IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFERS, DRAW SPRINGS, AND BEARING SPRINGS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Sterne, of Old Broad Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFERS, DRAW
SPRINGS, AND BEARING SPRINGS."-Partly a communication from abroad by
Sealed the 27th July 1866, and dated the 30th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Sterne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
January 1866.
I, LOUIS STERNE, of Old Broad Street, in the City of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BUFFERS, DRAW SPRINGS, AND BEARING SPRINGS." to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to those buffers in which a plunger or piston on
the rear of the buffer rod works in a box closed except for the passage of the
rod.
The Invention consists in fitting inside the box one or several apparatus
constructed as hereafter described. I take discs of hard india-rubber or
ebonite, and introduce between them alternate rings of soft india-rubber, which
I unite to the discs during the process of vulcanization or otherwise. The
hard rubber discs are of the same or nearly the same diameter as the inner
diameter of the box, while the soft rubber rings are of smaller diameter. The
inner periphery of the soft rubber rings is by preference V-shaped. I form

page_text: the inner discs of each apparatus with an aperture through the middle, while
I prefer the outer discs to be solid. The space contained within the rings and
discs acts as an air buffer. The spaces between the outside of the rings and
the sides of the box may be filled with woollen waste or other suitable soft
material. Upon force being exerted upon the buffer head the plunger is
driven in and compresses the soft rubber rings, forcing them outwards against or
towards the sides of the box, the air within the rings at the same time exerts
a buffing action. When the force is removed or expended the rings and the
air by returning to their normal position push the plunger to its first position
at the front of the box. I have supposed the box to be circular in section;
it may, however, be rectangular or other shape, in which case the hard and
soft rubber must be of corresponding shape. Metal or other suitable hard
material may be substituted for the hard rubber.
This Invention is also applicable to draw springs and bearing springs, the
rod carrying the plunger being connected to the draw bar or attached to the
body of the carriage, as the case may be.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Sterne in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
STERNE, of Old Broad Street, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto mo
the said Louis Sterne, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Sterne, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis
Sterne, 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 BUPPERS, DRAW
SPRINGS, AND BEARING SPRINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Louis Sterne, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly

page_text: 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 Louis Sterne, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
This Invention relates to those buffers in which a plunger or piston on the
rear end of the buffer rod works in a box closed except for the passage of
the rod.
The Invention consists in fitting inside the box one or several apparatus
constructed as hereafter described. I take discs of hard india-rubber, or
vulcanite, or ebonite, and introduce between them alternate rings of soft india-
rubber, which I unito to the discs during the process of vulcanization or
otherwise. The hard rubber discs are of the same or nearly the same diameter
as the inner diameter of the box, while the soft rubber rings are of smaller
diameter. The inner periphery of the soft rubber rings is by preference
V-shaped. I form the inner discs of each apparatus with an aperture through
the middle, while I prefer the outer discs to be solid. The space contained
within the rings and discs acts as an air buffer. The spaces between the
outside of the rings and the sides of the box may be filled with woollen
waste or other suitable soft material.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal section of a
buffer constructed according to this Invention. A, A, is a cylindrical box
closed except for the passage of the buffer rod B; C is tho buffer head, and
D is a plunger or piston on the opposite end of the buffer rod B, and working
in the box A.
In the box A three apparatus constructed according to this Invention are
fitted, but any other convenient number may be employed according to the
purpose for which the buffer is to be applied. Each of these apparatus as
shown in the Drawings consists of three discs a, a, b, of hard india-rubber, or
vulcanite, or ebonite, and of two rings c, c, introduced between the discs, these
rings are united to the discs by preference during the process of vulcanization.
The discs a, a, b, are of the same or nearly the same diameter as the inner
diameter of the box A, while the rings c, c, are of smaller diameter, their
inner periphery being by preference V-shaped as shown, and their outer
periphery slightly hollowed. The inner disc 6 of each apparatus is formed

page_text: with an aperture through the middle, and the outer discs a, a, are solid;
any desirable number of inner discs 6 with apertures through the middle may
be employed, each two adjoining discs being separated by a soft rubber ring c.
The spaces d, d, contained within the rings c, c, and the discs a, a, b, act as air
buffers. The spaces e, e, between the outside of the rings c, c, and the side of the
box A may if desired be filled with woollen waste or other suitable soft material.
Upon force being exerted upon the buffer head C the plunger D is driven in
and compresses the soft rubber rings c; the air in the spaces d, d, at the same
time acts as an air cushion or pneumatic buffer. When the force is removed
or expended the rings c and the air by returning to their normal position
push the plunger D to its first position at the front of the box A. I have
described the buffer as being placed to act in a horizontal direction as for rail-
way purposes, but for some other purposes, as for cranes, it will be placed to act
vertically or otherwise. I have supposed the box A to be cylindrical, it may,
however, be rectangular or other desired shape, in which the case the hard rubber
a, a, b, and the soft rubber c will be by preference of corresponding shape.
Figure 2 represents in section, and Figure 3 in plan an apparatus, or portion
of an apparatus, in which I employ an outer ring and an inner ring, both of
soft rubber, between the same pair of hard rubber discs. c, c¹, are the two soft
rubber rings, and fis an annular space between them forming an air chamber;
b, b, are the hard rubber discs. The space d contains air, and acts as an air
cushion; in this case all the hard rubber discs may be open in the centre for
a rod to pass through if desired, and it will still act as a pneumatic rubber
buffer as before explained.
This Invention is also applicable to draw springs and bearing springs, the
rod carrying the plunger being connected to the draw bar or attached to the
body of the carriage as the case may be.
Figure 4 is a vertical section showing a bearing spring of a railway carriage
constructed according to my Invention. C is a frame connected to the
carriage body; B is a rod depending therefrom and carrying a plunger or
piston D, which works in a box A; the rod B moves in a vertical guide B¹.
In the box A is fitted an apparatus composed of five hard rubber discs, and
of four soft rubber rings c interposed between them as before explained. The
two outer discs a are solid, and the three inner discs 6 have cach an aperture
formed in the middle thereof. E is the carriage axle; the action is the same
as herein-before described in reference to the buffers. In some cases I dispense
with the plunger or piston D; the end disc a then acts as a plunger. Instead
of the discs a, b, being made of hard india-rubber, or vulcanite, or ebonite,
they may be made of brass, iron coated with brass by means of the galvanic

page_text: process or by other means, or they may be made of any other suitable metal
or hard material.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
buffers, draw springs, and bearing springs with one or several apparatus
composed of alternate discs of hard india-rubber or metal, or other suitable
hard material, and rings or other open form of soft india-rubber, arranged
and acting substantially as herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whercof, I, the said Louis Sterne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.
L. STERNE. (L.S.)