Year: 1889

page_text: I, GEORGE WASHINGTON THOMPSON, of Sag Harbor, in the County of Suffolk, and
State of New York, United States of America, Trout Culturist, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention is an improvement in the class of metallic tubular sleepers having
bearing-blocks arranged within them for supporting their top portions when a train is
passing over the rails laid thereon. Heretofore such bearing-blocks have been made
longer than the distance between the heads of the bolts that secure the rails to the
tie, and have also been provided with openings to receive the heads of such bolts.
The sleepers to which such blocks were applied were necessarily made open on the
underside to enable the rail-bolts to be inserted through the openings in the blocks.
In my invention the bottom of the sleeper is closed, or nearly so, and the bearing-
blocks are put in place by inserting them in the ends of the ties after the inner bolts
have been applied. The heads of both the inner and outer bolts abut the sides of
said blocks and thus hold then in position.
The invention consists in certain novel features of construction of the railway-
sleeper and rail connections and supports, all as hereinafter described and claimed.
Reference is to be. had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this
specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all
the figures.
Fig. 1. is a plan view of a section of railway-track laid upon my improved sleepers,
which are broken away at their central parts. Fig. 2. is a side view thereof. Fig. 3

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is a transverse section taken on the line a, Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a horizontal section
taken on line yy Fig. 2, and shews the parts as they would be seen in the direction of
the arrows; and Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views, which will be hereinafter particularly
referred to.
The main body of my improved rail-road tie consists of a tube, A, which is preferably
of rectangular cross-sectional form, produced by bending four times at right angles a
rolled metal plate about two feet wide, seven feet long or longer, and about three
eighths of an inch thick, more or less, the opposite edges of said plate meeting or
nearly meeting at the lower side and longitudinal centre of the tube, which is about
seven inches wide, five inches high, and seven feet long.
The railway-rails BB of a track are held to the solid or unbroken tops of the ties
by rolled or wrought metal chair-plates C, which are placed in pairs opposite each
other on each sleeper and at the opposite sides of the rails, and are fixed by bolts D to
the sleepers, and so that horizontal or nearly horizontal flanges or lips cc, formed
at the inner edges of each pair of chair-plates CC, overlap the opposite base
flanges, bb, of the rails and securely bind them to each sleeper, as clearly shown in the
drawings.
The bolts D are passed upward through the top of the sleeper and the chair-plates
thereon, and the heads d of the bolts rest against the under side of the sleeper top
plate. The parts d' of the bolts which pass through the tie and chair-plates are made
square or flat-sided to prevent turning of them, and the upper parts of the bolts
which project above the chair-plates are made round and are threaded to receive
nuts d², which are tightened upon the chair-plates to bind the sleepers, the rails
and the chair-plates together in one substantial structure along the road-bed,
which may be of earth, sand, gravel or coal dust, or may be a bridge, trestle, or
other support, and the sleepers may be balasted or not, as may be desirable or
necessary.
:
any
I utilise the heads d of the bolts D of each pair of chair-plates C, C, on every
tie as lateral supports or braces to hold bearers E within the tubular sleepers and
directly below the railway-rails. These bearers are applied as follows:-After the
inner chair-plate C of each pair of plates is fastened to the tie by its pair of bolts D,
the bearer E will be slipped into the end of the sleeper and up snugly to the heads
of this pair of bolts, and when the rail B and outer chair-plate Care put in place
the pair of bolts D to hold this outer plate will be applied, and so that their heads
fit snugly against the outer face of the bearer, which will thus be held secure against
displacement to give effective support to the tubular sleeper where the rail crosses it,
and thus largely increase the durability of the sleepers and rails and the entire road-
bed. These bearers E, which are preferably made of cast metal, are fitted fairly at
the edges to the inner faces or walls of the tubular sleeper, and may be of desired
width, and yet be held by the heads of the chair-plate bolts, which will be made to fit
the bearers. For instance should rather broad bearers be used, the bolts D will be of
ordinary form with bodies or stems concentric with their heads, as shown at the left
hand side of Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings, and should the bearers be made narrower,
the bolt-heads d will be elongated at the inside, so as to bear fairly at opposite sides of
the bearer, as shown at the right hand side of Figs. 3 and 4, and from the detail
views Figs. 5 and 6. The bolt D, having an elongated head, d, is shown in Fig. 5,
while Fig. 6 shows in larger scale than the other views such a bolt as applied to the
'sleeper, chair plate, and bearer. These elongated bolt-heads d, forming lateral
supports to the bearer-blocks, may either be made in one piece with the bodies or
stems of the bolts or they may be made separate, and as nut plates, to screw onto the
lower ends of the bolts, as will be readily understood.
Railroad sleepers made and supporting the rails as above described may be set
about three feet apart from centre to centre, or much farther apart than ordinary
wood sleepers, and will be far more durable, even when not coated with coal-tar o
other rust preventing composition, which may be done to increase the durability o
the sleepers and the road-bed.

page_text: raving now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
-
The combination with the rails B, clips C, and the tubular metallic sleepers A,
having a flat bottom, of the narrow bearing-blocks E, which are set crosswise within
the sleeper beneath said rails, and the bolts D, inserted through the sleepers and
having rectangular heads d which bear against the sides of said blocks and thereby
support them in place, as shown and described.
Dated this 6th day of April 1889.
Agents
HORN & SON,
on behalf of Applicant.