Improved Means for Securing Railway Chair Wedges and Spikes.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Sept., 1899-Accepted, 28th Oct.. 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Securing Railway Chair Wedges and Spikes.
'I, JOHN HARRISON, of 3435, Cresson Street, Philadelphia, County of Phila-
delphia, State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Carpenter, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My invention has for its object to produce a new and improved key for railroad
spikes and railroad chair wedges, by means of which the wedges may be held
in place and by means of which old spikes and old cross-ties, whose efficiency
have been impaired or destroyed by the spikes wearing or working loose, may be
again rendered available and efficient. It is well known that it is impossible
to retain in position the ordinary wedges used to hold the rails in place in the
chairs, the wedges constantly loosening, necessitating their being driven in from
time to time. It is also well known that, after a tie has been in use for some
time, the slight but continuous working of the spike in the wood, added to the
tendency of the wood to appreciably disintegrate at the point of contact with
the spike, will often wear away the spike-hole radially to such an extent that
the spike will no longer have any binding engagement with the cross-tie, under
which conditions the rail or rail-chair is no longer, effectively secured to such
tie, and the tie is ordinarily discarded and a new one put in its place. This
frequent discarding of old ties, for the reason stated, involves an expense which,
in the aggregate, is a considerable and serious item in the maintenance and repair
of the general track construction.
The key which forms the subject of my invention is capable of being adapted
to hold the wedges firmly in place, and is also capable of being adapted for inser-
tion loosely in an old spike-hole after the spike has been withdrawn, and before
its reinsertion, so that when the spike is again driven home, it will engage
the key and be locked in the hole by reason of the key biting into and firmly
engaging the wall of the spike-hole, thereby obviating the necessity of discarding
the old ties.
In the drawings:-
-
Figure 1 is a plan view of rail-chair, portion of a cross-tie, rail, wedge, spike
and key.
Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2, of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the wedge and the key.
Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4, of Figure 2.
1 represents the tie, 2 the rail-chair, 3° the rail, 4 the wedge, 5 the spike,
6 the key for the wedge, and 7 the key for the spike.
The tie, rail-chair, rail, spike and wedge are of ordinary types, and need not
be particularly described. Preferably, however, the wedge is grooved from end
to end, as shown at 10. The key is preferably of about the same length as the
wedge, and of about the same width and thickness as the respective width and
depth of the groove, and has formed on one side the teeth, projections, ridges,
corrugations or serrations 9.

page_text: The operation is as follows. The key is placed in the groove of the wedge
with the teeth resting on the floor of the groove. The key is then hammered
into the groove until the teeth are forced into the wedge and the plane surface
of the key lies flush with the surface of the wedge. The wedge is then driven
in place in the ordinary way.
After the wedge is driven home, the ends of the key 6 are bent around the ends
of the chair-projection which it engages. This prevents the key from slipping
laterally in either direction, and by virtue of the fixed engagement between the
key and wedge, the wedge is prevented from slipping out.
The key for the spike is of the same general character as the key 6 for the
wedge. But while I prefer to form the key for the wedge with the sharp teeth
as illustrated in the drawings, I prefer to form the key 7 by taking a flat strip
of metal and corrugating it transversely, thus forming projecting portions 11
adapted to engage the wall of the spike-hole.
It is not intended primarily to utilize the key in connection with new ties,
although it is adaptable to such use. But after a tie has worn away contiguous
to the spike in such a manner that the spike becomes loose, it is withdrawn, the
key 7 dropped loosely into the spike-hole, and the spike then driven home, the
spike, by the lateral pressure upon the key that it exerts during its insertion,
causing the laterally projecting surfaces of the key to bite or press into the
wood, which not only causes the spike to fit tightly into the tie, but by the grip-
ping action of the key provision is made for subsequent wear without resultant
vertical looseness of the spike. This form of key possesses great strength and
has the capacity of being forced into the wood a sufficient distance to prevent a
vertical slippage of the key, and when in place, exerts also a decided lateral
pressure against the spike. The top of the key preferably projects above the
top of the spike and may be either bent over the top of the spike or the floor of
the chair, but preferably over the head of the spike.
If the spike is round in cross-section, it is preferable to make the key corre-
spondingly curved in cross-section, so as to have a contiguous bearing between
the spike and key, as shown in Figure 4.
The corrugations may be at right angles to the length of the key or they may
be formed so as to extend obliquely across the key. The key may be plane-
surfaced on one side (the side engaging the spike) and may be provided with
teeth, serrations, or projections on the other side (the side intended to engage
the wood), although this form of key is less desirable than the corrugated form,
either by reason of the breakage of the teeth or a decrease in the efficiency of
the binding action.
The key adapted for use in connection with spikes is particularly adapted for
the purpose of renewing or prolonging the efficiency of old cross-ties. It is not
adapted to be driven bodily into the solid wood, as this would break the teeth
of the toothed or serrated keys or distort the corrugated keys. For the same
reason, it is not adapted to be driven between the tie and the spike after the
spike is in place, and it could not be practically used in this way for the additional
reason that the orifice formed thereby would be equal in diameter to the maximum
thickness of the keys, so that the spike would be held in place with even less
security and permanence than ordinarily. The only efficient way of utilizing
the key is to drop it loosely in a spike-hole previously prepared, and more
specifically a spike-hole from which an old spike has been withdrawn, and then
to drive the spike in the somewhat smaller orifice remaining between the key
and the opposite wall of the spike-hole.
It is also important, if not practically essential, that the thickness of the key
should be relatively small as compared with the thickness of the spike, so that
the wedge action of the spike will be only sufficiently powerful to cause a firm
engagement of the wood and key, and for the further more important reason
that the hole should not be very considerably larger than the spike itself, as
otherwise the spike would be deflected, in the line of least resistance, laterally

