AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF ELASTIC WEDGES FOR THE WEDGING UP OF THE RAILS WITH DOUBLE HEAD AND OTHER
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alphonse Eugène Séné of Boulevard St. Denis 1 at
Paris Draughtsman for an invention of "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF ELASTIC
WEDGES FOR THE WEDGING UP OF THE RAILS WITH DOUBLE HEAD AND OTHER
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alphonse Eugène Séné at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th June 1882.
ALPHONSE EUGÈNE SÉNÉ of Boulevard St. Denis 1 at Paris, Draughtsman
"AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF ELASTIC WEDGES FOR THE WEDGING UP OF THE RAILS
WITH DOUBLE HEAD AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
"
The ordinary wooden wedges used for fastening double headed rails in their
chairs are perhaps the best fastenings hitherto adopted for the purpose but they
possess disadvantages among which I may mention that they expand and contract
under the influence of changes of temperature and are therefore liable to become
loose and thereby cause serious evils
Now the object of this Invention is to make a wedge or fastening which shall
posses all the advantages of a wooden wedge without its defects. For this purpose
it is first necessary to select a material which will lock or tighten up the rails
without breaking the chair and which is almost insensible to atmospheric variations.
Hardened or tempered plates of steel fulfil these conditions-The next thing is to
find a shape or form which will offer the necessary resistance to the lateral pressure
when a train passes and to the longitudinal sliding of the rails. For this purpose
I adopt a form which is in section approximately that of the letter C. I make
these wedges of rolled plates of steel, then cut them to the required length and
harden or temper them; they are bevelled at the ends in order that they can be
forced into position in either direction-The locking or tightening up is effected
not by the conicity of the wedge but by its contraction, its width being about

page_text: 2 millimetres greater than the distance between the rail and the jaw of the chair-
The use of my elastic steel wedges obviates any necessity for bringing up the
ballast on the outside of the rail to the level of the top of the jaw of the chair in
order to keep the wedge from the influence of the sun.
I employ the same description of fastenings for the rail joints in lieu of fish-
plates. For this purpose I make plates of hardened or tempered steel of the shape
above described and say about 2 feet long and insert them, as what I may call
fish wedges, between the rails and the jaws of two chairs forming points of support
at the two sides of the joint respectively-And in order to strengthen the joint
I employ a special chair or bearing which firmly embraces my elastic fish-wedge
and the ends of the rails. The ordinary holes for the fish plate bolts which weaken
the rails, are dispensed with

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alphonse Eugène Séné in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th November 1882.
ALPHONSE EUGÈNE SÉNÉ of Boulevard St. Denis 1 at Paris Draughtsman
"AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF ELASTIC WEDGES FOR THE WEDGING UP OF THE RAILS
WITH DOUBLE HEAD AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
"
The ordinary wooden wedges used for fastening double headed rails in their
chairs are perhaps the best fastenings hitherto adopted for the purpose but they
possess disadvantages among which may mention that they expand and contract
under the influence of changes of temperature and are therefore liable to become
loose and thereby cause serious evils.
Now the object of this invention is to make a wedge or fastening which shall
possess all the advantages of a wooden wedge without its defects. For this purpose
it is first necessary to select a material which will lock or tighten up the rails
without breaking the chair and which is almost insensible to atmospheric variations.
Hardened or tempered plates of steel fulfil these conditions. The next thing is to
find a shape or form which will offer the necessary resistance to the lateral pressure
when a train passes and to the longitudinal sliding of the rails.
For this purpose
I adopt a form which is in section approximately that of the letter C. In the
annexed drawings Figure 1 is an exterior elevation and Figure 2 a plan showing
one of these wedges applied between a rail and a chair. Figures 3 to 6 are views
showing various forms of my improved wedge. I make these wedges from rolled
plates of steel, then cut them to the required length and harden or temper them ;
they are bevelled at the ends so that they can be forced into position in either
direction. The locking or tightening up is effected not by the conicity of the
wedge but by its contraction, its width being about two millimetres greater than
the distance between the rail and the jaw of the chair. The use of my elastic"
steel wedges obviates any necessity for bringing up the ballast on the outside of
the rail to the level of the top of the jaw of the chair in order to keep the wedge
from the influence of the sun. In Figure 7 I show on the left the way with the
ballast as placed with the existing fastenings, and on the right the way with the
ballast as it will be laid where my fastenings are used.
I employ the same description of fastenings for the rail joints in lieu of fish
plates. Figure 8 is a diagram indicating the arrangement usually adopted for
supporting and securing a rail 5 metres long supported by six sleepers. On lines
where the trains travel at great speed a seventh sleeper has generally been added
for the purpose of relieving the rails and giving a larger bearing for the stability
of the way. The intermediate intervening spaces between the supports have been
diminished in length but the unsupported part at the joint has remained the same
In Figure 9 I indicate an arrangement of the sleepers in which the space between
the points of support next the joints is reduced; this permits of substituting for
the ordinary fish plates what I call my fish wedges. For this purpose I make
plates of hardened or tempered steel of the shape above described for the chair
fastenings and say about 2 feet long and insert them as fish wedges between the
rails and the jaws of the two chairs which form the points of support at the two
sides of the joint respectively (see Figures 10, 11 and 12) And in order to
strengthen the joint I employ a special chair or bearing which firmly embraces
my elastic fish-wedge and the ends of the rails as shown in the figures. The
ordinary holes for the fish plate bolts which weaken the rails are dispensed with.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed I declare that I Claim :-
First, The improved elastic wedge herein before described with reference to
Figures 1 to 6 for securing rails in their chairs.
Second, The improved elastic fish wedge hereinbefore described with reference
to Figures 10, 11 and 12 for securing rails at the joints.
Third, Securing the rails of railways by the means substantially as hereinbefore
described and represented in the annexed drawings.
In witness whereof I the said Alphonse Eugène Séné have hereunto set
my hand and seal this twenty fifth day of November One thousand eight
hundred and eighty two.
Witness
ALBERT CAHEN
Civil Engineer
of Boulevard Saint Denis 1 at Paris
A. E. SENE (L.S.)