Improvements in and Tools for the Manufacture of the Buffer Rods of the Buffers of Railway and Tram Carriages, Wagons, and Engines.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Dec., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 1st Sep., 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and Tools for the Manufacture of the Buffer Rods
of the Buffers of Railway and Tram Carriages, Wagons, and
Engines.
I WALTER SOMERS of Haywood Forge Halesowen in the County of Worcester
Iron Master do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
:-
My invention consists in manufacturing the buffer rods of the buffers of railway
and tram carriages, wagons and engines in the manner and by the use of the tools
hereinafter described, whereby the manufacture of the said buffer rods is simplified
and economized. Buffer rods consist of a cylindrical shank having at one end a
dise like head, either flat or convex on its outer face.
The said buffer rods are ordinarily made by hand forging.
In making a buffer rod according to my invention I proceed as follows;-I take
a cylindrical heated bloom of wrought iron or steel having at one end a staff or
rod for manipulating it and I subject the said heated bloom to the action of a pair
of shaping tools, the lower tool being fixed on the bed of a hammer or stamp and
the upper tool being carried by the ram or slide of the hammer or stamp, and at
one heat fashion both the head and the shank of the buffer rod.
The tools which I use have arranged side by side in their opposed faces, three
cavities or acting parts of the required shapes for progressively fashioning the
buffer rod. The first cavity in the closed pair of tools has a figure proper to form
on one end of the heated bloom, a roughly shaped spherical enlargement or head,
having a short thick shank projecting from it. The second cavity in the tools has
a figure proper to flatten the spherical enlargement or head and to draw down or
elongate the partly made shank and give it a cylindrical figure; and the third cavity
in the tools has a figure proper to further draw down or elongate and finish the
cylindrical shank. The heated bloom having been operated upon in the first cavity
of the pair of tools, is transferred by the workman to the second cavity and from
the second to the third cavity, in which last named cavity the partly made buffer
rod is so placed that the partly shaped head is situated outside the tools and is not
acted upon by them.
The movable tool is brought down the required number of times upon the heated
bloom and partly made buffer rod at each of the stages described to effect the
desired shaping of the buffer rod.
The nearly finished buffer rod thus made at one heat is completed without
reheating by operating upon the flattened enlargement or head by a heading tool
of the ordinary kind to form a disc like head, the said head being either flat or
convex on its outer face.
Dated this 13th day of December 1892.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and Tools for the Manufacture of the Buffer Rods
of the Buffers of Railway and Tram Carriages, Wagons, and
Engines.
1 WALTER SOMERS of Haywood Forge, Halesowen in the County of Worcester,
Iron Master, 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 :-
My invention consists in manufacturing the buffer rods of the buffers of railway

page_text: .
and tram carriages wagons and engines in the manner and by the use of the tools
hereinafter described, whereby the manufacture of the said buffer rods is simplified
and economized.
Buffer rods consist of a cylindrical shank having at one end a disc like head
either flat or convex on its outer face. The said buffer rods are ordinarily made
by hand forging.
In making a buffer rod according to my invention I proceed as follows;-I take
a cylindrical heated bloom of wrought iron or steel having at one end a staff or
rod for manipulating it and I subject the said heated bloom to the action of a pair
of shaping tools, the lower tool being fixed on the bed of a hammer, stamp or press,
and the upper tool being carried by the ram or slide of the hammer, stamp or press,
and at one heat fashion both the head and shank of the buffer rod.
The tools which I use have arranged side by side in their opposed faces, three
cavities or acting parts of the required shapes for progressively fashioning the
buffer rod. The first cavity in the closed pair of tools has a figure proper to form
on one end of the heated bloom, a roughly shaped spherical enlargement or head
having a short thick shank projecting from it. The second cavity in the tools has
a figure proper to flatten the spherical enlargement or head and to draw down or
elongate the partly made shank and give it a cylindrical figure; and the third
cavity in the tools has a figure proper to further draw down or elongate the
cylindrical shank.
The heated bloom having been operated upon in the first cavity of the pair of
tools is transferred by the workman to the second cavity and from the second to
the third cavity in which last named cavity the partly made buffer rod is so placed
that the partly shaped head is situated outside the tools and is not acted upon by
them. The movable tool is brought down the required number of times upon the
heated bloom and partly made buffer rod at each of the stages described to effect
the desired shaping of the buffer rod.
