CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS OR TRAMROADS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HARPER, of the Grange, near Newnham, in the County of Gloucester,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the second year of Her reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Harper, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Harper, my
exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others as I said Thomas Harper,
my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times hereafter during the term therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, usc, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS OR TRAMROADS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas Harper, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, J, the said
Thomas Harper, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being bad
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon:-

page_text: My Improvements in Railways or Tramroads consist in a new method of
forming and fixing the chairs on which the rail is placed, and which I effect
as follows:-I use separate pieces or cheeks of cast iron (although it is obvious
that wrought iron may be used instead of cast iron) of the form shewn in
Figure 2 and Figure 3, a and b, in the annexed Drawing, and these I insert in
the usual sleeper of wood or stone by a cut or mortice dovetailed therein in the
shape of the lower part of the cheeks and wedge after mentioned, when united
and of corresponding dimensions therewith, in the manner shewn in Figure 4.
Between such pieces or checks I introduce a wedge or block of wood of the
shape shewn in Figure 3, c, which is made to fit tightly and thereby to secure
the cheeks in a firm position in the mortice to receive the rail. The wedge
may be made of iron or other metal, though it is not considered with equal
advantage, especially when the sleeper is of stone. The rail is then placed
bearing on the wedge and between the cheeks in the usual way. The size of
the cheeks and of the wedge and mortice must be formed proportionate to the
rail and the strength and solidity required; those which I have used are of
the following dimensions:-The cheeks are six inches and a half high from
top to bottom, of which the part inserted in the mortice is two inches and a
half, and within the mortice is three inches and a quarter in width by two and
a half inches in thickness at the base, and sloping off to one inch at the top
of the mortice. The space between the cheeks in which the wedge is inserted
is two inches and three quarters by three inches and a quarter in width and
two inches and a half deep, and the mortice corresponds with those dimensions
collectively. The exact proportions are not material supposing that it be
firmly fixed within the mortice by the means aforesaid.
That which I claim as my Invention of Improvements in Railways or
Tramroads is the forming of the chair, and the mode of fixing it in the sleeper
in manner before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Harper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-nine
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named Thomas Harper, in
the presence of, the erazures in the
fourth, fifth, and sixth lines from
THOMAS (L.s.) HARPER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Thomas Harper came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.