Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 13th June, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 13th Apr., 1895-Accepted, 13th June, 1895
1, Paul Giffard, of 95, Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris in the Republic of
France, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
GENERAL EXPLANATION.
An exhaustive study of air under enormous pressure, prosecuted during a period
of 38 consecutive years, has alone enabled me, at the cost of enormous sacrifice
and inuumerable experiments in the applied sciences to realise the solution, iu a
manner at once simple and practical, of the extremely difficult problem involved in
the hermetic closure, rigorous and absolute, of a volume of air enclosed in a case or
vessel under high pressure and acting continually on a movable piston, without
leakage or diminution of the volume of air originally stored.
This great and important, result ensures a veritable revolution in the world of
industry in general, and will provide a substitute to supersede and render obsolete
all other springs, whether of iron, steel, copper or other metal or elastic, as of
india-rubber, etc., and in fact all solid bodies whatever, applied to such or similar
purposes; as the universal use of compressed air supplies an infinitely elastic power
combined with an absolutely illimitable capacity of dynamic useful effect, for all
possible industrial uses.
This ideal spring is 500 times as powerful, for equal weights as the very best
springs made of steel, being completely indestructible, of extreme lightness, cheap,
and necessitating no outlay on repairs and maintenance. Its employment is
therefore clearly indicated as advantageous for all the chief uses enumerated as
follows;-
Buffers for railway carriages, trucks, locomotives and buffer-stops for railway
stations and sidings.
Suspension of carriages of all kinds, railway rolling stock, tramcars, loco-
motives etc.
Drawbar and other traction-springs for all uses, carriages, vehicles, vessels,
railway and tramcars etc.
Recoil-absorption apparatus for artillery.
Use of compressed air springs in substitution for hydraulic action.
Use of suspensory devices for all maritime purposes.
Elastic spring boards.
Suspension of cycles.
Door-closing springs and the like self-acting devices.
Aerostatic suspension.
Gymnastic apparatus.
Springs for motors in all kinds of mechanical work.
Thus, the general principle of my invention being applicable to industrial purposes
of whatever kind, will select, as an example of its use, to facilitate its description,
its application to railway purposes, in the manufacture of buffers for carriages,
trucks, locomotives, etc., as well as of buffer stops for railway-stations and sidings,
to absorb and deaden shocks in trains.

page_text: Such a device comprises the following parts:-
An air-cylinder or reservoir with a cover acting as piston-guide; the piston rod
and buffer disc or head of say wrought iron; the piston packing; the automatic air
charging or compressing valve.
The compressed air reservoir or vessel is formed of a cylinder made of preferably
steel, cast iron or bronze; its interior is bored perfectly true and smooth; the
cylinder head or plate is bolted to the wooden frame of the carriage, truck, loco-
motive or tender by means of say four bolts. The cylinder is closed at the head or
inner end.
The other or outer end of the cylinder is covered by a suitable cover-plate which
acts as a piston-guide and is bolted to the cylinder. This cover-plate is provided
with a central circular orifice through which passes the piston rod carrying at its
outer end preferably cast in one piece with it, the buffer disc.
The piston-rod is firmly screwed or otherwise secured into the piston which
carries the piston packing and the automatic air-charging or compressing valve, all
displacement of the screw being prevented by a through or transverse pin.
The piston and piston-rod move freely within the cylinder and the central orifice
of the cover or piston guide. The stroke or range of movement of the piston is
limited, in the one direction by the cylinder-cover with its screwbolt ends and nuts
and the buffer disc coming into contact therewith, and in the other direction, by
the inner surface of the cover against which the outer end of the piston abuts.
AUTOMATIC PLUG WHEREBY THE HERMETIC CLOSURE OF THE COMPRESSED
AIR WITHIN THE CYLINDER IS EFFECTED UNDER ALL PRESSURES.
This new device is distinguished by the following essential characteristics ;-
1. The use of a new, impermeable, flexible and elastic packing possessing a
friction-proof durability of infinite duration, free from all liability to change or
deterioration from exposure to ali possible atmospheric temperatures, as well as to
extremes either of dryness or damp, of extreme smoothness under friction, free from
all loss by wear, of great molecular tenacity or cohesion, and, in a word, offering,
in the special use which I make of it in this invention, every possible guarantee of
perfect impermeability and hermetic closure, rigorous and absolute, extreme cheap-
ness, and infinite durability without need of maintenance.
