AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF RAILWAY, APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY ON COMMON ROADS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Dominique Bazaine. of Paris, in the Empire of
France, Head Engineer "des Ponts et Chaussées," for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF RAILWAY, APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY ON COMMON
ROADS."
France, Head Engineer "des Ponts et Chaussées," for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OP RAILWAY, APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY ON COMMON
ROADS."
Sealed the 20th April 1855, and dated the 2nd December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Dominique Bazaine at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd December 1854.
I, DOMINIQUE BAZAINE, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Head Engineer
"des Ponts et Chaussées," do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF RAILWAY, APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY ON COMMON
ROADS," to be as follows:-
This improved system of railway is to be applic: especially either on
macadamised roads, or on roads paved in the usual way, with or without cross
or longitudinal wooden sleepers; such wooden sleepers may be dispensed with,
and wood is not even wanted for that purpose, neither is it excluded.
The annexed Drawings represent the various features and applications of
this system. It consists in wrought-iron rails, of a particular shape, provided
with a wheel rut, and a counter rail at the top, for the passage of the flange at
the rim of the wheel. These rails rest on cast-iron chairs, Fig. 1, 2, 3, 3 bis,
6,7, placed at suitable_intervals,-which-chairs-are-riveted-on-wrought-iron
÷

page_text: cross sleepers, Fig. 3, 3 bis, or merely made fast to stone blocks, Fig. 2,
placed at suitable distances. The cast-iron chairs may also, if wanted, be
made fast to cross sleepers of wood.
Fig. 3 is a cross section, half size, of a smaller kind of rail made on that plan.
The cast-iron chairs may be variously shaped, Fig. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 11, as may
best suit the rails they have to support.
The wrought-iron sleepers may be set either wholly across the way, or some
of them may be put lengthways. The rails may also rest on wrought-iron
chairs, Fig. 4, 5, 10. The lower part of the rails has a ledge, as shown at L,
Fig. 1, 2, 3, 9, each rail being united to the next one by wrought-iron splints,
bolted or riveted to them, and resting on the said ledges, Fig. 9. Yet this
lower ledge may be dispensed with, as in Fig. 6, 7, 11; but in that case the
lower part of the rail is bent at each extremity about half the length of
the splint, and it is on that bent part that the splint is supported. It is
evident that the shape may be variously altered, so as to facilitate or permit
the laminating or rolling of the rail.
In setting the way, I consider it advantageous to make the chairs with
notches, into which the rails are made to fit, as shown at N, Fig. 6 and 11.
When this plan is adopted, the rail, instead of being fastened to every chair by
bolts or rivets, may be fastened only to each alternate chair.
Square plates of cast iron may be used instead of stones for the setting of
the chairs. Wherever wood is abundant, or preferable, longitudinal wooden
sleepers may be used instead of wrought or cast iron chairs, as in Fig. 8, in
which case the rails are fastened thereto by spikes or screws.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DOMINIQUE
BAZAINE, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Head Engineer des Ponts et
Chaussées, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Dominique Bazaine, Her special licence that I-the-said Dominique.

page_text: Bazaine, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Dominique Bazaine, my 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 "AN IMPROVED.
SYSTEM OF RAILWAY, APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY ON COMMON ROADS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Dominique Bazaine, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same 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 Dominique Bazaine, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This improved system of railway is intended to be applied to macadamised
roads, or to roads paved in the usual way, with or without cross or longitudinal
wooden sleepers; such wooden sleepers may be dispensed with, and wood is not
even wanted for that purpose, neither is it excluded.
The annexed Drawings represent the various features and applications of that
system. Sheet I. of the Drawings contains the Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 13, 14;
Sheet II. contains the Figures 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 31;
Sheet III. contains Figures 6, 7, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30.. In all
the Drawings the same letters indicate similar pieces. R, rail; C, chair;
S, sleeper; M, mushroom-shaped top of the rail; A, wheel rut; B, counter
rail; L, under ledge of the rail; D, fastening splint; H, bearing stones. My
improved rails are made of rolled iron of a particular shape, somewhat
resembling the common single T-shaped rail, with this difference, that the
widened part of my new rail is provided with a wheel rut and counter rail for
the passage of the flange at the rim of the wheels; such rails rest on cast-iron
chairs, placed at suitable distances, according to the particular conditions of
frequency and importance of the trains or single carriages in circulation. The
chairs, Fig. 4, 5, Sheet I., are either rivetted on wrought or rolled iron
sleepers, Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or merely made fast to stone blocks placed 'at
suitable distances, Fig. 10, 11, Sheet II. The same chairs may also, if wanted,
be made fast to cross sleepers of wood. Fig. 6, 7, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, are
full-size-Drawings of several arrangements of rails-placed on their chairs.

