Railway-rails upon their Sleepers or at their Joints.
Year: 1886

page_text: .
Railway-rails upon their Sleepers or at their Joints.
I, ALFRED BUCKINGHAM' IBBOTSON, of Ibbotson, Brothers & Co, Limited, Globe
Steel Works, Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of my
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to devices for use in combination with railway-rails for
securing them upon their sleepers or at their joints.
The said invention comprises novel features in the formation of screw-bolta.
According to one part of the said invention, I provide a staple-formed or double
bolt which is superior in several respects to those heretofore used.
Various kinds of staple-formed or double bolts, that is to say, bolts having two
screw-threaded shanks connected by a cross-bar, have been designed for securing
railway-rails at their joints. These bolts have usually been made by bending a
metal bar to the required shape, and leaving the corners curved or rounded, so
that it has been necessary to countersink the holes in the fish-plates, or cut away
the metal at the sides of the said holes, to admit the curved or rounded corners of
such double bolts.
In the Specification of Letters Patent dated 18th July A.D. 1885, No. 8713, an
invention is described which has been designed to overcome this difficulty and
which consists in making such bolts with heads or bearing surfaces united by a
cross-bar, so that they have no bends or curved corners. But I prefer that the
heads or bearing surfaces described in the said Specification should be dispensed
with, and have, therefore, devised the improvements herein described whereby
I am enabled to increase the efficiency, and, in some instances, cheapen the manu-
facture of such bolta.
Another very important feature of my invention is a screw-bolt which, in
addition to the ordinary screw-thread for the reception of the nut, has under its
head another screw-thread, as hereinafter described, so that the said bolt can be
screwed into a tapped hole in a fish-plate and the turning of the bolt, in screwing
up or unscrewing the nut, thus prevented.
Another feature of my said invention is the provision of means for preventing
the falling of my improved bolt or other bolts from their holes when the nuts are
alackened or removed therefrom,

page_text: my Bald invention, moreover, comprises var pro
set forth.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a transverse section through a rail and its sleeper, showing a simple
form of my improved double bolt or fastener.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the said bolt or fastener.
Figure 3 is a transverse section through a rail and its sleeper, showing the same
secured by one of my improved bolts or fasteners provided with means for pre-
venting its dropping down when the nuts are slackened or taken off.
Figure 4 is a similar section, showing a modification of my invention.
Figure 5 is a similar section, showing a further modification thereof.
Figure 6 is a horizontal section through a rail-joint, showing the fish-plates
secured by bolts or fasteners such as that shown in Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 7 is a horizontal section, and
Figure 8 a perspective view, partly in vertical section, illustrating a rail-joint
secured by the aid of bolts having under the bolt-head a screw-threaded portion
which fits a tapped hole in the fish-plate.
Figure 9 is a horizontal section through a rail-joint, showing another form of my
fastening devices.
Figure 10 is an underside view of the said fastening devices.
Figures 11, 12 and 13 are plans, partly in horizontal section, showing different
forms or modifications of fastening devices made according to my invention.
Figure 14 is a transverse section on the line x, x, Figure 13.
Figures 15, 16, 17 and 18 show, in plan and longitudinal section, differently
shaped plates forming parts of fasteners made according to my said invention.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
a, a are the rails and b, b the sleepers; c, o are fish-plates.
and
d is my improved double bolt or fastener, which is provided with nuts e, e,
which, in its simplest form, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and in Figure 6, has two
parallel screw-threaded portions or shanks d connected with a cross-bar d by bent
or curved corner portions d³. This cross-bar is oblong in transverse section, so
that it has a good bearing surface against the sleeper or fish-plate; it may be
made of any other suitable shape for this purpose. It will be seen that the bent
or curved portions d³ are depressed below the bearing surface of the cross-bar, so
that they do not bear against the sleeper or fish-plate; therefore no countersinking
of the holes or cutting away of the metal at the sides thereof is necessary. The
said bent or curved portions impart considerable elasticity to the bolt or fastener,
so that, after the nuts e are tightly screwed up, the said bolt or fastener is not
liable to become loosened by the expansion of its shanks d. Moreover, it will be
seen that these double bolts differ from those described in the said former Speci-
fication in respect of their bearing surfaces, that is to say, in my bolts the bearing
surface is entirely between the two shanks, whereas, in the bolts described in the
said Specification, the bearing surfaces are the projecting ends or heads.
By dispensing with the heads or bearing surfaces which project longitudinally
beyond the shanks in the fasteners described in the said former Specification, I am
enabled to diminish the weight for a given strength and to more easily and cheaply
manufacture the fasteners. I prefer to employ lock-nuts such as that now
generally known as the "Ibbotson " lock-nut.
In securing a rail to its sleeper by means of my fastener, the shanks dare
passed through holes in the sleeper b, as in Figure 1, and plates or washers ƒ are
placed upon them in such a manner that the said plates or washers bear upon the
flanges a¹ of the rail. The nuts are then screwed upon the parts d', as shown.
When my bolts or fasteners are employed for securing rails at their joints, the
parts are passed through holes in the fish-plates c and rail a and the nuts e are
screwed upon then, as shown in Figure 6.
To prevent the falling of the staple-formed bolt from the holes, when the nuts
are slackened or taken off, I, in some instances, secure the said bolt to the sleeper b