This new packing of the particular construction of which I claim the sole and
exclusive use in my compressed air springs I preferably form of "flexible vulcanised
fibre," though other materials may be employed.
2. The new piston packing is formed of a ring of preferably flexible vnlcanised
red fibre tightly fitted into an exterior annular recess formed in the outer edge of the
piston so as to exercise enormous frictional power; the interior part of the said
packing ring adjusting itself to the annular surfaces of the recess and thus securing
a hermetically close circumferential contact when it is pressed upon by an outer
washer or disc secured to the inner end of the piston and closing-in the packing
except for a few perforations hereinafter mentioned.
The said packing ring has an annular groove (that is, it is of channel shape in
section) designed, as in leather packing rings of similar construction, to expand the
ring under the pressure of the compressed air; it is truly turned and internally of
cone-shape so that when inserted in the cylinder, the larger diameter of the outside
of the cone forms a circumferential ring of contact of a limited depth constituting
an absolute hermetic closure of comparatively diminished friction. The packing
ring is retained on the piston by the above mentioned washer or disc secured to
the piston by say four hexagon-headed screws or equivalent. This washer or disc
is grooved or hollowed so as not to press upon the packing ring in order that the
latter may be free to expand against the cylinder under the pressure of the
compressed air within the cylinder penetrating into and acting upon the conical
groove or neck of the packing ring through the before referred to orifices in the
washer.

page_text: The interior of the cylinder is lubricated by a special plumbaginous lubricant
which imparts extreme smoothness and softness to the friction.
In working, the elastic vulcanised fibre becomes as polished as glass against the
cylinder, and wear is thus rendered impossible in the extreme or reduced to a
minimum. The compressed air in the cylinder, dilates the packing ring in propor-
tion to the pressure generated, and ensures, by the contact of two perfect surfaces,
namely, that of the packing ring, and the interior surface of the cylinder, a
constant, rigorous, and absolute hermetic closure.
This device consists of a preferably steel or copper valve forming at its base an
annular knife-edge or lip resting directly ou a washer of elastic vulcanised fibre
tightly embedded under pressure in an annular groove formed in the inner end of
the piston, being firmly pressed therein by a screw-plug or cap which the piston is
screw-threaded to receive.
The valve spindle passes and travels freely through the screw plug or cap which
acts as a guide for it, and a coiled spring tends constantly to keep the said valve
pressed against its seat.
The central passage bored through the entire length of the piston-rod serves to
charge the apparatus, i.e. to conduct the compressed air into the cylinder through
the said valve, the air being forced in by a pump of any suitable kind or by a
simple piston which may reciprocate within the central passage, the latter, in such
case, acting as a small compression cylinder; ia this matter it becomes optional
whether the apparatus is finally charged with compressed air in the manufacturers'
workshops before being sent away, or delivered uncharged and charged when fixed
permanently in its place on the railway carriage, locomotive, buffer-stop, etc.; the
work of charging can be done by one man with no more than five minutes' labour.
While the compression of the air is being effected, the automatic valve is
driven or raised off its seat (against the resistance of the coiled spring) in order
to permit the passage of the compressed air forced into the cylinder by the air-
pump and when the charge is completed, the valve is forced back at once upon
its seat where, owing to its circular knife-edge or bearing it effects a perfect
hermetic closure.
When, as the result of some external shock or pressure, the buffer-head, rod, and
piston are suddenly driven in, to the extreme limit of their inward travel, the
entire volume of air in the cylinder chamber is further compressed within a small
space at the head of the chamber whereby the highest degree of pressure is created
and determined, which gives the extreme reactionary power of the recoil or outward
thrust, dependent upon the initial pressure generated in the cylinder by the
compressed air therein contained.
TRIBUTARY ARRANGEMENTS AND ACCESSORIES.
