IMPROVEMENTS IN RAIL FASTENINGS AND JOINTS FOR RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS
Year: 1884

page_text: ташways..
I, JOHN POYSER, of Sherwood Rise, Mansfield, in the county of Nottingham,
clerk, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for." IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAIL FASTENINGS AND JOINTS FOR RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS" to be as follows:-
My present invention relates to improvements upon the invention for which
I made application for Letters Patent No. 9420, bearing date June 26th 1884, and
for which said invention Provisional Protection has been granted to me.
The object of my invention is to provide a chair and apparatus in connection
therewith for securing railway and tramway rails in a more efficient manner than
has been done hitherto.
J
The rail which is to be secured may be of any of the usual sections, such as
double-headed, bull-headed, or flat bottomed for railways, or with grooved head
for tramways-The section of the rail not interfering in any way with the principle
of my invention.
J
My improved chair consists in its simplest form essentially of three jaws, in
combination with other parts or devices.
I
The said jaws may be cast in one piece with a base plate provided with holes
for attachment to a sleeper by spikes or trenails in the usual way, or the said jaws
may be cast in one piece with, any usual form of cast iron sleeper; or the said
jaws may form separate castings or forgings and be attached by bolts and nuts,
rivets or other suitable devices to any form of wrought iron, cast iron or steel
sleeper.
One of the said three jaws is shaped to receive one side of the particular section
of rail employed, in the ordinary way; the other two jaws are placed on the
opposite side of the rail, sufficient space being left between them and the aforesaid
single jaw to allow of the easy admission or extraction' of the rail.
The said pair of jaws are placed some little distance apart, and the inner side of
each is grooved or recessed vertically about midway-The parts of the inner sides
between the grooves and the rail are parallel to each other, and the parts on the
other side of the grooves are inclined towards each other.
After the rail has been placed in position in the chair; with its side abutting
against the single jaw before mentioned, a key, made either of wood or metal, and
formed to fit the side of the rail, is then inserted, between the two jaws where the
sides are parallel, and a metal block, provided with vertical shoulder pieces, fillets
or projections and inclined sides, to fit the aforesaid grooves or recesses and
inclined sides of the said jaws, is then driven down behind the wooden or metal key.
If preferred I may dispense with the said grooves or recesses and projections.
and rely solely upon the inclined sides.

page_text: 7.
1
The face of the said block which comes in contact with the key, is inclined so
that the block forms a wedge and holds the key and rail more firmly in position
the further it is driven down.
If desired, I may form the block with a vertical face and obtain the same wedge
action by inclining the grooves in the jaws and the projections in the block, but in
practice, I generally prefer to adopt the former method.
In order to remove the rail from the chair, the said block has an inclined recess
formed on the underside thereof, or the whole of such underside may be inclined
so that a crow-bar can be inserted to act as a lever and force the block up, when
it can be lifted out and the key and rail removed.
In practice, I generally prefer to make the said key of wood, and I form it and
place it in the chair, so that the end grain abuts against the side of the rail, and
the face of the block; the direction of the fibres is thus at right angles to the rail
and as wood is practically unaffected by expansion or skrinage longitudinally with
the grain, my improved key can never become loose from the said cause, like the
ordinary wooden key which has the direction of its fibres parallel to the rail.
The above description will apply to any form of my ordinary chair for railways
or tramways.
When I desire to apply my invention to a joint chair, I may simply increase the
width of the various parts to give additional support, and holding power, and
I may, if desired, employ one or more ordinary jaws one one side, and three of my
improved jaws, with two keys and two blocks, or any additional number that may
be thought desirable on the other side.
In such a joint chair the ordinary fish plates may be dispensed with, but if it be
preferred to retain them, it is only necessary to cut away, or shape the key and
the single jaw to fit the fish plates.
If desired, one fish plate, either on the single jaw or key side only, may be
employed, the corresponding parts being shaped accordingly.
To prevent the rails "creeping," I provide, upon the faces of the single jaws, in
such joint chairs, two or more lugs or projections to enter the fish bolt holes in the
ends of the rails, or a single central lug may be employed and notches formed in
the ends of the rails.
This latter method will avoid punching holes in the rails...
