CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Marie Pouillet, Civil Engineer, of Paris, in
the French Empire, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 15th February 1856, and dated the 7th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Marie Pouillet
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th November 1855.
I, CHARLES MARIE POUILLET, Civil Engineer, of Paris, in the French'
Empire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, first, in the employment, in the construction of the
permanent way of railways, of sleepers, supported upon and fixed to what I
term pressure tables or bearers, and of cast-iron chairs.
Second, in the employment of pressure tables and sleepers, in which
apertures are made for placing the rails, fixed and held in position by a
key.or wedge.
Third, in joining the ends of the rails by splints or side pieces, placed on
each side of the joint, and secured by bolts or rivets passed through them
and the rails.

page_text: And, fourth, in a frame or apparatus for effecting the change, or crossing
from one line or set of rails to another.
In Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed I have shewn a sectional elevation,
and in Figure 2:a plan, of pressure table, sleeper, and chair, with rail held
therein.
In Figure 3 I shew the improvement referred to under the second head of
this my Provisional, Specification, in which the chair is dispensed with, and the
rail is held and fixed in the sleeper. Figure 4 shews the manner in which I
unite the ends of rails; and at Figures 5 and 6 are represented frames for
changing and crossing. The pressure tables only are fixed to the sleepers, and
between the two parts of each table a space is preserved, equal to the breadth
of the girder.N, so that on placing the sleepers upon the girders the parts of
each table fall equally on each side of them and preserve the gange. After
the sleepers have been spaced out according to the requirements of the rails,
they are fixed upon the girders by wooden screws, the heads of which are. flush
with the top of the sleepers, so as not to interfere with the laying of the chairs.
Changings of way and crossings, constructed in the manner just described,
possess the great advantage of being easily put together and taken to pieces,
and are very solid and durable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Marie Pouillet in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MARIE POUILLET, 'Civil Engineer, of 'Paris, in the French Empire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh, day of November, 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 Charles Marie Pouillet, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Marie Pouillet, my executors, 'administrators, and assigns, "or" such
others as I, the said Charles Marie Pouillet, 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

page_text: of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Marie Pouillet, 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 calendár
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Marie Pouillet, 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 consists,. first, in the employment, in the construction of the
permanent way of railways, of sleepers, supported upon and fixed to what I
term pressure tables or bearers, and provided with cast-iron or other chairs.
Second, in a new description of iron railway chair.
Third, in arrangements for joining the ends of rails by splints or side plates,
secured by bolts, rivets, or clamping, and also for fixing the rails to the
sleepers by clamps, bolts, or screws.
Fourth, in the employment of pressure tables and sleepers, in which
apertures are formed to receive the rails, whereby chairs are dispensed with.
Fifth, in a frame or apparatus for effecting the changing, or crossing from
one line of rail to another.
And, sixth, in the employment, in the construction of the permanent way of
railways, of girders, with pressure tables or bearers, to support flat-bottomed
rails.
The manner in which I carry my Invention into effect is represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed. Figure 1 to 11 exemplify the first part of my
Invention, and represent the construction of permanent way in which sleepers
and pressure tables or bearers are employed.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a railway sleeper, chair, and rail;
Figure 2, cross section.through the line x, y, of Figure 1; and Figure 8, a plan.
L is a cross sleeper; D, cast-iron chair, made broad at bottom, so as to rest
firmly on the sleeper L; S is the rail; A, B, is a rib formed on the top of
the chair along the middle; it serves as a seat or support for the bottom of the
rail. The extremities of this rib are prolonged and carried in an upward
direction to form the inner lug C, D, of the chair; they also support the rail,

page_text: and prevent its yielding to the strain exerted when the key Tis driven between
the outer lug of the chair and front of the rail, Figure 2. This outer lug is
made broad to afford a greater surface for the key to bear against, and thus
more completely lock the rail. G, G, are screw bolts for securing the chair to
the sleeper; I is the pressure table or bearer, placed underneath. the sleeper,
and secured to it by, bolts J, J; H, H, are recesses formed in the under part
of the chair to diminish its weight; K is a rib cast on the chair, and in a
piece with it. This rib fits into the sleeper, prevents the chair from shifting,
and facilitates the fixing of the pieces together. The inner lug of the chair is
slightly sloped away to the extent of th, and thus gives the same degree of
inclination to the rail. The whole line of rail is furnished with
pressure tables
or bearers, arranged as represented and described, the ends of each transverse
sleeper resting on pressure tables in the manner just explained, whereby the
permanent way is rendered, strong, and firm, smooth, easy, and regular, and
may be worked with considerable rapidity and little danger.
Figures 4 and 5 shew the manner in which two rails are united between
two chairs, which are brought together by means of iron clamps or splints. a, a,
which embrace the two adjacent ends of two rails S, S, and secure them firmly
together by bolts or rivets b.
Figure 6 is a transverse section, and Figure 7 a plan, of one of my improved
rolled iron railway chairs; Figure 8, an elevation of the same, shewing an
arrangement for joining two ends of rails., B, B, are the rails; they are
joined by an iron splint or clamp C, bolted on each end of each rail. A is the
chair; D is a wooden key fitted between the rail and the lug of the chair;
E is an abutment cast on the chair, against which the bottom of the rail bears,
so as not to shift; F, F, are bolts or wooden screws which fix the chair on the
sleeper. The splint C, rail B, key D, and lug of the chair are all secured
together by the bolt G, which forms the joint where the rails unite.
Figure 9 is a cross section through the rail, and Figure 10 a front view of
a chair A, made of rolled iron, in which the rail is laid lengthwise between
the parts where two ends of rails are united; here a single rivet G secures
rail, key, and lug. Figure 11, shews another arrangement. A is the chair,
made of rolled iron; B,-rail formed with only one lip or projecting part at
bottom; D is the key, which consists of a thin strip of wood; by this arrange-
ment the lugs of the chair are brought closer together, and its weight
diminished A thin piece of wood, felt, cardboard, or pitch may be inserted
between the bottom of the rail and the chair to close them. more tightly
together. These chairs are made in a rolling mill, and are afterwards divided