The general system of compressed air spring as described in the foregoing may
be arranged in the horizontal plane; when however, the matter relates to its
application for the purposes of elastic suspension, the buffer disc or head then
becomes the point of support whereon reposes the weight to be borne; in which
case the apparatus is naturally arranged in a vertical plane. When traction is
concerned, it suffices to adapt a metallic frame of reaction or recoil upon the
piston-rod (in lieu of the buffer disc) to convert the suspensory spring or the
buffer spring, into a traction spring.
I may also point out that the apparatus may be mounted on journals or oscillating
spheres, in order to offer an .elastic force of resistance in all directions, for such
applications as relate to its use for maritime purposes, marine suspension, artillery,
aerostatic suspension &c. &c. It is also to be understood that the automatic

page_text: POWER OF THE APPARATUS.
The power of the apparatus is determined by the following elements. The
working area of the piston, the internal pressure generated by the air compressed
in the enclosed cylinder space, and the working or useful stroke of the piston, under
the conditions obtaining. That stroke or travel may range from 1 centimetre up
to 1 metre in length, with an elastic force varying from 1 kilogramme up to a
million kilogrammes or more.
The internal pressures utilized may vary from 1 atmosphere up to 200 atmo-
spheres; and the elastic force of reaction exerted at different points of the stroke
or travel of the piston are rendered variable, and may be regulated at will by
variations in the relations or proportions existing between (1) the length or area
of the cylinder allotted to the useful work of the piston and (2) the length or area
of the cylinder reserved at the cylinder head when the piston has reached the
inward limit of its stroke. In this manner it becomes possible to create and
establish an elastic force exerting at the commencement of the stroke of say, 1,
and at the end of the stroke of say 2; or again respectively'1 and 10 the ratio of
the initial to the final effort being in short equal to any predetermined proportion
at will.
Such advantages in conjunction with the indestructibility of the spring, to its
extreme lightness-weighing as it does, for equal elastic forces, 500 times less than
the very best steel springs-ensure, in all kinds of industrial uses, enormous benefits
hitherto unknown and unattainable.
CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS USED.
I prefer to use wrought or cast steel, phosphor bronze, or cast-iron for the
compressed air cylinder or reservoir, which may be cast solid or in one piece, or
arranged to receive a lining of wrought steel forced under great pressure into the
bore. The metallic piston, the cylinder-cover or piston-guide, and the buffer disc,
may be made of cast or wrought steel, or in wrought iron. All bolts used may be
made of wrought steel or iron. The bolts for fixing the cylinder-cover may be
dispensed with the said cover being simply screwed on or into the cylinder, like a
cap or plug.
I use flexible vulcanised fibre for the piston packing, and for the seating of the
air-charging or compressing valve but apart therefrom, I may use any or all elastic
substances whatever for the construction of similar parts in the devices and
apparatus to which this invention relates, and for the purposes herein clearly and
absolutely specified.
For lubrication I preferably make use of a plumbaginous lubricant incorporated
with a mixture of non-siccative oil and any grease or fat derived from beef or pork.
In case the automatic air-charging or compressing valve is located on the head of
the cylinder, or on its annular wall periphery, the ring of flexible vulcanised fibre
which forms the piston-packing may simply be fixed on the periphery of the piston
by means of a plate or disc screwed to the front surface of the piston and pressing
upon the centre of the packing-ring.
The details of the foregoing apparatus may be modified without departing from
the spirit of the invention.
Dated this 13th day of June 1894.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: improvements in or relating to Compressed Air Springs.
1, PAUL GIFFARD, formerly of 95 Boulevard Beaumarchais, but now of
7 Rue Delaborde, Paris, in the Republic of France, 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 :—
My invention relates to improvements in compressed air springs. An exhaustive
study of air under high pressure, has enabled me to solve simply and practically
the difficult problem involved in the hermetic enclosure, rigorous and absolute, of a
volume of air under high pressure in a case or vessel and acting continually on a
movable piston, without leakage or diminution of the air originally stored, so as to
constitute a spring.
This spring is considerably more powerful, for equal weights, than a spring made
of metal. Its employment would be advantageous for
Buffers for railway carriages, trucks, locomotives, and buffer-stops for railway
stations and sidings.
Suspension or supporting devices for carriages of various kinds, railway
rolling-stock, tramcars, locomotives and the like.
