IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORM AND CONSTRUCTION OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN FASTENING THE SAME TO SLEEPERS OR BEARERS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Walker, of James Strect, Saint Luke's, in
the County of Middlesex, and Adolphe Ernest Ragon, of Upper
Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, in the said County, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORM AND CONSTRUCTION OF RAILS
FOR RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN FASTENING THE SAME TO SLEEPERS
OR BEARERS."
Sealed the 10th February 1874, and dated the 15th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Walker and
Adolphe Ernest Ragon at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th November 1873.
We, JOHN WALKER, of James Street, Saint Luke's, in the County of
Middlesex, and ADOLPHE ERNEST RAGON, of Upper Westbourne Terrace,
Paddington, in the said County, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORM AND CONSTRUCTION OF RAILS FOR
RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN FASTENING THE SAME TO SLEEPERS OR BEARERS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to rails for railways and tramways, and has for
its object to make a cheap and continuous line of rail by a suitable and
efficient combination of wood and iron or steel; which object we
propose to attain by the following means:-We prepare a number of

page_text: bars or pieces of timber, and plates of wrought iron or steel, all of equal
length and depth or breadth, such depth or breadth and the thicknesses
of the said materials varying according to the strength of rail required;
for general purposes we make the bars of timber 15 feet long, 4 inches
deep or broad, and 1 inches thick, and the iron plates the same length
and depth, and of an inch thick, more or less.
In forming our improved continuous rail we take a bar of the said
prepared timber and on each of the two sides thereof so place a plate
of the said iron that the end of one plate is exactly opposite the centre
of the other plate; the whole are then securely rivetted together,
another bar of timber is then added to the first bar, end to end or lap
jointed, and in the same way a plate of iron is added on each side of this
second bar of timber, and so on for any number of bars and plates or
length of rail. By this method no two joints can ever be directly
opposite each other, and the rail is continuous and uniform whatever its
length may be.
For convenience of transport and laying our improved rails, cach
timber bar and its requisite iron plates are separately prepared and
joined or united to each other when being laid.
These rails may be laid either on continuous longitudinal bearers or
on the usual transverse sleepers. In the former case the rail is spiked
or bolted through its timber to and upon the said bearer, and is stayed
or held in place by lateral timber or other suitable supports.
When transverso sleepers are used we cut a transverse groove or
trough near each end of each sleeper at the proper gauge, about 1
1 inches to 2 inches deep and just wide enough to admit the rail
edgewise. The sleepers being laid at the proper distances apart the
rails are fitted in the said grooves and spiked, screwed, or bolted to the
sleepers, and are laterally stayed or held in place by blocks or pieces
of wood and other suitable material.
Upon the upper edge of these rails, when laid, we place a cap of iron
or steel in the shape of an inverted angular trough, which cap is secured
to the rail by countersunk screws, bolts, or spikes, by preference screw
bolts and nuts, flush with the upper surface of the said cap.
Some of the advantages of our improved rail are cheapness in
construction, arising from the comparatively small quantity of iron or
steel used therein; also great facility and cheapness in maintenance

page_text: and repairs, inasmuch as generally the cap only will require to be
renewed when worn out, and that only after both sides of the cap
have been worn, as the said cap can be turned with ease and
expedition.
Our method supercedes the use of iron chairs and fish joints, thereby
effecting an additional saving both in material and labour.
This description of rail has the further advantage that it can be made
as wide as the tires of the wheels intended to run thereon, by simply
increasing the thickness of the timber bar and the width of the cap,
and thus give the said wheels a better grip or bite, the better to start
or stop a train and also to enable a locomotive to take a train up
and down inclines with greater facility and safety at a trifling additional
cost.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Walker and Adolphe Ernest Ragon in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WALKER, of James Street, Saint Luke's, in the County of Middlesex, and
ADOLPHE ERNEST RAGON, of Upper Westbourne Terrace, Paddington,
in the said County, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Walker and Adolphe Ernest
Ragon, Her special licence, that we, the said John Walker and
Adolphe Ernest Ragon, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said John Walker and Adolphe Ernest Ragon,
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

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN THE FORM AND CONSTRUCTION OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS AND
TRAMWAYS, AND IN FASTENING THE SAME TO SLEEPERS OR BEARERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Walker and
Adolphe Ernest Ragon, executors or administrators, by an in-
strument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Walker and Adolphe.
Ernest Ragon, 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,
that is to say :---
This Invention relates to the rails of railways and tramways, and has
for its object to construct a cheap and continuous line of rail by a
suitable and efficient combination of wood and iron or steel, or of wood,
iron, and steel, and in fastening or securing such rails to sleepers or
bearers.
In order that our present Invention may be more easily and more
fully understood, and be more readily carried out in practice, we now
proceed to explain the same with the aid of the accompanying Drawing
which forms part of this Specification, reference being made thereto
by the numerals and letters marked thereon, and which reference applies
to each Figure of the said Drawing where the same index numerals and
letters appear.
Figure 1 is an elevation of our improved rail laid on transverse
sleepers.
Figure 2 is a plan of a double line of rails, or a railway so laid,
without the metal cap.
Figure 3 is a transverse section of the said rail shewing the method of
securing the same to the sleepers.
Figures 4 and 10 are the same shewing the method of fastening our
improved cap to the said rails.

