IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY POINTS AND SWITCHES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Columbus Hurry, of Hereford, in the County
of Hereford, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY POINTS AND SWITCHES."
Sealed the 19th September 1865, and dated the 25th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Columbus Hurry
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th March 1865.
I, HENRY COLUMBUS HURRY, of Hereford, in the County of Hereford,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY POINTS AND SWITCHES," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to prevent the looseness which obtains
at the heel of the ordinary point or switch, and for this purpose I make
the point or switch of a steel rail about four feet longer than the ordinary
point (I prefer about eighteen feet). About twelve feet from the point end
of the point or switch I make a vertical cut or slot through the one side

page_text: of the top and bottom flanges of a double-headed rail or the top flange of
a T-rail, so that the straight line of the side of the web is at this place
carried through the flanges; this cut or slot is as narrow as practicable,
being made by a saw cut or a very narrow slotting tool. At from four to
six inches further from the point end of the point or switch another similar
cut or slot is made, but upon the reverse side of the rail, and so at a like
further distance another cut, and so on at pleasure to about fourteen feet
from the point end of the point or switch. This portion of the rail is then
to be heated and tempered down to a good spring temper, the rail having
been previously set to its proper form. In laying the points or switches at
this part (namely, about fourteen feet from the point end of the point or
switch), I put a coupling chair similar to those used for ordinary crossings,
so as to hold the point or switch rail firmly in its place at the required
distance from the back or stock rail, in which chair both the point or switch
rail and the back or stock rail are to be firmly keyed. At about three feet
from this chair or one foot from the heel end of the point or switch rail
another similar coupling chair is put, in which both the rails are to be in
like manner firmly keyed. The -heel of the point or switch rail is then
firmly fished to the next rail in the same way as any other joint. The hand
lever, the slide chairs, and every other part. are in every 'respect' similar to
those in ordinary use, with the exception that no weight is required, the
spring of the point or switch rails being sufficient to keep the points in their
proper position.
The object of the cuts or slots through the flanges of the rail is to
weaken those places transversely, so that that portion of the rail will
bend without requiring too great a power to be exercised at the hand
lever. It will therefore be clearly understood that the position and number
of such cuts or slots are optional or to be determined by the requirements of
each case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Columbus, Hurry in; the Great Seal Patent Office
...on the 25th September, 1865...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
COLUMBUS HURRY, of Hereford, in the County of Hereford, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.

page_text: 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 sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry Columbus Hurry, Her special licence. that I, the said
Henry Columbus Hurry; my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Henry Columbus Hurry, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY POINTS AND
SWITCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said, Henry
Columbus Hurry, my executors or administrators, [by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should. parti-
cularly 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 Henry Columbus Hurry, do, hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, and on reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 is a plan of a single pair of points
made according to my Invention; Figure 2 is an isometrical perspective view
of a portion of the point rail; Figure 3 is an elevation of the coupling chairs
used; and Figure 4 is an elevation of a lever and quadrant for working the
points.
1
***
The chief object of this Invention is to obtain a firm and secure yet
yielding heel to points and switches of railways. For this purpose I make
the points or switches of steel rails about three or four feet longer.than
those ordinarily used; I prefer that they should be about eighteen feet
long. The heel end is firmly fished to the rails of the road at J, J, the
same as any ordinary fish joint. Close to this joint, and about two feet
apart, both the points and back or stop rails are securely keyed or otherwise
fixed into the coupling chairs C, C, so that their relative positions may be
maintained. The coupling chairs C, C, are to be roughed or fanged on the

page_text: under bed, as shewn in D, D, Figure 3, so that they may more securely
hold their positions upon the sleepers, to which they are attached by ordinary
fang bolts or other convenient fastenings. Past these chairs, or at A, A,
I make vertical cuts or slots through the top and bottom flange of double-1
head rails, top. flange of T-rails, and bottom flange of bridge rails, as
the case may be, so that the straight line of the side of the web is at such
places carried through the flanges, as shewn at b, b, Figure 3. These
slots are as narrow as practicable, and may be from three to six inches apart;
they may also be opposite to each other on the two sides of the rail alternate,
as shewn in the plan, or be all at one side of the rail. This latter I prefer
where the rails are not more than eighty pounds to the yard. This portion of
the rail after being set to stand in its desired normal position is to be
tempered to a good spring temper, so as to yield sufficiently to allow the
points to open, and by the strength of the spring to bring the points back
to their position when released, so dispensing with the ordinary loose fish or
heel chair or binge or other loose or imperfect contrivance for this purpose,
and also the ordinary balance weight.
The ordinary slide chairs E, E, are used in the usual way for the support
of the points at G, G. In Figures 1 and 4 is shewn a convenient quadrant
and lever for working the points, combining a bell crank H to admit a
lever working parallel with the rails without having an additional fixture.
In this case I make the lever I with a fork end at K, so that it may be put
on to the centre L without removing the quadrant from its bed. At m
is a stud or pin attached to the lever handle working under the curve of the
quadrant to prevent the lever from rising off the centre L.
In the above description I have confined myself to single points, but it will
be understood that my Invention is equally applicable to three-throw points,
and I therefore claim it for such application.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Railway Points and Switches," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim as my Invention,―
Converting the rail or a portion of the rail of which the points or
switches of railways are constructed into a spring, so as to act in substi-
tution of all other description of heel hitherto applied to point or switch
rails.
Secondly, the cutting of the rails as described, for the purpose of regulating
the place at which the rails shall bend and yield.

page_text: And, thirdly, the general construction, arrangement, and working of the
same, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Columbus Hurry, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
H. C. HURRY. (L.S.)