IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SECURING AND SUPPORTING THE JOINTS AND OTHER PORTIONS OF RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY RAILS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fisher, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel
Manufacturer, and Benjamin Elliott, of Lenton, in the County of Nottingham,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS
FOR SECURING AND SUPPORTING THE JOINTS AND OTHER PORTIONS OF RAILWAY
AND TRAMWAY RAILS."
Sealed the 24th April 1878, and dated the 24th October 1877..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fisher and Benjamin
Elliott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th October
1877.
JOHN FISHER, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Manufacturer, and
BENJAMIN ELLIOTT, of Lenton, in the County of Nottingham, Engineer.
"IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SECURING AND SUPPORTING THE JOINTS AND
OTHER PORTIONS OF RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY RAILS."
This Invention relates to means and apparatus for securing and supporting the
joints and other portions of the rails of railways and tramways.
This Invention consists in forming the chairs for the joints and other portions of
the rails with one jaw parallel to the rail, and the other jaw set obliquely thereto,
and so that a key, which has one side parallel to its longitudinal centre and the
opposite side formed in an oblique direction thereto, can be used therewith, the said
key being formed with the same taper or inclination as the inclined jaw of the chair,
and the said key being so formed and fitted as that, when in place, the rail can be
firmly secured in the chair therewith.
The inclined or taper jaw of the chair will be formed or fitted with a lug or boss,
which will be recessed or have a hole through it, the said lug or boss being at that
end of the jaw which is nearest to the opposite jaw; and the said tapered key will
be formed with or fitted with a screwed bolt or projection, so that the said screwed
bolt or projection can be protruded through the lug, and with suitable nuts be
thereby drawn firmly against the rail and taper jaw, and by these means secure and
support the rails or rail in the said chair.

page_text: Instead of one side only of a chair being taper and fitted or formed with a lug,
both sides of the said chair can be so made, and two keys, made or fitted as above
specified, can be used, one being on each side of the rail or rails to be secured in the
said chair.
The chairs above specified may be made of cast iron or other suitable material,
and the keys may be made of cast iron or other suitable material, and the projection
or bolt may be solid therewith, or embedded therein, or fitted thereto in any con-
venient manner; and the said bolt or projection may be of iron, steel, or any suitable
material, which said material may or may not differ from that of which the body of
the key is made; and the said key may be shaped to fit the projections and recesses
in the rail on that side which bears against the said rail. The said key may be.
made in one or more parts, as, for instance, the side which bears against the rail
may be separate and distinct from the side which bears against the chair, but so
made as to be tightened up firmly with a bolt, wedge shaped or otherwise suitably
formed, either by means of the lug on the chair, as above specified, or by means of
the sides of the keys being bent over so as to form a surface for the nut of the bolt
to act against.
Instead of a screwed bolt being employed, the key can be drawn tightly into the
chair by means of cotters acting through a suitable cotter hole.
This Invention further consists in forming a chair with one fixed parallel jaw
and one sliding parallel jaw, the chair being made with a flat base, or so made with
ribs or grooves as that the loose jaw can be slid thereon in such a manner as to be
held firm laterally, the chair, the rail, and the sliding jaw being secured firmly
together by bolts passing through them in an ordinary manner.
Rails secured as above specified can be released, replaced, and secured in a short
space of time, which is of great importance on a line of railway or tramway.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Fisher and Benjamin Elliott in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th April 1878.
JOHN FISHER, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Manufacturer, and
BENJAMIN ELLIOTT, of Lenton, in the County of Nottingham, Engineer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SECURING AND SUPPORTING THE JOINTS AND
OTHER PORTIONS OF RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY RAILS."
This Invention relates to improved means and apparatus or appliances for securing
the joints and other portions of the rails of railways and tramways.
This Invention consists of an improved form of chair and wedge, by which the
rail is secured firmly in the chair, and the wedge is prevented from being displaced.
The chair is made with a lug or boss through which a projection on the wedge,
or a bolt connected to the wedge, is passed, and is secured to the chair by screwed
nuts or cotters, thus preventing the wedge from being displaced.
In the accompanying Sheets of Drawings,-
Figure 1 shows in elevation a front end view of the chair A, rail D (in section),
and wedge B.
Figure 2 shows in elevation a back end view of the chair A, with lug or boss C,
wedge B, wedge bolt B 1, and rail D (in section).
Figure 3 shows a side view in elevation of the chair A, with lug or boss C, wedge
B, wedge bolt B 1, and rail D.
Figure 4 shows a plan of the chair A, with lug or boss C, wedge B, wedge bolt
B1, and rail D.
According to the arrangement above described the wedge B is solid or in one
piece, and would be made of iron, steel, wood, or other suitable material, and one
end of the wedge bolt B1 is inserted in a cavity in the said wedge, and the other
end is passed through the lug or boss C, so that when acted on by the nuts shown
thereon, the wedge B is forced tightly into the chair A, and the rail D and wedge B
are firmly secured thereby.
Instead of the bolt B1 being separate from the wedge B, the wedge and bolt can
be cast or otherwise formed in one piece or solid, either of the same or different
metals; for instance, the wedge bolt B1 can be of wrought iron, and the metal of
which the wedge is composed can be cast round it, so as to form one solid wedge
and bolt combined.
In the accompanying Drawings Figures 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4 A show a modifica-
tion of the mode of carrying into effect the principles of this Invention, the wedge.
being in two parts constructed of the same or different metals or substances; for
instance, the part B may be of wood and the part B2 of wrought or cast iron, or
wrought and cast iron combined, and the bolt B1 may be separate from or solid
with the part of the wedge B2. The part of the wedge B2 may be ribbed or
grooved on one or both sides, so as to fit other grooves or ribs in the part of the
wedge B or the side of the chair A; or the part of the wedge B2 can be ribbed or
grooved on that side only next to the part of the wedge B, so as to fit grooves or
ribs therein or thereon, and may be plain on that side next to the chair A.
This Invention further consists of a chair with one fixed parallel jaw and one
sliding parallel jaw, the chair being made with a flat base having in its upper
surface grooves which are narrower at the top than at the bottom thereof, the said
grooves being at right angles to the face of the chair, against which the rail rests.
The sliding parallel jaw has a foot or base on the under side of which there are ribs
of a corresponding form and size to the grooves in the chair above specified. To
apply this chair to the permanent way of a railway the chair can be fastened down
to the sleeper, and the fixed jaw having its face so formed as to receive the rail, the
rail will be partly embedded therein, and the loose jaw, being in like manner formed
to receive the projections on the reverse side of the rail, can be slid up to the face of

page_text: the rail.
The ribs on the loose parallel jaw being in the grooves the base of the
chair cannot rise therefrom, and the loose jaw can be prevented from sliding back by
means of bolts or cotters, thus making a secure connection.
Instead of having the grooves in the chair and the ribs on the sliding jaw, the
grooves can be in the sliding jaw and the ribs on the chair.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be or may be performed and carried
into effect, we wish it to be understood that what we claim as novel and original,
and secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, improve-
nients in the means and apparatus or appliances for securing and supporting the
joints and other portions of the rails of railways and tramways, as herein specified
and described, and illustrated by the accompanying Sheets of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fisher, on behalf of myself and the said
Benjamin Elliott, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second
day of April, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
JOHN WICULD