IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Stettinius Clark, of Atlas Works, Upper
Park Place, Dorset Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS."—A com-
munication from Sidney A. Beers, Engineer, New York, America.
Sealed the 27th August 1858, and dated the 25th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Stettinius Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th March 1858.
I, WILLIAM STETTINIUS CLARK, of Atlas Works, Upper Park Place, Dorset
Square, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS," a com-
munication from Sidney A. Beers, Engineer, New York, America, to be as
follows:-
The Invention relates to the construction of railways with a cast or other
iron foundation rail, of the form of a series of upright arches resting on stone
or other substantial foundations, and tied together laterally by upright iron
ties, and with a wrought-iron coping rail fitting into the top of the said founda-
tion rail, and extending downwards on each side thereof, terminating at the
bottom in flanges to receive clamps or hooks, which are held in place and
tightened upon the said flanges, thereby confining the said coping rail to the
foundation rail by means of key wedges or their equivalents; the said coping
rail breaking joints with the foundation-rail, so as to form a continuous track,
and having lock joints of such form and construction that the adjacent ends

page_text: of two lengths of rail cannot rise independently of each other, and that the breaks
in the face of the track at the junction of the several lengths of rail are
oblique and not directly across the face of the rail. To overcome the too great
solidity of the permanent way a strip of gutta percha, lead, wood, or other
elastic substance, rolled in the form of a segment of a circle, may be placed
between the top of the foundation rail and the coping rail, where it is confined
as it were in a box formed in the interior of the coping rail, thus overcoming
the too great solidity which would result in a track composed entirely of iron
with stone foundations.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Stettinius Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STETTINIUS CLARK, of Atlas Works, Upper Park Place, Dorset Square, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, 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 William Stettinius Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Stettinius Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Stettinius Clark, 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 "Iы-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS," (a communication from Sidney
A. Beers, Engineer, New York, America,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Stettinius Clark, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be perforined, 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 William Stettinius Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to.

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:
.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the outside of the track; letters
a, a, a, is the foundation rail, composed of a succession of iron arches or beams
resting in an iron shoe h, and forming a plane on their upper surface, and the
comb or upper portion thereof of uniform thickness to receive and sustain the
coping rail; letters b, b, is a wrought-iron coping rail; letter c is the com-
pound or lock joint; letters d, d, are bolts passing through both rails, secured.
with nut or other fastening; letters e, e, are slots in the foundation rail; letters
ff, are the ends of the tie passing through a mortice, half of which is cut.
from the adjoining ends of each arch; letters g, g, are wood or iron wedges or
keys by which the foundation rail is held firmly against a shoulder formed on
the tie both above and below the tenon; letters h, h, is an iron shoe; letters
i, i, is a piece of plank, of hard or other wood, supporting the shoe and resting
upon a stone or rubble foundation.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal elevation of an iron tie with tenon shoulders and-
mortice to receive the wedge or key; letter b, Fig. 2, is a transverse view of
the heel of an arch and the shoe in which the arch rests.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the coping rail (on an enlarged scale);
letters a, a, Fig. 3, are the ends of two adjoining coping rails, showing a lock
or compound joint with reversed bevels on opposite sides of the rail, and
formed by cutting obliquely across the top and entirely through the head of
the rail, thence by cutting the flange on the side adjoining the obtuse angle by
a perpendicular line from the bottom of the flange to the bottom of the head,.
so that the cut in the flange may be directly opposite to the point of the head
forming the acute angle, and thence by a horizontal cut in the plane of the
bottom of the head until it intersects the oblique cut through the head, thence
by cutting the opposite flange from the bottom by a perpendicular line at the
same distance short of the corner forming the acute angle that the first flanges
was cut in advance of the corner forming the obtuse angle, and thence by a
horizontal cut in the plane of the bottom of the head to the point forming the
acute angle.
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the foundation rail (on an enlarged
scale) at a point near the centre of one of the arches, with the coping rail
attached; letter a is the coping rail; letter b is the body of the foundation
rail letter c is a strip of gutta, felt, wood, or other elastic material, on
which the coping rail rests; letter d is a bolt passing through a mortice in
each side of the coping rail, which mortice is elongated perpendicularly above
the bolt, and through a mortice in the foundation rail elongated horizontally,

page_text: so as to provide for contraction or expansion in any of the parts, and also to
afford an opportunity for the temporary compression of the elastic material
without binding on the bolt; but while lying at ease the bolt will bind upon
the bottom of the mortice in the coping rail and upon the upper face of the
mortice in the foundation rail, thereby preventing the rail from rising above
the desired line of grade. Letter e may be a rib projecting from the body of
the foundation rail to serve as a brace to strengthen the same; letter f is a
rib forming the bottom.part of the arch.
Figure 5 is a horizontal view of the iron shoe (on an enlarged scale), showing
the arrangement of the flange to receive the foot of two adjoining arches.
. What I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,
the construction of a continuous foundation rail of successive sections of
upright iron arches or beams, the upper surface of which shall form a plane,
and held in position by upright iron ties, with tenon and wedge or keys on
the outside, and surmounted and further bound together by a wrought-iron
coping rail, in which is formed a deep groove to fit on to the comb of the
foundation rail, into which groove is inserted a strip of vulcanized gutta percha,
felt, wood, or any other elastic substance, which forms the bearing on which
the coping rail rests; also, the compound joint in the coping rail, and the
fastening the same by bolts passing through both rails by transversely
elongated slots; and also, the iron shoe in which the arches rest; all the
above-mentioned parts separately or combined, and which are more fully and
particularly set forth and described in the Specification and Drawings hereto
annexed and referred to, and which form part of this Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Stettinius Clark, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM MANWARING.
WILLIAM STETTINIUS CLARK. (L.S.)