IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Samson Thomas, of 17, Cornhill,
City of London, and Hooks Villa, Fulham, in the County of Mid-.
dlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 7th April 1854, and dated the 15th October 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Samson
Thomas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th October 1853.
I, FREDERICK SAMSON THOMAS, of 17, Cornhill, City of London, and
Hooks Villa, Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing carriages for railways, con-
taining the capability of compression without rupture in all parts and
positions of the vehicle, together with the property of clasticity or

page_text: expansion, which causes the same vehicle to revert to its original shape
and position.
I-construct
I carry my Invention. into effect by the combination of mechanical
arrangements given to such materials as are inflexible but needful for
stability, with the adjustment and use of other materials which are
flexible & elastic. I can conveniently adopt any of the present forms
of railway carriages, but instead of a framework and panelling of
wood and iron incapable of yielding-to-shocks Or pressure,
my frame of iron entirely; but I so arrange that material that the
carriage is capable of compression in every direction, whilst it has the
property, by its mechanical construction, of immediately reverting to its
original position. I apply to every portion of the carriage this pecu-
liarity of compressibility and elasticity of the frame to top, bottom, sides,
back, and front, as also to the framework of the seats and their sup-
ports. I use panels which are compressible and capable of expansion
from the nature of the materials, such as india-rubber, or any other
substance having the same properties; and by such combined means I
construct carriages, the frames and panelling of which co-operate and
harmonize with each other by conjointly yielding to the extent required
to provide against shocks and pressure, but instantaneously and simul-
taneously seeking to revert to their proper and original forms and
positions. I construct the railway carriages with seats on one side
only, such as the present coupé, to prevent passengers being thrown
against those on the opposite side of the carriage, which I protect by
sufficient padding of any suitable materials, and thus preventing injury;
but in addition to these precautions I provide the back of each passenger
seat with a strong flexible girdle capable of being fastened without in-
convenience over the chest or person of each passenger, by which means
each person will be prevented from being dashed forward or thrown into
any injurious position by the sudden stoppage of the train or by any
other accident.
I place carriages before and on the back of the locomotive, and at
the rear of the train, which carriages I denominate shields. I construct
their framework upon the principle of yielding and expansion, herein-
before described when speaking of passengers carriages, and, I embed

page_text: them deeply in elastic and compressible cushions prepared of any suitable
materials. I also propose to make use of an axle and springs thereto
attached, such as shall have the power of adjusting themselves--to
pressure or to the curvature of the rails...
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Samson Thomas in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
FREDERICK SAMSON THOMAS, of 17, Cornhill, City of London, and
Hooks Villa, Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty. Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Samson Thomas,
Her special licence, that I, the said Frederick Samson. Thomas, 'my!
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said;
Frederick Samson Thomas, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION
OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition.(amongst others) thate
I, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, 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 late of the said Letters Patent.
'

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:
My Invention consists, firstly, in constructing compressible railway
and other carriages for preventing the destruction of life and property.
Secondly, in the employment of a suspended buffer. Thirdly, in the
application to railway carriages of axles revolving at their centres.
Fourthly, in the employment of a girdle in the event of collisions.
Fifthly, in the employment of a railway tender; the frame of which is
made of compressible and expansive tubes. Sixthly, in the employ
ment of a travelling buffer.
Before describing the means by which I carry out my Invention, I
think it necessary to point out the disadvantages and errors arising
from the present system of constructing carriages on railways.
It will be observable that the present system of building railway
carriages has been to construct them of solid and incompressible
materials, whereby they are made as firm, as ponderous, and as in-
flexible as the combination of wood and iron can effect. In these
features of strength, weight, and inflexibility it is quite evident the
hope of safety has hitherto been indulged; but it must be quite mani-
fest to every reflective mind that when full impetus is given to a
railway train so constructed, by the high rate of velocity at which they
are usually driven, the momentum becomes irresistible, and in the
event of a collision the demolition of the carriages and the destruction
of the passengers are found to result from the very provisions for
solidity and strength in which safety has been anticipated.
In the present arrangement of a passenger train the locomotive
rushes on with all its force and weight, and is disposed to run into and
splinter to atoms every object or obstruction which presents itself upon
the line.
Between the locomotive and any obstruction there are not in the
present trains any intervening substances which would tend to leadlen

