An Account of a recently invented Patent Spring, called, " The 

 Safety Spring,^'' and applicable to Carriages and Carts of 

 every description *. By the Rev. R. J. Barlow. With an 

 illustrative Plate. 



When springs were first brought into practice, they were 

 imagined to be useful merely to give ease to the traveller, and a 

 certain degree of security to fragile articles ; reflecting persons 

 however, quickly discovered them to be a great means of saving 

 the carriage and lessening the draught, which latter is clearly 

 proved in the works of Drs Helsham and Arnott. To save the 

 road upon which we travel, has, since the formation of railways, 

 become a consideration of the utmost importance, and so per- 

 fectly convinced are scientific men of the value of springs for 

 that purpose, that^the eminent engineer Mr Stephenson does not 

 permit a single waggon to be run upon the Manchester and 

 other lines under his direction without springs, although the 

 weight and expense thereby added to each waggon is very con- 

 siderable. 



Hence, it is evident, that besides the comfort and convenience 

 of springs, their chief advantages consist in saving the horse or 

 engine, the carnage itself, and the road\ipon which it travels ; 

 and consequently the only argument against their being uni- 

 versally adopted by the Ordnance Department, and for farming 

 carts, and common stage waggons, must arise from their being 

 so expensive, so hable to break, and so ponderous when employ- 

 ed for heavy waggons, all which evils are in a great measure 

 obviated by this invention, the peculiar properties of -which may 

 be thus briefly enumerated. 



A greater degree of ease than those now in use ; — almost per- 

 fect security against breaking under any circumstances; — a saving 

 of weio-ht upon railways to the amount of three-fourths, upon the 

 common roads to the extent of two-thirds ; — much cheaper ; — a 

 direct up and down motion, which prevents the swinging and 

 rolling of the carriage, and consequently secures it against being 



• Communicated to the AVhitby Philosophical Society by the Rev. B. J. 

 Barlow, the patentee, of Linden Grove, near Stokesby, Yorkshire, September 

 1836. 



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