A NEW OR IMPROVED RAILWAY CHAIR
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Roberts, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford,
Mine Agent and Surveyor, and James Beech, of Walsall aforesaid,
Railway Inspector, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED RAILWAY
CHAIR."
Sealed the 2nd December 1856, and dated the 20th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Roberts and James
Beech at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 20th September 1856.
We, JOHN ROBERTS, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Mine Agent
and Surveyor, and JAMES BEECH, of Walsall aforesaid, Railway Inspector,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
RAILWAY CHAIR," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of a railway chair constructed in the manner herein-
after described. We make the said chair in two pieces, one of the said pieces
consisting of a bed plate to be attached to the sleeper, the said bed plate
carrying a fixed cheek, against which one of the vertical sides of the rail
bears. A second loose cheek is provided with a dovetail, which said dovetail
engages in a slide in the before-mentioned bed plate. The bed plate and
its fixed cheek are fastened to the sleeper by a railway pin or spike, and
the rail being put in its place bears against the said fixed cheek. The
moveable cheek is now made to engage and slide in the bed plate until it

page_text: bears against the rail. The rail is thus held firmly between the fixed and
moveable cheeks of the chair, and a pin or spike being passed through the
moveable cheek and that part of the bed plate on which the said moveable
cheek works, the said moveable cheek is fixed in its place, and the fastening
of the chair to the sleeper completed. Between the moveable chair and the
rail, a layer of felt, leather, or other flexible material may be placed, in order
to give the moveable cheek more exact bearing on the rail.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Roberts and James Beech in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Joun
ROBERTS, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Mine Agent and Surveyor,
and James Beech, of Walsall aforesaid, Railway Inspector, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Roberts and James Beech, Her special licence that we, the
said John Roberts and James Beech, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Roberts and James Beech, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED RAILWAY
CHAIR," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Roberts
and James Beech, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
Isame to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Beech, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-

page_text: Our Invention consists of the new or improved railway chair, constructed in
the manner herein-after particularly described, and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents in elevation, and Figure 2 in transverse vertical section,
a railway chair constructed according to our Invention, a rail being repre-
sented fixed in the said chair, Figures 1 and 2. Figure 3 represents a plan,
and Figure 4, a side elevation, of our railway chair without a rail.
The same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures. Our said
new or improved railway chair consists of two parts, marked a and b respec-
tively. The part a consists of a bed plate a', to be attached to the sleeper d,
the said plate a' carrying a fixed cheek a", against which one of the vertical
sides of the rail c bears. The part 6 consists of a cheek 6', on the lower part of
which is a dovetail e (see Figure 4). The dovetail e, on the part b, engages in
the slide f, in the bed plate a¹. The bed plate a¹ and its fixed cheek are fas-
tened to the sleeper d by pins or spikes, and the rail being put in its place,
bears against the fixed cheek a". We prefer to insert a piece of leather, felt,
gutta percha, wood, lead, or any other material, between the rail cand the fixed
cheek a", in order to produce a more exact bearing between the rail and
the chair; or the said leather, felt, gutta percha, wood, lead, or other material
may be put between the cheek 6' and the rail, or so applied as to wholly
encircle such part of the rail as may be in contact with the chair. The
moveable cheek b is now made to engage with and slide in the bed plate a',
until the cheek bears against the rail c. The rail thus held between the
fixed and moveable cheeks of the chair is secured by a wedge-shaped pin or
spike h, which, passing through holes in b and a' respectively, as well as into
the sleeper d, fixes the part 6 securely in its place. We sometimes use a pin
or spike jagged on one or more or all sides, as represented in Figure 5, so as
to give it a firmer hold in the sleeper. The holes in 6 and a¹ are inclined on
the side next the rail, as represented, and that side of the pin h next the rail,
is inclined in a similar manner. The sides of the holes in 6 and a' have the
slight inclination represented in Figure 2.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of our said Invention; but
we claim as our Invention the new or improved railway chair herein-before
described, and represented in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
a railway chair consisting of two parts, the one fixed and the other moveable,
the said moveable part engaging with the fixed part by means of a dovetail,

page_text: the said moveable part being fixed in its place by a wedge-shaped pin or
cotter, or jagged spike or pin, passing through the said moveable and fixed
parts.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Beech, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES BEECH. (L.S.)