AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF POINT RAILS FOR RAILWAYS, AND MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN.” PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATNET to Joseph Stokes Williams, of Riverton, New Jersey, United
States of America. but at present residing at Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF POINT RAILS FOR RAILWAYS, AND MACHINERY TO BE
EMPLOYED THEREIN.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Stokes Williams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th December 1879.
JOSEPH STOKES WILLIAMS, of Riverton, New Jersey, United States of America,
but at present residing at Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain. "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF POINT RAILS FOR RAILWAYS, AND
MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN."
The said Invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of point rails
for railways, which consists in forming the ends of such rails by the operation of
sawing instead of by the operation of planing, as is now generally practised, and
the said Invention further relates to machinery to be employed for effecting the
said sawing operation.
According to the said Invention the rail to be operated upon, heated or cold, but
preferably heated, is placed in the machine in which the sawing operation is effected,
which machine is constructed as follows:-
The saw is mounted so as to be capable of being rapidly rotated in a framework,
upon which is a carrier or bed-plate capable of sliding towards and from the saw,
these movements being obtained from a right and left handed screw, toothed racks,
or their equivalents, mounted in the framework and receiving a rotatory motion,
two screw boxes upon the bedplate engaging one with each portion of the screw.
These boxes are formed so that either of them may be withdiawn from the screw
whilst the other is engaged therewith, and this may be effected by forming the said
boxes each in two parts pivotted to the underside of the bed-plate, the lower ends
of the parts of each box being between two parallel bars hinged by links to the
framework so as to be capable of being brought together to cause the one or the
other of the screw boxes to engage with the one or other of the parts of the afore-
CD 071

page_text: said screw upon which the bed-plate travels, this bringing together of the parallel
bars may be effected by right and left handed screws passing through nuts on the
said bars, so that by turning the said screws by means of a lever the parallel bars
may be brought together or forced apart to engage or disengage the half screw
boxes with the screw on the framework. Upon the bed-plate is mounted a framing
for carrying the rail to be operated upon, the said framing being provided with a
vice or vices or other holding devices, and being mounted in guides forming arcs of
circles struck from a centre at which the end of the rail being operated upon is
situated. The said framing carries a screw working in a screw box on the bedplate, by
rotating which screw the framing i noved in its guides in one direction or the
other to present either side of the rail at any angle to the action of the saw.
The rail to be operated upon is so mounted that its front end is adjustable so as
to be at the centre upon which the said framing turns, which adjustment may be
accurately obtained by means of a stop The framing is now brought into such
position in its circular guides that the rail is presented to the saw at the requisite 1
angle, and the screw box for giving the forward movement to the bed plate being
placed into gear with the screw in the framework the bedplate carrying the rail
travels forward, and the rail-end is presented to the saw and is cut thereby to give
the requisite point. When the cutting has been effected a projection on the bed-
plate will operate upon the lever for throwing the half nuts for travelling the
bedplate forward out of gear, and another projection will operate upon the lever
for engaging the other half nuts for causing the back traverse of the bedplate some-
what after the manner in which the bedplates of planing machines are operated.
The circular guides aforesaid may have a graduated scale thereon, by which the
angle at which the rail end is to be cut may be accurately adjusted, and the saw is 2
so mounted as to be capable of being adjusted to the one side or the other to cut
right or left hand point rails.
One or more rotating files or milling tools may be applied to the machine for the
purpose of finishing the edges left rough by the saw's action.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Stokes Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th June 1880.
JOSEPH STOKES WILLIAMS, of Riverton, New Jersey, United States of America,
but at present residing at Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain. "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF POINT RAILS FOR RAILWAYS, AND
MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN."
