Improvements in India Rubber Assistant Bearing Springs for Railway and Tramway Rolling Stock.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in India Rubber Assistant Bearing Springs for
Railway and Tramway Rolling Stock.
I, ALFRED GEORGE SPENCER, of 77, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Between the bodies and underframes of railway and tramway vehicles it is
usual to insert what are known as assistant bearing springs.
Heretofore these have usually been made wholly of india rubber moulded with
holes therethrough or recesses therein; or with transverse channels, or with
longitudinal channels or with both longitudinal and transverse channels or with
both holes and channels for examples (see Spencer's Patents No. 1435 of 1873;
No. 3535 of 1883, No. 1724 of 1884 and No. 1920 of 1884).
Owing to the quality of india rubber contained in such springs as heretofore
made they are expensive and liable to become distorted and the object of the
present invention is to obviate these disadvantages.
For this purpose annular or other springs of india rubber are combined with a
rigid holding device of wood or other material, adapted to hold and retain the
said springs at suitable distances apart in suchwise that they shall project beyond
one face or two opposite faces of the holding device.
In carrying out the invention various forms and arrangements may be employed
so long as there be provided in conjunction with a series of india rubber springs
a holding device adapted to retain them at suitable distances apart and to permit
of their affording the requisite cushioning action when the combined arrangement
is interposed between a vehicle body and frame as above set forth.

page_text: Improvements in India Rubber Assistant Bearing Springs for
Railway and Tramway Rolling Stock.
I, ALFRED GEORGE SPENCER, of 77, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:
Between the bodies and underframes of railway and tramway vehicles it is usual
to insert what are known as assistant bearing springs.
Sometimes these have been made wholly of india rubber moulded with holes
therethrough or recesses therein; or with transverse channels, or with longitudinal
channels or with both longitudinal and transverse channels or with both holes
and channels (for examples see Spencer's Patents No. 1435 of 1873; No. 3535 of
1883, No. 1728 of 1884 and No. 1920 of 1884).
Owing to the quantity of india rubber contained in such springs they are when
made as above referred to, expensive and liable to become distorted and the object
of the present invention is to obviate these disadvantages, for which purpose I
construct my improved assistant bearing springs as I will now proceed to describe
with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings whereof Fig. 1 shows
in plan, and Fig. 2 partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section on
the line a, b, of Fig. 1, one construction of assistant bearing spring according to
this invention. It comprises a series of india rubber springs 1 of annular form
attached by suitable means such as rubber solution to a flat piece of wood 2 that
serves as a device for holding them at suitable distances apart; each spring is
arranged opposite to or in line with a corresponding spring on the other side of
the holding device so that the latter will not be liable to be broken by uneven
pressure when in use.
Figs. 3 and 4 are corresponding views to Figs. 1 and 2 respectively showing a
modification in which the holding device 2 is a plate of metal such as mild steel
formed with a number of perforations 2*, and the annular springs 1 are in the
form of short tubes of india rubber fixed in the perforations in the plate so as to
extend beyond both faces thereof as shown. The india rubber tubes may con-
veniently be cut from a moulded vulcanized tube of india rubber of considerable
length having moulded in it at intervals external annular grooves so that each
length cut off will have around it a central groove to receive the plate as shown
and facilitate the retention of the tube in a position such that it will project
equally at each end beyond the plate; or the tubes may be made without this
groove the equivalent of which will then be formed in them when they are forced
tightly into position in the plate.
Fig. illustrates partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section
another construction in which the plate 2 is formed or provided on opposite
sides with annular undercut lips or projecting parts 2b into which the lower
correspondingly formed portions of the annular india rubber springs 1 are forced
after being vulcanized.
Fig. 6 illustrates in plan an arrangement in which india rubber springs 1,
which are attached to opposite faces of the holder 2 in any convenient way, are
arranged one within the other, the centre one being a solid block with rounded
ends, and the others of flattened ring or link shape.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1 Assistant banning onnings for railway and tramway rolling stock comprising

page_text: annular springs of india rubber combined with a rigid holding device of wood,
metal or other material adapted to hold and retain the said annular springs at
suitable distances apart in suchwise that they shall project beyond one face or two
opposite faces of the holding device, substantially as herein before described for the
purposes specified.
2. The several constructions of assistant bearing springs for railway and tramway
rolling stock, hereinbefore described with reference respectively to and shown
in Figs. 1 and 2; in Figs. 3 and 4; in Fig. 5; and in Fig. 6 of the
drawings
accompanying
Dated this 12th day of February 1898.
For the Applicant,
W. LLOYD WISE, .
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.
Chartered Patent Agent.