IMPROVEMENTS IN CARS OR CARRIAGES FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of
Harris and Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARS OR CARRIAGES FOR RAILWAYS."-A communication from abroad
by Theodore Ruggles Timby, of Tarrytown, in the County of
Westchester and State of New York, United States of America,
Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph
Barnard Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 17th June 1873.
I, BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and
Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARS OF CARRIAGES FOR RAILWAYS," a communication to
me from abroad by Theodore Ruggles Timby, of Tarrytown, in the

page_text: County of Westchester and State of New York, United States of
America, Engineer, to be as follows:-
The Invention is primarily but not exclusively designed for freight
cars or goods waggons. Its chief object is to relieve the railway and the
cars themselves from much of the violence and strain usually derived
from the superincumbent weight of freight or goods while the cars are
in motion, and at the same time to preserve the freight or goods from
sudden concussions. To this end a moveable bottom is provided, upon
which the freight or goods are to be stowed, the said moveable bottom
being supported through the medium of springs upon the framework of
The body of the car may be in other respects of common form,
and may be provided with customary springs, and be mounted on the
wheels in any usual or suitable manner.
the car.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 17th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 35, South-
ampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, sond
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, Her
special license that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARS OR CARRIAGES
FOR RAILWAYS," (a communication to me from abroad by Theodore Ruggles

page_text: Timby, of Tarrytown, in the County of Westchester, and State of New
York, United States of America, Engineer), upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
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 thereof, that is to say :—
The Invention is primarily but not exclusively designed for freight
cars or goods wagons. Its chief object is to relieve the railway and the
cars themselves from much of the violence and strain usually derived
from the superincumbent weight of freight or goods while the cars are
in motion, and at the same time to preserve the freight or goods from
sudden concussions. To this end a moveable bottom is provided, upon
which the freight or goods are to be stowed, the said moveable bottom
being supported through the medium of springs upon the framework of
the car.
The body of the car may be in other respects of common form,
and may be provided with customary springs, and be mounted on the
wheels in any usual or suitable manner.
And in order that the said Invention may be more clearly understood,
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying
Figure 1 is a horizontal section of a car body, illustrating the Inven-
tion; Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section; and Figure 3, a
transverse section of the same.
The body A. of the car may be of common construction, excepting
that it is made without a close bottom, its underneath part being formed
of an open framework or timbers a, a, which support the springs C, on
which the moveable bottom B rests. An inner framework d is attached

page_text: to the bottom B, so as to move therewith. This framework serves to
stiffen and strengthen the moveable bottom, and, in connection with the
guiding grooves 6 at the corners, to keep it in place. Siding D, secured
contact of freight
to the framework d, serves also to prevent friction or
against the body A of the car. E are the car doors. Opposite these are
guards F attached to the under side of the bottom B, and adapted to
close or mask the spaces at the doorways beneath the bottom when the
latter is elevated. The guards also act as traces for the bottom. The
springs C may be of any suitable form.
"
This Invention permits of the entire car being made lighter than is
practicable with cars of common construction, by reason of the "stroke
of the weight of the car and its load when in motion being divided or
distributed between the different springs. The freight is also relieved
from the sudden concussions to which it is ordinarily subject, and the
wear and violence to which the cars and the road are exposed are greatly
reduced.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the mode
in which the same is carried into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim is,-
Firstly. A railway car or carriage constructed with a moveable floor
or false bottom, resting on springs, so that the said floor with its super-
incumbent burden may yield or move independently of the body of the
car.
Secondly. As an improvement in freight cars or goods vans the
moveable or detached bottom B, provided with vertical or framework D, d,
and guards F, the whole working in guides b, and supported by springs C,
resting beneath on the timbers a of the main car body, as herein shown
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred