IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SWITCHES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Richardson, of Great George Street, West-
minster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RAILWAY SWITCHES."
Sealed the 10th October 1856, and dated the 14th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Richardson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th April 1856.
I, ROBERT RICHARDSON, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SWITCHES, to be as follows:-
I construct the tongue rail of the switch of a double-headed or other form
of rail, the end of which is bent downwards and also bent towards the main
rail, so that the upper part of the tongue rail passes partly under the upper
table or flange of the main rail. One side of the upper part of the tongue rail
may be sloped off or removed by planing or otherwise. When double-headed
rails are employed, both flanges of the tongue rail may pass under the cor-
responding flanges of the main rail. By this construction a strong tongue rail
is obtained.
5
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Robert Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
RICHARDSON, of Great George Street, Westminster, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert
Richardson, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Richardson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Richardson, 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 RAILWAY
"SWITCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Richardson, 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 Robert Richardson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:
I construct the tongue rail of the switch of a double-headed or other form
of rail, the end of which is bent downwards and also bent towards the main
rail, so that the upper part of the tongue rail passes partly under the upper
table or flange of the main rail. One side of the upper part of the tongue rail
may be sloped off or removed by planing or otherwise. When double-headed
rails are employed, both flanges of the tongue rail may pass under the cor-
responding flanges of the main rail. By this construction a strong tongue rail
is obtained.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a side view, and Figure 2 is a
plan, of a railway switch constructed according to my Invention. A is the
main rail, supported by the chairs B, C, D, E, F, in the ordinary manner; G is
the tongue rail, which is jointed to the rail H by a fish joint, or other joint
which admits of the end of the tongue rail being moved towards or away from
the main rail; I is the rod by which the tongue rail is moved in the ordinary
The tongue rail G is made from a piece of double-headed-wrought-
iron rail in the following manner :-The outer side of the upper flange of the
manner.

page_text: tongue rail from a to b is planed to the form indicated by the series of cross
sections, shewn in Figure 7. The part from a to ċ is slightly bent horizontally
outwards, and the part from d to b is bent in a curvilinear direction both
downwards and inwards towards the main rail A. The upper and lower
flanges of the tongue rail are thus made to curve round and pass under the
corresponding flanges of the main rail, as shewn on a larger scale in the trans-
verse sections in Figure 6. A small portion of metal may afterwards be planed
off at the point d, so as to facilitate the easy entrance of the flanges of the
wheels of the carriages upon it. The side of the tongue rail which is next to
the main rail may also be bevilled a little by planing, to ensure greater strength
at the wearing parts, although this is not necessary. A very strong point rail
is thus produced. In some cases the tongue rail may be first bent, as herein-
before described, and afterwards planed to the required form; but in all cases
the end of the rail is to be bent downwards and towards the main rail, so that
its upper flange, or a portion of it, may pass under the upper flange of the
main rail.
Figure 3 is a plan of another switch constructed according to my Invention,
and similar to that shewn in Figures 1 and 2, excepting that the main rail A
is secured by wedges or keys e, e, e, instead of employing pins and cotters for
that purpose in the ordinary manner, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2. For this
purpose the chairs C, D, E, are made with jaws, as shewn in the transverse
section, Figure 5. The lower flange of the tongue rail G is notched at
the side, as shown at fif, in Figure 4, which is an elevation of the tongue rail,
which is supposed to be turned over to show the side which is next to the
main rail. The chair which receives the tongue rail G and the rail H is a fish-
joint chair, being formed with an elongated jaw which fits into one side of the
rails, while an ordinary fish is fitted into the other side of the rails and secured
by screws or bolts.
Figure 8 is a transverse section of a main. rail A, with a tongue rail G.
The bottom flange of the main rail, and the. top flange of the tongue rail are
bevilled at g and h; to allow the centres of the rails to come closer together.
In Figure 9 a somewhat similar arrangement is shewn, but in this case
the whole of the inside bottom flange of the main rail and of the inside top
flange of the tongue rail is removed at the point of contact of the two rails.
This construction of switch is also applicable to rails of other sectional forms.
Thus, Figure 10 is a transverse section of a flat-bottomed rail A; with a tongue
rail G, formed from a rail of similar section by removing the bottom flange and
bending the rail downwards and towards the main rail, and removing a portion
of the outer upper flange, as herein-before described.

page_text: Figure 11 is a transverse section of a flat-bottomed rail A, with a tongue
rail G of similar section. In this case a portion of the lower flange of each
rail is removed, and the end of the tongue rail is bent downwards and towards
the main rail, as before described. In some cases, when the form of the
bar employed for making the tongue rail will admit, the bar may be simply
bent downwards and towards the main rail without removing any portion of
it by planing. If necessary the main rail may be slightly bent or notched
to receive the end of the tongue rail.
I have described the tongue rails as being constructed of wrought-iron bars,
but they may also be made of bars of steel or semi-steel, or by casting them of
malleable iron or of steel or semi-steel. When the tongue rail is made
of wrought iron, the parts exposed to wear, or the part which is first touched
by the flanges of the wheels as they enter upon it, may be made of steel,
or case-hardened.
The tongue rail, when the switch is open, may be made to rest against the
jaws of the chairs, and it thus forms an efficient check rail for guiding
the flanges of the wheels. When the switch is closed the flange or flanges of
the tongue rail are so completely locked under the flange or flanges of the
main rail that it remains quite steady, and cannot be jerked up and down by
the wheels passing over it.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is,-
Firstly, constructing the tongue rails of railway switches by bending the end
of the rail downwards and towards the main rail, as herein-before described.
Secondly, constructing the tongue rails of railway switches by casting them
of such form as to pass round and under the upper flange of the main rail, as
berein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Richardson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
ROBT RICHARDSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILLIAM DEMPSEY,
26, Great George Street, Westminster.