IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF FIXING RAILS ON METALLIC SLEEPERS, AND DEVICES IN COMBINATION THEREWITH
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Friedrich Carl Glaser, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of
Prussia and Empire of Germany, Engineer and Patent-Solicitor, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF FIXING RAILS ON METALLIC
SLEEPERS, AND DEVICES IN COMBINATION THEREWITH." A communication
from Jules Antoine Josephe Vautherin, Engineer, of Château de Rans, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Friedrich Carl Glaser at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th February 1881.
.
FRIEDRICH CARL GLASER, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia and Empire
of Germany, Engineer and Patent-Solicitor. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD
OF FIXING RAILS ON METALLIC SLEEPERS, AND DEVICES IN COMBINATION
THEREWITH." (A communication from Jules Antoine Josephe Vautherin, Engineer,
of Château de Rans, France.)
This Invention has reference to a method of fixing rails to metallic sleepers by
means of eccentric appliances which can be securely locked and yet allow of the
line being easily and simply adjusted to gauge.
According to one form of this Invention I employ a cramp or gripper with
two hooks, as already used, but modified as regards the back face from the usual
form.
One form of cramp or gripper is represented in elevation in Fig. 1, Sheet 1, of
the three Sheets of Drawings which are appended in illustration of this Invention.
This cramp or gripper is introduced into a slot or mortice made to receive it
in the sleeper, and is pushed on the foot of the rail, embracing and retaining it
between its jaws.
The operation of locking and securing the cramp or gripper is effected by means
of an adjustable excentric bolt E, represented in elevation Fig. 1, in plan in Fig. 2ª,
and in different sections Figs. 3ª, 3b, 3º.
This appliance, which so designed as to fill the space in the slot or mortice
behind the cramp or gripper, constitutes an important element of the Invention.
It will be seen in the Drawings that whilst the head of the adjusting bolt presents
a series of plane, hexagonal, and excentric surfaces, the shank also presents at varying
heights a series of plane and excentric surfaces, so arranged as to bear against the
back of the lower part of the cramp or gripper at the same time that the corre-
sponding surfaces of the head of the bolt bear against the back of the upper part
of the cramp or gripper.
This precise limit, arranged for the descent of the adjusting bolt by its being
placed with its head on the sleeper, allows of a stop being opposed to its ascent by
D

page_text: the bottom of the cramp or gripper being prolonged in the form of a neci, which
comes exactly underneath the shank. to protect it against the forcing action of the
ballast. This heel is represented in Figs. 1 and 2b by the dotted lines l, m, n. The
adjusting bolt may present only four instead of six excentred faces, and the pro-
gression of excentricity, which is indicated in the Drawings, at one millimetre for
each face may be less or more.
Figs. 1 (Sheet 2) and 2 (Sheet 3) represents the arrangements of a system which,
like the one hereinbefore described, insures the locking of the gripper by the
excentricity of the locking appliance.
The gripper A has two jaws similar to that hereinbefore described, except that
its back is concave.
The cylindrical adjusting pin B terminates below in a head and a lateral shoulder,
and its shank is slotted to receive a cotter. The excentric collar C has on its
upper surface six radial grooves corresponding to the size of the cotter in the
shank B.
In fixing a rail it is put in place on the sleeper and the adjusting pin B is
introduced vertically into one of the mortices or slots with its head below resting
on the ballast, and its shank touching the part of the mortice or slot most distant
from the rail. The gripper or cramp A is put into the mortice or slot and pushed
on to the foot of the rail. The excentric collar C is then placed on the adjusting
The cotter 3, Y, IS
pin, which is raised up by pulling it by the end of its shank.
entered (Fig. 2) in the one of the grooves of the collar and in the slot of the pin or
bolt, and prevents the excentric collar from turning.
Figs. 4 and 5 (Sheet 1) represent in side and front elevation another cramp or
gripper of a special form D', in which the lower jaw is replaced by lateral grooves
designed to slide in the sides of the slot or mortice.
