IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter William Barlow, of Great George Street,
Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT
WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 20th March 1857, and dated the 24th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter William Barlow
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th September 1856.
I, PETER WILLIAM BARLOW, of Great George Street, Westminster, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PER-
MANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in supporting or holding the rails of railways by
means of wooden chairs or supports, such wooden chairs or supports being
placed at intervals on and supported by iron sleepers; or such wooden chairs
may be used in connection with wooden sleepers if preferred. It is preferred.
to make the wooden chairs in two halves, which are attached to the sleeper
and made to nip the rail by means of diagonal bolts or fastenings through the
parts of the chair and into or through the sleeper. By means of these
diagonal bolts the chair can be caused to traverse on the sleeper to adjust the
guage when necessary. The diagonal bolts are also applicable to fixing metal
chairs to sleepers.
The Invention also consists in using with metal chairs made in two halves

page_text: or parts, and supporting the rail at intervals, cushions of wood, placed on each
side of and under the rail, so that the chairs, in place of supporting and holding
the rail, directly embrace the cushions of wood by which it is surrounded; and
the chairs used with the cushions of wood, as above described, may either be
made separate from the sleepers, or they may be cast on to and form part of 5
motel sloaners
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter William Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
WILLIAM BARLOW, of Great George Street, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter William Barlow, Her special licence that I, the said Peter William
Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Peter William Barlow, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Peter William Barlow, 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
saine 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 Peter William Barlow, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in supporting or holding the rails of railways by
means of wooden chairs or supports, such wooden chairs or supports being

page_text: placed at intervals on and supported by iron sleepers; or such wooden chairs
may be used in connection with wooden sleepers if preferred.
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 an elevation, and Figure 3 a cross section, of a
cast-iron sleeper, on which are placed two wooden chairs or supports, each in
two halves, bolted diagonally by bolts and nuts to the sleeper, or they may be
attached in any other suitable manner.
Figure 4 is a cross section, and Figure 5 is a plan, of a wooden chair
supported on an ordinary wooden sleeper.
It is preferred to make the wooden chairs in two halves, which are attached
to the sleeper and made to nip the rail by means of diagonal bolts or fastenings
passing through the parts of the chair and into or through the sleeper. By
means of these diagonal bolts the chairs can be caused to traverse on the
sleeper to adjust the guage when necessary.
Figure 6 is a cross section, and Figure 7 is a plan, of a transverse cast-iron
sleeper, on which are placed the wooden supports a, a, on which the rail b
rests.
The Invention also consists in using with metal chairs made in two halves
or parts, and supporting the rail at intervals, cushions of wood, placed on
each side of and under the rail, so that the chairs, in place of supporting
and holding the rail, directly embrace the cushions of wood by which it is
surrounded; and the chairs used with the cushions of wood, as above
described, may either be made separate from the sleepers, or they may be cast
on to and form part of metal sleepers.
Figure 8 is a cross section, and Figure 9 is a plan, of a sleeper and chair of
the former of these descriptions; and Figure 10 is a plan, Figure 11 an
elevation, and Figure 12 a cross section, of a good practical form of the
latter kind.
In witness whereof, I, Peter William Barlow, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
PETER W. BARLOW. (L.S.)