page_text: Figure 6 shews the mode of joining the metal cap on the top of
the rails.
Figure 7 is an elevation of our improved rail laid on longitudinal
bearers.
Figure 8 is a plan of a double line of rails, or a railway so laid.
Figure 9 is a transverse section of the said rail shewing the method of
securing the same to the bearers.
Figure 11 shews the method we prefer of uniting or joining together
the ends of the timber bars. We prepare a number of bars or pieces of
timber a and plates of wrought iron or steel b, all of equal length and
depth or breadth, such depth or breadth and the thickness of the said
materials varying according to the strength of rail required; the lengths
of the timber bars and metal plates should be divisible by the distance
at which it is proposed to place the sleepers o apart; for general
purposes, when transverse sleepers are used we place them three feet
apart, centre and centre, and then make the bars of timber any multiple
of three feet in length, four to five inches deep or broad, and one and a
half to two inches thick, and the metal plates the same breadth, and a
quarter of an inch thick more or less, and of any convenient length so
as to break joint with the timber bars; or the timber bars and metal
plates may be all of equal length and formed into rails, and fix.
thereon the metal caps so as to break joint therewith.
In forming our improved continuous rail we take a bar of timber a
properly prepared, and on each of the two sides thereof securely rivet a
plate of metal 6; another such bar of timber is then added to the said first
bar, end to end or lap jointed, as shewn in Figure 11, and in the same
way a metal plate is added on each side of this second bar of timber,
and so on for any number of bars and plates or any length of rail.
By this method of construction no two joints can ever be directly
opposite each other, and the rail is continuous and uniform whatever
its length may be.
For convenience of transport and laying our improved rails, each
bar a and its requisite metal plates 6 are separately and accurately

page_text: prepared and drilled or bored to gauge, so that they can be joined or
united to each other when being laid.
These rails may be laid eitheir on continuous longitudinal bearers d,
see Figures 7 to 10, or on the usual transverse sleepers, see Figures 1
to 6; in the former case the rail is spiked or bolted through its timber a
to and upon the bearer d, and is stayed or held in place by lateral
timber blocks e or other suitable supports, or the bearers may be grooved
as shown in Figures 9 and 10.
When transverse sleepers are used we cut two grooves or troughs in
and across each sleeper to the proper gauge, about one and a half to 1
three inches deep, and just wide enough to admit the rail edgewise; or
by preference we cut these grooves with a half dovetail mortice, and
tighten the rails in their grooves by wedges i, as shewn in Figures 2,
3, 4, and 5.
For portable railways and others having a very light traffic, we
propose to avoid the spiking or screwing of the rails to the sleepers,
and to hold the said rails in the grooves by means of a continuous plate
of iron about half an inch wider than the lower edge of the
rail and secured thereto, see Figure 5. The sleepers being laid at the
proper distances apart the rails are fitted in the said grooves, and 2
spiked, screwed, or bolted to the sleepers, and may be laterally stayed
or held in place by blocks or pieces of wood (as at e, Figure 9) or of
other suitable material.
Upon the upper edge of these rails, when laid, we place a cap g of
iron or steel in the shape of an inverted angular trough, which
cap is 2
secured to the rail by countersunk screws, bolts, or spikes, or by
screw bolts and nuts through its lateral flanges, as shewn in Figures 4
and 10.
Some of the advantages of our present Invention are cheapness of
construction arising from the comparatively small quantity of iron or 3
steel used therein; also great facility and cheapness in maintenance
and repairs, inasmuch as generally the metal cap 9 only will require
to be renewed when worn out, and that only when both sides of the
cap have been used and worn, as the said cap can be turned with ease
and expedition.
For military, portable, and temporary railways the method.
of
3

page_text: securing the rail to the sleepers by the metal plate f and wedge i
affords great facilities.
Our method entirely supercedes the use of iron chairs and fish
joints, thereby effecting an additional saving both in material and
labour.
In the formation of railways in distant countries it is evident there
will also be a considerable saving in ocean freight and insurance as well
as in inland carriage.
Our improved rail has the further advantage that it can be made as
wide as the tires of the wheels intended to run thereon, by simply
increasing the thickness of the timber bar and the width of the metal
cap, and thus give such wheels a better grip or bite on the rails, the
better to start or stop a train, and also to enable a locomotive engine to
take a train up inclines with greater facility and safety at a trifling
additional cost.
Our improved rails can be used without the metal cap where the
traffic is small or light, or where a very cheap railway is required.
Having thus fully described and illustrated the nature and objects
of our said Invention, and the method of performing the same, without
binding ourselves to the precise dimensions or modes of fastening now
illustrated, we claim as our Invention, and desire to secure by the
before-mentioned in part recited Letters Patent, the method of con-
structing rails for railways and tramways, and of fastening the same to
sleepers or bearers, substantially as and for the purposes herein described
and shewn in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Walker and Adolphe Ernest
Ragon, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Ninth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and