AN IMPROVED MODE OF SUPPORTING THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Ashcroft, Engineer to the South Eastern
Railway, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF SUPPORTING THE
RAILS OF RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS."
Sealed the 25th June 1858, and dated the 30th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Ashcroft at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
January 1858.
I, PETER ASHCROFT, Engineer to the South Eastern Railway, do hereby
3 declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF SUPPORTING
THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to prevent the under wearing surface
of the double-headed rail from being injured by reason of its contact with the
seat of the chair, in order that it may be fit for efficient service when the
upper head of the rail is worn-down. For this purpose I suspend the rail in
the chair by the use of filling or supporting pieces, which may be of iron or
wood placed one on either side of the rail, and forming therewith a compound
wedge. The rail, with the supporting pieces, is driven down between the jaws
of the chair, and is thereby held suspended above the chair seat. The jaws of
the chair I prefer to cast with vertical ribs or grooves on their inner side, and
when using iron wedges I provide their outer sides with corresponding grooves
or ribs. When wooden wedges are used, the act of driving in the wedges will
sufficiently indent them to enable them to fit the grooves in the jaws and get
a firm holding.
This mode of applying wooden wedges I propose also to employ in the
fixing of single-headed rails in intermediate chairs, as a slight amount of
elasticity is thereby gained, the contact of metal against metal being avoided.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Ashcroft in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ASHCROFT, Engineer to the South Eastern Railway, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter Ashcroft, Her special license that I, the said Peter Ashcroft, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter
Ashcroft, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
SUPPORTING THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Peter Ashcroft, by an instrument in writing
under my band and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was 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 Peter Ashcroft, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
The chief object of this Invention is to provide a means for supporting
double-headed rails in their chairs, so that their under wearing surface shall
not become injured by contact with the seat of the chairs, but when the rails
are turned (on their upper head being worn down) their lower head shall be
fit for efficient service. For this purpose I suspend the rails in rigid chairs
of a peculiar construction by the use of filling or supporting pieces, which may
be of iron or wood placed one on either side of the rail, and forming therewith
a compound wedge.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side view of a double-headed rail
supported according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;

page_text: and Fig. 3 is a cross section, shewing the rail suspended between two
wedges.
The rail A with the wedge-shaped supporting pieces B, C, is driven down
between the jaws D, D, of the chair, and it is thereby held suspended above
the chair seat. The jaws of the chair it will be seen are cast with vertical
ribs or grooves on their inner faces, and when using iron wedges I cast them
also with corresponding grooves or ribs on their outer sides, making their
inner sides conform to the configuration of the rail, as shewn at Fig. 3.
When wooden wedges are used, the act of driving in the wedges will sufficiently
indent them to enable them to fit the grooves in the jaws and get a firm
holding.
This mode of applying wooden wedges I propose also to employ in the
fixing of single-headed rails in intermediate chairs, as a slight amount of
elasticity is thereby gained, the contact of metal against metal being avoided.
By thus ribbing the jaws of the chairs and forming the wedges (when made of
cast iron) to conform to those roughened surfaces, all disposition of the wedges
to move endwise is avoided, and no tendency to rise vertically will exist as the
pressure put on the rail by passing trains will ensure their being securely held
between the jaws of the chair.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of an improved mode of
supporting the rails of railways in their chairs, and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim,―
First, supporting double headed rails in rigid or non-clastic chairs by
suspension in the manner above described.
And, secondly, the mode above described for securing wedges from moving
endways in railway chairs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Ashcroft, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
PETER ASHCROFT. (L.S.)