IMPROVEMENTS IN LONGITUDINAL SLEEPERS AND FASTENINGS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Gregory Holtham of N° 5 Westminster
Chambers, Westminster in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LONGITUDINAL SLEEPERS AND FASTENINGS FOR THE
PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Gregory Holtham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd December 1883.
EDMUND GREGORY HOLTHAM of N° 5 Westminster Chambers, Westminster in
the County of Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN LONGITUDINAL SLEEPERS AND
FASTENINGS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
"
This invention has for its object to obviate the chief defects that have been
found in practice to attach to systems of permanent way for railways in which
the rails are supported by and fastened to longitudinal metallic sleepers, by so
constructing the aleepers that they are readily made available for use either on
straight or curved portions of the line, and by so attaching the chairs, jaws or
fishes to the sleepers that they can be applied at any part.
For these purposes, I make the sleeper to consist of an upper or central part,
which may form a continuous seat for the rail, and a lower wider part, preferably
longitudinally corrugated and having an extended bearing surface upon the ballast;
I make the lower or wider part discontinuous so as to admit of the sleeper being
applied at curves; and the upper or central part of the sleeper may also be made
discontinuous, or may be notched to admit of bending. The upper and lower parts
may be separate pieces rivetted together, or they may be made in one piece of
plate, rolled, or moulded in dies. When the upper part is in a separate piece from
the lower part, its edges are made to project in a sloping direction upwards and
outwards from the centre; or when the sleeper is made in one piece, it has ribs
projecting up from its upper surface, these ribs being preferably bent over in an
outward slope.
I secure the rail between jaws which rest on the sleeper and have sloped recesses
that embrace the edges or ribs above mentioned and are wide enough to admit also

page_text: slightly tapered keys, which, when driven tight into the recesses, hold the edges or
ribs firmly therein. Thus, as no holes in the substance of the sleeper are required
for the attachment of the jaws, these may be placed at any convenient points in
the length of the sleeper. The upper portions of the jaws are formed to receive
the rail and the keys or other fastenings by which it is secured.
At suitable intervals, I provide tie bars to connect the two lines of rail. These
extend under both sleepers and some distance beyond them, and where these tie
bars occur I provide the outer jaws of the rails with lengthened tails which are
secured to the outer ends of the tie bars. And I prefer to provide, where the tie
bars occur, an additional plate to widen the bearing on the ballast, or I effect such
widening of bearing by increasing the breadth of the tie bars at their outer
ends, or of the tails of the jaws which are secured to them.
In order to connect the sleepers end to end, I employ joint pieces or fishes which
are secured to the sleepers in the same manner as the jaws. The fishes may be
formed as jaws to support the rail or to connect with the tie bars.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edmund Gregory Holtham in the Patent Office on the 5th June
1884.
⚫ EDMUND GREGORY HOLTHAM of N° 5, Westminster Chambers, Westminster
in the county of Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN LONGITUDINAL SLEEPERS AND
FASTENINGS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
"
This invention has for its object to obviate the chief defects that have been
found in practice to attach to systems of permanent way for railways in which
the rails are supported by and fastened to longitudinal metallic sleepers, by so
constructing the sleepers that they are readily made available for use either on
straight or curved portions of the line, and by so attaching the chairs, jaws or
fishes to the sleepers, that they can be applied at any part.
For these purposes, I make and fix the rails as shewn in the accompanying
drawings. Fig. 1 is a transverse section shewing the two rails with their sleepers
and tie. Fig. 2 is a plan thereof. Fig. 1ª is a section shewing the like construction
for flanged rails. Figs. 3, 4 and 5 shew details hereinafter referred to. The sleeper
consists of an upper or central part A, which may form a continuous seat for the
rail, and a lower wider part A¹ preferably longitudinally corrugated as shewn, and
having an extended bearing surface upon the ballast; I make the lower wider
part A¹ discontinuous as shewn at I, to admit of the sleeper being applied at
curves; and the upper or central part A may also be made discontinuous, or may
be notched to admit of bending. Fig. 5 is a section taken through the point of
discontinuity I, shewing by the hatched part the continuous portion of the sleeper,
portions of the ribs B being cut away as indicated at B¹ in fig 2, in order to give
facility of bending the sleeper at curved parts of the line. The upper and lower
parts A. A¹ may be separate pieces rivetted together, or they may be made in one
piece of plate, rolled, or moulded in dies. When the upper part A is in a separate
piece from the lower part A¹, its edges B B are made to project in a sloping
direction upwards and outwards from the centre; or when the sleeper is made in
one piece, it has ribs projecting up from its upper surface, these ribs being
preferably bent over in an outward slope, so as to correspond with the ribs B B.
When the upper part A is made as a separate piece from the lower part A¹, the
bent over ribs B B instead of being portions of the upper part may project upwards
from the lower part.
I secure the rail between jaws DE which rest on the sleeper and have sloped
recesses that embrace the edges or ribs B and are wide enough to admit also
slightly tapered keys C, which, when driven tight into the recesses, hold the
edges or ribs B firmly therein. Thus, as no holes in the substance of the
sleeper are required for the attachment of the jaws DE, these may be placed at
any convenient points in the length of the sleeper. The upper portions of the
jaws D E are formed to receive the rail and the keys or other fastenings by which
it is secured.
At suitable intervals I provide tie bars H to connect the two lines of rail. These
extend under both sleepers and some distance beyond them, and where these tie
bars occur, I provide the outer jaws F of the rails with lengthened tails, which are
secured to the outer ends of the tie-bars, preferably in the same way as the
jaws D E are secured to the sleepers. And I prefer to provide, where the tie bars
occur, an additional plate G to widen the bearing on the ballast, or I effect such
widening of bearing by increasing the breadth of the tie-bars at their outer ends,
or of the tails F of the jaws which are secured to them.
In order to connect the sleepers end to end, I employ joint pieces or fishes K,
which are secured to the sleepers in the same manner as the jaws. The fishes may

page_text: be formed as jaws to support the rail or to connect with the tie bars. Fig. 3 is an
inside view and fig 4 is a transverse section of the fishes for the sleeper, which
may be formed to include jaws as indicated by the dotted lines.
Having thus described the nature of my invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I claim in respect of the permanent way of railways =
First Constructing a longitudinal sleeper with an. upper central part on which
the rail seats and a lower wider corrugated part bearing on the ballast, with
upwardly sloping ribs arranged to enter and to be keyed in recesses formed in
chair-jaws, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
Second: In combination with a sleeper of the kind referred to in the preceding
claim, chair-jaws having recesses for receiving and keying in the ribs of the sleeper
so that the jaws can be fixed at any part of the said ribs, substantially as herein
described.
Third: Extending the tie bars beyond the sleepers and securing them or plates
attached to them to the tails of outwardly extended chair jaws, substantially as
herein described
In Witness whereof. I the said Edmund Gregory Holtham have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Third day of June in the year of our Lord, one thousand-
eight. hundred and eighty four.
>
EDMUND GREGORY, HOLTḤAM. (L.S.),
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