to receive one end of an oblong bar or
bolt placed horizontally on edge, and having the other end projecting outwards
to enter a similar groove or hole made to receive it in the face of the opposite
round buffer-bead belonging to the adjoining carriage. The said bar or bolt
when in use will resemble a dool or key used in the construction of railway
bridges, and it should in thickness be made to correspond with and to fill up
laterally the grooves in which it is placed in the adjoining buffer-heads, but
having somewhat less breadth vertically, so as to allow each carriage in the train
to have freedom of motion vertically to meet the up-and-down motion of the
springs, but to be restrained laterally, and thus the aforesaid irregular or
rocking motion from side to side of the carriages will thereby be materially
lessened or obviated, and greater steadiness of motion obtained. I have assumed
in the above descriptions that the buffers of the railway carriages forming the
train are constructed as at present generally in use, each flat buffer-head in one
carriage being in connection with an opposite round buffer-head in the
adjoining carriage.
It will be obvious that among other advantages to be derived from these
improvements, greater security against the carriages running off the rails
will be thereby obtained, and that much extra tear and wear of the rails and
carriages will also thereby be saved.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Johnston in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEX-
ANDER JOHNSTON, of Comely Bank, near Edinburgh, in the County of Mid
Lothian, North Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Johnston, Her special license that I, the said Alex-
ander Johnston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alexander Johnston, my executors, administrators, or 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 ON RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Johnston, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand
and seal of one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Alexander Johnston, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to and is intended to lessen or remove the irregular
or rocking motion from side to side, which very often occurs among the car-
riages in a railway train, causing annoyance and inconvenience to the passengers,
and sometimes even danger; and it consists in applying to the buffer-beads of
railway carriages one or other of the several kinds of apparatus or modifications
of mechanism herein-after specified and described in relation to the several
Figures on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, by which each carriage of
the train is allowed to have the usual vertical motion on its springs, but is
restrained from irregular, lateral, or rocking motion by the adjacent carriages,
one at each end of it, through such of these improved buffer arrangements as
they are fitted or furnished with; and thus the aforesaid irregular or rocking
motion from side to side of the carriages of a railway train when running at
high speeds is thereby materially lessened or removed, and greater steadiness
of motion attained.
And in order that my said Invention of improvements on railway carriages

page_text: may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to particularly describe the
same, and the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings, which
I have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing certain modifications
under which my improvements may be judiciously carried out in practice, that
is to say:
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a side elevation of
part of a train of railway carriages shown as fitted with various buffer
arrangements or mechanism in accordance with this Invention. Figure 2 is a
plan of part of the same, showing the coupled ends of the under or main
frames of a "passengers' luggage van" and second-class railway carriage,
showing two different modifications or arrangements of buffers in accordance
with this Invention, as applicable to the buffers and buffer rods or spindles of
railway carriages as at present constructed; and Figure 3 is a similar plan of
the other end of the same second-class carriage frame, coupled to that of a first-
class carriage frame, showing another arrangement of buffers as constructed
in accordance with these improvements, but more particularly designed for
being applied to new carriages, as this modification involves greater changes
in the construction of the buffer-heads. Figure 4 is an end elevation of the
buffers and buffer-beam of the luggage van corresponding to Figures 1 and 2;
and Figure 5 is a similar end view, but shown as fitted with a rectangular
buffer guide box arrangement. Figures 6 to 14 are detailed sectional views.
drawn to a large scale to illustrate the details of construction of the several
modifications of this Invention more clearly than in the general views shown
to a small scale in Figures 1 to 5, and they will be more particularly named
and described hereafter in the body of the Specification.
Referring to Figures to 5, A is part of the main or under frame of a
luggage van; B, the under frame of a second-class carriage; and C is part of
the under frame of a first-class carriage; similar parts in these Figures being
indicated by corresponding letters of reference. To the end or buffer beam of
the frame A are attached box buffers of the ordinary construction, and to the
exterior flange a of the flat-ended or headed buffer, by preference, is attached
an elongated lateral guide chamber D formed of cast iron, but they might be
cast in one with the outer ends of such buffers, and they might also be formed
of "cast malleable iron," or steel, or of homogeneous metal of the form and
construction as shown in side elevation in Figure 1, in half plan and horizontal
section in. Figure 2, and in end elevation in two forms in Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same arrangement of box
buffer guide or chamber D, shown as fitted and applied to the heads or outer.
ends of the ordinary buffer rods of railway carriages, Figure 7 being a trans-

