IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Porter, of the Borough of Boston, in the
County of Lincoln, and James Porter, of the same Place, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Porter and James
Porter at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 11th February 1865.
We, JOHN PORTER, of the Borough of Boston, in the County of Lincoln,
and JAMES PORTER, of the same Place, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be
as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the supports and parts for fixing the rails of rail-
ways to the sleepers or parts to which they are attached, and more especially
to what are termed the joint chairs, or chairs at and near the joints. We
place a chair or support of double or nearly double width at the joint of the
rails, and dispose a chair or support on each side of such joint chair at half
the usual distance; and we cast or otherwise form such three supports in one
piece, being united by a web or sole piece passing from one to the other
immediately under the rail; thus the base of this triple chair passes across and
rests on three sleepers, and the rails being fixed at three points, that is to say,
in the chair or support at the joint, and in the other two supports, say, at a
distance of 18 inches from the joint, the rails have a continuous and firm

page_text: support over a length of three feet. The rails may be fixed in the chairs in
the ordinary way, or by an arrangement according to our Invention as follows:
-We cast the chairs or supports each with only one cheek or side, and apply
on the other a strut-like piece or pieces; the one end or foot rests in a recess
or notch in the sole of the chair forming an abutment therefor, while the other
rests against the side of the rail simultaneously. These strut pieces are
secured by bolts passed down through them through the sole plate of the chair
and into the wood sleeper into which they screw, or a nut may be let into the
sleeper into which they take. The downward pressure of the bolt at once
presses the rail against the chair cheek, and fixes it down on the chair and
sleeper. The chairs are further fixed down on the sleepers by dowels or other-
wise. Two strut pieces may be adopted in the centre support or joint chair
instead of one.
This method of fixing the rails in the chairs is also applicable to all the
single chairs supporting the rails.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Porter and James Porter in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
PORTER, of the Borough of Boston, in the County of Lincoln, and JAMES
PORTER, of the same Place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Porter and James Porter, Her special licence that we, the
said John Porter and James Porter, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Porter and James Porter, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS,"
npon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Porter and James
Porter, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or

page_text: them, 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 Porter and James Porter, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to a peculiar construction of railway chair, by the
employment of which the ordinary fish plates may be entirely dispensed with,
and the thumping of the carriages now experienced obviated; in addition to
which greater facitity is afforded to workmen in laying the rails, as no previous
preparation of the same is required, and they can be readily repaired or
replaced.
For this purpose we connect three chairs together by means of longitudinal
pieces cast iu one therewith, and acting as beds for the rail to lie upon, and
we form one jaw or stay of each chair of a separate piece, which fits at bottom
against a shoulder or into a recess formed in the chair, and is held down by
means of a screw bolt passing through the chair and screwed into the sleeper,
or the bolt may pass through the sleeper and be secured by a nut. The loose
jaws are so formed that when screwed down they are made both to press firmly
against the side of the rail (a wood packing piece being, by preference, made
to intervene) and to force it down upon its bed. Thus, when the arrangement
of three combined chairs above described is employed for holding the abutting
ends of two lengths of rail, and these are placed so that the extreme ends are
held by the middle jaws of the combined chair, and the loose jaws are firmly
screwed down, the joint is held in a firmer and more perfect manner than
when the fish plates are employed.
The above-described arrangement of the loose jaw may also be applied with
advantage to the ordinary single chair.
On the accompanying Drawing is shown the construction of our improved
chair. Figures 1 and 2 shew perspective views of the same respectively, with
the loose jaws in position, and without the same; Figures 3 and 4 shew an
enlarged end elevation and plan of the same with the rail; and Figure 5 shews
a plan of an ordinary single chair with the loose jaw.
In Figures 1 to 4 the three chairs A, B, C, are connected together by the
longitudinal bed pieces D, E, formed in one with the chairs. These bed pieces
are formed so as to fit the rails F, F, which take a bearing upon the entire

page_text: length of the combined chair, being pressed down by the action of the screw
bolts G, G, upon the loose jaws a, b, c, which at the same time are caused to
nip the rails firmly against the fixed jaws. The tails of the loose jaws are for
this purpose made to fit into the recesses d, e, f, formed in the chair, and the
bolt holes in the same are made somewhat slotted, as indicated, so that when
the bolts are screwed home into the sleeper the jaws will be caused to turn
upon the points d, e, f, as fulcra, and will thus be made to hold the rails in the
manner described. The extreme ends of the rails being held by the middle
jaws, which are for this purpose, by preference, made wider than the others,
and each rail being firmly held by the jaws on either side, it will be evident
that the joint is held in the most rigid manner possible without the liability to
loosen that exists where the ordinary wooden keys are employed.
H, H, H,
are packing pieces of wood, not however acting as keys or wedges. The screw
bolts are, by preference, made taper at the end with a coarse thread, and, if
required, they may be locked by any suitable known arrangement.
As before stated, the loose jaw arrangement may with advantage be applied
to any ordinary chair, as shown at Figure 5.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the best means we
are acquainted with of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that
what we claim as the Invention secured to us by the heroin-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the construction and employment of a railway chair, consisting of
three chairs situated certain distances apart, and connected together by means
of longitudinal bed pieces, upon which the rail is pressed down by means of
loose jaws or stays fixed by screw bolts, substantially as herein-before described
with reference to Figures 1 to 4 on the accompanying Drawing.
Second, the application of the arrangement of a loose jaw resting against a
recess or projection upon the chair, and acted upon by a screw bolt in manner
herein-before set forth, to railway chairs of any known construction.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Porter and James Porter, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Third day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JNO. PORTER.
(L.S.)
JAMES PORTER. (L.S.)