IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILS' AND PERMANENT WAYS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Midelton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
September 1872.
I, THOMAS MIDELTON, of Stratford, in the County of Essex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILS' AND PERMANENT WAYS FOR RAILWAYS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of rails
and permanent ways for railways, by which the wearing part of such
rails may be renewed when required with great ease and rapidity, and
by which a continuous bearing for the rails is provided, and shocks to
the wheels and carriages passing over them are prevented. Also great
economy is effected in the materials required and in the durability of
the rails and permanent ways so constructed:
In order to carry out my Invention I form a continuous iron rail
having a broad base resting upon and attached to wooden sleepers,
which I prefer to make of the form herein-after described. The upper

page_text: part of the rail has formed upon it two vertical ribs or flanges, the space
between which I prefer to form slightly tapering downwards in cross
section. Into this space I fit a web or flange formed upon a movcable
rail, the upper face of which supports the wheels of the carriages
running upon it. I prefer to make this moveable rail of steel. The
upper rail is attached to the lower rail by means of bolts or keys, and I
form both rails so that the parts of them in contact may fit as closely as
possible and the upper rail is thus more firmly supported. Sometimes
I form the lower rail with only one vertical flange instead of two, and
I bolt the upper rail against its inside face. I arrange the joints in
both the upper and lower rails so that they may never come together,
but they may
"break joint" so as to avoid jolting to the wheels passing
over them. The wooden permanent way upon which the lower rail
above described rests may be of any convenient form and construction,
but I prefer to make it of wooden longitudinal sleepers of suitable
length, having arranged between their ends transverse sleepers. The
flange of the lower rail being attached as described both to the longi-
tudinal and transverse sleepers, the whole construction of permanent
way and rails is perfectly firm, strong, and durable, and much less
timber is required for such sleepers than is ordinarily the case.
By the methods of construction described, the permanent way of
wood and iron will only require to be renewed as it naturally decays.
No wooden keys, chairs, or fish plates are required, and great strength
and durability are attained with reduced cost of maintenance.
The accompanying Drawing is in illustration of my Invention.
Figure 1 is a cross section, and Figure 2 an elevation of a rail con-
structed according to my Invention.
A is the lower rail as described having a broad base B. C, C, are
vertical ribs between which the flange D fits, formed upon the upper
rail E; F is a bolt which holds down the upper rail.
Figure 3 shews the lower rail A formed with only one vertical
flange C, against the inside of which the flange D upon: the upper
rail E is bolted by the bolts F.
Figure 4 is a plan of the wooden permanent way upon which I
prefer to make the rails as described rest. It consists of longitudinal a

page_text: sleepers A, A, A, and cross sleepers B, B, B, laid in contact with one
another. The lower flanges of the rails described are attached both to
the longitudinal and cross sleepers, and the whole permanent way is
thus held firmly together.