When a fish plate or plates are used, in place of the said fixed lugs, I sometimes
prefer to employ one or more loose steel or iron pins passing through the holes in
the rail and fish plates and entering a recess or recesses in the single jaw and
abutting against the wooden or metal key.
Such loose pins are also equally applicable to a joint chair when fish plates are
'not used.
In order to adapt my improved chair and apparatus to any particular section of
rail, it is only necessary to form the inner faces of the single jaw and key and that
part of the base which comes between them to the required shape to fit such
particular section of rail.
In my improved chair a very strong grip is brought to bear upon the rail by the
wedge action of the block-The vibration caused by passing trains or cars has no
tendancy to loosen the block, and when the key is made of wood it can never
become loose from shrinkage as before explained.
The block being driven into place by a vertical blow, there is no tendancy to
loosen the fastening of the chair to the sleeper thereby, as in the ordinary pattern
of chair where the key is driven home by a heavy side blow.
Chairs made according to my invention will therefore require much less
supervision than those generally in use.
Dated this twelfth day of December 1884.

page_text: Tramways.
I JOHN POYSER of Sherwood Rise Mansfield in the County of Nottingham Clerk
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My present invention relates to improvements upon the invention for which
Letters Patent were granted to me bearing date June 26th AD 1884 and
numbered 9420.
The object of my invention is to provide a chair and apparatus in connection
therewith for securing railway and tramway rails in a more efficient manner than
has been done hitherto.
The rail which is to be secured, may be of any of the usual sections, such as
double headed, bull headed, or flat bottomed for railways, or with grooved head for
tramways. The section of the rail not interfering in any way with the principle
of my invention.
My improved chair consists in its simplest form essentially of three jaws in
combination with other parts or devices._
The said jaws may be cast in one piece with a base plate provided with holes
for attachment to a sleeper by spikes or trenails in the usual way, or the said jaws
may be cast in one piece' with any usual form of cast iron sleeper, or the said jaws
may form separate castings or forgings and be attached by bolts and nuts, rivets,
or other suitable devices to any form of wrought iron, cast iron, or steel sleeper.
One of the said three jaws is shaped to receive one side of the particular section
of rail employed in the ordinary way, the other two jaws are placed on the opposite
side of the rail, sufficient space being left between them and the aforesaid single
jaw to allow of the easy admission or extraction of the rail.
t
The said pair of jaws are placed some little distance apart and the inner side of
each is grooved or recessed vertically about midway; the parts of the inner sides
between the grooves and the rail are parallel to each other and the parts on the
other sides of the grooves are inclined towards each other.
After the rail has been placed in position in the chair, with its side abutting
against the single jaw before mentioned, a key, made either of wood or metal and
formed to fit the side of the rail, is then inserted between the two jaws where the
sides are parallel, and a metal block provided with vertical shoulder pieces, fillets,
or projections and inclined sides to fit the aforesaid grooves or recesses and
inclined sides of the said jaws, is then driven down behind the wooden or
metal key.
If preferred, I may dispense with the said grooves or recesses and projections and
rely solely upon the inclined sides.
The face of the said block which comes in contact with the key is inclined, so
that the block forms a wedge and holds the key and rail more firmly in position
the further it is driven down.
If desired I may form the block with a vertical face and obtain the same wedge
action by inclining the grooves in the jaws and the projections on the block, but in
practice I generally prefer to adopt the former method.
J

page_text: In order to remove the rail from the chair the said block has an inclined recess
formed on the underside thereof, or the whole of such underside may be inclined,
so that a crowbar can be inserted to act as a lever and force the block up when it
can be lifted out and the key and rail removed.
In practice I generally prefer to make the said key of wood, and I form it and
place it in the chair so that the end grain abuts against the side of the rail and the
face of the block, the direction of the fibres is thus at right angles to the rail and
as wood is practically unaffected by expansion or shrinkage longitudinally with
the grain; my improved key can never become loose from the said cause like the
ordinary wooden key, which has the direction of its fibres parallel to the rail.
The above description will apply to any form of my ordinary chairs for railways
or tramways.
When I desire to apply my invention to a joint chair, I may simply increase the
width of the various parts to give additional support and holding power, and
I may, if desired, employ one or more ordinary jaws on one side and three of my
improved jaws with two keys and two blocks, or any additional number that may
be. thought desirable on the other side.
