AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF SPIKE FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry, Bridgewater, of, Alfred Place, Bedford Square,
in, the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF SPIKE FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bridgewater at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Pétition, on the 15th
June 1855.
I, HENRY BRIDGEWATER, of Alfred Place, Bedford Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF SPIKE FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER PURPOSES" to
be as follows
The object of this Invention is to construct spikes which will adapt them-
selves to slight irregularities in the size of the holes of railway chairs, and will
take so firm a hold in the chairs and the sleepers as will prevent the chairs
from working loose. These advantages I attain by forming, the spikes hollow
with solid heads, and either using them hollow or filling them with a core of
wood. The body of the spikes I propose to form of rolled sheet metal, and

page_text: to bend up strips of this metal either by hand or by machinery into the form
of an open or unclosed tube. The solid head I then weld thereto; or I
form the spikes of pieces of closed tubing and weld solid heads thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bridgewater in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BRIDGEWATER, of Alfred Place, Bedford Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in, the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Bridgewater, Her special license that I, the, said Henry Bridgewater,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Bridgewater, 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 "AN IMPROVED CON-
STRUCTION OF SPIKE FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bridgewater, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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.
per-
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bridgewater, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed; and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) -
This Invention relates to a novel construction of metallic spike, which will
adapt itself to slight irregularities in the size of the hole-in which it is inserted,

page_text: and when driven "home" will form a firm and secure fastening, particularly
applicable to, the attachment of railway chairs to their sleepers? These
advantages I attain by forming the spike with a hollow shank and a solid; head,
as shewn in the accompanying Drawing; wherein Fig. 1 is a side view of a
spike with a solid rounded head, of a diameter sufficiently superior to the
shank to form a shoulder; -Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same; and Fig. 3
is a side view of my improved spike, somewhat differently shaped, inasmuch
as it gradually increases in diameter from the commencement of the solid part
upwards. The former shape, however, I prefer for general purposes, as the
shoulder formed by the lateral projection of the head facilitates the with-
drawal of the spike, when, for example, the railway sleepers are required to
be re-laid.
The manner in which I prefer. to manufacture my improved construction
of spike is, by first preparing plates or sheets of iron (by means of rolls or
otherwise) of a sectional figure, more or less approaching that of Fig. 4; that
is, of a thickness at a, a, corresponding to the thickness of metal required-for
the shank of the spike, with an accumulation of metal at b, b, of sufficient
amount to impart strength to the upper part or head of the spike, and permit
of its receiving the blows of a hammer without losing its shape. These plates
or sheets of iron 1 cut into pieces of a proper size for forming the spike, as
shewn at Fig. 5, and having raised them to a welding heat, I bend them by
hand or by any suitable machinery into the form of a skelp, or partially-formed
tube. To complete the formation of the spikes, I place them while still at a
welding heat (repeating the heating at this stage if required) in a heading
die, and by means of a hammer and die, drop die, or its equivalent, I shape the
head, and at the same time weld together at this part the lips of the partly-
formed tube; I thus enable the spike to resist the heavy blows of the workman's
hammer when applied to drive it (for example) into a railway sleeper. Or,
instead of using rolled metal of irregular thickness to form the spike, I may
find it desirable to employ sheet metal of a uniform thickness, and to insert
into one end of the skelp or partly-formed shank a core of solid iron to form
the head. The welding of the two parts together may then be effected as
above explained.
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention of "An
Improved Construction of Spike for Railway and other Purposes," and ex-
plained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the construction
of spike as above described, which combines the strength of the ordinary solid
=

page_text: spike with the lightness and yielding property of the hollow metal wedge, and
thereby constitutes an economical and secure fastening.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bridgewater, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five...
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane..
H. BRIDGEWATER. (L.S.)