page_text: away from the key, which would prevent an effective bearing between the spike
and key throughout the whole length of the key, and prevent the lower part of
the key from having any effective engagement with the contiguous wall of the
hole.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. In a railroad track construction, a key having projecting surfaces, said key
being adapted to be inserted between a wedge and chair, or between a tie and
spike, and extend longitudinally of the wedge or spike, and adapted to engage
the wood of the tie or wedge when the spike or wedge is driven home, to prevent
the spike or wedge from slipping or loosening in a direction longitudinally of
the spike or wedge, substantially as described.
2. In a railroad track construction, the combination with the rail chair, of
a rail, a wedge, and a key having projecting surfaces adapted to enter and engage
said wedge, the ends of the key being adapted to be bent around the edges
of the chair, substantially as described.
3. In a railroad track construction, the combination with the rail-chair, of a
rail, a wedge, and a key having projecting surfaces extending longitudinally
thereof, and adapted to enter and engage said wedge, the key extending longi-
tudinally of the wedge and adapted to have its ends bent around the edges of
the chair, substantially as described.
4. In a railroad track construction, the combination with the rail-chair, of a
rail, a wedge, and a key having projecting surfaces extending longitudinally
thereof and adapted to enter and engage said wedge, ends of the key engaging
the rail-chair, substantially as described.
5. In a railroad track construction, the combination with the rail-chair, of a
rail, a wedge shaped to engage the rail and chair, the wedge having a longi-
tudinally extending groove, and a key having projecting surfaces, the key being
adapted to rest in the groove and its projecting surfaces entering and engaging
said wedge and adapted to have its ends bent around the edges of the chair,
substantially as described.
6. In a railroad track construction, as a means for utilizing old spikes in old
spike holes, the combination with a railroad tie having a spike hole therein, of an
ordinary spike having plane-surfaced sides and of a thickness less than the average
diameter of the spike-hole, of a key having laterally projecting surfaces adapted
to be inserted loosely into the spike-hole after the withdrawal and before the
reinsertion of the spike, the width of the spike plus the thickness of the key being
substantially greater than the diameter of the spike-hole, the laterally projecting
surfaces of the key being forced into engagement with the ties by the lateral
pressure exerted by the spike during its insertion, substantially as described.
7. As a means for utilizing old spikes in old spike-holes, the combination with
a railroad tie having a spike-hole therein, of an ordinary spike, having plane-
surfaced sides and of substantially uniform thickness throughout the greater
5 portion of the length and tapering to a point at its driving end, and being of a
thickness less than the average diameter of the spike-hole, of a key having
laterally projecting surfaces, the key of a width substantially that of the spike,
and of a length approximately that of the spike, and adapted to be inserted
loosely into the spike-hole after withdrawal and before the reinsertion of the
spike, the width of the spike plus the thickness of the key being substantially
greater than the diameter of the spike-hole, the laterally projecting surfaces of
the key being forced into engagement with the tie by the lateral pressure exerted
by the spike during its insertion.
S. As a means for utilizing old spikes in old spike-holes, the combination with
5 the spike, of a key of substantially uniform thickness but of a thickness sub-
stantially less than its width, the key being bent to form transverse corrugations

page_text: substantially as described, the key being adapted to be inserted loosely into the
spike-hole after the withdrawal of the spike and to be forced into engagement
with the tie by the lateral pressure exerted by the spike during its insertion.
9. As a means for utilizing old spikes in old spike-holes, the combination with
the spike, of a key of substantially uniform thickness, but of a thickness sub-
stantially less than its width, and of a length approximately that of the spike,
the key being bent laterally to form corrugations substantially as described, the
.key being adapted to be inserted loosely into the spike-hole after the withdrawal
of the spike and to be forced into engagement with the tie by the lateral pressure
exerted by the spike during its insertion.
DL12011
r
1000
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
JOHN HARRISON.
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.