Improvements in Chairs for Fixing the Rails of Railways.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Aug., 1893-Accepted, 30th Sept., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Chairs for Fixing the Rails of Railways.
I, HERMANN EDUARD HOFFMANN, of Riga, in the Empire of Russia, Timber
Exporter, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CHAIRS FOR FIXING THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS" and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention relates to chairs for supporting, and securing to the sleepers, the
rails of a railway track, each chair being constructed to fulfil either the function
of an ordinary railway chair. only, or the combined functions of the chair and fish
plates.
The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings
in which,
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 an elevation and Figure 3 a perspective view of one
form of my improved chair, the rail being shown in position-in Figures 2 and 3
but not in Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a perspective view of another form of the chair constructed according
to this invention the chair here shown being specially serviceable for fulfilling the
combined functions of a chair and fish plates.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
The chair shewn in Figures 1, 2 and 3 is preferably constructed of cast iron and
consists of a base plate A which may be of any desired shape and have any suitable
number of holes a for receiving the spikes, screws, or equivalent, by which the chair
is secured to the sleeper; these spikes and sleeper are not shown in the accom-
panying drawings.
On the upper surface of the base plate A are formed two jaws A' A' the former
of which A bas its inner face a¹ shaped to agree with the contour of the lower
part of the rail B, which, in the examples illustrated, is of double bull-head section.
The inner face a of the jaw A2 is inclined as shewn in Figures 2 and 3 and in
conjunction with this inclined face is adapted to act the inclined face c of the
clamping block C whose inner face c¹ is shaped so that it may engage with the
lower of the two rail heads as shown clearly in Figures 2 and 3.
D is a bolt which passes through a hole or slot c² (shown in dotted lines in
Figures 1 and 2) in the clamping block C and screws into a threaded hole in the
base plate A as represented in dotted lines in Figure 2.
When it is desired to fix a rail in the before described chair the bolt D is
released and the clamping block C removed. The rail B is then laid in position
and the block C and bolt D replaced, the bolt being screwed down so that its head
forces the block C nearer the base plate A with the result that, through the
inclined face C,
the block C is pressed in a horizontal direction against the rail B,
and the rail is pressed against the jaw A' and by the downward adjustment of the
block the rail, through the face c¹ of block C, is pressed firmly towards to the base
plate A so that the rail is clamped firmly in position. The parts are so proportioned
that there is still a small space left between the bottom of the block Cand the bed
plate A when the bolt D is screwed tight.
When it is desired to remove the rail B from the chair, all that is necessary is to
unscrew the bolt D and withdraw the block C from between the rail and jaw A²
after which the rail may be readily lifted out of the chair.
The chair shown in Figure 4 is of substantially the same construction as that
before described and shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the only appreciable difference
being that in this chair the base-plate A, and jaws A1 and A2, are wider, and that
instead of only one clamping block C being used there are two (C C¹) at a slight
ID 037

page_text: distance apart and each similar to that shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 and both taking
a bearing against the jaw A2 which is of sufficient width (across the base plate) for
this purpose.
D' is the bolt pertaining to the clamping block C'. This last described form of
chair may of course be used for the same purpose as that previously described, but
it is specially constructed to serve both as an ordinary chair, and also (instead of
fish-plates) for uniting the ends of two adjacent rails. In Figure 4 the letters B B¹
indicate the adjacent parts of the two rails to be joined and it will be seen that
each rail-end is held in position between the jaw A and the particular clamping-
block C or C¹ pertaining to it, the joint between the two rails coinciding with the
space between the blocks C'C'.
Although the chair constructed according to my invention is hereinbefore
described and in the accompanying drawings shown as of a particular con-
struction and as applied to a rail or rails of double-bull-head section, I wish it
understood that it may be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention
for example it may equally well be constructed for rails of section other than that
shown.
Among the advantages attendant upon the use of chairs constructed according to
this invention may be mentioned the following:
1. There being no wooden keys which are readily affected by the weather and
atmospheric changes and therefore require to be frequently driven further into the
chairs for tightening the rails, great saving will result as the constant attention of
plate-layers will not be necessary.
2. The removal, changing and laying, or relaying of the rails, or changing of the
sleepers will be greatly facilitated.
3. Great saving of material and labour will be obtained because the connection
of the rails to the sleepers and of the adjacent rails to each other is effected without
wooden keys, fish plates and bolts and nuts.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a railway chair the combination with a rigid jaw, of a jaw and clamping-
block such as A and C whose contiguous surfaces are inclined substantially as
hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. A railway chair consisting of a base-plate A, rigid jaw A', jaw and clamping-
block such as A2 and C, and bolt D, substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.
3. In a railway chair the combination with a rigid jaw of a jaw and two
clamping blocks such as A and C C¹ and bolts D D', substantially as and for
the purpose herein before described with reference to Figure 4 of the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 29th day of August 1893
NEWNHAM BROWNE,
Agent for the Applicant.