page_text: Fig. 4, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 26, 27, are half-size Drawings, of other
arrangements of rails. Fig. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 28, and 29; are Drawings
one-tenth of the real size, of several arrangements of portions of railways.
Fig. 8, 9, 19, 20, 21, and 22, are other dispositions, on the scale.of one-twentieth
of the real size. Other dispositions are. represented in. transverse section,
Fig. 5, 6, 13, 16, 24, 25, 26, 31. The height of the rail. may be modified,
and likewise the other dimensions, in proportion to the strain or weight which
the rail has to sustain. Fig. 5, 6, 13, 16, 17, 24, and 26, being transverse
sections, represent in ordinary circumstances the minimum of the dimensions
of the rail in reference to the running surface, width, and depth of the
adjoining wheel rut.
:
The running surface of the rail is rounded, and is maintained at 16 or
of an inch below the counter rail or the level of the road, so as to secure
a quick draining of the rail, and at the same time not to obstruct public
circulation. :
The width of the wheel rut and the thickness of the counter rail I con-
sider best to be at least two inches, Fig. 5, 6, 13, 16, 17; but it is still better,
perhaps, to make it or of an inch wider, as in Fig. 24, 26, 30, 31. · This
width is such that the flanges of the wheels, being, about. of an inch thick,
may have, a windage, so to speak, of a same quantity in the.rut, so that the
dimensions above alluded to would offer no obstruction to the circulation
of horses.or, of ordinary, vehicles... The rails, being placed contiguously to each
other; are fastened by iron splints, and bolted or rivetted together at each
respective end, as shown, Fig. 2, 4, 6, and 7. In this mode of fastening the
rails together, the latter do not require the support of chairs at the ends;
neither is it necessary that they should be of a uniform length. The thickness
and height of the cast-iron chairs may be modified according to the thickness
and mode of construction of the causeway or road; but in no instance does the
chair interfere with the laying of paving or of broken stones on the road, as
may be seen in Fig. 3, 5, 12, 18, 21, 22, 28, 29. The chairs are made fast
by rivets or bolts to rolled-iron-cross-sleepers,-the-form-and-dimensions-of-
which are represented, Fig. 1, 2, 4, 5, 15, 16; or else they may be fastened to
stone blocks, Fig. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. The rolled iron sleepers may be all laid
across the rails, or some of them lengthways and others crossways, as seen in
Fig. 8 and 9. The stone blocks, represented in the Drawings as opposite to
each other, may, however, have another disposition, as, for example, alternately
on each side.
Fig. 15. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 represent rails and chairs of various

page_text: wrought iron. The observations previously made apply equally well to this
variety. The lower part of the rails have a ledge, as seen at L, Fig. 5, 6, 13,
16, 17, 31; but this ledge may be dispensed with, as in Fig. 22, 24, 25, 26;
but then in order to support the uniting splint, the lower edge of the rail is
bent near each end a little more than half the length of the said splint.
The rail might also retain the under ledge; one of the advantages of which
is to give strength and rigidity to the rail, in which case the lateral sides of the
rail should be slanting, as represented in Fig. 31. In either of these cases.
the laminating operation is notably facilitated; but whatever the rails may be,
I consider it advantageous to lodge them into a shallow notch cut or reserved
in the chair, as seen in Fig. 25, 26, 27, 31. This disposition maintains the
rails and its fastening to each chair by two pieces; a rivet and a bolt may be
dispensed with, and one of them only be alternately used. The use of cast-iron
chairs with a large footing instead of stone blocks, as shewn in Fig. 26; 27,
28, 29, Sheet III., may sometimes prove economical.
In those countries in which wood is abundant and cheap, and when the
principal condition of the establishment of the road is one of economy, the
system represented in Fig. 30 may be used. In such a case the rail should
be fastened to the longitudinal wood sleepers by spikes, bolts, or screws.
The meeting ends of such sleepers should, I conceive, be covered up by iron
plates, about from four to six inches long, as represented by dotted lines in the
Drawing, so as to protect the sleepers, and similar plates should likewise be
placed under the joints of the rails.
In witness whereof, I, the said Dominique Bazaine, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above-named
Dominique Bazaine, in the presence of
L. D'AUBRÉVILLE.
D. BAZAINE. (L.S.)