IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CROSSINGS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Price Williams, of Great George Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY CROSSINGS."
Sealed the 14th September 1869, and dated the 16th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said.
said Richard Price
Williams at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th July 1869.
I, RICHARD PRICE WILLIAMS, of Great George Street, Westminster,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CROSSINGS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway crossings.
In constructing railway crossings I employ rails rolled of a width of table
about double that of the
that of the ordinary rails, and
rails, and I split this double
rail at one end, and bend the two portions apart, so as to cause them to
diverge from each other at an angle equal to that of the crossing.
portions of the divided end is connected with the main
One of the
line so
to form with it a continuous running surface, and the other portion of the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: divided end is similarly connected with the branch line. The other
extremity of the double rail is reduced in thickness by cutting away one-half
of it, and it is connected with the main line also, so as to form
with it a continuous running surface. The branch line on the side of the
double rail opposite to that where, as before mentioned, the branch line is
connected up with the split end terminates in a wing rail running for a short
distance parallel with the double rail with a passage for the wheel
tyres between the two. A passage for the tyres has also to be formed in
the double rail by grooving it across to the requisite depth in an inclined
direction.
In the case of an acute crossing this groove will pass through the unsplit
portion of the rail, that is to say, through its double thickness, but in the case
of an obtuse or through crossing it will pass through one of the split ends,
viz., that connected with the main line.
In the obtuse or through crossing also a similar tyre passage is grooved
through the branch wing rail.
In place of rolling the double rail it may, but less conveniently, be forged
or otherwise formed.
In some cases I roll threefold in place of a double rail, and fashion a wing
rail out of the extra thickness so provided.
When railway crossings are constructed in the manner described in the
Provisional Specification filed by me on the 22nd day of February last, No.
556, where the branch rail and the main rail are brought in con-
tact with each other side by side, I form the two rails of different sections
so that they may lock the one to the other, thus I roll one rail
with a longitudinal groove, and the other with a corresponding projection,
or I roll both with grooves, and insert a key between them. The
chairs are made with grooves and projections
the rail.
to correspond with
1

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July,. in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto
the
me,
said Richard Price Williams, Her special
licence that I, the said Richard Price Williams, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Price Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
vend,
exercise, and
make, use,
within the
of
United Kingdom
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CROSSINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Richard Price Williams, my exccutors or
administrators, 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 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 I, the said Richard Price Williams, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway crossings.
In constructing railway crossings I employ rails rolled of a width of table
about double that of the ordinary rails, and I split this double
rail at one end, and bend the two portions apart, so as to cause them to
diverge from each other at an angle equal to that of the crossing. One of the
portions of the divided end is connected with the main
line so as
to form with it a continuous running surface, and the other portion of the
divided end is similarly connected with the branch line. The other
extremity of the double rail is reduced in thickness by cutting away one-half
of it, and it is connected with the main line also, so as to form
with it a continuous running. surface. The branch line on the side of the
double rail opposite to that where, as before mentioned, the branch line is
connected up with the split end terminates in a wing rail running for a short

page_text: ог
breadth of an ordinary rail. The ends a, a, and a are suitably shaped to
receive fish plates by means of which they are connected with the ordinary
rails of the line. The ends a and a' are connected with the
main line rails on either side of the crossing, and the end a2 with the branch
rail on the outer side of the main rail; a is a groove or passage for the flanges
of the wheel tyres, it is made in the part a' just beyond the
point where the part a branches out from it; it is cut obliquely so that one
of its sides is я continuation of the inner side of the part
rail a; b, b, are the branch rails on the inner sides of the main rails, their
ends are bent so as to form wings running parallel with the rails a, and
of the rail
they are grooved at b* between the bearing portion
and the wing. The groove b allows the flanges of the wheel tyres to pass
The
across the rail, and is placed in a line with the groove a*.
rails are connected with the branch line rails by fish plates, and their ends
are suitably shaped to
wing rails to gaurd the crossing grooves b*; d, d, are the chairs in which the
rails are carried.
receive
the fish plates; C,
c, are
1
Figures 3 and 4 shew sections of two of them; e, e, are the sleepers.
inner
Figure 5 shews to a larger scale a plan of one side of an acute crossing.
The rail a is jointed as before except that the tyre passage a* is formed in
the undivided part of the rail. The ends a¹, a², and a are here shewn broken
off, they are continued to such a length as conveniently to receive
the fish plates connecting them with the next rails on either side. The branch
and wing rail c in this case is not grooved, and may be of the same section
as the ordinary rails of the line.
Figure 6 is a section taken at the line A, B, Figure 5; and Figure 7 is a
section taken at the line C, D, in the same Figure.
Figure 8 is a plan of a similar crossing but with flat rails bottomed so as
not to require chairs.
aware
that in
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
am
same, I would remark that I
performing the
the construction of railway crossings the ends of a crossing block
have before been split to form double ends to be connected with the rail of
not therefore make any general
the main and crossing lines, I do
claim to such splitting of the ends of a crossing block, but what I claim is,
the construction of railway crossings with double rails split at one
end and connected at this end with rails of the main and the

page_text: crossing line and at the other end connected with a main line rail, such double
rails having tyre or flange passages formed
formed in them, and being
combined with crossing rails terminating in wings on their inner sides, sub-
stantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Price Williams, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
R. PRICE WILLIAMS. (L.s.)