Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Oct., 1887
Complete Left, 6th June, 1888
Complete Accepted, 6th July, 1888
I ANTOINE BAPTISTE PAULET of 5 Rue Mazagran, Paris, in the Republic of France,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
-
This invention consists in a novel construction of metal sleeper and chair for the
permanent way of railways.
In carrying out my invention, I form my chairs with a downwardly projecting
stem, in which I provide bolt or rivet holes. The sleepers are formed of two lengths
or bars of L-shaped iron, which are placed with their longest side downwards. The
vertical sides are then secured together and to the stem of the chair (a bar on either
side of the stem) by bolts or rivets. I may also place at one or more points in
their length, and between the bars, spacing pieces, which will also be secured to the
bars.
The end of the bars may be curved outwards, or they may be attached to transverse
end pieces of angle iron, the object being to give a firm support to the bars, and to
prevent the transverse displacement of the sleepers.
The bars may also be formed with an external flange, which will serve to keep them
apart at the bottom, and will also increase the bearing surface. The chair for double
headed rail is of the ordinary form, but a chair a Vignolles rail is made with an
inclined bearing surface for the base of the rail, and two spurs, under one of which
takes one flange of the base of the rail, and the other receives a wedge of corre-
sponding form, which fills up the space between the spur and the other flange of the
base.
For level crossings, I use a double chair, which will have a correspondingly shaped
spur at either end, and a central under-cut rib, the bearing surfaces being inclined in
opposite directions.
To carry the points and similar parts of the permanent way, I form the sleeper of
two ordinary sleepers, as above described, placed side by side, with a T piece bolted
between each, and on the top of the T piece I secure a plate, to which the rails

page_text: will be fixed by bolts and nuts or otherwise. In this way I obtain large bearing
surfaces.
In some cases I may modify the form of the sleeper, which will consist of two
angle bars placed at some distance apart, the ends being connected together by lengths
of angle iron bent to the form of a U, which are bolted to the side bars with spacing
pieces between.
The sides of the U will project upwards beyond the position of the chairs, which will
thus be bolted between two angle bars as before. In this instance, a tie rod may be
used to connect the centre portion of the bars.
101

page_text: I ANTOINE BAPTISTE PAULET of 5 Rue Mazagran, Paris in the Republic of France,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The object of the present invention is to substitute for the sleepers at present in use
for maintaining the spacing of the rails, a new system of metal sleepers.
In order that iny invention may be better understood, I have shewn several forms
(by way of example only) in the accompanying drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sleeper, shewing a special form of chair for double
headed rails.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.
«
Fig. 3 is an elevation of a sleeper with a special form of chair for a Vignolles"
rail.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same.
Fig. 5 is a side view of the chair for a Vignolles rail.
Fig. 6 is a section of a chair on a larger scale, taken on the line xx, Fig. 3.
Fig. 7 is a section on the line 1. 2 of Fig. 2, shewing a special form of the sleeper.
Fig. 8 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a double coupled sleeper.
Fig 9 is a plan view of the same.
Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a sleeper with double chairs for the reception of a
level crossing arranged according to my system.
Fig. 11 shews in plan view a double coupled sleeper for railway apparatus; and
Fig. 12 is a transverse section of the same, in the line 3. 4.
The metal sleeper shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 7, is composed of two angle iron bars A A',
placed back to back, leaving a space between them equal to the thickness of the keel
of the chairs B B¹.
In order to give a better seat to the sleeper, the two angle bars A A¹ are connected
at each end by a short angle bar a a¹, having sides of unequal width. The horizontal
side a underlies the horizontal side of the bars A A¹ of the sleeper, and is attached to
each by a rivet or otherwise.
The side, a of the short bar, which is the widest, stands vertically, closing the ends
of the sleeper, and thereby opposing itself to any lateral displacement of the rails.
To give greater rigidity to the sleeper, I place in the middle of its length, and
between the two vertical sides of the angle bars, a filling piece K, securing it in position
by one or more riveis or bolis..
The angle irons A A', constituting the sleeper, are each formed with a heel (see
Fig. 7), which heels close the space between the.hars.
The section thus adopted is one that is commonly rolled, and it has the advantage
of increasing the bearing surface of the sleeper, and admits of more efficacious