Drawbar and other traction-springs; for carriages, vehiclos, vessels, marine
steering-gear, railway carriages, tramcars, and the like, and for
Recoil-absorption apparatus for artillery, and other fire-arms.
The use of compressed air springs according to my invention would also be
advantageous in substitution for hydraulic action, and also as suspensory or
supporting devices for maritime purposes, for spring boards, for suspension devices
for cycles, door-closing springs and the like self-acting devices; also in aerostatic
suspension, gymnastic apparatus, and as springs for motors in various kinds of
mechanical apparatus.
Thus, the general principle of my invention being applicable to industrial
purposes of various kinds, I will select, as one example of its use, to facilitate its
description, its application to railway purposes in buffers for carriages, trucks, or
locomotives, as well as in buffer stops for railway-stations and sidings, to absorb
and deaden shocks in trains, and as another example its application as an air-spring
seat-pillar for a cycle.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a general view, in longitudinal section, of one construction of buffer
according to this invention.
Figure 2 is a transverse section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a side elevation, on a smaller scale, of the buffer shown in section in
Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.
Figure 5 comprises two views, at right angles to each other, of a valve F
hereinafter again referred to.
Figure 6 comprises two views, at right angles to each other, of a cap 1, also
hereinafter again referred to.
Figure 7 is a general view in longitudinal section, of an alternative construction
of buffer according to this invention.
Figure 8 is a view, partly in section and partly in elevation of the upper end of
the strut of a diamond-frame cycle with an air-spring seat-pillar applied thereto
according to my invention.
Figure 9 is a similar view of another construction of cycle seat-pillar with air-
spring and

page_text: Figure to is a perspect
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
With reference first to Figures 1 to 6, the buffer comprises;
Au air-cylinder or reservoir A with a cover B acting as piston-rod guide; the
piston rod C and buffer disc or head D; the piston E; the piston packing R
hereinafter described; and the automatic air-valve F.
The compressed-air reservoir or vessel A is formed of a cylinder made preferably
of steel, cast iron or bronze; its interior is bored true and smooth; the cylinder
base is bolted to the frame of the carriage, truck, locomotive or tender by bolts a.
The cylinder is closed at the base.
The other or outer end of the cylinder is covered by a suitable cover B which
acts as a piston-rod guide and is bolted to the cylinder A by bolts a'. This cover
is provided with a central circular orifice through which passes the piston rod C
carrying at its outer end the buffer disc D, preferably in one piece with it.
The piston-rod C is firmly screwed or otherwise secured to the piston E which
carries pistou packing fitting perfectly the interior of the cylinder and also carries
the automatic air-charging valve F, all displacement of the screwed rod relatively
to the piston being prevented by a through transverse pin e.
The piston E and piston-rod C move freely within the cylinder A and the
central orifice of the cover or piston-rod guide B. The stroke or range of
movement of the piston is limited, in the inward direction by the cylinder cover B
and its bolt ends, the buffer disc coming into contact with the latter, and in the
other direction its movement is limited by the inner surface of the cover B against
which the face of the piston E abuts.
The automatic devices whereby the hermetic enclosure of the compressed air
within the cylinder is effected under varying pressures will now be described.
The piston packing is formed of a ring R trapezoidal in section of flexible
vulcanised fibre or suitable vulcanised rubber or other packing tightly fitted into
an exterior annular recess r¹ formed in the outer edge of the piston; the packing
ring adjusts itself to the annular surfaces of the recess and thus secures a
hermetically close circumferential contact; when it is kept in place by an outer
washer or disc T secured to the piston by screws t' or otherwise and closing in the
packing except for perforations & hereinafter again mentioned. The outermost
circumference of the packing-ring R is, geometrically considered, the surface of a
truncated cone.
The packing ring R has an annular groove (that is to say it is of channel shape
in section) and is designed, as in leather packing rings of similar construction, to
expand under the pressure of the compressed air in the cylinder A; it is truly
shaped, and, internally and externally, of cone-shape in cross section so that when
inserted in the cylinder, the larger diameter of the outside of the cone forms a
circumferential ring of contact with the inside of the cylinder, of a limited depth,
constituting an absolute hermetic closure. The packing ring is retained on the
piston by the above mentioned washer or disc T secured to the piston as aforesaid.
