IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1857

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Benjamin Parker at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd October
1857.
I, BENJAMIN PARKER, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey, Surveyor, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to sleepers and chairs, and the mode of connecting
or fitting them together, and laying them down for the purpose of supporting
iron rails, and the superimposed load during the passage of railway trains;
and consists in forming hollow cast-iron sleepers of a parallelogram or other
suitable form in plan, with downward bevilled flanges forming the sides and
ends; the surfaces of such chair being cored with holes to reduce the weight
thereof, and enable the ballast packing to be rammed up and consolidated, or
otherwise treated for the purpose of adjusting the position of the sleeper upon
the road. On the upper surface or face of the sleeper is formed a recess or a
suitably formed space, by means of fillets surrounding it, for the purpose of
containing an elastic packing bed-piece or spring, as herein-after mentioned.
The chair is formed with a flat bottom, for the purpose of resting upon
elastic bed-piece or spring, the bearing being increased considerably longi-
tudinally as compared with the ordinary chair for wood sleepers, so that the
bearing surface is suitably enlarged by increasing the length of the chair in the

page_text: direction of the line of road. By this increase of length chairs so constructed
are used alike for joints and intermediate bearings, whilst from their length
the rails do not become injured by indentation, and where it is desirable to use
longer wood keys they can be advantageously introduced between the side of
the rail and its supporting chair. Instead of using bolts and nuts for fastening
the chair upon the sleeper, and for securing the width of guage by means of
tye rods similarly attached, I oast coned wings or sockets upon the sleepers,
and I cast dovetail wing pieces upon the chairs, and by punching or otherwise
forming a dovetail hole in each end of a plain bar of iron I form a suitable
tye rod, which being placed within the socket or other projection cast in or on
the sleeper, and thereupon placing the dovetail or other projections of the chair
within those provided in the sleeper, I prefer to use a wedge or key to hold
the same down, and maintain perfect contact between the under surface of the
chair and the elastic packing bed-piece or spring contained within the recess
formed in the upper surface of the cast-iron chair; such elastic packing
bed-piece or spring being constituted or composed, of a composition similar
in character to that described in a Patent granted to me on the 7th of
September 1857, or with such variations only as is requisite for this purpose.
Such elastic packing bed-piece or spring being moulded or formed of suitable
thickness, and punctured or pierced with holes to insure permanent elasticity,
whilst the upper side of the sleeper upon which it rests, and the under
side of the chair which rests upon it, may have holes cast or formed therein,
by which further degree of elasticity may be given, and the water which
would otherwise collect would be allowed to drain therefrom.