page_text: by means of a set-screw g, as shown in Figure 3, or in Figure 4. I sometimes
employ other means than those shown for retaining the bolt or fastener in position.
For instance, the set-screw may be inserted through the sleeper from the top and
screwed into the cross-bar d, or one or more set-screws may be employed; or bolta
and nuts or rivets may be used in place of the said set-screws.
In Figure 4, I have shown a modification of my fastener, wherein the cross-
bar d consists of a straight bar or plate which has inserted in it, near the ends
thereof, screw-bolts do, the necks or parts under the heads of which, as shown at d*,
are provided with screw-threads, which fit corresponding internal screw-threads in
the cross-bar d³, and which are reversed relatively to the screw-threads at the end,
that is to say, assuming that the screw-threads on which the nut is placed to be
right handed, as usual, the screw-threads at d will be left handed, or vice versa.
The screw-threads at d must be slightly larger in diameter and are preferably of
finer pitch than the ordinary screw-threads at the extremity of the bolt.
When the bolts ds are thus made and inserted in the cross-bar d³, they will be
very firmly and securely retained in the said cross-bar, and, by reason of the
differences in respect of the pitch, direction and size of the threads of the two
screwed parts, will not be liable to be loosened in the said cross-bar in slackening
or removing the nuts e.
Moreover, the operation of tightening the said nuts tends
to screw the bolts do more tightly into the cross-bar d.
I prefer that the threads at the necks of the bolts should be those commonly
termed gas-threads.
In Figures 7 and 8, I have shown a modification of my invention wherein one of
the fish-plates c serves as the cross-bar, the bolts d' being screwed into the said
fish-plate in the manner above described with reference to Figure 4.
A great objection to the use of ordinary bolts for securing fish-plates to rails
arises from the difficulty of preventing the turning of the said bolts in their holes
in screwing up the nuts. Various expedients have been adopted to overcome this
difficulty, but none of them have been satisfactory, as they either do not properly
accomplish the desired object or they are attended with serious disadvantages, such
as the weakening of the fish-plate which occurs when it is sought to overcome the
difficulty by the use of square holes in the same.
1
By the use of my improved fastener as shown in Figures 7 and 8, I provide for
completely preventing any turning or displacement of the bolts while tightening or
slackening the nuts, and I accomplish this result without the necessity for
weakening the fish-plates by square holes or like contrivances.
One feature of my present invention is the combination of the aforesaid bolt
having a screw-threaded neck, as described with reference to Figures 4, 7 and 8,
with an "Ibbotson" lock-nut such as that described in the specification of Letters
Patent dated 11th December A.D. 1878, No. 5082, to constitute a nut-locking
device for securing railway rails upon their sleepers or at their joints.
,
In the modification shown in Figures 9 and 10, the cross-bar d' is made con-.
siderably longer than in Figure 1, and two intermediate bolts d' are inserted
therein in the manner herein before described.
If desired, a single intermediate bolt is used, which is passed through a hole
formed partly in one rail and partly in the adjacent rail. Or three or more inter-
mediate bolts are employed..
Figure 5 shows a guard-plate h placed beneath the cross-bar d' and secured to
the said cross-bar and to the sleeper b by the set-screw g. This guard-plate is bent
at its ends, as shown, so that, when in place, it will extend beneath the heads of
the bolts do and will prevent their withdrawal from the cross-bar when the nuts
are slackened or taken off, should the said bolts by any means become slack in the
said cross-bar.
In some instances, instead of using a cross-bar with two bolts, as shown in
Figure 4, I employ a plate do of either of the shapes shown in Figures 11 to 18
and provided with three or more bolts do secured therein in the manner above

page_text: described with reference to Figure 4.
Fasteners thus constructed are very
advantageous for securing rails to their sleepers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I wish it under-
stood that in respect of the staple-formed or double bolt I do not claim the
utilization of the cross-bar to provide a bearing surface otherwise than in com-
bination with the peculiar formation of the curved or bent corners depressed or set
back so that they will not act as parts of the bearing surface. Also that I do not
claim the bolt having a screw-threaded neck except when the thread under the
neck is so formed relatively to the thread on which the nut is placed as to ensure
the results above specified with reference to this part of my invention, but
I claim :-
First. The improved staple-formed or double bolt wherein the cross-bar is made
with a central bearing surface connected with the shanks by bent or curved corner
portions so formed as to prevent their serving as bearing surfaces, substantially as,
and for the purpose, set forth.
Second. A screw-bolt provided at its neck or part adjacent to its head with
screw-threads differing from those which enter the nut either in their diameter,
their pitch or their direction, or in any or all of these particulars, for the purpose
specified.
Third. A locking or fastening device consisting of the bolt having the screw-
threaded neck as above described and a nut such as that described in the said
former specification No. 5082, for the purposes specified.
Fourth. A fastener for the purposes above specified, consisting of a plate having
secured therein two or more of the aforesaid bolts with screw-threaded necks,
substantially as set forth.
Fifth. The combination, with a fastener of the kind above described, of means
for holding the same in place when the nuts are slackened or taken off, substan-
tially as, and for the purpose, set forth.
Sixth. The combination, with a railway rail and sleeper, of the devices for
securing the rail, substantially as above described and as shown in Figure 1, 3, 4,
5, 11, 12 or 13 of the drawings.
Seventh. A rail-joint in which the fish-plates are secured by my improved
fastening devices, substantially as described with reference to Figure 6 of the
drawings.
Eighth. The modification of my invention (substantially as described with
reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the drawings) wherein one of the fish-plates is used
as the cross-bar of the fastener, for the purpose specified.
Ninth. The modification of my invention (substantially as described with
reference to Figures 9 and 10 of the drawings) wherein I employ one or more
intermediate bolts in combination with a cross-bar having two shanks formed
"integrally therewith.
1000