IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Potts, the younger, of Sunderland, in the
County of Durham, Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."

page_text: in a continuous system of rails is where this joining or butt occurs, and
it should naturally have afforded to it the greatest amount of support.
But in the most general form of construction the joint or butt has no
direct support, and in other forms of construction in use the support
afforded is not adjustable or capable of being accurately adapted to its b
work.
In the absence of direct support the effect of the passage of an engine
or carriage wheel over the joint or butt is to depress, first, the end of
one, and then the end of the other rail, a knock or jump being the con-
sequence. When such passage or transit takes place at high speeds, 1
this knock or jump occurs very rapidly and continuously, causing the
excessive vibration and noise which to the passenger constitutes at once
the most unpleasant and baneful effect of railway travelling.
In addition to the annoyance experienced by the passenger very great
injury undoubtedly accrues to the rolling stock itself, tending to 1
diminished efficiency, and to depreciation and loss.
Now according to my Invention I. propose to remedy or obviate to a
considerable extent the above objects by the use of a peculiar adjustable
block chair, which affords direct vertical support to the joint or butt,
such support being made adjustable to the nicest degree, so that it may a
be easily kept in efficacious and constant operation.
In carrying out my said Invention the chair, which may be single
jawed, is secured to the sleeper in the usual manner, and the butts of
the rails are then placed in position and bolted to the jaw of the chair
with or without the intervention of a loose side plate. A horizontal
wedge is then placed under the, lower edge of the rail, so as to be
brought closely into contact with the under edge of the same. Lastly,
a split cotter passing transversely through the lower part of the chair
and through the horizontal wedge is gently driven up, so as to keep the
wedge in its position with the utmost exactitude.
The effect of the above arrangement, if properly carried out, will be to
cause the wedge to take the full weight of any engine or carriage passing
over the joint or butt of the rails, and to prevent entirely any deflection
of one or the other end of the same; and it will be at once apparent that
if the chair be properly placed on the sleeper, and the sleeper well
bedded upon the ballast, the joint or butt will be quite as effectually
supported as any other part of the rails, that the rail ends will be kept

page_text: quite level, and that no knocking or jumping at the joint can take place;
and further, that all noise and vibration arising from the knocking or
jumping at present observable must cease.
To secure constant and continuous operation of the wedge it is
only necessary to tap the cotter gently up until a proper bearance is
obtained.
The split in the end of the cotter will keep the same always in the
position in which it was last placed by the hammer of the line inspector,
and prevent its position being in any way altered by vibration or any
other cause of an untoward or accidental nature.
The chair and wedge could be cast with sufficient accuracy, and would
require no fitting. The cotter would in all probability be best made in
tempered steel, but could be made so accurately to pattern as to render
fitting or such expense unnecessary. The wedge would be best cast in
malleable cast iron, which would prevent breakage should there be any
tendency thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Potts, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
POTTS, the younger, of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Architect,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Potts, the younger, Her special
license that I, the said Joseph Potts, the younger, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Potts, the
younger, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: Now according to my Invention I propose to remedy or obviate to a
considerable extent the above defects by the use of a peculiar adjustable
wedge block, in conjunction with a joint chair or with fish plates, which
affords direct vertical support to the joint or butt, such support being
made adjustable to the nicest degree, so that it may be easily kept in
efficacious and constant operation.
According to one mode of carrying out my said Invention, the chair
when used (which may be single jawed) is secured to the sleeper in the
usual manner, and the butts of the rails are then placed in position and
bolted to the jaw of the chair with or without the intervention of a loose
side plate. A horizontal longitudinally disposed wedge is then placed
under the lower edge of the rail, so as to be brought closely into contact
with the under ridge of the same. Lastly, a split cottar passing trans-
versely through the lower part of the chair and through the horizontal
wedge is gently driven up, so as to keep the wedge in its position with
the utmost exactitude.
The effect of the above arrangement, if properly carried out, will be to
cause the wedge to take the full weight of any engine or carriage passing
over the joint or butt of the rails, and to prevent entirely any deflection
of one or the other end of the same; and it will be at once apparent that
if the chair be properly placed on the sleeper, and the sleeper well
bedded upon the ballast, the joint or butt will be quite as effectually
supported as any other part of the rails, that the rail ends will be kept
quite level, and that no knocking or jumping at the joint can take place;
; and further, that all noise and vibration arising from the knocking or
jumping at present observable must cease.
0
:
To secure constant and continuous operation of the wedge it is
only necessary to tap the cottar gently up until a proper bearing is
obtained.
The split in the end of the cottar will keep the same always in the
position in which it was last placed by the hammer of the line inspector,
and prevent its position being in any way altered by vibration or any
other cause of an untoward or accidental nature.
The chair and wedge could be cast or rolled with sufficient accuracy,
5 and would require no fitting. The cottar may be made in tempered
steel, but can be made so accurately to pattern as to render the expense