In such a joint, chair, the ordinary fish plates may be dispensed with, but if it be
preferred to retain them it is only necessary to cut away or shape the key and the
single jaw to fit the fish plates.
If desired, one fish plate, either. on the single jaw or key side only may be
employed, the corresponding parts being shaped accordingly.
To prevent the rails "creeping" I provide upon the faces of the single jaws in
such joint chairs, two or more lugs or projections to enter the fish bolt holes in the
ends of the rails, or a single central lug may be employed and notches formed in
the ends of the rails;
The latter method will avoid punching holes in the rails; when a fish plate or
plates are used in place of the said fixed lugs, I sometimes prefer to employ one or
more loose steel or other pins passing through the holes in the rail and fish plates
and entering a recess or recesses in the single jaw and abutting against the wooden
or metal key, such loose pins are also equally applicable to a joint chair when fish
plates are not used.
In order inore particularly to explain the nature of my invention and in what
manner the same is carried out in practice, I will now proceed to describe by
reference to the accompanying four Sheets of drawings various examples of chairs
constructed according to my invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1 to 9, sheet 1, represent various views of my improved chair and
détached parts of same as designed for an-ordinary bull-headed railway chair.
Fig. I is a plan of the chair with rail key and block removed.
Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation through the line X X in Fig. I shewing rails
key and block in place.
Fig. 3 is an end elevation of Fig. 2, shewing the pair of jaws with key and
block.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation, Fig. 5 a front elevation and Fig. 6 a plan of the key.
Fig. 7 is a side elevation, Fig. 8 a front elevation and Fig. 9 a plan of the block.
The same letters refer to the same parts in each figure, a is the base of the chair,
provided with four, or any other desired number of holes b, for securing the chair
to the sleeper by means of spikes or trenails in the usual way-c is the single jaw
of ordinary form shaped to receive the rail de e¹ are the two jaws on the opposite
side, provided on the inner sides with grooves or recesses f f g is the key
and h the metal block, having projections or fillets h¹ h² to enter the grooves f, f¹.
In the drawing the key g is represented as being formed of wood the direction
of the fibres being perpendicular to the rail, as shewn clearly in Fig. 2-The
grooves ff and projections h¹h are vertical and the wedge action of the block is

page_text: obtained by the inclined face h³- is the inclined recess in the block to admit the
end of a crowbar for forcing the block up when it has to be removed-Those parts
of the inner faces of the jaws e e¹ on one side of the grooves ff¹ between which
the key g fits, are parallel to each other and in order to afford additional surface
to receive the thrust of the block h, I incline the inner faces of the jaws e e¹ behind
the grooves ff¹ towards each other and correspondingly incline the sides of the
block h, as clearly shewn at e² e³ and ho he and I may even dispense with, the
grooves ff and projections h³ ³ and rely solely upon the said inclined faces and
sides.
1
•
'
Figs. 1 to 8, sheet 2, represent various views of my improved chair and parts of
same as designed for the joints of ordinary bull-headed rails..
.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of chair shewing rails key and block in place.
i
Fig. 2 is a plan of chair, with rails key and block removed and Fig. 3 an end
elevation of Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation and Fig. 5 a plan of key.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation, Fig. 7 a front elevation and Fig. 8 a plan of block.
'
The same letters refer to the same parts in each figure and the description of
the drawings on sheet 1 will apply to the figures on sheet 2-The difference of
the design consisting in the greater breadth of the chair and key and block, in order
to afford the necessary, support to the ends of the rails and in addition two lugs or
projections are provided upon the jaw c to enter holes in the ends of the rails
to prevent them "
creeping."
In place of, or in addition to, the lugs a single central lug may be employed
and notches formed in the rail ends to receive it.
In sheet III various views are shewn of a joint chair of somewhat different con-
struction to that shewn in sheet II, the chair being still further increased in width
and provided with a double set of keys and blocks.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of chair with rails keys and blocks in place.
Fig. 2 is a plan, with one rail key and block removed and Fig. 3 is an elevation
of same.
Fig. 4 is a front elevation, Fig. 5 a side elevation and Fig. 6 a plan of a key.
Fig. 7 is a front elevation, Fig. 8 a side elevation and Fig. 9 a plan of a block.
