Improvements in or relating to the Draw-bar Gear of Railway Vehicles, also applicable to Buffers.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1894-Accepted, 23rd Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Draw-bar Gear of Railway
Vehicles, also applicable to Buffers.
I, JAMES WALLACE of 29 and 33 King Street, Wigan, Engineer, 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:-
These improvements refer to an invention for which I obtained Letters Patent
No. 4370 on the 27th day of October 1879 and have for their object the obtaining
of a greater range of movement or compression of the india-rubber ring or buffer
described in the Specification of the said Patent, without making an expensive
increase or addition to the substance and cost of the ring, and without increasing
the size of the compression plates and length of draw bar to any material extent.
And in order that my said invention shall be the more readily understood and
carried into practical effect I have hereunto annexed a sheet of drawings and will
now proceed to describe the same with the assistance of the various figures and
letters of reference marked thereon.
Fig. 1a perspective view of my improved ring shewn separate from the
draw bar gear.
Fig. 2 is an exterior perspective view of the ring and draw bar gear put together
and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view.
Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a modification of my invention.
In accordance with my invention I form the india-rubber ring (A) with an annular
rib or projection (B) on each of its two compression faces, see Figs. 1 and 3. These
ribs or projections which are of rounded section so as to seat themselves well against
the compression plates (C) and (C¹), and to save the wear of the rubber as much as
possible, are, by preference moulded in one piece with the ring. When the ring is
under compression between the two plates (C), (C) the said ribs (B), (B) tele-
scope or imbed themselves into the substance of the ring, and in so doing give the
ring a greater range of compression than the plain ring heretofore in use, with a
very slight increase in the substance of the ring.
To prevent the ring slipping down onto the bosses of the compression plates and
to keep it centrally around the draw bar and between the two plates, I form a small
annular groove or recess (D) on the inside face of each of the said plates as
illustrated in Fig. 3.
In lieu of the ribs aforesaid I may obtain somewhat the same increased range of
compression by making the ring of oval or elliptical cross section as illustrated in
Fig. 4 with the major axis of the ellipse in the line of compression, or with studs or
segmental projections of rounded shape, but these I do not consider to be as effective
as the ribs.
These improvements are equally applicable to the india-rubber rings used in the
spring buffer for which Letters Patent, No. 19,590 were granted to me on the
5th day of December 1889.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. In draw bar gear and spring buffers for railway vehicles, the use and
employment of an india-rubber ring with annular ribs or projections or their

page_text: equivalent on each of its compression faces and mounted substantially as and
for the purposes set forth.
2nd. In draw bar gear and spring buffers for railway vehicles, the use and
employment of an india-rubber ring of oval or elliptical cross section as and for
the purposes set forth.
Dated this 27th day of December 1894.
JOHN G. WILSON & Co.,
Agents.