IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Rymer, of No. 33, Avenue Road, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 3rd December 1861, and dated the 8th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Rymer at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
June 1861.
I, JAMES RYMER, of No. 33, Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in so forming the rails of railways that they shall
present eight running surfaces in succession, at the same time preventing the
possibility of a train running off the line of rails by any ordinary jostling or
concussion.
I propose to form the rails in the form of a cross, but having the corners at
the points of intersection rounded or eased off, so as to fill in the acute angle,
and thus allowing the rails to be made tubular, if desired, for the purpose of
drainage. The chairs to be used for these rails I prefer being of wood, the
centre thereof being grooved or channelled with a V-groove to allow of one
of the projections on the rail to drop into the two side pieces resting on the
top of the wooden chair. The rails are to be secured to the chairs by bolts
or screws passed through their centres at about the angle of 45°; corre-
sponding boles being formed in the rails to allow of their being taken up and.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Rymer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RYMER, of No. 33, Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto mo, the said
James Rymer, Her special licence that I, the said James Rymer, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I, the said James
Rymer, my 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 Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT
WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Rymer, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Rymer, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This Invention consists in forming the rails of railways that they shall
present eight running surfaces in succession, at the same time preventing the
possibility of a train running off the line of rails by any ordinary jostling or
concussion.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same

page_text: into practical effect, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to
the letters of reference marked thereon, as follows:-
I construct the permanent way of railways in the form of a cross a, a, a, a,
as shewn in the Drawing, which is a cross section of the rail, but having the
corners at the points of intersection rounded or eased off as at b, b, so as to
fill in the acute angle, and thus allow the rails to be made tubular for the
purpose of drainage, as shewn in dotted lines. The chairs to be used for
these rails should, by preference, be made of timber, the centres thereof being
grooved or channelled with a V-groove to allow of one of the projections on
the rail to drop therein, the two side pieces resting on the top of the wooden
chair. The rails are to be secured to the chairs by bolts or screws passed
through their centres at about the angle of forty-five degrees. Corresponding
holes are forined in the rails to allow of their being taken up and turned round
when worn; thus it will appear that by changing the positions of such rail
longitudinally and laterally eight running surfaces in succession are presented,
as one after the other becomes worn; at the same time the upward projection
of the rail in all its changes of surface acts as a safeguard to prevent the
engine or carriages running off the rails.
Having now described the nature and objects of my said Invention of
Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways," and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark, in conclusion, that I do
not confine or restrict myself to any particular form of chair to be used with
my rail, as many various descriptions of chair may be used with equal advan-
tage; but what I claim as my Invention, and therefore desire to be secured
to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is, the construction of the
rails of railways of such form and shape as shall present consecutively eight
running surfaces, as herein fully described and shewn by the accompanying
Drawing for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Rymer, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixth day of December, One thousand eight hundred
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
JAMES RYMER. (L.S.)
Patent Agent,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.