AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JANES
MACDONALD, of the University Club House, Pall Mall East; in the County.
of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS in consequence of a communication made to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad, I am in possession of an Invention of "AN
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS;" and whereas His present most Excel-
lent Majesty King William the Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the.
Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth:
day of June, in the third year of His reign, did, for Himself; His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Macdonald, His
especial licence that I; the said James Macdonald, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Macdonald, my,
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and,
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years:
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make; use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the said.
Invention of An Improved Construction of Railways; in which said Letters-
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said James Macdonald, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same.

page_text: is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Macdonald, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, in the manner following, that is
to say:-
This Improved Construction of Railways consists in a peculiar mode of
arranging and combining bars, rails, or ribs of metal, so that the several bars,
rails, or ribs shall respectively sustain or support the pressure and tension of
each other, and which combination I apply to the construction of roads or
ways for the passage of tram waggons and other carriages. This peculiar
arrangement of bars, rails, or ribs constitute, when combined in certain
lengths, a succession of very flat curves or segments of polygons which will
not require the lateral support of abutments, as they bear perpendicularly
upon their piers placed at proper distances. The leading feature of this
Invention may be perceived by reference to the rafter, tie beam, and king post
of an ordinary roof, the structure of the improved road or way being a
succession and construction of rafters, tie beams, and king posts connected by
transverse bolts. In order to render this more evident, I have exhibited
in the accompanying Drawing, at Fig. 1, a pair of rafters a, a, connected by a
tie beam 6 with a perpendicular king post c. Fig. 2 shews three several pairs
of these rafters with their king posts and a continuous tie beam connected by
transverse bolts at z, z, z, z. Fig. 3 exhibits the same combination further
strengthened by longitudinal bars d, d, which are also secured by transverse
bolts at the points of intersection. Fig. 4 shews a second series of smaller
rafters e, e, e, e, and ring posts f. f. f, erected upon the bars d, d, as their
continuous tie beams; and Fig. 5 is the same as the last Figure, with the
addition of a top rail 9, 9, 9, which likewise is secured by bolts passed through
the upper parts of the series of rafters and king posts.
Having thus explained the principle upon which I obtain strength and
stability suited to the construction of a railway erected upon columns, piers,
or sleepers, at any height from the ground, by arranging and contriving
diagonal, horizontal, and perpendicular bars, rails, or ribs of metal, so as to
produce nearly an equal tension and pressure of the parts, I now proceed to
shew the manner in which I now propose to form and connect the several

page_text: pieces. Fig. 6 is a side view of one of the diagonal pieces or rafters a, a, drawn
upon a larger scale. Fig. 7 is a similar view of one of the perpendicular
pieces or king posts c, c; these pieces are formed of bar iron with holes in
them at proper places for the ends of the transverse bolts to pass through.
Fig. 8 shews the perpendicular piece c connected to a part of the continuous
tie beam b, b. This continuous tie beam is a chain formed of flat links of
iron, having holes at proper places for the bolts or pins to pass through.
Fig. 9 is a plan view of a portion of this chain or tie beam, and Fig. 10 is a
side view of the same. Fig. 11 is a plan, and Fig. 12 a side view, of a part
of the longitudinal bars d, d. These bars are also flat links, and when placed
in connection with the other parts of the railway, as shewn in Figs. 3, 4, and
5, form a continuous chain. Fig. 13 is a side view of a portion of the top
rail g, g, two of which are applied to each range of bars, rails, or ribs, to give
additional strength. Fig. 14 is a representation of one of the transverse bolts
or stretchers h, the ends of which are passed through the holes pierced in the
several bars, rails, or ribs, and the whole is secured together by screw nuts, as
shewn in Fig. 15, which is a transverse section taken through the complete
railway, shewing the structure resting upon its sleeper, or plate of cast iron
i, i, placed upon the pier, and also the manner of keeping the parallel ranges
of bars, rails or ribs secure from lateral derangement by the cars or lugs k, k.
Fig. 16 is another section shewing the railway as placed upon pillars or
columns. Fig. 17 is an elevation of a portion of a complete railway, in which
it is seen bearing at three points upon a sleeper, a column, and a pier ;
Fig. 18 is a plan view of the same.
Having now described the method of arranging and putting together the
parts of the railway, it is necessary for me to state that in forming a railway
on this improved plan, I should prefer constructing it in lengths or segments
of from forty to fifty feet, the ends of such lengths or segments bearing upon
the pieces, pillars, or sleepers, and that I prefer using four parallel ranges or
series of bars, rails, or ribs, arranged in pairs and connected together by cross
pieces or stretchers 1, 1, as shewn in the sectional Figures 15 and 16, and
seen also in the horizontal or plan view of the continuous railway Fig. 18.
Each length of these ranges or series of bars, rails, or ribs, when put together,
should form a very flat curve which need not spring more than about one inch
from the chord line in the length of fifty feet, and, consequently, all the
upright pieces c, c, or king posts should be in position of radii from the centre
of the circle of which such spring of the curve would form a segment, and
hence the length or distance between the upper ends of the king posts or

page_text: pieces c, c, would be something greater than the length or distance between
their lower ends, but such difference would be very trifling in the erection
itself, and the spring of the curve of each length or segment to be rendered
evident in the Drawings. The extremities of the separate lengths or segments
of the way extending from one support to the next are connected together
over the centres of the bearings upon the piers or pillars by transverse bolts
passing through elongated holes in the ends of the bars, in order to allow for
any unequal expansion or contraction of the metal, or any slight deflection of
the curve caused by any great weight passing along the way. But it will be
evident that this construction or combination of bars, rails, or ribs of metal
contains a principle of compensation in itself, which will relieve the expansion
and contraction of the materials under variations of temperature. The edge
rails upon which the running wheels of the carriages are intended to travel
are of a T shape in their sectional figure, and may be held between the two
top rails of each range or series, their flanges resting upon those rails at
m, m, in Figs. 15 and 16, and they are secured by the transverse bolts
and nuts, as shewn in those Figures. Another pair of edge rails at a lower
level may be placed upon the bars which connect the two pair of railways or
double ranges, as shewn at o, o, in Figs. 15 and 16, which may be used in
addition to the upper ways for the transportation of any light weights. It
may be requisite in some parts of the railway to affix a shield or side guard,
as shewn at p, p, in Figs. 15 and 16, which may be lined with iron plates for
the protection of the carriages when the way is elevated considerably above
the ground, or in other cases a plain balustrade may be applied.
Having thus explained the principle upon which I obtain strength and
stability by a peculiar arrangement and combination of diagonal, horizontal,
and perpendicular bars, rails, or ribs of metal, and also having described the
manner in which I propose to shape and connect the several parts so as to
form a railway of an improved construction, I claim, under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, the improved construction of railway or ways formed
by the peculiar combination of several series of bars, rails, or ribs of metal,
arranged and connected as herein above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Macdonald, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
JA (L.S.) MACDONALD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of December,
in the third year of the reign of His present Majesty King William the
Fourth, the said James Macdonald came before our Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the
Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-ninth day of December, One thousand eight hundred