Improvements in Railway Chairs and Sleepers.
Year: 1896

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway Chairs and Sleepers.
I, SAMUEL RIDEAL, of Clopton Street, Manchester in the County of Lancaster,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to metal chairs and timber sleepers usually employed to
support and maintain in position the rails on railways and has for its object,
(a) To provide a larger bearing area for the chairs on the sleepers.
(b) To obviate the lateral sliding action of the chairs on the sleepers.
e) To dispense with the use of spikes, screws bolts or other fastenings inserted
in the sleepers.
(d; Te enable the gauge of rails or roadway to be widened at curves when
desirable without the necessity of lifting either rails or chairs.
(e) And also to ensure the gauge of the rails being maintained with much easier
running and greater economy in wear of road and rolling stock.
I make the chairs preferably rectangular on their base and of the full width of
the sleepers upon which they are used. On the underside of the base of the chairs
and near to the centre I form a ring or round boss about four inches in diameter
and projecting from the base one and quarter inches.
I prepare the sleeper to receive the chair by cutting in the upper surface thereof
an annular recess of about four inches in diameter and 14 to 1 inches deep corres-
ponding to the boss ring or projection formed upon the base of the chair.
The boss on the chair fits closely into the recess cut in the sleeper and the chair is.
therchy held in position against lateral or longitudinal movement the weight of
Le chair and rail preventing it rising.
On the upper surface of the chairs and cast upon the base are jaws to suit the type
of rail to be adopted either of flat bottom or double headed sections. The rails
being kept in position in the chairs by keys or wedges of wood or metal as ordinarily.
used.
To widen the gauge of rails at curves I use liners or packings made of round
wire bent in a Z form and placed between the inner jaws of the chairs and web of
the rails the ends of the wire being bent over the outer edges of the jaws to keep
the liners in their places.
I make the chairs of iron or other suitable material either cast, forged, rolled or
pressed or by a combination of such processes but preferably of mild or soft cast
steel moulded in flasks or boxes with sand or composition in the ordinary manner.
The metal being first melted and afterwards decarbonized and recarbonized in.
suitable vessels of small size and run into the moulds prepared as above described..
The metal employed for this purpose to be of such ductility that will permit of
being bent to a right angle when cold without showing signs of fracture.
Dated this 3rd day of September 1896
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
6, Bank Street, Manchester, Patent Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE DEPUIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway Chairs and Sleepers.
CA
I, SAMUEL RIDEAL, of 15 Victoria Street, Westminster, also of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Consulting 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:-
My invention relates to metal chairs and timber sleepers, usually employed to
sapport and maintain in position the rails on railways. The method now generally
adopted to support the rails is by means of chairs made of cast iron and suited to
the section of rail used, such chairs having flat, plain under surfaces and are placed
upon wood sleepers also having plain flat surfaces and secured thereto by spikes or
screws of iron or by pegs of hard wood passing through holes made in both chairs and
sleepers to receive the spikes, etcaetera. In this arrangement, the holes in the
timber sleepers are enlarged by passing traffic, the spikes or pegs become loose,
and the rain entering the holes causes carly.decay of the timber at the points where
the most strength is needed.
The object of this invention is to provide a larger bearing surface for the chairs
on the sleepers; to obviate the lateral sliding motion of the chairs on the sleepers:
to dispense with the rise of spikes, screws, bolts or other fastenings inserted in the
sleepers to enable the gauge of rails or railway to he widened at curves when
desirable without the necessity of lifting either rails or chairs; to ensure the gauge
of the rails being maintained with much easier running, and greater economy in
wear of road and rolling stock.
.
My present invention consists essentially in constructing the chair on the under-
side of the base with a ring or round boss projecting therefrom and the sleeper with
an annular recess to receive the boss, ring or projection on the chair, such recess
corresponding therewith in diameter and depth.
It will be fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1. Sectional elevation (longitudinally of the sleeper) showing the invention
applied to a flat bottom rail.
Fig. 2. Sectional elevation (transversely of sleeper) of same.
Fig. 3. Plan.
Fig. 4. Plan of sleeper with chair removed.
Fig. 5. Sectional elevation (longitudinally of sleeper) showing the invention
applied to a double headed rail.
Fig. 6. Sectional elevation of chair and rail showing liner or packing for widen-
ing-gauge of road at curves.
Fig. 7. Sectional elevation of chair with rail removed showing liner in position.
Fig. 8. Plan of chair with rail in section showing liner in position.
The base of the chairs A is preferably made rectangular and of almost the full
width of the sleeper to give as great a bearing surface as possible.
On the under side of the base a I form a projecting ring or annular boss B ex-
tending from about four to six inches in diameter and projecting from about one to
ane and a half inches, and I prepare the sleeper to receive the chair with annular
recess C of corresponding diameter and depth. When the chair is placed in posi-
tion upon the sleeper the annular boss B fits closely into the recess C and the chair
is thereby held in position against lateral or longitudinal movement the weight"
of the rails and chairs preventing them rising.
The chairs are provided on the upper surface with jaws D D of shape corres-
ponding to the rails E: These are.. held in position by wedge F such as are
ordinarily used.
=

page_text: To widen the gauge of road at curves I use liners or packings G made of round
wire bent in a Z form and placed between the inner jaws D' of the chairs A and
web e of the rails E the ends g of the wire G being bent over the outer edges of the
jaws to keep the liners in their places. The liners & may be made of round wire
of about of an inch in diameter and where it is used the wedge F is reduced in
thickness.
I make the chairs A of iron or other suitable material either cast, forged, rolled
or pressed, or by a combination of such processes, but preferably of mild or cast soft
steel moulded in flasks or boxes with sand or composition in the ordinary way.
The steel is preferably first melted and afterwards decarbonized and recarbonized in
suitable vessels of small size with the air blast at low pressure to prevent excessive
ebullition and honeycombing, and is then poured into the moulds prepared as above
described, the metal used for the purpose to be of such ductility that will permit
of being bent to a right angle when cold without showing signs of fracture.
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:
1. A metallic chair for supporting rails on railroads having a circular boss, ring
or projection formed on the under surface thereof to fit into a corresponding recess
in the sleeper substantially as and for the purpose described.
2. A railway sleeper (of timber or other suitable material) having recess or
recesses formed in the upper surface to receive a ring or annular boss projecting
from the under surface of the base of the chair substantially as and for the purpose
described.
3. The combination of a railway chair provided with a projecting ring or
annular hoss ou the under side with a sleeper provided with an annular recess
corresponding thereto substantially as described and shown.
4. The combination with a railway chair of a liner comprising a wire bent to
Z form placed hetween the jaw of the chair and the web of the rail for widening
the gauge of the roadway at curves substantially as described and shown.
Dated this 17th day of June 1897
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Manchester, Liverpool, and London, Patent Agents.