AN IMPROVED MODE OF SCOURING THE BALLS OF RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Beech, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop,
Engineer, and John Williams, of Wellington, in the same County,.
Inspector of Railways, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
SCOURING THE BALLS OF RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Beech at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th April
1857.
We, JOHN BEECH, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, Engineer, and
JOHN WILLIAMS, of Wellington, in the same County, Inspector of Railways,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF SECURING THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved mode of retaining the keys or wedges
of railways in their place, and thus ensuring stability in the railways. The
Improvement applies more particularly to the keying of the crossing rails in
their chairs, but it admits also of a more extended application.
In carrying out our Invention we prefer to use cast-iron wedges, but
wedges of other kinds and formed of other materials may be employed if
thought desirable.
We cast the wedges with a hole through them to admit of the insertion of
a screw bolt. This bolt extends from the wedge of one chair to the wedge

page_text: of the next chair, and by the application of a lock nut to the end of the bolt
the two wedges (the inclinations of which are reversed) will be drawn together
and caused to hold the rail firmly in place. Instead of passing the screw bolt
completely through the wedges, it may be made to act on the wedges in the
opposite way and thrust them apart, a shoulder on the bolt acting on one 5
wedge and the shifting nut on the other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Beech in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
BEECH, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, Engineer, and JOHN WILLIAMS,
of Wellington, in the same County, Inspector of Railways, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Beech and John Williams, Her special license that we, the said John
Beech and John Williams, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Beech and John Williams, our 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 SECURING THE RAILS OF
RAILWAYS IN THEIR CHAIRS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said John Beech and John Williams, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said John Beech and John Williams, do
hereby declare the nature of our 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):-

page_text: This Invention relates to an improved mode of retaining the keys or
wedges of railways in their place, and thus ensuring stability in the railways.
The improvement applies more particularly to the keying of the crossing rails
in their chairs, but it admits also of a more extended application.
In carrying out our Invention we prefer to use cast-iron wedges, but
wedges of other kinds and formed of other materials may be employed if
thought desirable. We cast the wedges with a hole through them to admit
of the insertion of a screw bolt. This bolt extends from the wedge of one
chair to the wedge of the next chair, and by the application of a lock nut to
the end of the bolt the two wedges (the inclinations of which are reversed)
will be drawn together and caused to hold the rail firmly in place. Instead
of passing the screw bolt completely through the wedges, it may be made to
act on the wedges in the opposite way and thrust them apart, a shoulder on
the bolt acting on one wedge and the shifting nut on the other.
In the accompanying Drawing we have shewn our Invention adapted to
a compound chair, such as is now frequently used for supporting the rails at
crossings.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a crossing fitted in this manner, some of the parts
being shewn in horizontal section; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same,
and Fig. 3 is an end view. The two chairs are shewn at a, a, and are con-
nected together by a longitudinal block or plate b, b, which also serves as
a support for the point of the centre rail c. The two chairs a, a, and the
supporting block or plate b are cast in one piece. The side rails d, d, arc
placed in their chairs on each side of the supporting block b, and are firmly
secured therein by the wedges e, e, e, e*. It will be seen on referring to the
sectional plan view, Fig. 1, that the apices or smaller ends of the wedges e
and are placed opposite to each other, so that in order to tighten up and
secure the rails in their places the wedges e must be pushed
or forced up in
the opposite direction to the wedges e. This tightening up of the wedges c
and to secure the side rails in their place is effected by means of the screw
bolts or rods f, which are provided at their ends with washers and nuts, and
by screwing up these latter the wedges e and will be drawn towards each
other, and by that means tighten the fastening. It will be seen on referring
to the end view, Fig. 3, that the sides of the chairs are grooved out as at 2, 2,
to receive the wedges, which are thereby prevented from rising from their
seats.
An obvious modification of the above plan of tightening the wedge fasten-
ings is to place the broad end of the wedges opposite to each other instead of
the small ends, as is shewn in the Drawing, and to thrust the wedges from

page_text: each other instead of drawing them closer, as just described. Although
possibly the last-described plan may under some circumstances be found con-
venient, we consider the plan shewn in the Drawings to be preferable.
Having now described our Invention of "An Improved Mode of Securing
the Rails of Railways in their Chairs," and having explained the means of
carrying the same into effect, we claim, as the Invention secured to us by
Letters Patent, as aforesaid, securing the crossing rails of railways in their
compound chairs by means of wedges or blocks so combined or connected as
to be capable of being drawn or thrust forward in their seats in the manner
and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Beech and John Williams, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, the Seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
1LUMPHREY EVETT,
Admaston Hall,
Wellington, Salop.
JOHN DEMOL
JOHN WILLIAMS. (L.S.)