IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Percy John Neate, of 53, Belsize Park, in the County
of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT
WAY OF RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Percy John Neate at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th August 1881.
PERCY JOHN NEATE, of 53, Belsize Park, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
This Invention relates to improvements in the permanent way of railways.
At present the nuts and keys by which rails and fish plates are secured requiro
constant supervision in consequence of their liability to jar loose under the vibration
of the trains, and the object of the Invention is to obviate this result by utilizing
the tyres or flanges of the wheels to return the nuts and the devices by which the
keys are locked in the chairs to the normal positions.
According to my Invention the puts of fish bolts are made of considerable length
in relation to their width, and when in position they lie with their upper edges
parallel or thereabouts to the rail, being so designed and arranged that while they
are in their normal positions they are clear of the tyre or of the flange of a wheel
of a locomotive or of a carriage passing over them. Should, however, a nut,
according to my Invention, work loose and make a partial rotation, the tyre or
flange of the first wheel that passes over it will depress the higher end and restore
the nut to its proper position.
A key, according to this Invention, is secured by a wedge or by a taper or
parallel peg or pin, engaging partly in one or more grooves or slots or recesses in
the chair and partly in the key, and so situated as to be under the overhanging
portion of the tyre of the wheels of the rolling stock. When the peg, or pin, or
wedge commences to rise or to leave its position with regard to the key or chair it
moves into the path of the wheel tyres and is by them depressed to its proper
position or nearly so.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Percy John Neate in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
February 1882.
PERCY JOHN NEATE, of 53, Belsize Park, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
This Invention relates to improvements in the permanent way of railways, and
is illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, one improvement which has
reference to keeping in place of the nuts by which fish plates are held in place,
being shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and the other improvement which refers to
tightening. up the keys that hold the rails in chairs in Figs. 4 and 5.
At present the nuts and keys by which rails A and fish plates B are in practice
usually secured require constant supervision in consequence of their liability to
jar loose under the vibration of the trains, and the object of my Invention is to
obviate this result by utilising the tyres C or flanges D of the wheels to return the
nuts and the devices by which the keys are locked in the chairs to the normal
positions.
According to my Invention the nuts of fish bolts E are made as shewn at F in
Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings of considerable length in relation to their width,
and when in position they lie with their upper edges parallel or thereabouts to the
rail A, as shewn at F, being so designed and arranged that while they are in that
normal position they are clear of the tyre C or of the flange D of a wheel of a
locomotive or of a carriage passing over them. Should, however, a nut, according.
to my Invention, work loose and make a partial rotation, for example, as illustrated
at F*, the overhanging portion of the tyre or the flange (in the arrangement
shewn it will be the flange) of the first wheel that passes over it will depress the
higher end F2 and return the nut towards its proper position, say as at F**. To
lighten the nuts their form may be modified, for example, as shewn in Fig. 2 at F³,
or by removing two diagonally opposite corners F as indicated by dotted lines in
Fig. 1.
A key, according to my Invention, is secured, as shewn in Figs. 4 and 5, by a peg
or pin G engaging partly in a groove recess or guide in the jaw H¹ of the chair H,
and partly in the tapered key I (into which the peg or pin cuts its own way), and
situated as shewn, so as to be under the overhanging portion of the tyres of the
wheels of the rolling stock. When the peg or pin commences to rise or to leave
its position with regard to the key or chair, it moves into the path of the wheel
tyres, and is by them depressed to its proper position or nearly so.
It will be evident that by my Invention the use of tapered keys is rendered
practicable, as they will, by the application as described of the pegs or pins G, be
prevented from sliding out, and when it becomes needful to tighten them up this
can be done readily by temporarily withdrawing the pegs or pins, then driving up
the keys and returning the pegs or pins.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner it
is to be carried into practical effect, I would have it understood that I do not lay
any general claim to tightening up fish plates and keys by means of passing wheels,
as I am aware that various arrangements have been suggested for those purposes,
but what I do claim is,-
1. Causing tyres of wheels travelling on rails to aid in tightening up or keeping
the fish plates B in place by the use in combination with the fish bolts E of nuts
F of elongated form, arranged and operating substantially as hereinabove described
and shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings.

page_text: 2. Causing tyres of wheels travelling on a rail A to aid in keeping such rail
securely in the chair H by the use in combination of the wooden key I, the grooved
jaw H¹, and the pin or peg G interposed between the said key and jaw, and so
arranged as in the event of rising to be returned by the action of a passing tyre,
as described and shewn in Figs. 4 and 5 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Percy John Neate, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
PERCY JOHN NEATE. (L.S.)