PROVEMENTS IN RAILS, AND CHAIRS FOR SUPPORTING THE SAME.
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Isidore Spielmann at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 15th November 1878.
ISIDORE SPIELMANN, of 16, Linden Gardens, in the County of Middlesex.
PROVEMENTS IN RAILS, AND CHAIRS FOR SUPPORTING THE SAME.'
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This Invention has for its object improvements in rails, and chairs for supporting
the same, and the improvements relate to the system of construction described in
the Specification of a former Patent granted to Samuel Aldred, on the 31st
December 1877, No. 4948. In this construction the rails are divided longitudinally
into two parts, the upper edge of one part of which forms the tread of the rail,
whilst the upper edge of the other forms a side guard at a distance from the tread.
According to my present Invention in place of making the two parts of the rail
of one and the same section as described in the Specification above mentioned,
I make them of different sections but each part reversible, and the portion of the
rail which serves as a guard I form with a longitudinal central hollow to fit over a
corresponding projection on the inner jaw of the chairs.
Along the other side of this portion of the rail there is a central projection
against which the other portion of the rail is to rest. The heads of the other
portion of the rail are both of the same form, and either head may be used, as the
tread of the rail standing out from the inner side of this portion of the rail is a
central projection extending from end to end of it.
When the two parts of the rail are put together in their supporting chairs, the
projections on the two parts abut against one another, and the bottom of the
projection on the portion of the rail which is formed with the tread heads rests
upon the top of a projection that stands up from the bottom of the chair.
Along the outer side of this portion of the rail is a longitudinal hollow, some-
what as in the ordinary double headed rails of railways. The upper portion of the
outer jaw of the chair fits into the upper part of this hollow and forms a bed for.
the head of the rail to rest upon.
The abutting surfaces of the projections on the two parts of the rail may cither
be straight, or one may be convex and the other concave. The bottom edge of each
portion of the rail may either rest upon the bottom of the chairs or not; if they are

page_text: not allowed to descend to the bottom of the chairs all chance of the bottom face of
the rails being bruised by the chairs is avoided.
To insert the rails into the chairs the guard portion of the rail is first inserted
into its place, the other portion is then dropped in, there being just sufficient
clearance between the guard portion of the rail and the inner side of the outer jaw
of the chairs to allow it to enter.
If the abutting surfaces of the parts of the rails are made convex and concave,
neither portion of the rail can then lift, unless the outer portion of the rail upon
which the tread heads are formed at the same time cants or turns somewhat in the
chairs.
Thus the rails may be carried securely in the chairs without any key to lock
them, but if desired a wooden or other key may be inserted between the outer jaw
of the chairs and the outer portion of the rail to prevent all possibility of this
portion of the rail from moving. When the abutting surfaces of the parts of the
chairs are made in one flat plane, a key interposed between the outer jaw of the
chair and the outer portion of the rail should always be used to keep this portion of
the rail from lifting; the inner guard portion of the rail cannot lift as it fits over
the projection on the inner jaw of the chair; or when a key is used and the abutting
surfaces are convex and concave, the interlocking of the parts will prevent the
guard portion from lifting.