page_text: verse vertical section of the same taken on the dotted line 1, 1, in Figure 6, and
Figure 8 is a horizontal section of the same corresponding to Figure 6. This
guide chamber or box D is of an open parallel oblong shape vertically,
arched or semicircular at top and bottom (or of an oval-like form) as seen
more particularly in Figures 4 and 7, with a flat vertical end d' at the back,
where it is firmly secured by bolts or rivets to the flanged heads of the box
buffers or buffer rods of railway wagons, vans, or carriages, as shown at a
and b, in Figures 1 to 8, and, by preference, these guide chambers D are
attached to the diagonally opposite flat-ended buffers d, so that the round-
ended buffers E of the reverse diagonal corners of the adjoining carriages
shall always come opposite the chambers D, which are made bell-mouthed,
and of an internal lateral width equal to the diameter of the round-ended
buffers E, and thus allowing freedom to the carriages in their vertical motion
on the springs, but preventing to a very great extent, or removing the present
irregular lateral motion from side to side of the individual carriages of a train
in rapid motion, as each is held steady or stayed laterally by its guide
chambers or boxes D, and those of its two adjoining or adjacent carriages, one
at each end. The flat-ended buffer d, of the ordinary construction, is secured
at the innermost end of the guide box D, against which the usual round
buffer-head E of the adjoining carriage abuts.
In Figure 5 is shown a modification of the guide box D, of a rectangular
shape, with the top and bottom flat instead of semicircular, strengthened
round the outer rim by a malleable iron band shrunk on when heated. In
the modifications of "guide buffer box or chamber," shown at D, in Figures
1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8, the belts or bands shown round the outer circum-
ference are formed in one with the body of the "guide buffer box or chamber"
for strength, lightness, and relief in the outward appearance of the chamber.
An iron friction plate with two-kneed sides E¹ is secured by bolts or rivets to
the flange of the round-headed buffer E, in these arrangements, as seen more
particularly in the enlarged views, Figure 6, 7, and 8, for the purpose of
lessening the wear on the sides of the round buffer-heads which would take
place if formed wholly of wood, from the constant vertical motion inside the
guides D, together with the lateral strain caused by preventing the motion
from side to side of the carriages when running at high speeds.
Another modification of this arrangement is shown in half plan and
horizontal section in Figure 2, formed of malleable iron to illustrate another
mode of constructing the guide box, the body of it, D', in this case being formed
of a broad welded band or plate of iron in the form of an oblong ring, with
semicircular ends, and strongly riveted to a flat end plate b¹, through an angle

page_text: iron hoop or ring c, of the same shape as the body D', the whole being then
fixed by bolts or rivets passed through the end plate b¹, and the flange 6 of
the buffer rod, as described in relation to the solid cast-iron box at a and b,
Figures 9, 10, and 11 are respectively a side elevation, transverse, vertical
and horizontal sections to a large scale of another modification of box or guide
for encompassing the buffer-heads, so as to lessen or prevent irregular lateral
motion of the carriages; it consists in forming two broad sides or forks D³
projecting out longitudinally from a disc d², sufficiently long to receive the
round-headed buffer E, the discs and prongs being secured by a strong eye
or boss to the outer end of the rod of the flat ended buffer, as seen in these
Figures, or the disc d², without any boss or eye, might be bolted or riveted
to the ordinary flanges of the buffers or buffer rods, as described in regard to
the box forms shown at D and D¹. This modification of buffer guide acts in
the same way, and is merely a slight modification of the buffer guide box D
and D herein-before described, and formed as it were by cutting away their
top and bottom arches, which join and strengthen their two sides; but to make
up for that in this arrangement the cheeks D are made stronger and deep
enough to resist the lateral strain and admit of the round-headed buffers E-
working freely vertically between them, but obstructing or preventing the
injurious lateral motion from side to side of the carriages at present felt when
the train is in rapid motion. From the fact of the chambers being elongated
vertically, the natural perpendicularly reciprocating motion of the carriages,
vans, or wagons upon their springs is the consequent result, one buffer guide
box or chamber D on each end of each carriage forming lateral guides to it
and its adjoining and connected carriages, one on each end, thereby obviating
the present irregular lateral motion so unpleasant to passengers, and so very
injurious to the permanence of both rolling and fixed plant. I prefer in
all cases to affix these guide boxes or chambers, or modifications of them, to
the flat buffer-beads, but they may also be fixed to the rounded buffer-heads.
Having particularly described several modifications of my Invention relating
to and designed and arranged more particularly to suit and be attached to the
buffers and buffer rods of railway carriages, vans, and wagons as at present
constructed and in use, but which may be also applied to new rolling stock,
I shall now proceed to describe another modification or arrangement of my
Invention, more particularly designed and intended to be used and applied
to new carriages and other rolling plant involving greater changes in the form
of the heads of buffers and buffer rods, but which may also be applied to
rolling stock now in use. and is shown at G, in side elevation in Figure 1, in
plan and horizontal section in Figure 3, and in enlarged vertical and