The essential features of the design of this chair are the same as the two
preceding ones, with the exception that three jaws e e e² are provided to enable a
double set of keys and blocks to be employed, one set for each rail, and that the
single jaw c is carried quite up to the underside of the head of the rail to afford
more efficient support" Creeping" may be prevented as shewn by lugs on the
jaw c as before described.
If desired four (or even more) sets of keys and blocks may be employed.
As it may sometimes be required to provide additional stiffness and support in a
joint, I shew in Fig. 1, Sheet IV, a side elevation of a joint chair having the jaw c
carried up close under the head of the rail and the key g shaped so that an
ordinary fish plate j can be employed. 'Creeping" is prevented by a-lug i as
before, the head of the jaw c being broken away to shew this more clearly.
In Fig. 2, a joint chair is shewn in side elevation, in which not only the lug g
but the jaw c is shaped so that fish plates jj' may be employed on both sides
and in this case to prevent "creeping," I shew a loose steel or iron pin kc, passed
through the holes in the rails and fish plates, a recess being provided in the jaw o
to receive one end of the said pin, the other end abutting firmly against the wooden
key g.
Both these joint chairs are shewn as designed to receive ordinary double-headed
rails.
Fig. 3, Sheet IV, shews a cross section of an ordinary cast iron oval pot-sleeper
having my improvements combined therewith.
;
a is the sleeper, c the ordinary jaw, d the rail, e.one of my improved jaws with
groove f, g is the key, h the wedge block and t the tie bar to preserve the gauge of
the rails.
.

page_text: Fig. 4, Sheet IV, represents a wrought iron or steel sleeper 8, of any usual,
pattern having a jaw c and my improved jaws e, secured thereto by rivets, but,
bolts or other suitable: devices may be used in place of rivets if desired. The rail,
is secured by a key g and wedge block hexactly as in the forms of chairs previously
described.
In the drawings on sheets I II & III a bull-headed section of rail is shewn, in
Figs. 1 and 2 Sheet IV, a double-headed section of rail and in Figs. 3 and 4
sheet IV, a flat-footed section of rail, but it is obvious that in any of these cases a
different section of rail may be employed by simply forming the inner faces of the
jaw cand the key ġ and that part of the base of the chair which lies between them,
to the required shape to fit such different section of rail.
In my improved chair a very strong grip is brought to bear upon the rail by the
wedge action of the block. The vibration caused by passing trains or cars has no
tendancy to loosen the block, but on the contrary causes it to seat more firmly in
place, so that the chair automatically adjusts and' tightens its grip upon the rail,
and when the key is made of wood it can, never become loose from shrinkage as
before explained...
The block being driven into place by a light vertical blow, there is no tendancy
to: loosen the fastenings of the chair to the sleeper or to break the jaws of the chair
thereby as in the ordinary pattern of chair where the key is driven home by a
heavy side blow. Chairs made according to my invention, will therefore require
much less supervision than those generally in use.
:
"
"Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
(1.) In a chair for securing railway or tramway. rails, the combination of an
ordinary chair c with jaws e e¹ having grooves or recesses ff' and inclined
sides ee, a key g and a block h having projections h¹ h² and inclined sides h³ h³ ho
substantially as herein shewn and described.
(2.) The combination for securing railway and tramway rails of an ordinary jaw c
and the jaws e el having grooves or recesses ff¹ and inclined sides e e³ with any
.desired form of cast iron sleeper by casting them in one piece therewith and the
use with the same of the key g and blocks h having projections h¹ h² and inclined
sides h³ h³ he substantially as herein shewn and described..
(3.) The combination for securing railway and tramway rails of an ordinary
jaw c and jaws e el having grooves or recesses ff" and inclined sides e e³ with any
desired form of cast iron, wrought iron, or steel sleeper by securing them thereto
with rivets bolts and nuts or other suitable devices and the use with the same of
the key g and block h having projections h¹ h² and inclined sides h³ ³ h6 sub-
stantially as herein shewn and described.
(4.) In a chair for securing railway and tramway rails the use of a wooden key g
having the end grain abutting against the side of the rail d and the face of the
block so that the said wooden key cannot become loose through shrinkage
substantially as herein shewn and described.
(5.) The recess h* formed in the block h to enable the said block to be readily
removed from the chair substantially as herein shewn and described.
3
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3 110
whamban 100K