AN IMPROVED RAILWAY SLEEPER
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hector Auguste Dufrené, of No. 10, Rue de la
Fidelité, Paris, in the Republic of France, and 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED RAILWAY SLEEPER."-A communication
from Monsieur Auguste Jules Junius Lévèque, residing at Blangez-
sur-Bresle, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hector Auguste Dufrené
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th January 1875.
I, HECTOR AUGUSTE DUFRENÉ, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in
the Republic of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, -Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED RAILWAY SLEEPER," to be as follows, that is
to say:

page_text: and in connecting them at their lower part with base plates and at their
upper part with the rails.
The sleeper is recessed at its lower part so as to receive two wooden
base plates placed in a line under the rails; these plates are connected
to the sleeper by means of bolts; these bolts are not placed in the same
line, but askew, so as not to weaken the part, and are connected together
by a flat band, and fixed by two screw nuts; these nuts have holes for
receiving the projecting part of a key, and serve at the same time to fix
the rail, against the flange of which a pin passing through one of these
holes buts and prevents the nuts getting loose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Hector Auguste Dufrené in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HECTOR
AUGUSTE DUFRENÉ, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the
Republic of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil
Engineeer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five; in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, Her special
licence that I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hector Auguste
Dufrené, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED RAILWAY SLEEPER," a communication from Monsieur
Auguste Jules Junius Lévêque, a person resident at Blangez-sur-Bresle,
in the Republic of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Hector Auguste Dufrené, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and

page_text: 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 Hector Auguste Dufrené, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereto annexed and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say :-
This Invention consists in the employment of unhewn timber or logs,
with or without the bark, of small diameter, for making railway sleepers,
and in connecting them at their lower part with base plates and at their
upper part with the rails.
The sleeper is recessed at its lower part so as to receive two wooden
base plates placed on a line under the rails; these plates are connected
to the sleeper by means of bolts; these bolts are not placed in the same
line, but askew, so as not to weaken the parts, and are connected
together by a flat band, and -fixed by two screw nuts; these nuts have
holes for receiving the projecting part of a key, and serve at the same.
time to fix the rail, against the flange of which a pin passing through
one of these holes abuts and prevents the nuts getting loose.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 is a plan shewing my improved
sleeper, with a rail applied thereto; Figure 2, a transverse section; and
Figure 3, a longitudinal section of same.
Figures 4 and 5, elevation and plan on a smaller scale of a complete
sleeper, with base plates and rails.
Similar letters in all the Figures represent similar parts.
B is the sleeper, of unhewn wood, recessed on its under side so as to
receive the two wooden base plates D, placed in a line under the rails;
these plates are connected to the sleeper by means of the bolts E, and
serve to replace the cramp irons by which the rail is usually fixed;
these bolts are not placed in the same line, but askew, so as not to
weaken the sleeper; they are united together by a flat band F, and fixed
by two screw nuts G. These nuts have holes H to allow of their being

page_text: turned by means of a key provided for the purpose. When the nuts.are
tightened a pin I is driven into one of these holes, and which pin
coming against. the edge of the rail will prevent the nut coming
unscrewed.
I have described my improved sleeper in combination with a rail
having a single flange; it will be easily understood that a rail having a
double flange and placed on a chair may be applied. In this case the
sleeper will be mounted exactly in the same manner as herein-before
described; the bolts will pass through the holes in the chairs, through
which spikes are usually passed, and the screw nuts will fix the chairs
on the sleeper.
Having thus described. the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, what I claim is, the
construction of the improved sleeper of unhewn wood of. small diameter,
as herein-before described and represented in the Drawing..
In witness whereof, I,, the said. Hector Auguste Dufrené, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five