page_text: of fitting unnecessary. The wedge may be cast in maleable cast iron,
which would prevent breakage, should there be any tendency thereto.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical section of
my adjustable block joint chair as made in cast iron, with the rail ends
in position therein; Figure 2 is a corresponding transverse vertical
section of the same; and Figure 3 is a plan corresponding to Figure 1.
A is the sleeper, upon which is secured in any suitable manner the
adjustable block joint chair B, which is cast with a single jaw, and
has a longitudinal channel or trough in the bottom, with an inclined
surface a, a, for the reception of the horizontal longitudinally disposed.
wedge block C, the inclined surface of which bears against the inclined
bottom of the chair, whilst the upper surface of the wedge block bears
against the under side of each of the rail ends D, D, as shewn clearly in
Figure 1. E is a loose jaw, bolted to the sides of the rail ends by the
bolts 6, 6, and resting at its lower edge c upon the side of the longi-
tudinal channel or trough before referred to, whilst its upper edge bears
at & against the under side of the head of each rail. e is a wedge-shaped
cottar, which is passed through slots made in both sides of the chair, and
through a central slot in the wedge block C. By gently tapping up this
cottar the wedge block will be tightened up underneath the rail ends, 1
thereby affording a firm bearing, and preventing all looseness at the joints.
The small end of the cottar should be split, as shewn in Figure 2, or other-
wise constructed, with a view to preventing it from becoming loosened
by the vibrations produced by the passing trains.
In some cases the thin end of the wedge block may be split and
opened out slightly to maintain the wedge in position, as shown at fin
Figures 9 and 10.
Although I have shewn a cast-iron chair in Figures 1, 2, and 3, I
prefer to make my improved chairs of wrought iron by rolling the chair
and fish plates, being combined in one, as shown in transverse vertical a
section at Figure 4, in side elevation at Figure 5, and in corresponding
plan at Figure 6. In this modification I produce the chair by rolling it in
'

page_text: two separate halves, B, B¹, each half forming also a fish plate, between
which the rail ends are secured by the usual fish bolts b, b. This chair
is supported on two sleepers A, A, as shown clearly in Figure 5. A pro-
jecting ledge or flange a, a, is rolled on the inner side of each half of the
chair, and upon these ledges there is placed the double wedge block C, C',
the lower wedge C being held in position by the shoulder or enlarge-
ment at its smaller end, which fits over the ends of the ledges or
bearing surfaces a, a, of the chair. The upper wedge C¹ is adjusted by a
transverse split cottar e, as previously described, which cottar may enter
a notch or recess formed on the surface of the wedge in lieu of being
passed through a slot or keyway made through the centre of the wedge,
as previously described. This arrangement enables me to produco not
only the chair but the wedge blocks by rolling.
I prefer, when making my chairs in wrought iron, to roll the bed or
lodge a, a, on each side of the chair of an inclined form, as shewn clearly
by the dotted line a in Figure 7, by which means I am enabled to
dispense with one of the two wedge blocks C, C³, last described, thus
reducing the number of the parts.
Although I have found split cottars to answer well in practice for the
securing and setting up of the wedge blocks, other modes of securing
and setting up the wedge blocks may be employed.
Although I have shewn in Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 a rolled wrought-iron
chair and fish plates combined, supported on sleepers, it is obvious that
my peculiar adjustable wedge block may be applied equally well between
a pair of suspended fish plates B, B', as shown in transverse section and
side elevation at Figures 8 and 9, each plate having a level or an
inclined ledge or projection corresponding to a, a, in Figure 4, rolled
upon it to form bearing surfaces for the said adjustable wedge block or
blocks C, C¹.
And although I have shewn in the Drawing hereunto attached the
wedge block applied to chairs for double-headed rails, it is also obvious
that by the cutting away at the joint of a certain amount of the lower
flange of a flat-bottomed rail, that my peculiar adjustable wedge block
may be applied to all such descriptions of rails as shown by the dotted
lines at g, g, in Figures 8 and 9.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
,

page_text: or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The peculiar arrangements, herein-before described and illus-
trated by my Drawings, for obtaining an adjustable bearing for the rails
of the permanent way of railways.
Second. The application and use of an adjustable wedge block placed
horizontally and longitudinally under the rail ends, whether in a joint
chair or between fish plates, and set up or tightened against the bottom
of the rails by a transverse key or wedge-shaped cottar or its equivalent,
arranged and operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Potts, the younger, havé to
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth
day of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.