IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR USE IN PACKING THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Jackson and Edward Robert Austin, Managers of
the Firm De Bergue & Co., Limited, of Strangeways Iron Works, in the City
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR USE IN PACKING THE PERMANENT
WAY OF RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Jackson and Edward
Robert Austin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th
October 1880.
FRANK JACKSON and EDWARD ROBERT AUSTIN, Managers of the Firm
De Bergue & Co., Limited, of Strangeways Iron Works, in the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR
USE IN PACKING THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Our improvements are made upon one of the instruments for which Letters
Patent were granted to the late Charles De Bergue, numbered 83, and dated the
12th day of January, A.D. 1867.
In the said instrument, as originally constructed, the screw employed for lifting
the rails was screwed through the end of the lever, and as the latter was raised the
screw assumed a more and more inclined position, causing increased friction in
rotating it, and became less able to sustain the load and more liable to become bent,
especially if a train passed over the permanent way while the instrument was
being used.
Our improvements consists in combining the parts of our improved instrument so
that the screw will pass through a nut arranged to swivel in or under the end of
the lever as it lifts, and so that the end of the screw will fit and rotate in a footstep
in the base plate or casting.
By this mode of construction the screw is maintained in a nearly perpendicular
position under the load, the work is done with less friction, and thus with less
labour, and the screw is better able to sustain the weight that may come upon it
while a train is passing over the rails.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frank Jackson and Edward Robert Austin in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd April 1881.
FRANK JACKSON and EDWARD ROBERT AUSTIN, Managers of the Firm
Do Bergue & Co. (Limited), of Strangeways Iron Works, in the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineers. " IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR
USE IN PACKING THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Our improvements are made upon one of the instruments for which Letters
Patent were granted to the late Charles De Bergue, numbered 83, and dated the
12th day of January, A.D. 1867.
In the said instrument as originally constructed the screw employed for lifting
the ruils was screwed through the end of the lever, and as the latter was raised the
screw assumed a more and more inclined position, causing increased friction in
rotating it, and became less able to sustain the load and more liable to become bent,
especially if a train passed over the permanent way while the instrument was being
used.
Our improvements consist in combining the parts of our improved instrument so
that the screw will pass through a nut arranged to swivel in or under the end of
the lever as it lifts, and so that the end of the screw will fit and rotate in a footstep
in the base plate or casting.
By this mode of construction the screw is maintained in a nearly perpendicular
position under the load, the work is done with less friction, and thus with less
labour, and the screw is better able to sustain the weight that may come upon it
while a train is passing over the rails.
The accompanying Drawing illustrates the manner of carrying our said
improvements into effect, which relate, as before stated, to only one of the
instruments described in the Specification of the said Letters Patent granted to
Charles De Bergue, namely, to that modification shown by Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the
Drawings accompanying the Specification of the said Letters Patent.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is a
longitudinal section, and Fig 3 is a plan view of Charles De Bergue's instrument
for packing permanent way according to his Specification above referred to, but
with our improvements applied to the same.
In these Figs. a is an iron bed plate forming the lower member of the instrument;
b is the upper member or lever made of wrought iron, steel, or other suitable material,
lying within the recessed or hollow form of the lower member (a), and hinged to
the same at the end marked c; the opposite end d instead of being tapped with a
screwed hole for receiving the lifting screw (e), as described in the Specification of
the said Letters Patent, is formed with an oval or elongated eye to allow of the
free passage of the lifting screw (e) and the lifting screw (e) is provided with a
cylindrically shaped nut (f), which has a tappet hole at a right angle to its axis to
receive the lifting screw (e). The lower end of the lifting screw (e) is formed with
a hemispherical foot (e¹), and works in a similarly shaped footstep formed in the
bed plate (a) at a¹, instead of the grooved seating shown in the former Specification
referred to; the end (d) of the lever (b) is formed on the underside at d¹ with a
curved seat so as to fit and rest upon the cylindrically shaped nut (ƒ), and the
upper end of the lifting screw (e) is formed with a suitable head to receive an
ordinary box key or spanner. A collar (e) is provided to prevent the lifting
screw (e) from falling out of the elongated eye at the end (d) of the lever (6) when
it is turned over.
The member (a) is cast with a raised lip or rim (ax) considerably higher than it
is shown in the said former Specification, which lip or rim serves not only as a

page_text: protection from the ballast falling into the recess but also as a guide for the
lever (b) and the cylindrical nut (ƒ).
In using the instrument the operations to be performed are the same as before
described in the Specifications of the said Letters Patent to Charles De Bergue, and
our improvements consist in the arrangement of the lifting screw with a separate
cylindrical nut, whereby the axis of the lifting screw is preserved more nearly in a
vertical position throughout the whole range of the traverse of the nut upon it,
instead of standing in the tangential position consequent upon its working in the
tapped hole in the end of the lever, and our improvements further consist in the
provision of a fixed footstep bearing for the foot of the lifting screw instead [of
the longitudinal groove heretofore employed, which was necessary in consequence of
the varying position of the foot of the lifting screw in working the instrument.
The improvements may also be effected by substituting a spherical or heme-
spherical, or other form of swivel nut instead of the cylindrically shaped nut (f),
and forming a correspondingly shaped seat at (d') of the lever (b), or the nut may
be formed into trunnion bearings, and the end (d) of the lever (b) may be inade to
embrace them, but we prefer to use the cylindrical form as shown as the most
practical and convenient that our present experience has furnished.
We have now particularly described the nature of our said Invention and the
mode of carrying the same into effect, and claim as our Invention the improve-
ments in instruments for packing permanent way of railways, substantially as
herein before described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings, also the
combination and arrangement of the parts, substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frank Jackson and Edward Robert Austin
(or one of us), have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twentieth day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
TOMTY
EDW. R. AUSTIN.
(L.S.)