Fig. 6 represents this cramp or gripper in plan with the slot or mortice in which
it slides. To introduce it into the slot or mortice it is lowered sideways until its
grooves are at the height of and in front of the sides of the mortice, and is then
caused to make a quarter of a revolution, when it may be pushed on the foot of
the rail, and its locking be effected by means of the adjusting bolt, under the same
conditions as those above described.
It will be observed that the cramp or gripper readily lends itself to alterations
that may have to be made in the width or gauge of the line; for example, one
gripper of 25 millimetres of effective thickness may be placed on the outside of the
line, and another of 20 millimetres only on the intside. By interchanging two
cramps or grippers the line will be widened by 5 millimetres, or by 10 if the same
operation be gone through with both rails, in addition to which there will be the
latitude which is given by the excentricity of the adjusting bolt.
Fig. 5, Sheet 1, indicates a small shoulder x, y, made in the rolling mill at the
upper part of the back face of the cramp or gripper, and on each of the sides, but
which has been removed in the middle at y, y. This shoulder has for object to
prevent the lifting of the adjusting bolt, and operates in the following manner :-
This bolt being dropped into the mortice or slot falls into the open space y, y,
of the gripper or cramp, which may be displaced laterally a small distance to the
right or left by means of a light blow of a hammer. This slight displacement will
allow one of the angles of the bolt head to become engaged under the shoulder x, y,
which will thus render any lifting impossible. As an additional precaution the
pink, Fig 2°, may be passed into a hole in the head of the gripper. The special
cramp or gripper may be modified in the sense that its lower part may take the
form represented by the dotted letters m, p, q, r. In this case the lower part of the
adjusting bolt will be cut through o, o, and will be completely protected against
the action of the ballast by the above indicated part m, p', q', r².

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Friedrich Carl Glaser in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
August 1881.
FRIEDRICH CARL GLASER, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia and Empire
of Germany, Engineer and Patent Solicitor. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF
FIXING RAILS ON METALLIC SLEEPERS, AND DEVICES IN COMBINATION THEREWITH."
(A communication from Jules Antoine Josephe Vautherin, Engineer, of Château
de Rans, France.)
This Invention has reference to a method of fixing rails to metallic sleepers by
means of eccentric appliances, which can be securely locked and yet allow of the
line being easily and simply adjusted to gauge.
According to one form of this Invention I employ a cramp or gripper with
two hooks, as already used, but modified as regards the back face from the usual
form.
Referring to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation partly in
section shewing one method of fixing rails to sleepers according to my Invention;
Fig. 2 is a view shewing details of the gripper, split pin, and excentric bolt; and
Fig. 3 is a view shewing the degrees of excentricity of the bolt, the dimensions
being given in millimetres. The cramp or gripper D is introduced into a slot or
mortice O made to receive it in the sleeper, and is pushed on the foot of the rail,
embracing and retaining it between its jaws. The operation of locking and
securing the cramp or gripper is effected by means of the adjustable excentric
bolt E, represented in elevation, Fig. 1, in plan, Fig. 2, and in different sections,
Fig. 3.
This appliance, which is so designed as to fill the space in the slot or mortice O
behind the cramp or gripper D, and to effect its secure and block or butt locking,
constitutes an important element of the Invention. It will be seen in the Drawings
that the head of the adjusting bolt presents a series of plane and excentric surfaces
arranged in a polygon, under conditions such that these surfaces can bear against'
the back of the gripper, which is formed at the requisite inclination this support
obtains in the different positions taken by the bolt (see the series of sections
represented in Fig. 3). Thus, according to the dimensions of the empty space in
the slot or morțice O behind the gripper, choice will be made of that one of the
faces of the adjusting bolt which, from its degree of eccentricity, will the most
exactly correspond to the opening, and, as indicated in elevation Fig. 1, a bearing
and a secure block or butt blocking will be obtained by making the head of the
adjusting bolt rest on the top of the cross or longitudinal sleeper. The adjusting
bolt here fulfils the office of a taper fastening key, presenting however this
advantage, that the locking is effected by an appliance having a short shank, and
of which the descent into the ballast is limited or defined by the head bearing on
the upper surface of the sleeper. The precise limit thus provided for the descent
of the adjusting bolt allows of a stop or guard being provided by the bottom of
the cramp or gripper, being prolonged in the form of a heel, which comes exactly
underneath the shank of the bolt to protect it against the forcing action of the
ballast. This heel is represented in Figs 1 and 2 by the dotted lines l, m, n. It
will be evident that instead of presenting an eccentric hexagonal form in plan, the
bolt might be of a polygonal figure; also the degree or progression of eccentricity
instead of being one millimetre per side or surface, might be more or less. The
heel l, m, n, will usually suffice to prevent the lifting of the bolt, and its exit from
the slot or mortice. Nevertheless to obviate the effects of jars or concussions, a
split pin K, Fig. 2, is employed, the shank of which is driven into a hole in the
head of the gripper, whilst the ring projecting over the bolt stops it from rising.
