A New or Improved Railway Sleeper.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept., 1896-Accepted. 24th Oct., 1:96
COMT LEIE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Railway Sleeper.
I, EMIL RUTTKOWSKI, of Briescu, Prussia, Railway Station Master, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention has for its object to construct a railway sleeper which is intended
to take the place of the ordinary wooden sleeper hitherto used. The new sleeper
has special advantages over the ordinary wooden sleeper in so far that it can be
made of concrete or cement and, therefore,
(1) Is much cheaper.
(2) Is, on account of its weight, better capable of supporting the track and
requires less repair.
(3) The rails can be fixed very easily to the sleepers.
(4) The sleeper is more durable and does not require to be replaced so
frequently as the wooden ones.
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood I have hereunto
appended two explanatory, sheets of drawings whereon Fig. 1 is a longitudinal
section, Fig. 2 a cross section, Fig. 3 a plan, and Fig. 4 an inverted plan of the
new concrete sleeper which is shown as having the rails secured to it.
The new sleeper consists of a body A of cement or concrete of a suitable
consistency the lower edges of which are bound by angle irons a in order to protect
the sleeper from injury when it is lifted up or laid down. In order to secure the
rails 6 with their bed plates c, holes d are made in the sleeper through which bolts e
are passed. These bolts are provided with washers on the underside and nuts g
at the top whereby they are securely held in place. In order to prevent the upper
face of the sleeper being injured by the iron bed plates cushion pieces of felt or
other suitable material are inserted between the bed plates and the sleeper.
In order to more securely fix the protecting angle irons to the body of the
sleeper these irons are provided at different points with inwardly projecting iron
branches having claws or forks at their inner ends. When the sleeper is cast
these irons are embedded in it.
As the sleepers, when made in one piece, may break in the middle through being
carelessly ballasted, they may be moulded in two parts and the projecting angle
irons be made stronger and connected together in the middle by cross pieces a¹. In
this case, when the sleeper is being cast, a piece of wood is inserted between the
pieces a', in order to form a cross slot or space i between the parts.
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
consider novel aud desire to claim is:--
A railway sleeper made of concrete or cement of a suitable consistency. and
provided with metallic protecting and strengthening edges, holes also being made
in the sleeper for the reception of the bolts which secure the bed plates of the
rails, substantially as herein before described with reference to the drawings
annexed.
Dated this 19th day of September 1896.
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
70 Wellington Street, Glasgow, Agent.