This washer or disc does not press tightly upon the outer side of the packing
ring R in order that the latter may be free to expand against the cylinder A
under the pressure of the compressed air within the cylinder, which will penetrate
into, and act upon, the conical groove of the packing ring, through the orifices
in the washer, which are provided for that purpose.
The interior of the cylinder is lubricated by a special lubricant hereinafter
described which imparts extreme smoothness to the rubbing surfaces.
'In working, the surface of the elastic vulcanised fibre or other packing R
becomes highly polished against the cylinder A, and wear is thus prevented
altogether or at least reduced to a minimum. The compressed air in the cylinder,
dilates the packing ring R in proportion to the pressure and ensures, by the contact
of two mechanically perfect surfaces, namely that of the exterior of the packing
ring, and the interior of the cylinder A, a constant, rigorous and absolute
hermetic closure.

page_text: The automatic air-charging valve consists of a valve F, preferably of steel or
copper, forming at its base an annular knife-edge or lip Fo resting directly on a
washer or seating H of elastic vulcanised fibre suitable vulcanised. rubber or other
packing tightly embedded in an annular groove formed centrally in the inner ent
face of the piston E, as shown and firmly pressed therein by a screw-plug or cap
which the piston is screw-threaded to receive.
The spindle F' of the valve F passes and travels freely through a central opening
in the screw-plug or cap which acts as a guide for it, and a coiled spring F tends
constantly to keep the said valve pressed against its seat H, being compressed
between the interior of the cap I and the back of the valve F. Other perforations
are provided in the cap for air to pass through when the cylinder is charged.
A central passage L bored through the entire length of the piston-rod C and
through the piston E and opening upon the face of the latter under the valve F,
serves in charging the apparatus, to conduct compressed air into the cylinder past
the said valve F, the air being forced in by a pump of any suitable kind or by a
simple piston which may reciprocate within the central passage, the latter in such
case acting as a small compression cylinder. With this arrangement it becomes
optional whether the apparatus is finally charged with compressed air in the
manufacturers' workshops before being sent away, or delivered uncharged and
subsequently charged when fixed permanently in its place on the railway carriage,
locomotive, buffer-stop or the like; the work of charging can be done by one man
with little labour.
While the compression of the air is being effected, the automatic valve Fis
driven or raised off its seat on the centrally-perforated washer H (against the
resistance of the coiled spring F') in order to permit the passage into the cylinder
through the cap 1, of the compressed air forced into the cylinder by the air-pump;
and when the charge is completed, the valve is automatically held upon its seat
where, owing to its circular knife-edge or bearing Fo it effects a perfect hermetic
closure of the passage L.
When as the result of some external shock or pressure, the buffer-head, rod, and
piston are suddenly driven in, the entire volume of air in the cylinder chamber is
further compressed into a small space at the head of the chamber whereby the
highest degree of pressure is created and determined, which gives a reactionary
power for the recoil or outward thrust dependent upon the initial pressure in the
cylinder of the compressed air supplied thereto.
In Figure 7 the charging orifice L is shown in the base of the cylinder instead
of in the piston or plunger and the washer H on which the valve F seats, is carried
by a plug N screwed into the charging orifice.
The general system of compressed air spring as described in the foregoing, may
be arranged in the horizontal plane; when however, it is to be used for the
purposes of elastic suspension, the buffer disc or head becomes the point of support.
for the weight to be borne; in which case the apparatus is naturally arranged in a
vertical plane. When traction is concerned, it suffices to adapt a metallic frame
upon the piston-rod (in lieu of the buffer-disc) to convert the suspensory spring or
the buffer spring, into a traction spring.
I may also point out that the apparatus may be mounted on journals or
hemispherical, ball, or other bearings, in order to offer an elastic force of resistance
in all directions, for such applications as relate to its use for maritime purposes,
marine suspension, artillery, aerostatic suspension and other service. It is also to
be understood that the automatic air-charging or compressing valve may be
applied to the closed end or any point in the annular wall of the cylinder.