To prevent the plate-layer forgetting to put in this safety pin, it may be
connected to the gripper by means of the arrangement shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6.
Fig. 4 is an elevation partly in section; Fig. 5 shews in plan the upper part of the

page_text: cramp or gripper and the split pin; and Fig. 6 shews the same with the split pin
partly rotated. In this arrangement the head of the cramp or gripper is raised or
extended by the part a, b, c, d, formed in the rolling mill or at a suitable stage of
the manufacture. In this raised part the hole for the reception of the split pin K¹
is bored, the ends e, e¹, of the said pin after being introduced into the hole being
forced back and opened so as to prevent the pin coming out. In the normal state
the ring of the pin rests flat on the head of the gripper, and does not project
beyond the end f, f¹, as represented in Fig. 6.
In this position the split pin does not interfere with the descent and placing of
the adjusting bolt, but as soon as this rests with its head on the top of the sleeper,
the split pin is forced or drawn backwards and caused to make a quarter of a turn,
so that the ring takes the position indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, and bears against
the head of the bolt, thus preventing all chance of rising of the latter.
The parts e, el, of the split pin, which have been forced back and opened, enter
the end of the hole that is countersunk to receive them. It will be seen from
what has been stated that the eccentricity of the polygonal bolt provides for
variations of fastening, corresponding to a greater or less advance of the jaw of
the cramp or gripper on to the rail foot, or to an increase of the distance away
from it. By the combination of these eccentric surfaces or faces on each side of
the rail, the width or gauge of the line may be made to vary; in the case of
normal width of the line, the foot of the rail bears on the outside against the most
excentric face or surface of the bolt, viz., that indicated at 12, Fig. 3, whilst the
same foot touches on the inner side the least eccentric surface, viz., that indicated'
by 7 in the same Figure. It is evident that if the position of these surfaces on
each side of the rail were reversed, that is to say, if the most eccentric be placed
on the inside and the least eccentric on the outside, the rail would be moved the
difference between 12 millimetres and 7 millimetres, that is, 5 millimetres, and
there would be a widening of the gauge or line by five millimetres. By operating
in the same manner on the other rail, a total extra width of ten millimetres would
be obtained. It will be evident that any variation of width from one to ten
millimetres may also be effected. If this limit be not sufficient it can be easily
extended by employing at the exterior of the rail a cramp or gripper 3 or 4 milli-
metres thicker than the inner cramp or gripper, and by reversing these grippers an
additional variation of 6 or 8 millimetres would be obtained for the two rails,
which represents a total of 18 millimetres, an amount of divergence which is never
required even in curves of very small radius.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which
it is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, as communicated to
me as aforesaid, I would have it understood that what is claimed is,-
1. The use for fixing and locking rails to metallic longitudinal or cross sleepers
of adjusting bolts, whose heads and shanks are eccentric and polygonal in cross-
section, substantially as described.
2. The use in combination with an adjusting bolt, of which the head and shank
are eccentric and polygonal in cross section, of cramps or grippers of unequal
thicknesses, substantially as described.
3. The means, substantially as described and shewn in the Drawings, for securing
the locking or gripping appliances, and for preventing the rising or lifting of the
adjusting bolt.
In witness whereof, I, the said Friedrich Carl Glaser, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand night hundred and airchty one
FRIEDRICH CARL GLASER. (L.S.)