IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING AND SECURING TOGETHER THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morris, of South Hackney, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONNECTING AND SECURING TOGETHER THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 6th August 1869, and dated the 21st May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1869.
I, WILLIAM MORRIS, of South Hackney, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING AND SECURING TOGETHER THE RAILS OF
RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
Instead of using bolts and nuts and the ordinary fish plates or
securing pieces so as to secure the rails end to end to form a line of
railway, I by my Invention connect and secure rails together simply by
fitting on to the same fishes or securing pieces formed so that they shall

page_text: lit into the web of the rail, that is between the enlarged parts, such fishes
or securing pieces having grooves which can be driven on to projections
on the sides of the rails, and when this is effected the rails will be thereby
secured without the aid of bolts or nuts; but when the end of a rail
of the ordinary construction, that is, one not provided with the aforesaid
projection, is to be secured to the end of a rail constructed according to
my Invention, 1 secure the ordinary rail only to my improved fishes
or securing pieces by means of screw bolts and nuts as in the ordinary
construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the letters Patent,
filed by the said William Morris in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORRIS, of South Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Morris, Her special licence
that I, the said William Morris, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Morris, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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, usc, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING
AND SECURING TOGETHER THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Morris, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.

page_text: I NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Morris, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
Instead of using screw bolts and nuts and the ordinary fish plates or
securing pieces so as to secure the rails end to end to form a line of
railway, by my Invention I connect and secure the ends of rails
together simply by fitting to the sides of such rails at the end parts
thereof fishes or securing pieces formed so that they shall fit into the
web of the rail, that is, between the enlarged parts, such fishes or
securing pieces having grooves formed in thein for the purpose of fitting
to corresponding dovetail projections on the sides or web of the rail at
the end part thereof, and when this fitting is effected on both sides of
the rail the same will be thereby secured without the aid of screw bolts
and nuts. The dovetail projectious may when desired be tapered
in the direction of their length, and the grooves in the fishes or
securing pieces may also be tapered. It is generally desirable, though
not absolutely necessary, that the grooves formed in the fishes or
securing pieces should be slightly enlarged at each end for a short dis-
tance to enable the fishes or securing pieces to be the more readily driven
(by which process they are usually fitted) on to the dovetail.projections
on the sides or web of the rail. These dovetail projections on the sides
or web of rail may be formed along the whole length of rail or at inter-
mediate distances along the same; also in some cases the dovetail
projections may be formed on one side of rail or web only. When the
end of rail of the ordinary construction, that is, one not provided
with the aforesaid projections, is to be secured to the end of a rail
constructed according to my Invention as aforesaid, I secure the
ordinary rail to my improved fishes or securing picces by means of screw
bolts or nuts as in the ordinary construction, and I prevent the fishes or
securing picces from coming off the dovetail projections by knocking up
the ends of the dovetail projections, which extend a little beyond the ends
of the fishes or securing picces, by which means the dovetail projections
on the web are made a little larger than the corresponding grooves in the
fishes or securing pieces, and thus I prevent them coming off. The outside
face of the fishes or securing pieces should be slightly curved for the pur-
pose of tightening them in between the enlarged parts of web of the rail
and on the projection on rail.

page_text: The accompanying Drawings shew my Invention as adapted to the
ordinary forms of rails and nsnes or securing pieces, but my invention
may be applied to any other forms where fishes or scouring pieces are
capable of being applied.
ordinary forms of rails and fishes or securing pieces, but my invention
may be applied to any other forms where fishes or scouring pieces are
capable of being applied.
Fig. 1 represents a section of a double-headed rail with dovetail i
projections.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the ends of two rails brought together.
The dovetail projections being shown, but without the fishe or securing
piece.
Fig. 3 represents a section of a double-headed rail with dovetail pro- 1
jections and fishes or securing pieces in position.
Fig. 1 is a section of a fish or securing picco showing the grove.
Fig. 5 is a section of a flat bottom rail with dovetail projections and
fishes or securing pieces in position.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the ends of two flat bottom rails with
dovetail projections, and showing fish or securing piece in position, and
lic end of one dovetail projection knocked up to prevent the fishe or
securing piece coming off.
Fig. 7 is an inside clevation of the fish or securing picce showing the
ends slightly enlarged.
Fig. 8 is a section of a double-headed rail showing the method of
securing my improved fishes or securing pieces to an ordinary rail, that
is, one having no dovetail projections on the sides or web of rail. It will
be observed that in this case the fishes or securing pieces have flat
instead of curved backs for the purpose of allowing the bolts to be
properly screwed up.
Fig. 9 is a side clevation of the ends of two rails shewing the method
of connecting my improved rail or fish or securing piece with an
ordinary rail without the dovetail projection, my improved rail being
secured by my improved fish or securing piece, and the ordinary rail
being secured by my improved fish or securing piece by using therewith
scrow bolts and nuts as in the ordinary manner (as in Fig. 8).
In all these Figures a denotes the enlarged part of rail; b, the web of
rail; c, the dovetail projections; d, the fish plates; e, the grooves cor-

page_text: responding to dovetail projections; f, (Figs. 8 and 9,) the screw bolts
and nuts used when rails on the old and my new system have to be
secured end to end, as in Figs. 8 and 9. In Figs. 8 and 9, A, the dove-
tailed rail, and B, the old system rail.
The method of forming the dovetail projection on the sides or web of
the rail is by having to pairs of rolls, one pair smaller than the other,
but both driven at the sanic speed; on the larger pair of rolls is formed
a slot of the length and width of the necessary projection on the sides
or web of rail, and the depth of such slot is a little deeper than the
thickness of the projection on the sides of the rail. When finished the
rail is made to pass through the larger pair of rolls, and in so doing
leaves one, two, or more projections in the length of a rail according to
the number of revolutions they are allowed to make. It then has to
pass through the smaller pair of rolls, which have likewise a slot formed
in them similar but larger and wider than the slot in the larger pair of
rolls. The two pair of rolls are so fixed relatively to cach other that
as the rail passes through the smaller rolls it leaves the projections on
at each end of the rail, and crushes out the intermediate projections
left on by the larger pair of rolls. This process leaves the projections
on cach end of rail with square angles. The acute angle to form the
dovetail is made by having a steel mandrill or template of the required
shape and angle fitted temporarily to the square projection next to the
web of the rail and between the enlarged parts of the rail.. It is then
passed with the mandrill through a pair of small rollers, which crushes
the excess of metal (that is left on the projections on the rail after
passing through the first pair of rolls) into the space between the square
projection and the acute angle of the mandrill or template, thus forming
the dovetail required. The groove in the fish or securing piece is
formed in the usual way of making or rolling grooves.
The above is a description of the method I prefer to use in making
my rails and grooves, but any convenient method may be adopted, my
Invention not consisting in any method of making the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I
hereby declare that I claim the Invention of " Improvements in Con-
necting and Securing together the Ends of Rails of Railways," as hercin-
before described; it being understood that I do not limit myself to the

page_text: preciso forms of fishes or securing picces, or dovetail projections shown
by the Drawings and described with reference thereto, as such forms
may be varied as may be found desirable; but I do not claim the merc
details of construction shown and described, except when adopted and
used substantially in similar manner and with the like intent as is
above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morris, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILLIAM MORRIS. (L.S.)
Witness,
ALEX. P. WRIGHT,
Secretary to the
Inventors Patent Right Association, Limited,
Patentees' Agents,
21, Cockspur Street,
Charing Cross, London, S.W.