IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS AND ROAD, COLLIERY, AND OTHER TRAMWAYS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Brown at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th December 1880.
WILLIAM BROWN, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS AND ROAD, COLLIERY,
AND OTHER TRAMWAYS."
My Invention consists in constructing the rails and chairs of railways and road,
colliery, and other tramways, as hereinafter described.
According to one of my improvements I make the rail with a single head, and
I give to the body of the rail a curved or slightly hooked figure, the said curved
body tapering from its junction with the head to its lowest part. The body of the
rail is curved or hooked inwards, that is, the convex side of the curved body is on
the outer face, and the concave side on the inner face of the body, the concave inner
face of the body joining the head at about the middle of its underside. The rail in
cross section has the general figure of the mark of punctuation called a comma. I make
the cheeks of the chairs of different heights, the outer cheek having a height nearly
equal to that of the rail, while the inner cheek has about two thirds the height of
the outer cheek to allow sufficient clearance for the flanges of the wheels. The
space between the two cheeks nearly corresponds in figure with the sectional
figure of the rail. The rail is placed in the chair from the top, the curved body of
the rail being depressed into the chair and at the same time turned through a
small angle. The body of the rail is thereby made to engage with the chair.
When the rail is seated in the chair, no keys or wedges are required to keep it in
its place, the pressure of the flange of the carriage wheel against the inner side
of the head of the rail pressing the said rail firmly to its bearing against the outer
cheek of the chair.
Or the rail and chair may be modified in the following manner:-I make the
body of the single headed rail straight, and I provide one side of the said body with
a longitudinal rib, which takes into a corresponding groove in one of the cheeks of
the chair. This rail is introduced into its clair by an end motion, the rib described
fixing it firmly in the chair without the use of a key or wedge.
The rib on the rail may either be made along the whole length of the rail, or at
those parts only which are fitted in the chairs.
Or the straight body of the rail may be without the rib described, and fixed to a
sleeper of wrought iron, the end of which is turned up into a cheek, to which the

page_text: straight body of the rail is connected by screw bolts and nuts. The end of the
sleeper which is turned up to form the cheek may be stronger than the other part
of the sleeper. For giving additional bearing outside the rails, I sometimes make
alternate sleepers or some of the sleepers of two halves, that is, I divide the sleeper
at its middle and turn the separated parts outwards, thus giving on each side of
the rail a bearing equal to one half of the length of the sleeper. Or the wrought
iron sleeper may have chairs or cheeks cast upon it for receiving and fixing the
rail to. When the sleeper is made wholly of wrought iron it may have a trough
shaped depression at the turned up end, the said depression receiving the bottom
of the rail. Where it is desired to give to the sleeper a bearing outside the rails, a
portion of the sleeper may be doubled or folded upon itself to give the additional
bearing, the end of the folded portion being turned up to form the cheek. A sleeper
and cheek of the kind last described may be made by employing a straight sleeper,
and rivetting or fixing on its ends short pieces of angle iron, one web of the angle
iron being parallel to the sleeper, and the other web forming the cheek being at
right angles thereto. The head of the rail may be made of the usual breath, or
where it is not exposed to much wear it may have only a half head, the said
half head being turned inwards. The improvements I have described are
especially suitable for ordinary railways and for colliery, quarry, and other like
tramways.
The following improvements are especially applicable to road tramways: —
I make the head of the rail of the ordinary unsymmetrical form, or I make the
head symmetrical, so that the rail may be reversed when one side is worn. I make
the body straight as hereinbefore described with reference to the rail for railways
and colliery and quarry tramways. I support the body of the rail in a cast iron chair
cast on a wrought iron sleeper, the body fitting in a groove in the chair, the underside
of the head of the rail being supported by the top of the chair. The rail is fixed
in the chair by screw bolts and nuts. This arrangement is applicable both to
longitudinal and cross sleepers. For supporting curved rails I sometimes dispense
with the fixed inner cheek of the chair, employing a fixed outer cheek and a
separate or moveable inner cheek. The moveable cheek is fixed in its place by the
the head of the screw bolt or pin which secures the rail to the fixed cheek.
Where it is thought desirable to employ chairs with fixed cheeks for supporting
curved rails, I make the jaws sufficiently wide apart to permit of the use of packing
pieces between the body of the rail and the inner faces of the cheeks of the chair,
the said packing pieces having the shape fitting them to fill up the spaces between
the plane cheeks and the curved rails.
Where it is preferred to employ, in road or other tramway, rails having the
general figure of an inverted trough, I make and support the rails in the following
manner: I make the outer side of the rail of greater depth than the inner side.
The sides of the rail taper slightly downwards. The chair consists of a vertical
block cast on or fixed near the end of the wrought iron sleeper, the upper part of
the said block tapering so as to fit the interior of the rail. The rail is fixed to the
chair by screw bolts and nuts, the bolts passing through the longer outer side of
the hollow rail and the chair.