Improvements in the Manufacture of Crossings or Switches for Railway or Tramway Rails, and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Communicated from abroad by THE JOHNSON COMPANY. of Johnstown,
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Crossings or Switches for
Railway or Tramway Rails, and Apparatus therefor.
I, OLIVER IMRAY, of No, 28, Southampton Buildings, ('hencore Lone in the
County of London, Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of crossings or switches for railway
or tramway rails in such a manner that both the rails that form the crossing or
switch being rolled in the usual way are so united by welding as to become
integral, as will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which
represent a tramway crossing and welding apparatus according to this invention,
and switches and other connected parts of rails to the manufacture of which the
process and apparatus can be applied.
Fig. 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 is an end view and Fig. 3 is a plan.
RR is part of a continuous rail to which are welded the two part rails R' R'
which are previously shaped at their ends to the desired angle at which they are
to form their junction at the lines with the continuous rail R R. In guides at
the top of a fraining A are fitted two slides S S the one of which Sabuts against
a setting screw B by which its position can be adjusted, whilst the other S abuts
against or preferably is connected to the plunger of a hydraulic cylinder C by
means of which it can be forced towards S with an adjustable pressure. On cach
of the slides S1 S2 is provided a clamp, consisting of a jaw J having a facing
piece fitted to the shape of the rail on the one side and on the other side
cam lever L having its face slightly eccentric so that a backward strain of the
rails by tending to turn the cam partly round causes it to clamp the rail more
firmly. The two clamps preferably have their facing pieces F and cams L made
of copper or other metal which is a good conductor of electricity, and are
preferably fixed on copper bases insulated from the rest of the apparatus, to which
bases electricity, large in quantity though moderate in tension, is conducted from
any suitable generator, through a transformer. The rail R R being supported at
the proper level in any convenient way and the two part rails R R being held in
their respective clamps, their shaped ends are pushed up against the sides of the
rail RR by the movement of the slide S' subject to the hydraulic pressure in
the cylinder C and thus while the electric current passing from the one clamp to the
other through the junction of the rails at rr heats the metal there to a welding
heat, the pressure causes the rails to become welded together at their junction.
Time and electrical expenditure may be economised by preliminary heating of the
rail R at the place where the welding is to take place.
Although the drawings shew the welding of two pieces R' R' to a single through
or continuous piece R this latter might itself consist of the pieces having clamps
applied to them such as are applied to R' and R2 with a setting screw such as B
and a hydraulic cylinder such as C to force them up against the junction of the
pieces K' R'.
When a switch piece such as is shown by Fig. 4 has to be made, there are
prepared in the first place three pieces R' Fig. 5. R' Fig. 6 and R³ Fig. 7. R'
and Rare welded together which may be done in the usual way by heating them
in a suitable furnace and pressing them together. The end of It is then welded
to the end of the united R and R by means of the machine above described,
applying the clamps at X and Y to press together the ends to be welded. In the

page_text: perspective view Fig. 8 of a square crossing with guide rails certain parts are shown
which are welded together by apparatus such as that described above, the clamps
employed being made of such shape as to fit the section of the rails or bars to which
they are applied. For example as shewn by Fig. 9 the junction of two parts A
and B at right angles is effected by clamping the rail B and a corresponding
piece C, and after welding them to A cutting off the piece C. Again as shewn in
Fig. 10 the two parts E and F are held in the clamps and welded to D and the
part of D projecting to the right may be forged down to connect to the main rail
as at G Fig. 8. In like manner parts of other forms may be welded together by a
machine such as is described.
Although, in the above description of the welding process and apparatus, electricity
has been mentioned as the means of imparting heat to the parts which are to be
united, the heating may obviously be effected by other known means such as flames
of blow pipes directed on the metal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is
1. An oblique crossing for railway or tramway rails consisting of a main rail
having two part rails with sloped ends welded to it so as to be integral therewith,
substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3.
2. A switch piece for railway or tramway rails consisting of a straight and
diverging rail side by side welded together and their joint end welded to a straight
rail so as to be integral therewith substantially as described with reference to
Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7.
3. An elbow piece for crossing of railway or tramway rails consisting of two
pieces welded together along with a third piece which is cut off after the welding
substantially as described with reference to Fig. 9.
4. A combined rail and guide rail welded together substantially as described
with reference to Fig. 10.
5. The apparatus for welding rail crossings switches, elbows and guide rails;
substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1 2 and 3.
Dated this 28th day of June 1892.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.