IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BUFFERS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Henry Cooper, of Slough, in the County
of Bucks, Physician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
BUFFERS."
Sealed the 31st May 1867, and dated the 11th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Henry Cooper
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th December 1866.
1, THOMAS HENRY COOPER, of Slough, in the County of Bucks, Physician,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY BUFFERS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to mitigate the evils arising from railway
collisions. From careful examination into the results of collisions, I have
been led to attribute much of the evils arising therefrom to the rebound of
the buffers; I therefore propose to prevent such rebound, while at the
same time the buffers have free yielding play allowed them; this end I attain
by causing the buffers when driven home to be temporarily locked. The
means for attaining this end, and also the automatic release of the buffers
may be varied, but a convenient arrangement will be the following:-Pro-
jecting from the side of each buffer rod is a tooth which takes into a helical
groove in a spindle mounted in the carriage frame parallel to the buffer rod.
On one end of this spindle is keyed a worm which gears into a worm wheel
carried by a stud axle, and having upon its boss a ratchet wheel; as, there-

page_text: fore, the buffer is driven in it will impart an axial motion through the worm
and worm wheel to the ratchet wheel, and a pawl being provided to take into
the teeth of this ratchet wheel, the back motion of the parts consequent on
the recoil motion of the buffer after it had completed its inward motion will
be arrested immediately, and no rebound will take place. By connecting the
pawls with the draw rods of the carriages they may be thrown out of action
by the power of the engine, and the several buffers of the train will then be
free to regain their normal position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Henry Cooper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HENRY COOPER, of Slough, in the County of Bucks, Physician, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Henry Cooper, Her special licence that I, the said
Thomas Henry Cooper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Henry Cooper, 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 RAILWAY BUFFERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Henry Cooper, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their bands 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 Thomas Henry Cooper, 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.

page_text: following statement, reference being bad to the Drawing hereunto annexed,'
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to mitigate the evils arising from railway
collisions. From careful examination into the results of collisions I have
been led to attribute much of the evils arising therefrom to the rebound of
the buffers; I therefore propose to prevent such rebound, while at the same
time the buffers have free yielding play allowed them. The difficulty hitherto
attendant on the plans suggested for preventing the rebound of the buffers by
temporarily locking them when driven home has been the want of suitable
means for releasing them and returning them gradually to their original
position.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn an arrangement of apparatus
which will enable me not only to lock the buffers on the occurrence of a
collision, but also to release them automatically, and return them without
rebound to their original positions.
The accompanying Drawing shews the application of my Invention to the
under framing of two railway carriages fitted with the ordinary arrange-
ment of buffers and buffer springs, the whole being represented in plan
view.
A, A, are the ordinary frames; B, B, are the buffer rods fitted as usual
with buffer heads C, C, and receiving at their inner ends the pressure of the
buffer springs D, D, which bear upon the blocks E attached to the inner end
of the buffer rods; these rods are each provided with ratchet teeth a, a, into
which take respectively pawls b, b; these pawls rock upon fulcrum pins c
carried by brackets attached to the cross bars A* of the framing, and they are
pressed forward and held in the proper position for taking into the ratchet
teeth a by means of springs f. In brackets attached to the same bar are
mounted chain wheels done on either side of the draw bar or rod F; over
these wheels d are passed chains e, e, which are connected at one end to the.
draw rods and at the other to the pawls b. The ratchet teeth are so situated
that the buffers will be free to act to a limited extent without bringing the
locking apparatus into action, but when a collision of the buffers occurs of
more than ordinary severity, or of a nature to cause violent rebound, and
thereby shake and injure the passengers of the train or trains thus coming
into collision the pawls will catch into the ratchet teeth and lock the buffers,
and thus prevent the recoil or back motion of the buffers; when, however, tho
engine is ready to proceed, the draught it will put on the draw rods or bars I'
will through the chains e lift the pawls clear of the ratchet teeth, and leave
the buffers free to be acted upon by their springs D; this would, however,

page_text: cause a sudden return of the buffers to the former position, and in a mitigated
degree produce an injurious rebound; to prevent this I extend the buffer rod
beyond the blocks E, as shown at B*, and attach to the end of the extended
piece a piston or plunger G; this plunger fits into but works freely in a
cylinder H, open at one end and closed at its other end with a flap or other
valve, which is pierced to admit air slowly behind the plunger. By this
arrangement when the buffer is driven in the plunger will move down the
cylinder and force the air contained therein out at the valve opening, the
cylinder and plunger will therefore not impede the action of the buffer; but
when the buffer is released from the retaining pawl, and the spring D is free
to act upon the buffer rod to return it to its original position, the plunger G
will act like the sucker of an air pump, and drawing air very slowly into the
cylinder through the small opening provided for its ingress the return of the
buffer will be retarded, a partial vacuum being formed behind the plunger.
To provide for all contingencies, I also propose to place a cushion of
vulcanized rubber as at g for the block E to strike against, and to enable the
attendants to disengage the pawls from the ratchet teeth when the power for
effecting this operation automatically is not available. I provide the pawls
with a hand lever h which will allow of their being severally thrown out of
action in succession. To prevent the action of the locking apparatus when
the carriages are being shifted about by hand, the pawls may be held out of
action by means of a locking pin passed through the handle and dropped into
an eye bolt or similar attachment at the side of the carriage frame.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Railway Buffers," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
I claim, the above described means of adapting locking apparatus to the
buffers of railway carriages.
.
:
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Henry Cooper, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
THOMAS HENRY COOPER. (L.S.)