Improvements in Railway Spikes or Nails.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 17th Mar., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway Spikes or Nails.
We, FRANK EUGENE KIRBY, of 555, Woodward Avenue, Shipbuilder, Louis
CRANDALL STANLEY, of 49; Seward Avenue, Lawyer, and DANIEL A. DALY,
of 99, Pitcher Street, Gentleman, all in Detroit, Michigan, United States of
America, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:
-
This improvement relates to spikes which are known as railway spikes and
consists in the peculiar form and construction of a spike with a hollow stem;
the invention further consists in the construction of such a spike from a prepared
blank cut out of sheet metal shaped by dies and further in the construction.
arrangement and combination of the various parts hereinafter described and
claimed.
In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my improved spike.
Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the upper portion.
Fig. 3 is a plan of the head.
Fig. 4 is a vértical central section thereof on line
Fig. 8.
Fig. 5 represents the blank from which the spike is constructed.
Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the upper end of the spike in a modified form of
construction.
The spike as shown in Fig. 1 consists of a shank A and a head B, which head is
formed by means of a peculiarly formed turned down collar C, which surrounds
the upper end of the shank and forms the driving, drawing and bearing head of
the spike.
This spike is formed from a single piece of sheet metal or blank by shaping
between dies. The blank for the purpose is shaped as shown in Fig. 5, wherein A
denotes the body portion from which the shank is formed, and C the portion
from which the collar or head is formed.
The shank portion A of the blank is pointed at its lower end and has parallel
or slightly tapering edges and increases towards the upper end in width by means
of the lateral prolongations a of the blank.
The collar portion C forms an upward and lateral prolongation of this shank
portion, it is generally formed with the outlines required to form an ungulate
body which is substantially the form of the collar C of the finished spike.
From this blank the spike is formed by folding the same along the longitudinal
lines shown in dotted lines and cross folding it along the line de as shown in
Fig. 5. The line de is not a straight line but curves upward, preferably by
means of short sections of straight lines dc, e c and c e. The result of bending
the blank along these lines is that in the completed spike, the collar C slopes
away and overhangs the shank of the spike on the rail face thereof, thereby
forming with the lower edge of said collar the rail bearing of the spike.
In this manner of folding the spike is hollow its entire length closed on its
bearing face and open on the opposite face, except at the portion forming the head
which is formed closed by further bending in the lateral prolongations a from
opposite sides until they come in contact with each other along their edges.
That portion of the collar C which turns over the sides of the spike is pressed
closely in contact therewith, so that the lower edges thereof form suitable
shoulders for drawing the spike, which shoulders are continuous with the rail
bearing formed by the remaining portion of the collar:-

page_text: In the drawing is shown the spike as being folded in a manner to form a
U-shaped shank in cross section but it is obvious that it may be given a
V-shape, or other like gutter shaped form.
In the modification in Fig. 6, the collar C does not close around the rear portion
of the head, and this form is obtained by omitting the triangular portions f of
the collar portions of the blank, which portion may be omitted, if desired to cut
up the material from which the blank is made to better advantage.
This improved spike has several advantages; it will be seen that it is made
with a minimum of material and in weight perhaps thirty-two per cent. is saved
compared with the ordinary spike of equal size, it has a strong driving head
owing to the doubling of the material at the upper end of the spike; it forms a
strong rail bearing as the bearing is continuous along the lower edge of the
collar; it drives readily into the wood as it may be made more smooth than other
forms of spike and being provided with a chisel point enters the wood readily;
it does not break the wood down when driven in and when removed does not leave
a big hole but allows the wood to fill in the space again. It has superior holding
qualities as it is hollow and forms a maximum of surface with a minimum of
material and clamps the fibers of the wood between the open sides. It can be
readily withdrawn with the ordinary claw tools in use and the head cannot
collapse with any rough treatment as it is closed all around.
The prolongations a being tapered off gradually into the shank portion below
gives additional strength to the upper end of the spike and the article may be
readily manufactured by shaping the material cold between dics without injury
to the material from stretching or compressing by shaping simultaneously longi-
tudinally and crosswise.
While we have shown a specific form of head on the spike, we do not wish to
be limited to this precise form as many modifications can be and have been
devised by us which come within the spirit of this invention.
While we have shown and described a hollow spike made from sheet metal, in
its broader features we believe the invention includes spikes containing the
characteristics specified in the claims, whether made from sheet metal bent into
the shape described or whether forged or otherwise formed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that
what we claim is:-
1. A hollow spike with a head and a stem, the shank being straight, of U-shape
the sides of the stem being substantially parallel and of sufficient width as to
form efficient clamping jaws for the plug of wood between, whereby the holding
efficiency of the spike is increased.
2. In a hollow spike, the combination of a head, a straight stem formed of
deep U-shape in cross section, the two sides being substantially parallel, extending
throughout the driving portion, and a point formed by tapering the sides back
from the edges to the back.
3. A railway spike formed from a metal blank pressed into a U-shaped
shank, with substantially parallel sides and a reinforcement at the top of the
shank forming a head and a rail bearing.
Dated September 27th 1899
.
FRANK EUGENE KIRBY.
LOUIS CRANDALL STANLEY.
DANIEL A. DALY.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
FRANK EUGENE KIRBY.
LOUIS CRANDALL STANLEY.
DANIEL A. DALY.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
outhampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.