AN IMPROVEMENT IN PLATE SLEEPERS. AND FIXINGS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1885

page_text: I, JAMES LIVESEY of No 2 Victoria Mansions Westminster in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for " AN
IMPROVEMENT IN PLATE SLEEPERS. AND FIXINGS FOR RAILWAYS" and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
When railway sleepers are made of comparatively thin metal plate the clips or
other fixings for the rails are apt to become loose and unsteady because they are
merely held by bolts or rivets that pass through the thin metal of the sleeper.
This invention relates to means of giving additional security to such clips or
fixings and at the same time providing for slight variations of gauge of the rails
as will be understood with reference to the accompanying Drawings. Figs. 1 and 2
are transverse sections of a rail and its clips or fixings on a plate sleeper shewing
the rail in two slightly different positions relatively to these clips. Fig. 3 is a plan
of the variable clip, and Fig. 4 is a plan of the corrugated key. The plate P of
the sleeper, at the part where the bolt B that holds the variable clip V passes
through it, is raised in a transverse corrugation p, and the underside of the clip V
is hollowed to fit on this corrugation. Thus the strain tending to shift the
clip V towards the left, instead of being resisted only by the bolt B, is resisted also
by the corrugation p. The clip V is made with its two sides unequally distant from
the centre of the bolt B so that it may be fixed in either of the two positions
shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, allowing a shift of the rail R equivalent to the difference
of distance of the two sides of the clip from the bolt. As the invariable clip C
remains unchanged in position the key K is made of such a shape as to allow for
the difference of position of the rail by simply inverting it as indicated in Figs. 1
and 2. Keys employed as K is applied are usually made with transverse corru-
gations or serrations on the side which bears against the undersurface of the clip C,
this surface being also corrugated or serrated. While the key is being driven the
clip springs sufficiently to let the serrations pass, and then, the serrations engaging
each other, the key is prevented from being shaken out of its place. In this case,
to allow for the inversion of the key K, both its upper surface u and its lower
surface are serrated so that the one or the other set of serrations engage with
those of C according as the key is driven as in Fig. 1 or inverted as in Fig. 2,

page_text: P
The corrugation of the sleeper plate, instead of standing up like a transverso
rib, might be in the form of a conoidal or spheroidal boss, and in that case, as the
clip V could be turned round the boss so as to present any one of its four sides
towards the rail, there might be four, instead of two, variations of gauge.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. For better securing on plate railway sleepers the clips or fixings for the rails,
raising a portion of the plate in the form of a corrugation or boss, and making the
clip or fixing with a hollow to fit thereon, substantially as and for the purpose
herein set forth.
2. In combination with a clip that can be turned to suit either of two positions
of the rail, a key serrated on both its upper and lower surface, so that when it is
driven in either of two attitudes it engages with the serrated clip, substantially as
herein described.