"
My said Invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of point rails
for railways, which consists in forming the ends of such rails by the operation of
sawing instead of by the operation of planing, as is now generally practised, and
my said Invention further relates to machinery to be employed for effecting the
said sawing operation.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now proceed
more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had to the
annexed Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:―
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in plan, Figure 2 in side
elevation, and Figure 3 in longitudinal section, a machine constructed or arranged
for carrying my Invention into effect; Figure 4 is a transverse section taken on
the line 1, 2, Figure 2. The framework is marked A; at one end thereof is formed
a basin, above which is mounted the saw B, the shaft b of the said saw turning in
the bearings b³, 63, and being provided with a band pulley 6s, through which the
saw may be rapidly rotated by a steam engine or other suitable motor. Capable
of sliding to and fro from the saw upon slides a on the frame A is a carrier or bed-
plate C. Upon this bed-plate C is mounted a framing or table D having thereon a
vice & for holding on the said framing D the rail E to be operated upon. The
framing or table D is of a segmental form, as shewn in Figure 1, and slides in
guides c of a similar form on the bed-plate C. The centre from which the arc of
the said segmental framing D and guide c are struck is at the point x, at which the
end of the rail to be operated upon is situated when the said rail is mounted in
position upon the said framing or table D. A screw d³ is carried by the framing
or table D, the said screw being rotated by hand wheels d³, so that it travels in
one or other direction in a screw box fon the bed-plate or carrier C, and in such
movement (as it rotates) but is incapable of travelling in the framing or table D it
causes the said framing or table D to travel in one or other direction in its guides c
so as to present the one side or the other of the rail to the action of the saw,
according as a right or left hand point is to be formed on the said rail. The screw
box fis provided with a stem fs, which engages in a slot h³ in the carrier C, the
said slot being of such width as will prevent the sideway movement of the said
screw box f, and being of such length as will permit the said screw box to have the
necessary endway movement to accommodate itself to the various positions of the
framing D.
Any suitable or convenient means for causing the carrier C and framing D to
travel forward to the saw before and during the sawing operation may be employed.
In the Drawing I have shewn for this purpose a pinion g turning on a shaft g
which pinion gears with a toothed rack h underneath the said carrier C, the said
pinion being rotated by a worm i on a shaft I, motion being transmitted to the said
shaft by a pinion thereon gearing with another bevel pinion k on the shaft K, the
said shaft K being provided with two driving pulleys and, an open band passing
over the one pulley and a crossed band over the other, so that the said pulleys
receive motion in reverse directions from any convenient driving shaft driven by a
steam engine or other convenient motor. The pulleys and run loosely on the

page_text: shaft K, except when the clutch is engaged with the one or the other of them. As
the band of the one pulley is open and the other crossed it follows that a forward
motion can be given to the carrier C and table D for presenting the rail to the
action of the saw by engaging the clutch with the one pulley, and that a backward
movement away from the saw can be given to the said carrier when the sawing
operation is completed by engaging the clutch with the other of the said pulleys.
The shaft bupon which the saw B is mounted is capable of being moved side-
ways in its bearings, so as to be capable of being adjusted in line with the one side
or the other of the rail, according to whether a right or left hand point is to be cut
upon the said rail. Collars b* are hinged at the sides of the bearings b³, so that one
or the other of them can be turned over the shaft b when it is adjusted to the one
side or the other, thus fixing the said shaft in its lateral position.
The machine may be provided with the following mechanism for automatically
throwing the traversing movement out of gear at the end of each stroke of the
carrier :-Upon the carrier C is a projection c³, which at the end of either stroke
of the said carrier C bears upon one or other of two levers m centred at m³ to the
framing A; the other ends of the said levers are connected by rods n to one end of
a bell crank lever p centered to the framing at p³, the other end of the said lever
being connected to one end of a lever q (see Figure 4) centered at q³, and having
two horns q³ embracing the shifter 1 of the clutch . Thus when the projection c
comes at the end of either traverse of the carrier C in contact with one or other of
the levers m it moves the said lever, which through the herein before described
connections causes one or other of the horns q³ to bear upon the clutch shifter l² and
bring the clutch to mid position, as shown in Figure 1, and thus stop the traversing
motion of the said carrier. To start the carrier the clutch is engaged with one or
other of the pulleys k², k³, by operating the clutch shifter 1 by hand.
