RAILWAY PER- MANENT WAY MATERIALS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bull, of Knowle Green House, Staines, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "RAILWAY PER-
MANENT WAY MATERIALS."
Sealed the 29th February 1856, and dated the 11th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bull at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th September
1855.
I, HENRY BULL, of Knowle Green House, Staines, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "RAILWAY PERMANENT WAY MATERIALS" to be
as follows, that is to say:-
To reduce the weight of rails at present in use by at least one half without
at all impairing the efficient strength of the line; to do away altogether with
the necessity for chairs and fishing plates; greatly to facilitate the ease by
which lines may be laid down; and in the case of furnishing materials for
lines abroad from this country, to reduce the cost of freight mile nearly
one half, and increase in like proportion the means of carrying the materials.
The rail is to consist of a simple plate of iron, bedded & bolted into
longitudinal wooden sleepers, with cross wooden sleepers, or rather tie bars,
morticed, bracketted, & bolted into & to the longitudinal sleepers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bull in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BULL, of Knowle Green House, Staines, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Bull, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Bull, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Bull, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter luring 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 "RAILWAY PERMANENT WAY MATERIALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that. I, the said Henry Bull, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
inonths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bull, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates, first, to the form of the longitudinal sleepers,
whereby a lateral support is afforded to the rail, rendering it firm and
secure.
Second, to an improved construction and form of rail, increasing the actual
depth and surface of iron exposed to the action of the wheel, at the same time
decreasing the absolute weight thereof.
Third, the cross sleepers are to be let into the longitudinal sleepers, and 3
connected with them by angle irons and an iron strap, as shewn in the
Drawings hereto annexed.
Figure 1 on my Sheet- of Drawings-represents a section through rail and

page_text: longitudinal sleeper, shewing the mode of connecting same by means of bolts
and nuts. Figure 2 is a corresponding inside clevation; and Figure 3 is a
plan of the same. A, A, are the rails, bolted at B, B, to the longitudinal
sleepers C, C. D, D, in Figure 1 shews a side elevation of cross sleeper let
into and connected with the longitudinal sleeper by means of the angle irons
E, E, and strap F, F, bolted together at G, G, and H, H. D, D, in Figure 2
shews a section of such cross sleeper, and in Figure 3 a plan thereof. The
bolts B, B, are to be circular-headed, but the bolt holes in the rails are to be
cut elliptical longitudinally, by this means affording room for the expansion
of the rail.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is or may be carried into effect,
I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have described or referred to,
nor to the precise relative dimensions set forth in my Drawings, as many
variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles
or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the system or mode of supporting the rails by a lateral support, as
described in reference to Figure 1.
And, second, the form of a rail (although the same may be made deeper
and narrower, or deeper or narrower, as the case may be,) as herein-before
described, and shewn in section in Figure 1.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bull, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
HENKY BULL. (L.S.)