IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARING SPRINGS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Illius Augustus Timmis, of No. 17, Parliament Street,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for an Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARING SPRINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Illius Augustus Timmis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th October 1880.
ILLIUS AUGUSTUS TIMMIS, of No. 17, Parliament Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARING SPRINGS."
This Invention has reference to an improved system of bearing springs for railway
carriages and trucks in place of laminated springs.
The objects of this Invention are to lessen the jarring (and consequent wear and
tear) that takes place in the running of railway trains; to lengthen the life of the
rolling stock; to provide an easy motion in the vehicles for passengers, and to protect
merchandise from the destructive offects of jarring; in the matter of coal, especially,
it is a matter of great importance to do away with jarring, and thus lessen the
breakage of coal in transit.
With these objects in view, I apply spiral helical and (or) spiral conical springs,
made from unequal sections of steel, as explained in my Patents, Nos. 3325-1875,
and 831-1879; or from any section of steel that when coiled shall be in cross
section greater in its breadth (i.e., from the spindle hole to the outside of the
spring) than in its thickness.
I fix the springs by preference one on the top of each axle box of a vehicle, with
a suitable cup on the top of the axle box to receive one end of the spring, and a
cup fastened on the sole bar to receive the other end of the spring, and I put a
spindle through the spring, either loose or fastened at one end. If the springs are
conical they do not require a spindle. It is not always necessary to use cups as
above described, either one or both, neither is it always necessary to use a spindle
through each spring, but I prefer to do so with helical springs. A stud may be
used to secure the small end of a conical spring. Instead of resting on the axle
box, the spring or springs may rest on projections from or brackets fastened to the
axle box or (and especially in the case of bogie trucks) on bars or rods, or a frame-
work resting on or supported by the axle boxes. I also apply the springs, where
it is necessary, that they work in tension as well as in compression. The stiffness
of my springs ensures the vehicle riding almost at the same level loaded or
unloaded, and yet they are so sensitive that they take up the jarring in travelling.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Illius Augustus Timmis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
April 1881.
ILLIUS AUGUSTUS TIMMIS, of No. 17, Parliament Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARING SPRINGS."
This Invention has reference to an improved system of bearing springs for railway
carriages and trucks in place of laminated springs.
The objects of this Invention are to lessen jarring (and consequent wear and tear)
that takes place in the running of railway trains; to lengthen the life of the rolling
stock; to provide an easy motion in the vehicles for passengers, and to protect
merchandise from the destructive effects of jarring.
In the matter of coal, especially, it is a matter of great importance to do away
with jarring, and thus lessen the breakage of coal in transit.
With these objects in view, I apply spiral helical and (or) spiral conical springs
made from unequal sections of steel, as explained in my Patents, 3325-1875, and
831-1879, or from any section of steel that, when coiled, shall be in cross section
greater in its breadth (ie., from the spindle hole to the outside of the spring), than
in its thickness [that is a parallelogram or nearly a parallelogram].
I fix the springs by preference one on the top of each axle box of a vehicle, with
a suitable cup on the top of the axle box to receive one end of the spring, and a
cup fastened on the sole bar to receive the other end of the spring, and I put a
spindle through the spring, either loose or fastened at one end. If the springs are
conical, they do not require a spindle. It is not always necessary to use cups as
above described, either one or both, neither is it always necessary to use a spindle
through each spring, but I prefer to do so with helical springs. A stud may be used
to secure the small end of a conical spring. Instead of resting on the axle box
the spring or springs may rest on projections from or brackets fastened to the axle
box, or (and especially in the case of bogie trucks) on bars or rods, or a framework
resting on or supported by the axle boxes. I also apply the springs where it is
necessary, that they work in tension instead of in compression. The stiffness of my
springs ensures the vehicle running almost at the same level loaded or unloaded,
and yet they are so sensitive that they take up the jarring in travelling. Such
being the nature and object of my said Invention, I will now proceed to describe
in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried
into practical effect, and in order that the same may be clearly understood, I have
annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the
same with Figures corresponding with those in the following explanation:-
Figures 1 to 13 represent cross sections of different bars of steel as used in my
bearing springs under this Patent; many other variations may be made in cross
section without interfering with the nature of my Invention, which is the employ-
ment of a wide bar of steel, whether of unequal section, as in Figures 1 to 9, or of
the shape of, or nearly the shape of, a parallelogram, as in Figures 10 to 13, for the
following reasons:—
I get greater strength with my wide bars with the same length of spring and the
same range or action, or I get more range with the same length and strength than
can be got with round or square, or nearly round or square, bars of steel. And it
is well known that the length of a bearing spring for carriages and trucks is a very
important matter, as there is generally a limited space allowed for its length, and a
long spring is more likely to cant and strain.
Another reason in favor of my wide bars of steel is that they provide an extra
power and stiffness to the springs made from them without destroying their
sensitiveness, which effectually gets over the difficulty of a too lively action (an

page_text: evil which has been fatal to the employment of round or square, or nearly round or
square, sections of steel in bearing springs for railway carriages and trucks. I get
the best results out of unequal section bars, where the cross section of the bars
gives one or more thick parts and one or more thin parts, and to these different
thicknesses I give a different temper and hardness.
Figure 14 shows one mode of coiling my bearing springs, this is a helical spring,
and Figure 15, another mode of coiling, is termed a spiral spring (by some it is
termed a spiral conical spring). These springs may be used in compression as in
Figures 16, 17, or 18, or in tension as in Figure 19.
Figure 16 shows one spring S over the axle box, fitting into a cup C below the
sole bar B, and resting in a hollow cup C' on the top of the axle box A. This cup C'
may be part of the axle box or not; either or both of these cups C and C' may be
dispensed with; a pin or rod R is shown inside the spring S. This pin R is not
necessary if the spring is cone shaped, neither is it absolutely necessary if the cups
C and C are used.
Figure 17 shows two springs S, S, held in position by rods or tubes R, R, and
supported by a bar or bars, or channel iron by preference, I, I, which is held in
position by a hanger H, so fitted that it retains the channel iron in a longitudinal
position in a line with the sole bar B. This channel iron or supporting bars I, I,
can be put on the top of the axle box A in a straight or bent form, and the springs
can be used in compression or in tension. Figure 18 shows two springs held in
position, much after the way adopted in Figure 17, but supported by brackets e, e,
which may be part of the axle box or fastened to it. The springs in Figures
17 and 18 may be spiral or helical, and the arrangement of rods R, R, may be varied
with or in conjunction with cups as hereinbefore explained.
Figure 19 shows two brackets e, e, as in Figure 18, in principle, but the
springs S, S, are cone shaped, and are held in position by the top plate of the
bracket, and work in tension; the coils of the spring fit in the grooves in the top
plate of the bracket. The small end of the spring fits round a projection on the
bottom of the rod R, and the last coil of the small end of the spring is brought into
a depression on the rod R, between the projection and the nut N.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, together with
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any specific arrangement as
herein before described in detail, as these details are capable of a great variety of
treatment, but
I claim the use of bearing springs under railway carriages and trucks made from
bars of steel, which in cross section are of unequal shape, and consequently of
unequal temper, or the shape of a parallelogram or nearly a parallelogram, and
coiled in a helical or spiral form, and working in compression or in tension,
substantially as and for the purposes herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Illius Augustus Timmis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.