page_text: the blow on a collision taking place, or to abate the impetus which the
train has obtained. Immediately in the rear of the locomotive presses.
tlie tender equally rigid, and armed with destructive power, and fol-
lowing the tender come the ponderous carriages. All these machines
are urged by the joint product of their weight and speed, and press each
other onward, and obtain a momentum which becoines absolutely
irresistible and incapable of being sullenly arrested by any application
which science has yet invented. Between the engine and the tender or
any of the carriages the only piece of mechanism which has yet been
provided or used to abate the way of the train, or of each separate
carriage, or to lessen the concussion of a contact, consists in a small
circular licaded buffer, or a series of such buffers, which project from the
frames of the carriages. These buffers have been proved to be inost
ineffectual and inefficient contrivances. It has cften been witnessed
that upon an obstruction presenting itself, and upon the locomotive
which leads the train being suddenly arrested, the carriages press
onward in its rear, and the effect observable under any sudden stoppage
has been to cause the carriages to over-run the arrested locomotive and
to leap upon or escape from the rail. The buffers under these circum-
stances fail to come or to remain in contact with each other, or are
insufficient for the intended purpose, and the carriages, which are coupled
at a distance of about six feet from each other, meeting with no res
sistance in that space, therely only obtain the power to leap into each
other with a more violent concussion than they would have sustained
had they been coupled in contact with each other; and the results have
been that the carriages (having no yielding or conipressible properties,
and having no intermediate clastic bodies to stop their way,) the whole
train is driven and crowded into the smallest possible 'space, the car-
riages are crushed to atoms, or are reared up on end, or are thrown,
over in every conceivable position of damage and destruction, the
consequences being generally death to many and injury to almost all
persons therein contained.
Injuries have often been sustained by passengers on the sudden
stopping of the trains by their being projected against the opposite sile
of the carriage against their fellow passengers, or out of the windows
:

page_text: these concussions have also proved very injurious upon trains running
off the rails or over embankments. The majority of accidents by
carriages running off the. rails occur generally at the curves of the
lines. The cause is obvious. A railway carriage, as at present con-
structed, presents a straight-sided and rigid form of from twelve to
eighteen feet in length, supported by and running upon three or four
pairs of wheels. These wheels are affixed to the sides of the car-
riages; and as. no carriage composed of four wheels, of which at
least one pair does not revolve at the centre, can be made without
force to describe a circle or a section thereof, and as the straight and
rigid bodies of the present railway carriages have to be driven at an
enormous speed upon a curved line, they have no capabilities of ad-
justing themselves to such sinuosities, consequently they must be driven
to describe such curves by absolute force applied to the wheels; the
front edge of the foremost wheel must be constantly forced against and
from the inner edge of the external rail of the curve, and thus the
disposition of every carriage of the train must be to ride over and run
off the rail; and such inclination to press forward in a straight line
can only be overcome by a succession of slides laterally of each of the
carriages, the jolting motion of which becomes perfectly perceptible to
the passengers, whilst the action of the wheels tends constantly to abrade
themselves and the edges of the rail, whilst the pressure or succession of
blows have the continual tendency to twist the wheel and thereby to
break it or snap the axle.
The carriages constructed according to my Invention are diametrically
opposed to the adaption of weight, solidity, and rigidity which characterise
the features of the trains now in use. The improvements, herein-after
described, are intended to provide the utmost degree of lightness and
elasticity consistent with a due provision for rentention of form under
blows or pressure to which railway carriages are liable. Instead,
therefore, of a framework and pannelling of wood and iron, I con-
struct the framework entirely of iron tubes, which slide within each
other, and have a contractive and expansive power, the amount of
which is given and controlled by springs acting within such tubes.
By the construction of these sliding tubes the entire carriage is

