IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS APPLICABLE TO RAIL- PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS APPLICABLE TO RAIL-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newtou.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th February 1854.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRINGS APPLICABLE TO RAIL-
WAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER USES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the setting of a volute or spiral spring in a spring
box or case, so that its outer coil may be confined and prevented from
increasing in diameter, and in causing the spring to receive the pressure which
it is required to bear through a conical pressing surface, or through one
conical surface on each side thereof. By this arrangement, the weight or
force applied causes the volute spring to assume a spiral form, or the spiral
form of spring to be flattened, the edge or edges gradually coming into contact
with and receiving support from the said conical surface or surfaces, whereby
a greater degree of tension may be obtained from a given weight of steel than
heretofore.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
SPRINGS APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER USES," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention relates to a novel mode of employing volute or coiled springs,
that is, springs formed of bars rolled up close in the form of clock or watch-
springs, or other analogous form, with the view to obtain a greater amount of
tension with a given weight of metal and within a given compass, than by any
other mode of application.
And this Invention consists in sustaining the outer coil of such a flat volute
spring by a case. When this is combined with the application of the force in
lines parallel, or nearly so, with the axis of the coil of the spring, by connecting
the outer coil of the spring with one and the inner coil with the other of the

page_text: two bodies to be kept apart with the required elastic medium, the spring is
thus rendered more efficient to resist the force applied to bend it from a flat to
a spiral shape, for in so doing the tendency is to reduce the diameter of each
coil, instead of enlarging it, as when the force is applied to flatten a spiral
spring.
A much longer spring can be obtained within a given compass than by any
other mode of application before known; and when of such form, and thus
applied, springs can be made at less cost, and also readily restored when
they have yielded under the force applied; which is done by simply reversing
them.
And this Invention also consists in employing such springs when combined
with and acted upon by a conical surface, or its equivalent, or one conical
surface on each side, so that as the power applied in a line parallel, or nearly so,
with the axis, bends the spring, the said conical surface or surfaces shall gradu-
ally come in contact with the edges of the coils, and give them support, and
thus reduce, by the gradual approach of the points of support, the length of the
active portion in proportion to the weight or force applied, so that the tensive
force of the spring increases in a much greater ratio than on any other known
plan, and therefore reducing the extent of play required when the weight or
force applied is liable to great variations, as in railroad carriages.
an elevation, and Fig. 2, a ver-
Fig. 3 is a vertical section, with
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is
tical section of the improved spring at rest.
the spring under full tension. Fig. 4 is a like section of the spring box, with
the spring removed. Fig. 5 is another section, taken at A, a, Fig. 2; and
Fig. 6 is a view of the spring in a modified form. The same letters indicate
like parts in all the figures. a represents a volute spring rolled up with the
coils in contact, or nearly so, and fitted inside of the cylindrical part of the
case b, the bottom c of which is a cavity in the form of a conical frustrum.
The greatest diameter of this conical cavity should be a little less than the
cylindrical part in which the spring is placed, to form a shoulder d for sup-
porting the outer coil of the spring. Above the spring is placed a conical
frustrum e, having a cylindrical projection f, fitted to the inside of the inner
coil of the spring, there being a shoulder g between the cylindrical projection
and the frustrum, to rest on the inner coil of the spring. The case b, containing
the spring, and the frustrum e, are to be properly fitted and secured in any suit-
able manner to the bodies which are to be separated by the required elastic
medium. The form of the parts represented in the accompanying Drawing
is such as has been adopted by the Inventor for railroad carriages; but it is

page_text: obvious that the external form may be varied at pleasure to suit the various
purposes to which the Invention may be applied. But the conical cavity of
the case 6 and the exterior surface of the conical frustrum should correspond,
or nearly so.
The two conical surfaces being arranged as specified, with the volute spring
interposed between them, on the application of weight or pressure the spring
will be forced by the frustrum e into the conical cavity of the case b, and
thereby be caused to assume the form of a spiral, the edges of which will
gradually come into contact with and receive support from the two conical
surfaces which keep the several coils parallel in their proper relations to each
other. By this arrangement a much greater tension with a given weight of
steel may be obtained than by any other known plan, for the reasons above
stated.
After the spring has given way in part by use, or lost its power of returning
to the position of Fig. 2, this power can be restored by simply removing the
spring from the case, and reversing its position.
When the spring is combined with one or more conical surfaces, instead of
making the spring in the form of a flat volute, to be changed into the form of
a spiral by the application of weight or force, it may be made in the form of a
spiral, as represented at h in Fig. 6 of the accompanying Drawing, and inter-
posed between two conical surfaces i and j, the latter forming the bottom of
the cylindrical case k, in which the base of the spring is enclosed to prevent
t from spreading, and to form a support for the outer coil when under pres-
sure. But this form is inferior to the flat volute, as it is more difficult to make,
and cannot be reversed after it has yielded by long use.
Instead of making the spring of a flat bar, it may be made of a square or
round bar; but it will then present less tensive force for a given weight of
inetal than if formed from a flat bar.
If it be desired to apply the first part of the Invention, without combining
therewith the conical surface or surfaces, which may be termed the progressive
supports, it is simply necessary to make the case 6 with the shoulder d, and
without the conical bottom c, and to dispense with the conical frustrum e,
leaving the plug or projection f that fits in the inner coil with the shoulder g.
Having now described the Invention of Improvements in Springs applicable
to Railway Carriages and other Uses, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim the employment of a flat volute or coiled spring, with
the outer coil supported by the outer case, substantially as specified, when this

page_text: is combined with the application of the weight or pressure to the inner and
outer coils in lines parallel, or nearly so, with the axis of the spring, substan-
tially in the manner and for the purpose specified.
And I also claim the employment of one or more conical surfaces, or the
equivalents thereof, as specified, in combination with the coiled spring, sub-
stantially as specified, for the purpose of reducing the active length of the
spring as the weight or force applied is increased, as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)