306 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[AuGirST, 



BURSTALl.'S FATEN'l' PNEUMATIC CAUUIAGE SPKING 

 RAILWAY BUFFER, AND ELASTIC DRAG. 



— — — - — ^f\— p 



re used in the like purts in all the 



The principal feature of this invention fas shown in the iliagrams) 

 consists in applying the elastic properties of the air for the springs 

 and buffers of railway carriages, and is best performed by inclosing in 

 a metal cylinder an air-tight vessel eonstrueted of caoutchouc or caout- 

 chouc and silk or cotton, such as the well known prejraration of Mr. 

 Mackintosh, or of some of the animal tissues, or any other flexible 

 substance which can be made air-tight. 



Fig. 1 in the plan shows a double cylinder, its pistons, buffers, &c., 

 the cylinder being in section,) to indicate the situation of the air 

 vessels. 



Fig. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are plans and sections of part of a locomotive 

 steam carriage frame, with four of the springs; the buffer, cylinder, 

 and part of tiie frame, being in section as in tig. 1. 



Fig. G is a plan of an elastic drag, and an improved method of con- 

 necting a train of carriages together. 



The same letters of reference are 

 plans. 



In fig. 1, AA are those parts of a cylin<ler (w liich is constructed with 

 a partition in the centre to make it into two) in which the air 

 vessels are to be placed; LL are two ])istons for compressing the air 

 vessels ; C C the piston rods on which llie cross heads B B are to be 

 securely fixed ; the outer ends of the piston rods CC being extended 

 to the full length of the carriage for the purjuise of fixing the buffers 

 EE; the bars across the buffers with the holes I^FPl^ are for the pur- 

 ])0se of fixing drag chains to connect one carriage to tlie next in the 

 train; the cylinder (as only one will gener.dly be required) must be 

 liulted by the fVjur lugs D D D D to the centre of the carriage ; the two 

 cross lu'ads B B are connected together liy the side rods >i N to cause 

 the two pistons to act together, or as one is compressed against the 

 one air vessel, the other will be relaxed according as the carriage is 

 UKJVed forward or backward, anil as the bufl'ers are fixed to the ends 

 of the piston rods, the concussion will be received through them on 

 the corresponding air vessel. 



In fig. 2 and 5, F F, is part of the side frame of a railway steam 

 carriage; fig. 5 being the plan, and fig. 2 the elevation, with part in 

 section; HHHH are four cvlinders, and may be seven to ten inches 

 lung, and five to seven inclies diameter, two being shown in section 

 an(l two in elevation ; together they form a powerful carriage spring 

 on the same principle as the above described buffer, with air vessels, 

 pistons, and piston rods: the cylinders may be made of cast iron, cast 

 in one piece, and nuist be bolted upon the top of the carriage frame; 

 K is the axle of the carriage, with ifs brass bearing guided by the iron 

 frame in the usu'al way, on this brass a strong iriJU bar II is fixed, and 

 on which the four piston rods of the springs stand so that the coni- 



jiression of the air vessels in the cylinders A A may produce the re 

 quired elastic action. 



In fig. 3 and 4, G G, is the end fiaming of a steam carriage, fig. 3 

 being a section of that, and a buBer to be placed at the end of the 

 carriage, while fig. 4 is a plan; this buffer is constructed and acts on 

 1 he principle before described, and is for the protection of the carriage, 

 w hen either jiushing a train before the steam carriage or when one 

 carriage is propelled against another. 



Fig. G is a plan of an elastic drag, on the same principle and con- 

 struction as fig. 1, except, instead of the two buffi'rs tlie elongated [lis- 

 ton rods are ]n'Ovided with a socket joint and key to comiect the train 

 together, as at M 3 and 4, and two horizontal joints as at M 1 and 2 ; 

 these joints being for the purpose of allowing the train of carriages, 

 however long, to conform without stress or strain to any curve of the 

 railway. By this ]ilan the whole train will be locked together by wdiat 

 will be, in effect, a complete bar from end to end; while each carriage 

 being only acted on through the medium of the elastic air vessels, will 

 be freely at liberty to take its natural place on the railway bars, and 

 any oscillatory motion wdiich any individual carriage may receive, will 

 end w ith itself, instead of as at present being propagated backwards 

 and forwar<ls from one end of the train to the other, while any sudden 

 shock will be received on the air vessels the same as if provided with 

 buffers. 



As in this method of supporting carriages and forming railway 

 buffers, advantage is taken of two of the most elastic substances in 

 nature, it principally remains to show there are no practical difficul- 

 ties in the way ; this will be clear from the fact, that the air vessel is 

 so completely supported by the cylinder, that a vessel made by ex- 

 panding with a syringe one of the common caoutchouc bottles, sold by 

 the stationers, weighing only one ounce, and enlarged till it was less 

 than l-4Uth of an inch thick, bore, without symptoms of failure, a 

 gross weight of upwards cd' 3U0 pounds, equal to 50 poimds to the 

 inch; which was hkewise the case when a sheep's bladder of less 

 than one quarter that weight was jiut into the cylinder. 



In constructing the single buffer, as in fig. 3 and 4, it is recommended 

 that they be made 7 or 8 inches diameter, or containing 50 to GO cir- 

 cular inches section ; tliis, if jiressed by concussion to half its length, 

 will give a resistance of about 700 pounds ; if into l-4tli 2,000 pounds ; 

 or if into 1-Sth, 5 to G,000 pounds; but so long as the cylinder is strong 

 enough, it can never be brought home. 



In the elastic drag, fig. G, cylinders of five inches diameter will be 

 fidly sufficient, as the utmost drauglit of each carriage may not exceed 

 100 pounds; and as each carriage will have its own independent 

 spring, this will give a power of compression of four pounds only to 

 each circular inch; while in case of any sudden stopping, as the air 

 vessel may bear 100 pounds to the inch, a resistance of about 2,000 

 pounds may be received without any jirejudice to the spring. 



WILLIAMS' PATENT WROUGHT IRON BOILER. 



1 ',fm 



A A the fknv pipes. B man-liole. C C apertures of three inch square 

 pijic, nine inch Ion),' with cocks D D fixed on to the front with a niove- 

 alile rtanye, lo clear out (he dirt, Uc. from the inside. K the fire-place 

 F Ihe out.side of the Ijoiler forming tlie siifc Hues, where the fire passes 

 round. (1 tlie top of tlie builer. H the return-pipe. 



The annexed engraving is a perspective view of a very compact 

 and economic boiler; every advantage has been taken for economizing 

 the heat, as well as taking every precaution for cleaning ont the in- 



