IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS, AND IN SCREW BOLTS FOR THE SAME, WHICH LATTER ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Perceval Moses Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
August 1866.
I, PERCEVAL MOSES PARSONS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS, AND IN SCREW BOLTS FOR
THE SAME, WHICH LATTER ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
My improvements in permanent way relate, firstly, to the crossings, and
the object is to render those parts of the permanent way stronger and more
durable, and to lessen as much as possible the jolting of the carriages when
passing over them. For this purpose I employ for the point and wing rails
& double-headed rail, one side of the tables of which is made flat at the
top and square or nearly so at the side, with the corner either left angular
or only slightly rounded. These rails I make of steel, and I harden and
temper them either wholly or partly, by preference after they have been
shaped and fitted, by heating and plunging them when at a red heat into a
bath of oil or oleagenous substance. The point rail is bent and cut to the
proper form with inclined sides, and the side rail which diverges from it
instead of being notched into the point rail in the ordinary way has its end
fitted to and housed under the table of the point rail in a somewhat similar
manner to that practised in Wilds' switches, Patent dated 24th February 1847,
No. 11,597, and is secured to it by bolts,, rivets, or other suitable fastenings.
The point and wing rails are firmly connected by means of what I term

page_text: fishing blocks, which are placed between the wing rails and the point of the
point rail, and fit in between their tables; these are secured by screw bolts
or other suitable fastenings, and are supported by the C chair. This method
of constructing and combining the parts may be employed when rails of
the ordinary section used on the line are employed for the crossings, and
the section of rail described may be used when the rails are of iron, and in
the case of single-headed rails the head may be of the section described, and
double-beaded rails may have but one head so formed, if preferred.
My improvements relate, secondly, to those parts of the permanent way
termed fishes, fishing or fish plates, used for securing the joints of the rails,
and the object is to impart to them increased strength and elasticity. For
this purpose I form them of steel or iron sufficiently carbonized, and I heat
them in a suitable oven or furnace, and while at a red heat I plunge them
into a bath of oil or oleagenous substance.
The object of my improvements in screw bolts is to impart to them
increased strength and elasticity, to enable them the better to resist the
impulsive strains and vibration to which they are subjected when employed,
to secure fish plates, and in other similar situations without breaking or
becoming loose. For this purpose I make them of steel or iron sufficiently
carbonized, and temper them by treating them in the manner herein-
before described for fish plates; and in order that every part of the bolt
may be extended equally or nearly so under strain, and thereby give out
the greatest possible amount of elasticity without taking a permanent set, I
make the shank of the bolt tubular or of a different form in cross section to
the screwed part up to within a short distance of the commencement of the
thread of the screw, so that while the shank of the bolt may be throughout of
the same diameter or width across portions of its perimeter as the screwed
portion measured to the top of the thread, and thereby touch the sides of the
hole in which it fits, the area of its cross section through the shank will be the
same as, or rather less than the area through the screwed part measured from
the bottom of the, thread. This form I also employ in screw bolts made o
wrought iron or other material than steel tempered in oil as berein-befor
described, and they may be applied for all purposes where impulsive strain
and vibrations occur, such, for instance, as securing armour plates to vessels.