CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING RAILS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CHAIRS FOR RAILROAD PERMANENT WAYS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Smith, Inspector of Permanent Way of the
South Staffordshire Railway Company, of Walsall, in the County of.
Stafford, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING RAILS
Sealed the 8th June 1858, and dated the 9th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th December 1857.
I, JOSEPH SMITH, Inspector of Permanent Way of the South Staffordshire
Railway Company, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING
RAILS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CHAIRS FOR RAILROAD PERMANENT WAYS," to be as
follows (that is to say) :-
The object and purpose of my Invention is the better adaptation of the
chairs already in use to the purpose for which they are intended, namely, to
hold or secure the rails of permanent ways of railways, as well as more effec-
tually to meet the general requirements of the construction or laying down of
fresh lines of rails. And the manner in which I effect this is by applying
iron instead of wood keys to such rails and chairs, as I have found from long
experience that the great expansion and contraction to which exposed wood
is subjected to by change of weather, makes it a very objectionable material
material for this purpose, but this is entirely obviated by the use of iron,
which may be applied with greater facility than wood, and after it is applied
will not require that continuous and anxious attention necessary upon the use
of wood.

page_text: In using the iron keys for sustaining or holding rails on curves, I bave
found it advantageous to have a loose flange or flanges secured by a bolt
passing lengthway through the key to prevent the key from shifting laterally
out of its position, as the flange or flanges are intended to clip the sides of the
chairs to which they are applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filod
by the said Joseph Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SMITH, Inspector of Permanent Way of the South Staffordshire Railway
Company, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Smith, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Smith, my executors, administrators, or 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING
RAILS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CHAIRS FOR RAILROAD PERMANENT WAYS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Smith, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same 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 Joseph Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say):
:_
The object of my Invention is the better adapting of the railway chairs
now commonly used for securing and supporting the rails of permanent ways,
as well as in the future construction of railways; and the manner in which

page_text: I effect this is by making the keys, by which the rail is held (in the chair),
of iron instead of wood as heretofore, as I have found in the discharge of my
duties as a practical inspector of permanent ways in the employ of the South
Staffordshire Railway Company, that great expansion and contraction takes
place with the use of wood, as it readily absorbs and gives off moisture at
all variations of temperature; thus from the contraction which takes place in
dry weather it is evident that such keys will work loose, and be liable (from
the concussion of passing trains) to shake out altogether, and be the incipient
cause of accidents and stoppages which too frequently occur with our present
railway traffic. This defect is entirely obviated by the use of iron keys in
tightening, which I prefer instead of striking them, to construct them with a fixed
flange on one end, clipping the side of the chair, and to apply a flange on the
other end of the key to be secured by a screw bolt passing lengthway through
the key. This mode, either on curves or straight lines, will be found thoroughly
efficient, as it is impossible from the projecting flanges clipping that side of
the chair to which such key is applied from shaking out. But as my Inven-
tion will be better understood by referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
I will proceed to describe the same, reference being made to the figures and
letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view of a railway chair marked A, A; and B a transverse
section of the rail, held and secured in the position here shown by the iron-
key, which in this Figure is represented in an end view marked C; the dotted
lines marked d, d, represent the inner surface of the chair, and the part of
C projecting beyond it, the flange formed on the key. To apply such keys as
here shown it is necessary that the rail should be placed in the chair in a
slanting direction as indicated by the dotted lines marked e, f, and the key
dropped in the hollow of the rail, and by humouring the rail into a vertical
position the key will drop down as here represented. Fig. 2 is a top view of
the last Figure, showing the parts in the same relative position, the chair,
key, and rail being marked with the same letter as in Figure 1, the key
being formed with a flange on each end of it marked g, g; Figs. 3 and 4 are
reverse end views of an iron key where one flange is cast or formed on the
key, and the other applied and held by a screw bolt, the head of the bolt being
represented at h, Figure 3, and the screw or nut at Figure 4, marked K;
And Figs. 5 and 6 represent a side and top view of the same key, the flange
being marked in each view with the letters n, m, and the bolt head and screw
with the same letters as at Figures 3 and 4. The positive character of iron

page_text: keys over wood ones is not the only advantage that they possess, as I havo
found from long experience that the periphery of railway wheels invariably
wears hollow approximating to the shape of the top surface of the rail over
which they travel, the consequence of which is that in running over curves
the pressure is thrown on the edges of the rails, which is the primary cause of
the rails stripping along the edges where the extra weight or pressure is thus
given, and this mischevious tendency is almost entirely prevented by the
solidity of the key, which, filling up the hollow of the rail, affords support to
the part that projects, and on which the weight or pressure is thus placed.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it understood that I do
not wish to confino myself to the exact details herein described and exhibited,
as the same may be altered without departing from the object and spirit of
my Invention, as, for instance, I am not compelled with the use of iron keys
to apply them as at Figure 1, as the key may be cast or formed in two parts
with inclined surfaces, that being drawn together by a bolt, it will increase
in thickness so as to jam and fill up the space between the hollow of tho
rail and the side of the chair, and on such compound keys a flange or flanges
may also be formed for clipping the side of the chair as before described,
nor do I confine myself to the use of cast iron for such keys, as the same
may be formed by proper swages and tools of wrought iron, and in some
instances to economize the expense of transit for foreign railways, a key may
be made the desired shape, bent, or otherwise formed from wrought iron plate
of a thickness varying from a quarter to three-eighths of an inch, more or
less as desired, and welded or otherwise, the ends being covered with flanges
and held together by screw bolts as before described; but what I do claim,
and wish to protect by these my in part recited Letters Patent, is the modo
or manner herein described and exhibited of holding and supporting rails in
their respective chairs with iron keys, as also the application of iron keys to
the purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOSEPH SMITH. (L.S.)
Witness, JOHN STINSON.