page_text: horizontal sections respectively in Figures 12 and 13. Figure 14 being an end
view of the flat-headed buffer of the same arrangement corresponding to Figure
12. In this arrangement the outer end of the buffer rod, by preference the
one having the flat end or head H, is formed with a slightly enlarged hollow
boss I, projecting out in front of the flange, to which the flat wood buffer
block is secured, and also to a slight extent behind the same flange. The
recess formed in the boss I is of a vertical rectangular shape, as seen par-
ticularly in the end view, Figure 14, having a flat dowel shaped guide rod,,
tongue, or key J, fitting it easily laterally, but having perfect freedom of motion
vertically. This tongue, guide rod, or pin is made to project considerably out,
beyond the buffer-head II, and its recessed boss J, so as to enter and fit a
similar but somewhat deeper vertical rectangular recess I, formed in a boss
projecting out from the face of the flange of the round-ended buffer L; it is
rounded at the outer end, as seen in the enlarged longitudinal section, Figure
12, and slightly tapered or wedge shaped laterally at each end, and the grooves,
or slots I and I which receive it are enlarged at their inner ends laterally, as
seen in Figure 13, to allow of a slight lateral movement (as on a joint
hinge) of the carriages when passing curves, which may also sometimes be
found convenient. Should the recess in the buffer of a carriage to which
another carriage is about to be coupled not coincide laterally with it, in this
case the tongue can be shifted until it enters the recess or cavity, which is also
made slightly rounded at its outer end to enable the tongue to enter with
more facility. Or instead of employing a tongue or dowel having flat sides,
one made of a circular, elliptical, or any other shape that may be found
practically convenient, may also be used. The tongue, dowel, or key J, is by
preference joined very loosely by a pin K at its inner end, passing through it
and the boss I behind the flange of the flat buffer-head H, so as to admit of
its having perfect freedom of motion and yet prevent it from falling out in
shifting the carriages singly from place to place, but it might be attached to
the buffer-head in any other convenient manner. This modification of my Inven-,
tion while it obviates the injurious lateral motion of the carriages allows of their
perpendicular reciprocating motion on their springs, as before described in
relation to the first modifications. Thus in this modification the buffers of
each carriage in a railway train are alternately fitted with a guide bar or pin J
and recessed boss 1', at each right and left hand corner respectively, each
guide bar or pin working freely vertically, but fitting laterally into the corre-
sponding recess or hollow boss, allowing of the natural vertically reciprocating
motion on the springs, but at the same time considerably diminishing or:

page_text: removing the injurious lateral motion of the carriages from side to side when
running at high speeds, as stated in regard to the other modifications herein-
before described.
The lateral guide apparatus herein-before described may also with the same
view and for the same purpose (of preventing irregular lateral motion in
railway carriages, vans, or wagons), as herein-before mentioned, under such
modifications as may be found necessary, be applied to the ends or end framing
of railway carriages, wagons, and vans, by means of brackets (of cast or
malleable iron), bolted or riveted thereon, or additional framing, either below
or above, or at either side, but so as not to interfere with the draw bar gear
or tackle.
It will be obvious that, among other advantages to be derived from these
improvements, greater steadiness of motion in the train, and greater security
against the carriages running off the rails will be thereby obtained, and much
extra tear and wear of the rails and carriages will also thereby be saved.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself to
the precise details, provided that the peculiar nature of the Invention be
adhered to, but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim
as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,
First, the application of chambers, boxes, or lateral guide apparatus to the
heads of buffers and buffer rods of railway carriages, vans, or wagons, for the
purpose of allowing free vertical motion, and at the same time restraining,
lessening, or removing the injurious lateral or rocking motion from side to
side of the same, substantially as herein-before described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
Second, the application and use of projecting pins, guide bars, keys, or
dowel bolts to the heads of buffers and buffer rods of railway carriages, vans,
and wagons, in such manner that they shall enter recesses in the opposite
buffer-heads of their adjoining carriages, whereby the free vertical motion of
the carriages on their springs is amply allowed for, and the injurious lateral or
rocking motion prevented or lessened, and greater steadiness of motion in
railway trains obtained, as herein-before described and shown in the accom-
panying Drawings or any mere modification of the same.
Third, the application and use of chambers, boxes, or guide apparatus to
the ends or end framing of railway carriages, vans, or wagons, and separate

page_text: or distinct from the buffers or buffer-heads, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Johnston, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
ALEXANDER JOHNSTON. (L.S.)
ALEXANDER JOHNSTON. (L.S.)