Jo
The action of the machine is as follows:-The saw B, being adjusted to the one
side or the other, according to whether a right or left hand point is to be sawn, the
rail to be operated upon is fixed to the table D by placing the said rail in the vice
d at the one end, and in the support d' at the other end of the said table, as shewn
in Figures 1 and 2, so that its end to be presented to the saw is at the point sc,
being the centre from which the circle of the segmental guides is struck as aforesaid.
A stop may be provided hinged to the vice d or other part of the machine, by
which this adjustment of the rail may be readily effected by turning the said stop r
down in front of the end of the rail as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1. The
vice & is then screwed up by means of the screw engaging in a screw box do in
one of the jaws of the said vice, which jaw slides upon the guides d', the said screw
being operated by the hand wheel d The stop is turned back as shewn in full
lines in Figures 1 and 2. The table D is now moved in the guides c by the
screw to the one side or the other, according as to whether a right or left hand
point is to be formed thereon, until the said table is brought to the requisite angle,
which may be accurately effected by marking degrees upon one of the guides c,
a central pointer being upon the said table D. In Figure 1 the table is shewn by
the dotted lines as adjusted to an angle in this manner When this adjustment is
effected the carrier Ĕ is caused to travel forward to the saw B, by engaging the
clutch with the pulley which will cause the rotation of the pinion g in the
requisite direction for giving the forward movement, and the rail will be cut by the
saw in the line 8, Figure 1. The clutch is now shifted to engage with the other
pulley, by which the pinion g is rotated in the reverse direction, and con-
sequently the carrier C is moved back away from the saw, and the clutch being
brought to mid position, so that it engages with neither pulley, the said carrier
comes to rest, and the rail may be removed and replaced by another and the
operation before described repeated The projection c will at the end of each
traverse of the carrier C by bearing on one or other of the levers m bring the
clutch to mid position and stop the traversing motion as before described. When
a point is to be cut upon the other side of the rail, the one collar 6' is raised from off
the shaft of the saw, which is then shifted laterally, and the other collar b' is turned

page_text: upon the said shaft to hold it in the position to which it has been brought, and
the table D is adjusted in its guides c to the requisite angle at the other side of the
central line of the machine, and the carrier C is caused to travel forward whilst
the sawing operation is being effected as hereinbefore described. The rails may
be sawn either hot or cold, and the saw may, when the rails are operated upon in a
heated state, be a disc without teeth, or it may be serrated or toothed as may be
desirable.
The rails when sawn as above described may be presented to the action of
rotating files or milling tools, which may be combined with a travelling adjustable
carrier essentially as described with regard to the saw, the files or milling tools
taking the place of the saw, and being adjustable if desired as described with regard
to the saw.
Any suitable means for traversing the carrier O may be employed in place of
that illustrated, and the mechanism shewn and described for automatically stopping
said traverse may be dispensed with, and the clutch brought to mid position by
hand, or other suitable or convenient mechanism for effecting this object may be
employed in place of that shewn.
The carrier C, and table D, may if desired be inverted, if this will be more
convenient (for driving the pulleys and ³, or for other reason), so that the rail is
held downwards from the said carrier and table. In this case it will be understood
that the arrangement will be essentially like that before described, but the holder d'
will be replaced by a vice or other arrangement for securely holding the rail.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and the system, mode, or manner, in or under which the same is or may
be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in couclusion that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention, but what I claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The hereinbefore described improvement in the manufacture of point
rails, consisting in forming the points upon the said rails by a sawing operation,
essentially as hereinbefore set forth.
Second. The herein before described machinery or apparatus for sawing the points
upon rails, that is to say, a machine wherein part of the said machine upon which
the rail is carried is capable of being adjusted for presenting the rail to the saw at
the angle requisite for cutting the points upon the said rails at the required angle,
essentially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Stokes Williams, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
TOSEDI STORTO UTT TTAMS
101