IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENING THREADED NUTS AND BOLTS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Littell Tizard, of Mark Lane, in the City of
London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENING
THREADED NUTS AND BOLTS."
Sealed the 28th May 1861, and dated the 1st December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Littell Tizard at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st December 1860.
I, WILLIAM LITTELL TIZARD, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Engi-
neer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FASTENING THREADED NUTS AND BOLTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention is intended more especially to refer to the nuts used to secure
the "fishes" of the joints of rails. The nuts as now used. require constant
attention to fasten them up owing to their becoming loose consequent upon
the action of passing trains.
Now, my Invention consists in the employment of a washer, one side of
which is extended, and has the edges turned down over the "fish plate." I
then make a slit in the washer parallel with one of the sides of the nut, and
another slit so as to form a tongue. After the nut is screwed up I turn up
the tongue, and thus the nut is prevented from turning. Instead of a tongue

page_text: I sometimes turn up a piece of the washer, and drive a key or wedge between
it and the flat side of the nut. The Invention applies equally to square and
polygonal-headed bolts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Littell Tizard in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LITTELL TIZARD, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Wil-
liam Littell Tizard, Her special licence that I, the said William Littell Tizard,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Littell Tizard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time, and all times thereafter 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENING
THREADED NUTS AND BOLTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Littell Tizard, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said 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 William Littell Tizard, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention is intended more especially to refer to the nuts used to
secure the "fishes" of the joints of rails. The nuts as now used require con-
stant attention to fasten them up owing to their becoming loose consequent
upon the action of passing trains.

page_text: Now, my Invention consists in the employment of a washer, one side of
which is extended, and has the edges turned down over the "fish plate;" I then
make a slit in the washer parallel with one of the sides of the nut, and another
slit so as to form a tongue. After the nut is screwed up I turn up the
tongue, and thus the nut is prevented from turning.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section, and Figure 2
a face view with the rail and fish plate in section, of so much of a rail and fish
plate as is necessary to illustrate my Invention.
a is the rail; b, b, are the fish plates; c is a bolt passing through the fish
plates and rail; d is the washer, a detached view of which is given at
Figure 3, placed over the threaded portion of the bolt c. It is by preference
made of 'the best iron rolled into strips and cut the required size and shape; it
has slits cut in it as shewn, whereby a series of tongues are formed, and it is
curved to suit the exterior surface of the fish plate, the lower portions e, e,
resting on the rail as shewn in Figure 2, whereby the washer is prevented
from turning when the nut is turned by the spanner; f is the nut screwing
over the bolt c, and abutting against the washer d. To prevent the nut from
becoming loose, I turn up one of the tongues formed by the slits as shewn at g,
against one of the flat sides of the nut, whereby the bolt is prevented from
working loose. When the nut is set at a different angle to that shewn at
Figures 1 and 2, I turn up another tongue corresponding with one of the flat
sides of the nut. Instead of a tongue I sometimes turn up a piece of the
washer, and drive a key or wedge between it and the flat side of the nut.
Figure 4 is a face view of this arrangement with rail and fish broken off'; d is
the washer, having the parts g, g', cut in such manner that they can be turned
up as shown, and made of a size to fit between the projections on the rail; k is
the wedge driven between the turned up part 9 and one of the flat sides of the
nut, whereby the nut is prevented turning; Figure 5 is a similar view to
that shewn in the last Figure, but differs from it in that the wedge k is driven
between the two turned up parts g, g', and the nut; the nuts are shewn at
different angles in both Figures, and the Invention applies equally to square
and polygonal-headed bolts and nuts.
Aud having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improvements in
fastening threaded nuts and bolts :-
First, the employment of washers having a tongue or tongues formed on
them, which is or are turned up against the nuts for securing them, and for
preventing their becoming loose, substantially in manner and for the purposes
illustrated at Figures 1, 2, and 3, of the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Second, securing the nut by turning up a piece or pieces of the washer,
and driving in a key or wedge between the flat side of the nut and the turned
up portion of the washer, substantially in manner herein-before described with
reference to Figures 4 and 5 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Littell Tizárd, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.