page_text: off into the proper sizes; they are less liable to fracture than chairs made of
cast iron.
Figures 12 to 15. illustrate the third part of my Invention, and represent
arrangements for joining rails. Figure 12, transverse section, and Figure 13,
side view, shew an arrangement for uniting two rails by splints and' bolts.
a, a, are two splints or clamps, which embrace the opposite sides of the rails,
and are secured by bolts b, b. Figures 14 and 15 shew.an arrangement for
effecting the joining of rails, in which the employment of chairs is dispensed
with. S, S, are the rails made flat:at bottom;:a notch or recess c is formed in
each end of each rail, and the two ends are united by means of an union
piece d inserted between them, formed with a mid rib and flange on each side,
and secured by a screw. Figures 15. and 16 shew the manner in which the
rail is secured to the girder. K is the girder, which is fixed to the rail by bolts.
G, G, and to the transverse sleeper L by bolts f; I is the pressure-table-or
bearer, which is secured to the girder by.bolts g. In this arrangement the
employment. of chairs is dispensed with, and the weight of the permanent way
diminished without impairing its solidity.
of
'
.
Figures 17, 18, and 19 illustrate the manner of carrying the fourth-part
my Invention into effect, and exemplify the construction of a permanent
way, with pressure tables and sleepers formed with recesses or apertures to
receive the rails. Figure 17, is a sectional elévation of an arrangement 'in
which the pressure tables and sleepers are employed, the sleepers being formed
with recesses or apertures in which the rails are placed, so that the employ-
ment of chairs may be dispensed with. Figure 18 is a plan, and Figure 19,
side view of the same. S.is .the rail; L, sleeper; I, pressure table or bearer.
The rail S is placed in a recess or aperture.a, formed in the sleeper L, and
there fixed by a key T. The recess is on one side of the same configuration
as the rail (so that it may fit), but on the other side it is so shaped as to
prevent the key T riding up. This arrangement may be applied to ordinary
descriptions of. rail, differing in description from that shewn in the Drawing,
which, however, is well adapted for this plan. The sleeper L is bolted to the
pressure table on each side of the recess by screw bolts G, G. h is an iron
plate, chamfered off at each end, and placed under the nut of the bolt 'G;"it
serves as a washer thereto, and also presses on the sleeper, and prevents "its
splitting under the pressure of the key. The lengths of rails are united by
splints or plates a, as in Figures 12 and 13. The sleepers are nearer to each
other at the parts where the rails are joined together, as represented in the
Drawing; they may all. be of the same length, or small additional sleepers 'E'

page_text: may
be laid between them, as shewn in Figure 18, the larger. ones only being.
employed at the parts where two lengths of rail are joined. This construc-
tion of permanent way is: both solid and economical. There is little or no
noise, nor danger of the rails shifting lengthwise; the trains run smoothly over
it, and the rolling stock is little liable to injury.
Figures 20, to 24 exemplify the fifth part of my Invention, and represent
my improved arrangement for effecting the changing or crossing from one line
to another. Figure 20 is a plan, Figure 21 side elevation, and Figure 22
end view, of this arrangement; Figure 28, a plan; Figure 24, another end
view. I, I, are pressure tables or bearers; L, L, sleepers; K, girders. The
pressure tables are only secured to the sleepers, and between the two parts of
each table a space is left equal to the breadth of each girder K, so that upon
placing the sleepers, upon the girders the parts of each table fall equally on
ench side of them, and so preserve the gauge. When the sleepers have been
spaced out as the rails may require, they are fixed on the girders by wooden
screws J, the heads of which are flush with the top of the sleepers, so as not to
interfere with laying down of the chairs. Changings of ways and crossings
constructed in, the manner. just described are easily put together and taken to
pieces, and are very solid and durable.
Figures 25, 26, and 27 illustrate the sixth part of my Invention, and
represent the construction of permanent ways, in which pressure tables and
girders supporting flat-bottomed rails, are employed. Figure 25 is a plan,
Figure 26, side view, and Figure 27, end view. Here the rails are laid on
the girders, which are provided with pressure tables, and supported on trans-
verse sleepers formed with recesses to receive them. The ends of two rails
are joined either by splints or plates bolted or rivetted as in Figures 12 and 18,
or by the arrangement shewn in Figures 14 and 15. S is the rail, formed flat
at bottom, as in Figure 16, and bolted on the guides K, which are fitted in
the recesses of the sleeper L, as shewn in Figures 15 and 16. Between the
sleepers L intermediate or additional pressure tables I are fitted, by which
means the girders are. more. firmly seated in place. Figure 28 plan, Figure
29 side view, and Figure 30 end view, shew various arrangements for securing
the rails on the sleepers. L is the sleeper; I, pressure table; S, rail formed
flat at bottom., The rails are secured to the sleeper either by being clamped or
dovetailed into them, or by cramps 7, where the rails are united to intermediate
sleepers by wooden screws m, provided with washers, as shewn in Figure 28.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-

page_text: ments in railways, the several improved arrangements herein-before separately
described, and represented in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Marie Pouillet, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Ing³ Civil,
6, Rue Filles du Calvaire, à Paris.
CH. M. POUILLET. (L.S.)