page_text: capable of compression in every direction, but it is allowed to con-
tract only to such an extent, as might be deemed convenient and safe,
by a stop being placed in the form of a shoulder to each tube, whilst
it has also the power and the continual tendency, by its own mechanical
construction, to revert to its original form. Into such sliding frames I
insert panels of webbing and flexible materials, having the properties of
contraction and expansion, and 'the capability of acting simultaneously
and equally with the sliding tubes.
These arrangements for compressibility, elasticity, and retention of
form I apply to every portion of each carriage, and such being com-
bined with such lightness as will reduce the comparative weight of the
carriages to about one tenth of the present vehicles, I reduce, in tlic
event of a collision, the momentum of the train to such an extent that
the blow or concussion is lessened until it becomes comparatively
harmless and insignificant, whilst I so fortify the carriages themselves
(firstly by the flexibility of their mechanical construction, secondly by the
clasticity of other materials, thirdly by entirely protecting the entire
vehicle by solid padding incapable of being penetrated, and fourthly
by buffers of a novel construction, herein-after described.) against the
shadow of a blow or concussion which remains, that I might confidently
announce the carriages to be incapable of destruction under any sucli
collisions as have hitherto resulted in the demolition of the vehicles
and the death or injury of the passengers.
I will now proceed to describe the means I employ to abate the
effects even of that remnant of a blow; how I prevent the transmission
of any concussion from carriage to carriage; and how I provide for a
gradual subsiding of the speed of each carriage.
First, in advance of my locomotive I place a carriage, which I call a
"travelling buffer" or a shield. This carriage may be of any convenient
length; it is composed of springs and elastic materials, and is intended to
be occupied by a guard. This carriage would be the first portion of the
train which could come in contact with any obstruction, and being capable
of compression to one half its length, and offering while under such.com-
pression the great resistance provided by its springs, must have the effect
of leadening the blow and concussion, and stopping the way of the loco

page_text: *motive.
In the rear of the locomotive the tender is placed. Instead of
the present most weighty and ponderous machine, carrying some tons
of water in iron cisterns, I construct a carriage the framework of which
is composed of tubes, sliding within each other and governed by springs,
so as to produce elasticity. Within the carriage, instead of cisterns of
iron, I convey the water in reservoirs or bags of india-rubber, or somė
other clastic and waterproof material. Upon receiving a blow or
pressure these reservoirs yield thereto by their own clasticity, and the
water also which they contain becomes a powerful adjunct in carrying
out the principle of contraction and expansion which I establish
throughout the entire train; consequently I make the tender performi
the part of a travelling buffer, and render it available for the purposes
of safety, in contradistinction to the destructive impetus of the tender of
the present trains. In the rear of the locomotive might be placed, if
needful, a second and similarly constructed travelling buffer, and then
would, follow the safety railway carriages, and after the passenger
carriages would also come another travelling buffer, which would
protect the rear of the train in case of its being overtaken or run into
from behind. The passenger carriages also would be incapable of
receiving injury from pressure or blows, inasmuch as they would be
in their entire forms buffers of a most complete character, as before
described. But in order further to protect them from needless pressure,
I place between each passenger carriage a suspended buffer, constructed
entirely of compressible and expansive springs and materials; this
apparatus would occupy the entire space of the end of each carriage.
When distended it might occupy in thickness a space of six feet, and
it would be capable of being compressed into one foot. These buffers
would correspond in size with the back or front of cach carriage, and
as the carriages would be coupled therely they could not by any
irregularity of motion evade its operation, and therefore the whole
train assumes the character of an articulated vertebræ, having the
additional property that all its parts are flexible, and elastic.
The
springs of such suspended. buffers act under a slighter pressure than
the slides which compose the carriages, consequently these buffers would
be completely compressed into their smallest compass prior to any

