CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WHEELS, RAILS, AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SMITH, of Princes Street, Leicester Square, and of Mill Wall, Poplar, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of August, in the
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Andrew Smith, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence that I, the said Andrew Smith, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Smith, my exors, adiñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARRIAGE WHEELS, RAILS, AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Andrew Smith, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Andrew Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed; are described and ascer-
tained by the Drawing hereto annexed, and in the words following, that is
to say:-
My Invention for Certain Improvements in Carriage Wheels, Rails, and
Chairs for Railways, consists of;-
Firstly, in the peculiar method of forming and preparing the tyres of wheels
of carriages used on railways; and,
Secondly, in the form and shape of the rails on which the wheels are
to run; and,
Thirdly, in the chairs on which the rails are to rest or by which they are
fixed and fastened.
use.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
I will firstly describe my improvement in the wheels to be used on railways,
which are illustrated in Figures 1 and 1 of the Drawing. All the parts of
the wheel except the tyre may be made in any of the ordinary forms now in
I make the tyre of wrought iron, with a right-angled groove turned out
in the middle, as shewn at a in Figures 1 and 1, which is designed to fit and
run upon the rail herein-after described. The depth of the groove is to be in
relative proportion to the size of the rail. This groove forms a flanch within
the surface of the tyre, and is designed to keep the wheel on the rail.
Secondly, I make the rails as illustrated in the Plan, Figure 2. 6 to 6 is a
longitudinal sleeper of wood of the ordinary size imbedded in the ground, and
upon which the rails rest. The rails themselves are made of the common
square-bar iron, or of square-bar iron formed and manufactured of the size
required, and two portions of the rails are shewn at c to c. The sides of the
square of the rail are about one third more in width than the depth of the
sides in the groove in the wheel tyre, which prevents the wheel from coming
in contact with the chair and sleeper. This bar of iron is laid in a groove cut
in the sleeper in the manner pointed out at d in Figures 1 and 1, and when
so laid it presents one of the angles of the square upwards, and corresponds
with the groove in the tyre of the wheel and upon which the wheel runs.
"The chair for connecting and supporting the rails I make of wrought or
cast iron, in the form shewn at the section, Figures 1 and 1, and Plan, Figure 2,
and marked e on each. It clips the four sides of the bar in a dovetail form,
and the chair itself is let into and bolted to the wood sleeper, as shewn in the
same Figures. One of these chairs is placed at the junction for connecting

page_text: the separate and continuing rails, which I make about twelve feet long by two
inches and a quarter square; and when of that length one chair in the middle of
the bar, and those placed at the junction of every two bars, are found sufficient
to attach and keep the rail to the wooden sleeper. I would observe, that the
size of the rail need not be confined to that which I have given, viz³, two
inches and a quarter square, but may be increased or decreased in width and
size according to circumstances; but the size I have adopted is that which I
deem sufficient and proper for ordinary purposes.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which it is to be made and used, I would desire it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, the right-angled groove in the tyre of the wheels of railway
carriages instead of an external flanch, as herein and in the Drawing annexed
described.
Secondly, the adaptation of common square-bar iron, or of iron made in a
square form, let into a wooden sleeper in the manner also here and in the
Drawing annexed pointed out, to be used as rails for railways. And,
Thirdly, the chair for connecting and fixing and fastening the rails on
railways, as described in like manner herein and in the said Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.