IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OR ROADWAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Greig, of the Steam Plough Works, Leeds, in the
County of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PERMANENT WAY OR ROADWAY OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 12th September 1879, and dated the 25th March 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION .left by the said Alfred Greig at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th March 1879.
ALFRED GREIG, of the Steam Plough Works, Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OR ROADWAY OF RAILWAYS."
My Invention consists in connecting the two rails of a portable or fixed line of
railway to sleepers of corrugated iron or steel in the following manner :-
Each sleeper is formed with a groove or corrugation passing along it from one
end to the other.
Two chairs, which are made to fit the outer side of the rails, are rivetted or
otherwise securely fastened on to the flat upper surface of the sleepers or cross
pieces at the correct distance apart for the gauge required. A bolt with a hooked
end is passed under each chair through the corrugation of the sleeper, and the rail
is laid between the chair and the hooked end of the bolt.
When a nut at the end of the bolt is tightened up it bears against the end of the
sleeper and the chair, and draws the hook against the rail, so causing the rail to be
held firmly between the hook and the chair.
To fasten together two lengths of a railway formed in this manner instead of
using ordinary fish plates I use by preference at the abutting ends of the two
lengths of the railway chairs twice as long as the chairs on the intermediate
sleepers, and secure these chairs to a sleeper of twice the width of the intermediate
ones, each such sleeper having two longitudinal corrugations in it instead of one.
The ends of the rails of the two lengths abut against one another and fit at their
side one against one half of the length of each long chair and the other against the

page_text: other half, and each is secured by a hooked bolt passing under it and through one
of the two corrugations in the broad sleeper."
In place of using a broad sleeper at the junctions of two lengths of the railway
two sleepers similar to the intermediate ones might be used placed close together
and secured to one another by the long chairs.
In place also of forming the railway with the chairs to come on the outside of
the rails and the hooks on the inside the chairs might be on the inside of each rail
and the rails held to them by hooked pieces drawn inwards by means of nuts
screwing on to a long bolt which passes along the corrugation in the sleeper from
one end of the sleeper to the other.

page_text: i
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Greig in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th September
1879.
ALFRED GREIG, of the Steam Plough Works, Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OR ROADWAY OF RAILWAYS."
My Invention consists in connecting the two rails of a portable or fixed line of
railway to sleepers of corrugated iron or steel in the following manner:
Each sleeper is formed with a groove or corrugation passing along it from one
end to the other. Two chairs, which are made to fit the outer side of the rails are
rivetted or otherwise securely fastened onto the flat upper surface of the sleepers
or cross pieces at the correct distance apart for the gauge required. A bolt with a
hooked end is passed under each chair through the corrugation of the sleeper, and
the rail is laid between the chair and the hooked end of the bolt.
When a nut at the end of the bolt is tightened up it bears against the end of the
sleeper and the chair, and draws the hook against the rail, so causing the rail to be
held firmly between the hook and the chair.
To fasten together two lengths of a railway formed in this manner instead of
using ordinary fish plates I use by preference at the abutting ends of the two
lengths of the railway chairs twice as long as the chairs on the intermediato
sleepers, and secure these chairs to a sleeper of twice the width of the intermediate
ones, each such sleeper having two longitudinal corrugations in it instead of one.
The ends of the rails of the two lengths abut against one another, and fit at their
şide one against one half of the length of each long chair and the other against the
other half, and each is secured by a hooked bolt passing under it and through one
of the two corrugations in the broad sleeper.
In place of using a broad sleeper at the junctions of two lengths of the railway
two sleepers similar to the intermediate ones might be used placed close together
and secured to one another by the long chairs.
In place also of forming the railway with the chairs to come on the outside of
the rails and the hooks on the inside the chairs might be on the inside of each rail
and the rails held to them by hooked pieces drawn inwards by means of nuts
screwing on to a long bolt which passes along the corrugation in the sleeper from
one end of the sleeper to the other.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shews a plan view of a length of
the permanent way of a railway constructed as above described; Figure 2 shews a
plan view, Figure 3 a side view, and Figure 4 a cross section on a larger scale of
the rails and one of the intermediate sleepers; Figure 5 is a plan view and Figure 6
a side view of the rails and one of the joint sleepers.
A are the intermediate sleepers, each formed with a longitudinal corrugation, as
shewn; B are the chairs or jaws rivetted thereto; C, C, are the rails; D, the
hooked bolts, the stems of which lie in the grooves or corrugations of the sleepers
and pass under the rails and chair jaws; and E are the nuts screwing on to the
stems of these bolts, and which, when tightened up, bear against the end of the
sleeper and the end of the chair, as shewn clearly at Figure 3.
F is the sleeper of greater width used at the junctions of two lengths of the
railway; it may either be in one piece with two longitudinal corrugations, as
shewn, or it may be two of the intermediate sleepers placed side by side; G are the
long chair jaws which extend across the sleeper F, and are rivetted to it as shewn.
If the sleeper F is formed of two of the intermediate sleepers placed side by side
the chair jaws G serve to connect them together. The ends of the rails of one
length of the railway extend half way across the sleeper F, and are held to it by
hooked bolts D lying in one of the longitudinal grooves of the sleeper, as shewn at
Figure 1, just in the same way as the rails are held to the intermediate sleepers.
The ends of the rails of the next length of the railway are to extend across the

page_text: other half of the sleeper and be similarly held to it by hooked bolts lying in the
other of the longitudinal grooves of the sleeper.
For portable railways it is not necessary that the joint sleepers should have two
grooves formed in them as the ends of the rails will for portable lines be held
sufficiently firmly by the chair jaws of these sleepers without bolts being used.
It is not necessary that the base of the chair jaws B should extend to the ends
of the sleepers. The sleepers might be of greater length than those shewn in the
Drawing above described, so that the ends of the sleepers project beyond the base
of the chairs, as shewn at Figures 7 and 8, which shew a plan view and cross
section of a rail and one end of one of the intermediate sleepers formed in this
manner. In this case the nuts E which screw on to the stems of the bolts D may
be made to bear against pieces H, H, which are interposed between them and the
ends of the sleepers, and which are formed in the manner shewn.
As before stated, the chair jaws might be on the inside of the rails in place of on
the outside, and the rails be held to them by hooked pieces drawn inwards by
means of nuts screwing on to a long bolt which passes along a corrugation in the
sleeper. I however prefer to employ the arrangement shewn in the Drawings.
Other sections of rails than the section of rail shewn in the Drawings may be
secured to sleepers by the means herein before described.
I claim,
First. The combination of the grooved or corrugated sleepers with chair jaws
and hook bolts for securing rails to sleepers, substantially as described. Also the
modification of this construction of railway, as herein before described.
Second. The employment at the junction of two lengths of the railway of chair
jaws of greater length fastened to sleepers of corresponding width, and with two
grooves or corrugations in them to admit of the abutting ends of the rails of the
two lengths of railway being secured to the chair jaws.
Third. The construction of the permanent way or roadway of railways, substan-
tially as herein before described and illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
Fourth. The construction of the sleepers, substantially as herein before described
and illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Greig, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
ALFRED GRIEG. (L.S.)