A NEW IMPROVED SPRING
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Browne, of No. 52, King William Street,
in the City of London, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Inven-
tion of "A NEW IMPROVED SPRING."-A communication from abroad by
Perry Green Gardiner, of New York City, in the County and State of
New York, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 8th April 1862, and dated the 10th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Browne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
October 1861.
I, BENJAMIN BROWNE, of No. 52, King William Street, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW IMPROVED SPRING," (communicated to me
from abroad by Perry Green Gardiner, of New York City, in the County
and State of New York, in the United States of America,) to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of a combination of steel blades or strips of tempered
steel bent in different curves or directions, said blades being connected together
at their extremities by pins, so as to act one upon the other in such a manner
as that when in use the end portions of such said blades pressing upon each
other stiffens the springs, and thus adapts them to the load or pressure they are

page_text: required to bear or carry. The aforesaid improved spring may either be formed
each of a single blade of steel, or each spring may be formed of several blades
connected together in the usual manner; in all cases the two innermost or main
blades are connected together by their ends. The form or shape of the bend
of these plates may either be elliptical or of other form. The uppermost main
blade I propose to form of a regular curve, but the lowermost main blade I
make of a compound curve; that is to say, I form the centre portion curved in
one direction, and the ends curved in an opposite direction, so that when a
spring thus formed is in use the ends only shall gradually press more or less
against the uppermost curved blade, thus shortening the elastic parts of the
two blades, or altering the effective length of the spring, and stiffening the
spring in proportion to the weight or pressure thereon; and it is this peculiar
combination of curved plates that constitutes this Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Browne in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
BROWNE, of No. 52, King William Street, in the City of London, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Benjamin Browne, Her special licence that I, the said Benjamin Browne,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Browne, 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 "A NEW IMPROVED
SPRING," (communicated to me from abroad by Perry Green Gardiner, of New
York City, in the County and State of New York, in the United States of
America,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin
Browne, 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

page_text: 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 Browne, do hereby declare
the nature of this Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of a combination of steel blades or strips of tempered
steel bent in different curves or directions, said blades being connected together
at their extremities by pins, so as to act one upon the other in such a manner
as that, when in use, the end portions of such said blades pressing upon each
other stiffens the springs, and thus adapts them to the load or pressure they
are required to bear or carry. The aforesaid improved spring may either be
formed each of a single blade of steel, or each spring may be formed of several
blades connected together in the usual manner; in all cases the two innermost
or main blades are connected together by their ends. The form or shape of
the bend of these plates may either be elliptical or of other form. The upper-
most main blade I propose to form of a regular curve, but the lowermost
main blade I make of a compound curve, that is to say, I form the centre
portion curved in one direction, and the ends curved in an opposite direction,
so that when a spring thus formed is in use the ends only shall gradually press
more or less against the uppermost curved blade, thus shortening the elastic
parts of the two blades, or altering the effective length of the spring, and
stiffening the spring in proportion to the weight or pressure thereon; and it is
this peculiar combination of curved plates that constitutes this Invention.
In order to explain the said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of refer-
ence marked thereon respectively, as follows, similar letters of reference being
employed to denote corresponding parts, in so far as such parts appear or can
be seen at each of such said Figures respectively.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a side view of the improved spring in its natural state;
Figure 2 shews a spring, when under weight or compressed; Figure 3 repre-
sents a spring for railroad cars. In the manufacture of the improved spring,
the two Wedes A and B are turned on their ends so as to fit one into the

page_text: "
heads w, Figure 2, which cover the ends of both blades, so as to prevent any
lateral motion. Both blades may be made of the same length when straight,
but it is preferred and found advisable to make the lower blade B about one
quarter of an inch longer than the upper blade A. It is likewise preferred to
make the lower blade B lighter or thinner than the upper blade A; but both
blades are made thickest in the middle, tapering gradually towards both their
ends. The top blade A is then bent in an arched or elliptic curve, bent out-
wardly, while the lower blade B is bent in a wave-line curve, having the end
curves alike to each other, and forming parts of an arched curve, whilst the
central part of said blade forms an inverted arch. The shape of said lower
blade B, may likewise be called a combination of two "cima' or " ogee
curves, arranged so that the central or middle part shall form an inverted
arch. In Figure 3, a railroad car spring is represented, the top and bottom
blades being strengthened by additional blades A' and B', arranged in the
same manner as by common elliptic springs, and secured together by bands
n, m, in the middle. The weight or load being applied in the centre against
the top and bottom blades, the top blade A is pressed down and flattens out,
whilst the action of the lower blade B, where the weight is applied against
the inverted arch, brings the end or curved parts of said lower blade against
the top blade A. By this action the two blades form braces to each other,
and as the increase of the weight or load against the springs will cause the
end parts of the lower and upper blades to lay more and more upon each
other, changing thereby the point of motion, and at the same time changing
the effective length of the spring, I obtain by this arrangement a spring,
which by a very light weight or load is easy and sensitive, and increases gra-
dually in strength and stiffness in direct proportion as the weights or load on
the spring increases. When the weight is applied the top blade is pressed
down, while the ends of the lower blade are forced outwards, thus throwing
nearly the whole of the load on the tension of the top blade, which sustains
the load with much less liability to break than if the whole weight were
brought directly across the bars of metal, as is the case with the ordinary
elliptic spring, whilst at the same time it produces a much better action from
the fact that the top blade is held by both ends in suspension, which allows a
free and easy movement. From the above-described action, resulting from the
combination of two blades bent and connected together, as heretofore stated,
and by which the point of motion is continually changing, is obtained, with less
weight of metal, a spring superior in strength and elasticity to ordinary
springs, and capable of graduating itself to the load, and at the same time
prevent the crystalization of the metal at one point more than another, in con-

page_text: sequence of which the improved spring will be more durable and less liable to
the danger of breaking.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of this
Invention of a "New Improved Spring," together with the best means I am
acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I hereby declare
this Invention to consist in, and I claim,-
First, the construction of carriage or other springs, substantially as herein
described, by combining with an upper elastic blade of an arched or elliptic
form an ogee shaped under blade, in the manner and for the purpose set
forth.
Secondly, in combination with a spring made of two blades connected at
their ends, as shewn, I claim making the under blade of such a length, in relation
to the upper blade, that the two blades shall be prevented from coming in
contact at the centre, whatever the superincumbent weight or load may be.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Browne, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
BENJAMIN BROWNE. (L.S.)