USRE32E - Improved spring for railroad-cars - Google Patents

Description

"Reissued June 8.1841.

.PET. WW". WWIIIZIOII, D. C-

F. M. RAY.

Carriage-Spring.

W at J m v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVED SPRING FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1,000, dated November 3, 1838; Reissue No. 25, dated September 25, 1840; Reissue No. 32, dated June 8, 1841.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FOWLER M. RAY, of Catskill, in the county of Greene and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manner of Constructing Springs for RailroadOars, Locomotives, and other Carriages, andI do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

I construct thelower portion of my springs of several leaves of springsteel, gradually decreasing in length, as in other car and carriage springs; but I do not allow the ends of either of my successive leaves to come into contact with its adjoining longer leaf, excepting when forced to do so by the pressure of the load, by which manner of constructing and combining the several leaves I render my springs selfadjusting, the leaves sustaining each other in proportion to the load which is placed upon them. The upper leaf or leaves of my springs are bent around bolts or passed into pockets, as in many other car-springs.

In the accompanying drawing, A A represents a part of the side rail of the frame of a railroadcar, locomotive, or other carriage, against the under side of which the endsof the spring 0 G are made to bear. The upper leaf or leaves, 0' G, of this spring, as represented in the drawing, has its outer ends made to bend around bolts G G, passing through shackles or links F F, swinging on bolts passing through the side rail, A A, thus allowing a free motion to the leaf endwise as it lengthens or shortens. Instead of the shackles F F to sustain the leaf or leaves 0 C, the ends of said leaf or leaves may pass into pockets on the under side of the rail, or may be secured thereto in any other of the known modes admitting the requisite play to the springs. There are plates of iron or of steel affixed at H H to the under side of the rail as bearings for those parts of the spring which are to come into contact with them. The leaves 0 and O of the lower portion of the spring, together with such others as it may be thought proper to use, are connected with the leaf or leaves 0' and with each other by means of a band and bolt at their centers D, by which,

also, they may be fastened to the block E, or

to any other fixture adapted to sustain them, and to connectthem with the axle-boxes or other parts of the carriage. The ends of the leaves 0 and O it will be seen, stand off from the leaves next above them, and this they may do for nearly their whole length when they are unloaded but they are so bent that when heavily loaded they will touch along their whole length, their points of contact being in proportion to theload placed upon them. A similar action is exerted also on the leaf or leaves 0 O, the points of bearing thereof upon the plates H H approaching each other in pro portion to the load, while the elastic force of the ends of the leaf or leaves without the points of direct bearing is still rendered effective by the action of its ends downward on the bolts G G, or on the pockets or other substitutes for them.

Having thus fully explained the nature of my improvement in the springs for railroadcars, locomotives, and other carriages, what I claim therein as constituting my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The manner in which I construct, arrange, and combine the respective leaves of which they are composed, as set forth, so that when lightly loaded such of said leaves which constitute the lower portion of the spring shall not touch each other toward their outer ends, while they shall be brought into complete contact when heavily loaded, the extent of such contact being regularly proportioned to the load.

2. The forming the upper portion of the spring, consisting of theleaf or leaves 0' G, in such manner as that the points of bearing toward their ends shall approach each other where they are in contact with the side rail, A A, as theload is increased,while the elastic force of their ends between these points of bearing and their outer ends, where they are held by the bolts or pockets, is still rendered effective.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my name the 25th day of May, 1841.

FOWLER M. RAY.

Witnesses:

THos. P. JONES, GEORGE WEST.

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