IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES AND OTHER PUR- POSES.
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES AND OTHER PUR-
POSES.
1."-A communication.
Sealed the 19th November 1858, and dated the 1st September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st September 1858.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES
AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in springs for carriages and other purposes
consists in forming a spring of a pile of steel plates or leaves, each plate of
the pile being so bent as to form a series of reversed semi-ellipses. The
plates are so piled one upon the other that the convex parts of one plate
shall be in contact with the convex parts of its fellow and next adjacent plate,
and vice versa, each leaf or plate forming several points of contact for the
plate overlying it, and thus disseminating through the pile both the lateral
and vertical pressure, upon the spring, and making it an exceedingly strong,
elastic, and cheap spring, which can be prepared with great facility.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 SPRINGS FOR CARRIAGES AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in springs for carriages and other purposes
consists in forming a spring of a pile of steel plates or leaves, each plate of
the pile being so bent as to form a series of reversed semi-ellipses. The plates
are so piled one upon the other that the convex parts of one plate shall be in
contact with the convex parts of its fellow and next adjacent plate, and vice
versa, each leaf or plate forming several points of contact for the plate over-
Jying it, and thus disseminating through the pile both the lateral and vertical

page_text: pressure upon the spring, and making it an exceedingly strong, elastic, and
cheap spring, which can be prepared with great facility.
The Figure in the accompanying Drawing represents an elevation of one
of the improved springs. The length, width, and thickness of the plates or
leaves of the spring, as. also the number of the pile, may vary to suit the.
particular size to which the spring is to be applied; so also may the curves
vary in form or number in the plates, and instead. of being elliptical (which
form, however, is preferred, being more easily wrought and most efficient in
practice,) they may have the form of segments of a parabola, or any other
curved figure that will afford the hip rest or supporting points, herein
represented.
A, A, and B, B, represent a bottom and top bolster or part of the framing
between which the leaves or plates a, a, to form the spring are retained.
These bolsters may be held from separating too far by a screw bolt c, which
also serves to take up the slack or back lash of the spring. The bearings
may come upon the spring at the centre or the ends thereof, or both. The
leaves or plates a are first, by means of rolls or die plates, bent into the form
represented in the Drawing, viz., a series of convex or concave curved lines.
They are then piled one upon the other to the requisite number, so that the
convex parts of one plate shall be in contact with the convex parts of the
next adjacent plate or leaf, and so on throughout the series, as shown at
b, b, b, &c. The plates or leaves are not fastened to each other at any of the '
points b, but are free to slip or move upon each other as the spring gives or
reacts. D, D, represent guides, which may be permanently united to the
lower bolster A, there being a pair of such guides at each side of the spring
(one pair only being represented in the Drawing); the upper bolster B may
play up and down between these guides, whilst the latter tends to keep the
pile of plates in a vertical position to the thrust upon them. These guides
may be arranged in any other manner that will accomplish the purpose, but
the ends of the leaves or plates must be left free, so that they may elongate
as they flatten out by the weight or thrust upon them.
This kind of spring is very cheap and very efficient, is easily made and
repaired, and is particularly important as a carriage spring where heavy
burdens are carried, and a quick rolling motion laterally is encountered,
owing to the speed and inequalities in the track of railroads, for it dis-
seminates throughout the whole length both the vertical and lateral pressure
upon it.
Having now fully described the nature and object of the Invention of

page_text: improvements in springs for cars,, carriages, and other purposes, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as communicated to
me, by my foreign correspondent, what I claim therein as new, and desire
to secure by Letters Patent, is a spring composed of a series of leaves or
plates bent or curved in such a manner that when piled one upon the other
the convex parts of one; leaf shall be in contact with the convex parts of
the next adjacent leaf or plate, and so on throughout the series, as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto.
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W: MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)