page_text: "
amping, which renders its employment advantageons, particularly in the case of fine
sand, a species of ballast that is met with in certain instances.
If thought desirable, the ends of the bar may be curved outwards, as shewn in dotted
lines at DD¹.
In the arrangement of double sleeper shewn in Figs. 8 and 9, the ends of the anglo
bars may also be bent outwards, as shewn in dotted lines at D³, or they may be
straight, as shewn at D³.
The bent angle bars 0, Fig. 9, couple the transverse angle bars A2 A3 together a
certain distance apart, and at the same time admit of the attachment of the chairs.
To ensure the rigidity of the sleeper, I insert filling pieces dd, hetween the bars A² A³
and the bent ends of the angle bar C, each filling piece being secured to the
vertical sides of the angle bars by one or more rivets or bolts. By this arrange-
ment the sleepers A2 A3 are reinforced near their ends, that is to say, at the
points where the greatest strain makes itself felt, and permits of a more efficacious
tamping.
At the middle of this compound sleeper, a stretcher m of flat bar iron may be
employed to stiffen the sleeper, and this bar may be bent square at its opposite ends,
so as to permit of its being bolted or rivetted to the sleeper bars A2 A3 by one or more
bolts or rivets.
Angle bars of the section above described with reference to single sleepers, may
also be advantageously employed for the compound sleepers, and the filling pieces K
and d d intended to impart rigidity to both single or compound sleepers may be of
cast or of wrought iron, rectangular, or T shaped, or simply round washers; they are
connected to the vertical sides of the angle bars by rivets.
The chairs are made as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, if they are intended for double
headed rails, but if intended to receive Vignolles rails, they will be made as shewn in
Figs. 3, 4 and 5.
The Vignolles chair B, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, is of T shape in cross section, the
vertical part or keel being placed between the two vertical sides of the angle bars A A',
to which it is secured by four bolts or rivets c* ex, in such a way that the headi of
the Trests upon the top of the angle bars.
This chair may be made of wrought iron, stamped or rolled, of cast steel, of malleable
cast iron, or even of good ordinary cast iron.
The seat for the rail in the chair is inclined to say 1 in 20 centimetres, and receives
the base of the rail X. The ends of the chair are formed with two raised
shoulders, one of which ƒ (Figs. 3 & 5) takes the form abd of the wedge c,
while the other serves as an abutment, and prevents the rising of the exterior edge a
of the base of the rail X.
I have found from experience that the best sectional form to give to the wedge e
is that shewn in Fig. 5. The part abe is rounded to correspond to the shoulder f of
the chair, in which it is forcibly compressed; the part dg is so shaped with respect
to the edge of the base of the rail, as to exert a powerful pressure upon the edge
when driven in. It rests upon the chair at the part a d, which is formed with a
sharp angle to the part dg, and a rounded angle at m n with the side a bc of the
wedge.
The wedge is slightly tapered, and may be made of any suitable length, of forged
or rolled iron, of cast or rolled steel, or of malleable cast iron.
I think it desirable to place the wedges in fixing a Vignolles rail on the inside of
the permanent way, so that they may be readily got at, and also in order to ensure an
invariable spacing between the rails.
The above described chair is suitable for every description of flanged rail, but for
double headed rails, the chair shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 8, and 9, with wood quoins, wedges,
or keys, should be employed. The chair is fixed between the two angle bars of the
sleeper, as before described.
Should it be desired to employ flat iron bars in place of the angle bars A A', the
chairs must be made without keels or webs, and placed flat upon and secured to the
bars by bolts and nuts, or other suitable means.

page_text: For level crossings, I employ the double chair shown in side view at Fig. 10 for
carrying the rail and counter rail a a", connected, as before described, with simple
or with compound sleepers by the keel or web with which it is provided. In this
case there must be provided three shoulders ff, one at either end of the chair,
and one,, in the middle of the chair, this shoulder being furnished with two lips.
I also form a special sleeper for switches, points, level crossings &c. (see the plan
view at Fig. 11 and the cross section at Fig. 12). This sleeper is composed of two
angle bars a a¹, rivetted to the rib v of a bar of T iron, and two other angle bars a³ ³
connected in a similar manner to a second bar of T iron. The two sleepers thus
formed are solidly united by means of flat iron or steel plates rivetted to the
horizontal part of the T irons, or secured thereto in any other convenient manner.
By theso means, large bearing surfaces are provided, admitting of the metallie
sleepers replacing wood with advantage.
The rails may be bolted direct to the flat iron plates r, which will here take the place
of the chairs and quoins of the permanent way.
The sleepers above described require no forge work; all the operations necessary
to their construction, with the exception of the rivetting, may be performed
mechanically without heat; their manufacture will therefore be practical, easy, and
economical.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1st. A metal sleeper for an ordinary railway formed of two angle bars A A¹
furnished with a heel b, and placed back to back, so as to leave between them a space
for fixing the chairs B B. the angle bars being connected at their ends by transverse
angle bars a a', and having at their middle a filling or spacing piece K, as described
and shown with reference to Figs. 1 to 7 of the Drawings.
2nd. A metal sleeper formed of two angle bars A' A³ connected together near their
outer ends by two angle bars C C' bent to a U shape in plan view, and secured to the
bars A2 A3 by bolts, or rivets, which pass through spacing pieces dd between the
bars C C¹ and the bars A² and A³, the said bars A, A³ being also connected at
the middle of their length by a stretcher m, as described and shown with reference to
Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings.
3rd. The chairs B B' and the quoins, wedges, or keys e', of the special form shewn
in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6, as and for the purpose set forth.
4th. The double chair shewn in Fig. 10, provided with three shoulders or abut-
ments fff, as and for the purpose set forth.
5th. The combination of the inetal sleepers referred to in the previous claims, with
chairs formed with a web or keel as shewn and described.
6th. A compound sleeper for crossings composed of four angle bars a a¹ a³ a³, two
T shaped bars vv, and the flat plates rr as shewn in Figs. 11 and 12.
Dated this 4th day of June 1888.
"
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.