I prefer to use flexible vulcanised fibre for the piston packing and for the
seating of the air-charging or compressing valve F but apart therefrom, I may
use any or all elastic substances whatever for the construction of similar parts in
the devices and apparatus to which this invention relates, and for the purposes.
herein specified.

page_text: For lubrication I preferably make use of a plumbaginous lubricant incorporated
with a mixture of non-siccative oil and grease or fat derived from beef or pork; or
any neutral grease.
In case the automatic air-charging valve is located on the head of the cylinder,
or on its annular wall, the ring which forms the piston-packing may siniply be
fixed on the periphery of the piston by means of a plate or disc screwed to th
surface of the piston and pressing upon the centre of the packing-ring, as in
Figure 7 for example.
With reference now to Figure 8, U is the central strut of a diamond-frame
cycle. A is the air-cylinder secured in the upper end of that strut by pinching
together the jaws U₁ of the usual junction-piece U2 in order that the cylinder
may be gripped in the manner in which the seat-pillar of a cycle is usually held.
B is a cover acting as a guide for the piston rod C which in the present example
is of angular cross-section so that it cannot rotate in the cover.
V is the saddle-bar.
C³ C² are stops to limit respectively the downward and upward travel of the
piston rod. The former is adjustable along the rod, the latter fixed thereon.
E is the piston formed integral with the rod and packed by the cup packing R'.
F³ is a spring-loaded non-return valve inserted in the end of the cylinder A;
His a ring of packing used as a seating for the valve, and N is a centrally-
perforated nut screwed into the base of the cylinder to keep in the valve F its
spring F and its seating H; N₁ is a projection from the nut N extending into the
hole in the seating H to keep the latter central. F is a perforated washer seated
on an internal shoulder A' of the cylinder to form a bearing for the upper end of
the spring F.
In Figure 9 the piston-rod C is tubular and is closed at the end within the
cylinder and packed with a cup packing R¹ which latter is held in place by the
flanged out T the flanges of which are notched as at s Figure 10 to allow the air
to have easy access to the interior of the cup packing.
C' is a rod held at one end in a collar fixed on the rod C and having at its
opposite end a nut C. The rod C³ passes freely through a hole in an extension B¹
of the cover B, so that the nut C' limits the outward movement of the rod C.
It is a very advantageous feature of an air-spring seat pillar such as is
illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 that its construction and dimensions are such that
it can be substituted for the ordinary sent-pillar without necessitating any
alteration of or addition to the devices employed hitherto for holding other types
of seat-pillar.
Such a device as is shown in Figures 8 and 9 can be employed otherwise than as
a seat-pillar, to intercept vibration in the frame of a cycle; for instance the
cylinder A may be inverted and put in the head and the piston connected to the
forks, or the cylinder and piston can be otherwise disposed in any of the members
of the frame or between the frame and the wheel-bearings, as may be desired.
The details of the foregoing apparatus may be modified according to particular
requirements or applications to various purposes without departing from the spirit
of the invention.
;
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. As a spring-device the combination with a cylinder such as A of a piston
such as E a packing ring such as R an air-inlet passage such as L with or without
an air-pump therein and a non-return valve such as F substantially as and for the
purposes described.
2. In an air-spring device a packing ring which is of trapezoidal form in cross
section substantially as described and illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying
drawings.

page_text: a lubricant of a plumbaginous
3. In an air-spring device the employment as
material with or without the addition of a non-siccative oil and grease or fat
substantially as described.
4. In an air-spring device a packing ring such as R of flexible vulcanised fibre
or suitable vulcanised rubber substantially as and for the purposes described.
5. An air-spring device permanently charged with air at a pressure above that
of the atmosphere.
6. In an air-spring device the employment with a packing ring made of flexible
vulcanised fibre or suitable vulcanised rubber of a plumbaginous lubricant and with
or without a neutral grease.
7. In an air-spring device the combination with the piston and a channelled
packing of a perforated disc or cover such as Ts substantially as described and
illustrated in Figure 7 of the accompanying drawings.
8. An air-spring seat-pillar for cycles substantially as described.
9. An air-spring device for the forks or framework of cycles substantially as.
described.
10. The air-spring device substantially as and for the purpose described.
On 11th day of April 1895.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant..