CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF SUSTAINING TRAVELLING CARRIAGES AND OTHER VEHICLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEVI
BISSELL, of the City, County, and State of New York, in the United States of
America, Engineer, and a Citizen of the said United States, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of August, in the fifteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Levi Bissell, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Levi Bissell, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said Levi Bissell, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN NEW AND
USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF SUSTAINING TRAVELLING CARRIAGES AND
OTHER VEHICLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIKE PURPOSES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Levi
Bissell, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Levi Bissell, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof; reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention refers to a novel construction of springs, applicable to
carriages used on railways and other roads, and also to a variety of useful
purposes where elastic resistance is required.
In the accompanying Drawing, forming part of this my Specification, Fig. 1
represents a piece of wood prepared to be formed into a spring; Fig. 2 shows
the wood formed into a bow spring; Fig. 3 shews a combination of wood and
metal ready to be curved into a bow spring like that exhibited at Fig. 4;
Fig. 5 is a side elevation of an elliptic spring, one side of which is formed of
wood and the other side of wood and metal combined; and Fig. 6 is a side
view of similar springs, but in the shape of a lever: the like marks of reference
denote the same parts in each figure. These springs may be made of any wood
fit for the purpose, dressed to a proper size, and of such a taper towards each
'end (see a, Fig. 1,) that when pressed upon they will yield as required. Along
the whole length of the spring saw cuts 1, 1, are made, from about half an
inch to two inches apart, according to the quality of spring required. These
cuts are made only só far through the. wood as may be needful to adapt the
material to the intended use; and they are filled with strips of metal, wood, or
other hard substance 2 (see Fig. 2) when a rigid spring is required, or with
some elastic substance for a more yielding spring: These strips of filling sub-
stance are forced sufficiently tight into the saw cuts to make the spring retain
its required curve when sustaining the desired load. In some cases, where a
great weight is to be borne, rivets 3, 3, are passed through each block thus
formed, as shewn at Fig. 2; to prevent the blocks from splitting off from the
main body of the spring, and to prevent the strips or filling pieces 2 from
-dropping or working out; if. by any means they should become loose a corner

page_text: of the washers on the ends of the rivets may be made to extend a little over
the inserted piece. When the spring is required to sustain a very heavy
pressure it may be necessary to strengthen it by bolting a plate of steel or
other metal of the length of the spring on the concave side thereof as
represented at Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6. This mode of constructing springs is
shewn at Fig. 3, where a plate b of steel or other metal is attached to a
tapering piece of wood c of suitable quality by bolts 3, and the ends of this
plate of metal are turned over the ends of the wood and secured by bolts. The
saw cuts 5 are made across the wood, down to the metal plate, in the spaces
between the bolts 3, and these saw cuts 5 are to be filled with any proper
substance to give the spring its required shape, as 'shewn at Fig. 4. Instead
of filling in the saw cuts, a plate of metal may be made in the shape of the
required spring, and blocks of wood, with the ends setting close against each
other, may be bolted on, and thereby the same effect will be produced."
Figure 5 represents an elliptic spring, with one side formed, 'as shewn at
Fig. 2, and the other side as shewn at Fig. 4, the ends being jointed together,
as in the ordinary construction of springs, but if desired both sides may be
constructed alike, either with or without the metal plate. Fig. 6 shews a
a double lever spring, similar to those used under a carriage body, one lever
being formed with a metal plate and the other without à metal plate; but
these may be both alike, either with or without the metal plate; and springs of
this form may be applied to any use desired.
It will be seen that the operation of a weight on the end or ends of a spring
thus formed is to force the fibres of the wood together endwise on one-side,
while on the concave side the metal plate or the wood takes a tension which
merely acts to pull the fibres apart; and no weight short of that which would
be sufficient to pull these apart, or to crush the ends of the wood, will destroy the
spring, although the yielding and elasticity of the spring is entirely according
to the force with which the blocks are forced together. The elasticity, it will
be understood, is obtained by the compression of the fibres endwise, or by the
yielding nature of the material filling the saw cuts. As springs of this con-
struction may be applied with advantage to other uses than for carriages I do
not mean to limit their use to any particular object, but I intend to apply
them to any purpose in which they may be found available whether between
the arms and paddle plates of steamship wheels, or to any other use in which a
regulated or regulateable elasticity may be needed under a constant or varying
pressure.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of carry-
ing the same into use, I wish it to be understood that what I claim and desire

page_text: to secure by Letters Patent is, the constructing of springs for sustaining
pressure either of wood alone, or of wood and metal, or other elastic or non-
clastic substance or substances combined, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Levi Bissell, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord 5
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.