IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th October 1869.-A communication from abroad by Daniel
Rice Pratt, of Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co.,
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, Patent Agents, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," a communication, to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists chiefly in a novel method of
securing the rails upon the sleepers or cross ties, whereby I am enabled
to give to the rail a firmer support than has heretofore been practicable,
while at the same time I diminish the cost of manufacture of the rails
and am enabled to lay down the rails and take them up and replace
them by new rails without removing the chairs from the sleepers. I
thus effect a saving of expence and time and prevent the injury to the
sleepers occasioned by withdrawing the spikes or nails whereby the
chairs are secured.
The said Invention also consists in the peculiar construction of the
chairs which I employ for supporting the rail, and in the combination

page_text: of the said chairs with the rail, whether the same is of my improved
shape or of any ordinary form.
.
My said Invention may be used in connection with any ordinary
system of constructing the permanent way, but I prefer in all cases that
the same should be combined with an improved method of joining the rails
which I have described in the Specification of a former Patent granted
to me and bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, A.D. 1868,
No. 2621.
Railway rails as most commonly constructed have two heads or
flanges of equal width connected by an intermediate thin web. The
object of constructing the rails in this manner is when the bearing
surface of the rail is worn or destroyed by the traffic the rail may be
turned over or reversed, so that the rails will last doubly as long as if
they were formed with only one working surface. I have therefore, as
will be seen from the following description, adapted my improvements
to suit such rails, and the said improvements are therefore applicable
upon all lines of railway whereon the permanent way is constructed in
this manner. It has been found however that the system of reversing
the rails is not advantageous in practice, as the under side of the rail
at those portions which rest in the chairs is by the weight on the road,
and the effects of oxidation and from other causes worn away below the
other parts of the rail, so that when turned over it presents an uneven
bearing surface, which is very injurious to the engines and carriages,
and very unpleasant to the passengers. I am aware that rails have also
been made with a broad under flange upon which the said rails are very
firmly supported; but such rails are costly of manufacture, and the
flange is often found imperfect at the edges, which being thin and spread
so far from the body of the metal are very liable to split or crack. I
therefore prefer to use a rail whose upper flange or bearing surface is
of the ordinary width or nearly so, while its lower flange is considerably
smaller than the said upper flange, being only of such dimensions as
are necessary to give the required strength to the rail, whereas the
metal in the flange of an ordinary double-headed rail is much more
than is required merely for the purpose of strength. By thus con-
'structing the rail I cheapen its manufacture, and in order that the rail
though having such a small bottom flange may be firmly supported, I
secure the same in my improved chair, which is constructed in the fol-
dowing manner: The said chair has a broad base, which is formed to

page_text: rest upon the sleeper, and which is secured thereon by ordinary spikes
or nails. Upon this base are two sides or cheeks between which the
rail lies with its lower flange resting on the base. These sides extend
up to the under side of the rail head, and in one modification of my
Invention they are both cast solid or in one piece with the base, 'the
space between them being rather more than the width of the lower
flange, so that the rail will drop freely into the chair; and to make
the rail tight into the chair I insert on each side of it a plate which
fills the space between the side of the chair and the web of the rail. A
bolt is passed through the chair, the rail, and the packing plates to secure
all of the parts together, and though simple bolts and nuts may be used
if desired, I prefer to employ with each bolt an elastic cushion or spring
fitted in a cup or socket, through which the bolt passes as described in
my former Specification herein-before referred to.
I sometimes construct my improved chair with one of the sides or
cheeks loose, the said loose side having a flange or foot which rests upon
the base of the chair. In this case the packing plates will not be
required, as by means of the bolt passing through the chair the two
sides are drawn together and the rail is held tightly between them. The
clastic cushion in the cup or socket is very advantageously applied to
this chair, as the rail is thereby held securely, but yet in such a manner
as to permit its free expansion and contraction under variations of
temperature. The holes in the rail through which the bolt passes are
made larger than the bolt to allow of this expansion and contraction.
It will be seen that with my improved chair the rail is secured in such
a manner that all the parts are bound together, and the fastenings are
not affected by changes in the temperature, whereas in the ordinary
method of securing the rail by driving a wooden wedge between the
chair and rail there is a tendency to force one part away from the other,
and (if the wedge is driven too tight) to split the chair. The wedge
which forms the only fastening is also continually liable to expansion
and skinkage in varying conditions of the atmosphere, so that it is
impossible to ensure its remaining uniformly tight in the chair. My
improved chair also prevents the continual working of the rail in the
chair which is so injurious when the ordinary chairs are employed. I also
obtain the advantage of additional height of rail, as the same rests upon
the base of the chair, which may be of any desired thickness. The
said improved chairs though, as before stated, more especially designed
to be used for rails of the improved form herein-before described, may

page_text: yet obviously be readily adapted to rails of any ordinary sectional form.
The form of the chair may be made to correspond with the rail, so
that all of the parts may be bound together by passing the bolts through
them, and the rails may be removed and replaced without disturbing the
chair in the same manner as when the said improved rail is used.