IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING, TRACTION, AND BEARING SPRINGS, APPLICABLE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Gatwood, of Great George Street, West- .
minster, in the County of Middlesex, Carriage Builder, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING, TRACTION, AND BEARING SPRINGS, APPLICABLE
Sealed the 19th August 1859, and dated the 28th February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Gatwood at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th February 1859.
I, EDWARD GATWOOD, of Great George Street, Westminster, in the County
of Middlesex, Carriage Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the snid
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUFFING, TRACTION, AND BEARING SPRINGS,
APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," to be as follows:-
In the construction of conical spiral springs, formed of a flat bar or ribband
of steel, in which the bar is rolled or forged with one edge thicker than the
other so as to form a wedge, which, when the coil is pressed down, will cause
lateral friction between the folds, and indure greater resistence.
The lower or larger end of the coil may be contained within a solid ring,
or hoop of wrought iron or steel, or of cast iron, to prevent.it from expanding,
or the hoop may be made open to expand under pressure, adding to the
resistence. The spring for buffing purposes is contained in a case, cylindrical
or otherwise, wheel, may be of cast or of wrought iron, or a combination of
both.

page_text: The plunger is formed in one piece of wrought or cast iron, of great
strength, with a disc collar inside the case to guide it, and with a nut or other
fastening at the extreme end to secure it upon a face plate with proper com-
pression of the spring. The buffer head is a solid portion of the plunger.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Gatwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GATWOOD, of Great George Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Carriage Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Gatwood, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Gatwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Edward Gatwood, 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 BUFFING, TRACTION, AND BEARING SPRINGS, APPLICABLE TO
RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Gatwood, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Edward Gatwood, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by, the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My improvements consist, first, in making spiral or conical-shaped steel
springs, with ribbands of steel rolled with one edge thicker than the other,
so that the coil may wedge and fold one layer within the other, and induce

page_text: greater resistance by friction. These springs are shewn as buffers to portions of
railway carriages at Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, of the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
denoted by the letter A. In Figure 1 two of the springs are shewn acting in
the same direction, to give length of stroke. Figure 5, letter B, shews a similar
spring, serving as a traction spring; and Figure 5, letter C, shews a similar
spring serving as a bearing spring. In Figures 2, 3, and 5, the springs aro
applied externally to the carriage framing. In Figures 1 and 4 they are
applied internally, the strength of the spring of course varies with the amount
of force required, but the proportions for ordinary use can be as shewn in the
Drawing to scale. The modes of applying these springs as buffers by means
of plungers or rods, either in cases or without, are various and well known,
and it is not necessary to describe them as not being parts of my Invention,
and so also with regard to the modes of application as traction springs or to
axle boxes. It is evident that the springs may, if required, be multiplied in
number, either to increase the strength or the length of stroke.
But in order to increase the resistance of my springs I apply steel rings or
hoops, either of flat steel or round steel, or wedge, or any other sectional form
of steel, or a parallel coil of steel of several folds, the ends being open, as
shewn at D, Figure 6, so that the expansion of the spirál spring will bo
elastically resisted in order to increase the power.
Having now described my said Invention, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as original,-
First, the rolling or forming steel plates and the construction of spiral
springs of such steel plates, one edge thereof being thicker than the other, or
of a sectional wedge form, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the steel hoops for giving increased elastic resistance to the spiral
springs, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, T, the said Edward Gatwood, havo hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
EDWARD GATWOOD
EDWARD GATWOOD (1)