IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING RAILS IN RAILWAY CHAIRS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Sands, of the City of Manchester, Iron-
founder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING RAILS IN
RAILWAY CHAIRS."
Sealed the 25th March 1856, and dated the 2nd October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Sands at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
October 1855.
I, ALEXANDER SANDS, of the City of Manchester, Ironfounder, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SECURING RAILS
IN RAILWAY CHAIRS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in securing the rails to the chairs by means of a
wedge, driven vertically between the side of the chair and a block, fitting
between the flanges when a double-headed rail is used. This Invention is also
applicable to any other description of rail that can be secured to the chair
by wedging.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Sands in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
SANDS, of the City of Manchester, Ironfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Sands, Her special license that I, the said Alexander Sands, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Sands, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at 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 SECURING RAILS
IN RAILWAY CHAIRS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alexander Sands, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
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 Alexander Sands, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
Specification thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings (that is to say) :-
The nature of my said Invention of improvements in securing rails in rail-
way chairs consists in certain improved modes of constructing vertical wedges,
and the blocks and chairs against which they act, for the purpose of securing
the rails or the ends of the rails in the chair, and preventing the rising of the
wedge. I have in the said Drawing given Figures for shewing how my Inven-
tion may be performed, similar parts in the different views being marked with
similar letters of reference.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a railway chair to which my improve-
ments are applied; Figure 2 is an end view; and Figure 3, a plan of the
same. In Figure 1, a is the section of a double-headed rail of the usual form

page_text: fitting in the right-hand jaw of the chair 6; the block c fits between the flanges
on the other side of the rail. This block is pressed against the rail by the
vertical wedge d, which bears against the left-hand jaw of the chair, and is
retained laterally in its place by the projections e, e, see Figure 3, cast to the
chair. In order to diminish the friction of the wedge against the chair, I
prefer to round the inner surface of the left-hand jaw, as shewn in Figure 1;
and in order to prevent the rising of the wedge when it has been driven down
to secure the rail, I place within the wedge a pall f, which drops into notches
made in the block c. These notches, instead of being made in the block, may
be made in the left-hand jaw, or the pall may be placed within the block or the
jaw of the chair, and the notches made in the wedge. When it is requisite to
remove the wedge, the pall is taken out of the retaining notches by turning
the pin on which it is fixed, or by other means; a lever or other suitable instru-
ment is inserted in the slot g, made through the left-hand jaw of the chair,
which lever or instrument, acting on the lower end of the wedge, may be
made to force the wedge upwards, thereby setting the block and the rail at
liberty.
Figure 4 represents a plan of a chair, shewing a modification of the above
improvements. In this instance, the wedge d is prevented moving laterally by
the projections e, e, cast on the wedge, and the jaw of the chair is made
narrower to allow the projections to pass at each side thereof.
Figure 5 is an elevation of a chair, to which another modification of my
improvements is applied; Figure 6 is an end view; and Figure 7, a plan of
the same.
The block c is in this case made with a projection c', which fits in
a recess in the left-hand jaw of the chair b; this block is held in its place
lengthwise of the rail by the projections c², seen best in Figure 7, between
which the wedge d enters, and the wedge is retained in its proper position by
the projections e, c, cast as before on the chair. The chairs above described
may be used as intermediates, but they are particularly beneficial when used as
joint chairs, for the blocks c being parallel with the rail, it is evident that the
pressure exerted against them by the vertical wedges compresses and secures
both ends of the rail equally, whereas in chairs of the ordinary construction,
having longitudinal wedges, the end of one rail is held firmer than the other.
The pall and the notches into which it takes may be applied to the chair
shewn in Figures 5, 6, and 7. This Invention is also applicable to any other
description of rail that can be secured to the chair by wedging or keying.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I am aware
vertical wedges driven in from above have before been in use; I therefore

page_text: make no claim to the vertical wedge when used separately or apart from my
improvements; but what I do claim is,―
First, the pall f and the notches into which it enters, as shewn and as
described, when used for preventing the rising of wedges for securing rails in
railway chairs.
Secondly, the shoulders marked e, to retain the wedge in its proper position.
Thirdly, the projections c' and c² on the block c, shewn in Figures 5 and 7.
And lastly, the slot holes marked g when applied to railway chairs in which
vertical iron wedges are used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Sands, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
ALEXANDER SANDS. (L.s.)