The nearly finished buffer rod thus made at one heat is completed preferably
without reheating by operating upon the flattened enlargement or head by a
heading tool of the ordinary kind to form a disc like head, the said head being
either flat or convex on its outer face.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawing the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.
I take a square or cylindrical bloom of wrought iron or steel of the kind
represented in end and side elevation in Figure 1, the said bloom having at one end
a staff or rod a for manipulating it by the workman during the action upon it of
the pair of shaping tools represented in front elevation in Figure 2; side elevation
in Figure 3 and plan of the acting face of one of the tools in Figure 4. By the
action of these shaping tools upon the heated bloom Figure 1, the said bloom is
made to take the form represented in Figure 5, that is to say, the heated bloom is
reduced in diameter and made cylindrical and a spherical head is formed on one
end. From the said spherical head the convex disc like head of the finished
buffer rod is made.
The shaping tools d, e represented in Figures 2, 3 and 4 are worked in a hammer
stamp or press, the lower tool d being fixed on the bed of the hammer stamp or
press and the upper movable tool e being carried by the ram or slide of the hammer
stamp or press. In the opposed faces of the tools three cavities or acting parts
marked respectively f, g and are arranged side by side, the said cavities when
the tools are closed or brought together forming between them acting parts
of the required shapes for progressively fashioning the buffer rod as hereinafter
described. The first cavity in the closed pair of tools d, e has a figure proper to
form. on one end of the heated bloom Figure 1 a roughly shaped spherical enlarge-
ment or head having a thick shank projecting from it. The second cavity in the
pair of tools d, e has a figure proper to flatten or reduce in diameter the spherical
enlargement or head where it joins the thick shank and to draw down or elongate
the partly made shank and give it a cylindrical figure; and the third cavity / in the

page_text: pair of tools d, e has a figure proper to further draw down or elongate the
cylindrical shank ready for the finishing operations.
The bloom Figure 1 having been heated is placed by the workman in the first
cavity of the pair of tools and by giving a series of blows to the upper tool e, anl
manipulating the bloom by the staff or rod a, the said bloom is made to take the
form of the said cavity f. The partly made buffer rod is then transferred by the
workman to the second cavity g of the pair of tools, about one half of the spherical
head of the partly made buffer rod being situated outside the pair of tools so that
only that part of the spherical head adjacent to the thick stem is operated upon by
the said tools. By the series of blows given to the upper tool the portion of the
partly made buffer rod, situated in the cavity g, is made to take the figure of the
said cavity. From the second cavity 9 the partly made buffer rod is transferred to
the third cavity in the pair of tools, the stem part only of the buffer rod being
operated upon in the said third cavity: that is, the whole of the spherical head of
the partly inade buffer rod is situated outside the tools and is not acted upon by
them. By the progressively fashioning operations described in the pair of tools
Figures 2, 3 and 4, the heated bloom Figure 1 is converted at one heat into the
partly made buffer rod b, c represented in Figure 5. From the spherical head b
Figure 5 the disc like head of the buffer rod is formed by operating upon it while
still hot from the tools d, e in the heading tool represented in Figure 6, the said
tool Figure 6 being used in conjunction with a movable heading tool or presser.
By the operation of the two heading tools, the spherical head & Figure 5 is flattened
and the disc like head represented in Figure 7 and marked i made from it. The
shank of the buffer rod is further elongated and finished in the ordinary way.
In order to facilitate the holding of the nearly finished buffer rod while the fin or
frase at the head, formed by the spreading of the metal at the junction of the two
parts of the heading tool, is cut away and the shank finished, the marginal part of
the tool Figure 6 is provided with two recesses k, k and the presser of the heading
tool is furnished with two similar projections which enter the said recesses and cut
away the fin or frase thereby leaving recesses in the fin or frase at the head for the
arms of the gripping tongs to enter for holding the buffer rod during the finishing
operations.
The method of converting the spherical head of the partly made buffer rod
into the disc like head of the finished buffer rod constitutes no part of my
invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that
I claim as iny invention.―
The improvements in and tools for the manufacture of the buffer rods of the
buffers of railway and tram carriages, wagons and engines hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawing; that is to say conducting the early
stages of the manufacture of the said buffer rods by the combination of processes
and by the use of a pair of shaping tools of the kind described and represented,
whereby a heated bloom of wrought iron or steel is converted at one heat into a
partly made buffer rod consisting of a cylindrical shank having at one end a nearly
spherical head from which the disc like head of the finished buffer rod is formed
substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated the Thirtieth day of August 1893.
WALTER SOMERS.