page_text: pressure being thrown on the carriages which could derange their
forms. Let us suppose, therefore, that the train consists of twenty
carriages. I have between each carriage six feet of compressible
substance in the suspended buffers prior to placing any strain on the
vehicles; consequently, in a train of twenty carriages, I have one
hundred and twenty feet of compressible mechanism, whereby the shock
of a concussion is destroyed, and the momentum of the train is made
to subside. To remedy the dangers and evils arising from the sudden
stoppage of the trains, I provide the inside of railway carriages with a
girdle, whereby each passenger is attached to the back of the seat.
This girdle is capable of being adjusted with perfect ease and comfort
around the waist and over the shoulders, and thus each passenger is
retained in his seat without the slightest inconvenience or pressure, and
death or fracture of limbs cannot ensue. It might be observed that
this arrangement of the girdle can only have value where the carriage
is indestructible; to fasten a passenger to a fragile or brittle carriage
would produce no safety, but rather increase the danger; therefore, in
the absence of a safety carriage, so simple a remedy would remain
unprovided, or its adoption would be rejected if proposed.
In consequence of the lightness of the carriages herein-before
described, I am enabled to adopt forms of construction and modes of
connection of parts which would be incompatible with safety beneath the
weight or strain attendant on the present vehicles. The axles have
their attachment to the body of the carriage underneath the centre of
the carriages only, where they work upon a pivot. The wheels are not
fastened to the sides of the carriages, but are allowed to slide backward
or forward upon a plate. Having such freedom of motion at the sides,
the axles adjust themselves with the greatest facility to the curves of
tlie lines, and ever present themselves in the position of true radii to the
centre of such circles, or, in other words, always stand at right angles
to the portion of the line which they are traversing. By this freedom of
self-adjustment the tendency of the present trains to run off or over the
lines is entirely removed, and the carriage yields ready obedience to
the rail upon which it is required to travel.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1, and 2, Drawing I., represent the exterior of a passenger
carriage. The frainework of all the carriages, as also the framework
of the travelling buffer and that of the tender, is composed of sliding
tubes, Figure 1, Drawing III., which traverse within each other. These
tubes might either of them be both circular, both quadrangular, or the
outer tube square and the inner tube circular (but I prefer the latter
arrangement, Figure 2, Drawing HII.) Within a chamber at the end of
the outer tube are springs B, B; Figure 1"; the inner tube, upon pressure
being applied; acts as a piston upon these springs, and the tubes slide
within each other until the shoulder D meets its opposing shoulder C;
at which point-the-power of contraction ceases. On-the pressure being
removed or lessened; tliese tubes distend- to their original position:
The tubes are received into blocks E, and such constitutes the 'panels
or framework of the carriages. This system of framework is carried
throughout the seats and every portion of the carriage. From sucli
framework or stiles are stretched strong elastic webbing which forms
the panels. To illustrate this I shew the back of a carriage, Figure 4;
Drawing III. one part G, showing the frame or stiles in skeleton, the
other H, showing the frame with the webbing attached. When the
carriage is so framed and webbed it is covered externally with a thin
wool or straw mattress, over which is an external covering of leather
or any other covering of waterproof or painted cloth which I might
adopt, whilst internally the carriage is completed with padding, and
thus the body of the carriage Figure 1, Drawing I., is constructed.
Figure 2, Drawing II., represents a back view of a passenger carriage.
This view is intended to show the position and operation of the axle.
It will be observed that the axle works on a pivot at the centre A.
This pivot constitutes the only attachment of the axle to the body of
the carriage. On the axle at the centre are springs B, upon which the
body of the carriage rests, the axle being square at this part, whilst
Crepresents the mode by which the axle traverses at the sides, the
body of the carriage merely resting on plates, which plates are fixed

page_text: upon the springs. Such attachment is shown also by the Drawings of
the wheels and springs shown in all, the views of the carriages.
Figure 1, Drawing II., represents a travelling buffer or shield. The
object of this buffer has been already explained. Its construction is as
follows: The entire framework is constructed of 'similar sliding tubes."
to those explained in Figure 1, Drawing III. Between this frame-
work is an arrangement of springs and shields, so constructed as to
constitute a compressible and elastic body, as shewn in the entire longi-
tudinal section of this travelling buffer, Figure 1, Drawing IV. In
this part of the buffer divisions are made by straw shields or mattresses,
about one inch or one inch and a half thick; these mattresses extend
across the carriage, and are covered with a thin coat of india-rubber,
to prevent cutting from the springs; they are intended to divide the
compressible part of the buffer into compartiments; these compartiments
are filled up entirely with spiral springs, as shewn, so that these com-
partments are capable of being greatly compressed. This apparatus is
covered with leather or any other elastic substance; and in each compart-
iment, at the bottom, is a valve, as shewn in Figure 2, Drawing IV., for
the admission of the atmosphere, whilst at the top is a smaller or safety
valve. The object of the admission of the atmosphere is, to use it as a:
resisting power whilst the buffer is under pressure, as the atmosphere
is capable of being compressed or dislodged, and causing the buffer to
become again inflated by the distension effected by means of the re-
action of the springs upon the removal or abatement of the pressure.
A, represents a compartment provided for a guard; this part of the
vehicle is not compressible longitudinally, but compresses slightly.
laterally and perpendicularly. This travelling buffer precedes the.
locomotive; another also might be placed between the tender and the
first passenger carriage; and another might be placed in the rear of
the train, to prevent injury by such being overtaken and run into from
behind.
Figure 5, Drawing III., represents a tender. The framework of
this tender is constructed of sliding tubes, as already described in.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, of the sanie Drawing. This tender embraces:
round the sides and back a chamber for containing the water, marked:

page_text: A, Drawing V.; the object of the india-rubber or elastic bags or re
servoirs A, A, containing the water, being, that upon a blow or pressure
the tender with its lading should be capable of compression, and that its
springs, together with the weight of water, should cause it again' to
expand to its original size. At the top of these bags are valves B,
Drawing V., through which sonic portion of the water would escape
under too great a pressure. The coals are contained in the centre C;
and the plates upon which they rest, as also any by which they may be
enclosed, slide within or upon each other D, and thus perform the
general operation of contraction and expansion. The water is made a
powerful adjunct for this purpose.
f
.
A, Figure 1, Drawing I., represents a suspended buffer. This buffer
extends to the entire size. of the back or front of cacli carriage, and
must invariably be placed. between each passenger carriage, as shown
in this Figure. It is intended to be about five or six feet thick, and
is divided into compartments by straw shields or mattresses, as shewn
in Figures 2 and 3, Drawing IV., which are covered with a thin coat
of india-rubber, to prevent the cutting of the springs, as before described;
in the travelling buffers. These compartments, are entirely filled with
spiral springs S, S, Figure 2, Drawing IV., and in each compartment
the atmosphere is received by a valve at the bottom B, Drawing IV.,
and escapes at a valve at the top C, as in the travelling buffers, and for
the same purposes.. The division coloured yellow represents the straw
mattresses to which the springs are affixed; a coating of india-rubber
to prevent cutting from the springs is shown. The circles with lines in
Figure 3, represent the basis of springs; those coloured grey represent
apertures through which the atmosphere passes from one compartment
to another. These suspended buffers have not any framework as
the travelling buffers, but the mattresses and springs are kept in
place and together by elastic bands, and the whole is covered with
leather, or some other flexible or elastic substance. These buffers tend
to couple the carriages B, Drawing I., so that it is impossible for the
carriages to come in. contact with each other. The spiral springs of
these buffers are intended to contract under a slighter pressure than the
tubes of the carriages, so that the form of the carriages cannot be

page_text: disturbed until the buffers are completely compressed. The entire
meclianism of this suspended buffer is shewn in Figures 2 and 3,
Drawing IV.
Figure 4, Drawing IV., represents an adjustment of the girdle. By
this each passenger (although not inconvenienced by its application) is
rendered incapable of being thrown forward or dashed from his seat.
This girdle is firmly attached to the back of each passenger seat, and
consists of a waistband or girdle applied by buckles, to be connected
with which are straps coming from the back over the shoulders, and
being made of elastic webbing it admits of every easy or needful
motion, but prevents the projection of the body to an inconvenient or
injurious position or distance. This adjustment of a girdle is not so
needful in the case of a sudden arrest of the train, because no shock
or jolt is expericuced, but in the case of a broken rail or other damage,
by which the train is run off the line or over an embankment, the
girdles should always be used as a precautionary measure, in which
case even these accidents could not be attended by fatal or injurious
consequences. The girdle is also a matter of comfort and ease during
repose or sleep.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be carried into effect, I wish it to be un-
derstood that I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein laid
down, as the same may be varied according to circumstances; but
what I claim as my Invention is,
Firstly, the use of a compressible and elastic carriage, cither for rail-
way or other modes of travelling, constructed of sliding tubes governed
by springs, and fitted with elastic materials or with materials partly
elastic and partly otherwise, as herein-before described and referred to in
Figures 1 and 2, Drawing I., and Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, Drawing III.
Secondly, the cumployment of the suspended buffer herein-before
described and referred to in Figures 1 and 2, Drawing I., & Figures 2
& 3, Drawing IV.
Thirdly, the application to railway carriages of axles revolving at
their centre, as herein-before described and referred to in Figure 2,
Drawing II.

page_text: Fourthly, the employment of girdles.for preventing the projection of
the passengers in cases of collision, as herein-before described and
referred to in Figure 4, Drawing IV.
Fifthly, the employment of the compressible and expansive railway
tender, as herein-before described and referred to in Drawing V., and
Figure 5, Drawing HII.
+
Sixthly, the employment of the travelling buffer with compressible
and expansive tubes, divided into compartments, and provided with
valves or apertures for inflation, as herein-before described and referred
to in Figure 1, Drawing II, and Figure 1, Drawing IV.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
Witness,
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU.
FRED S. THOMAS. (L.S.)."