A NEW APPLICATION OF ROLLED METAL PLATES TO THE FORMATION OF ROADWAYS, BRIDGES, TRAMWAYS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Emerson Dowson, of 4, Victoria Street,
Westminster, for the Invention of "A NEW APPLICATION OF ROLLED METAL
PLATES TO THE FORMATION OF ROADWAYS, BRIDGES, TRAMWAYS, AND OTHER
STRUCTURES."
Sealed the 2nd February 1864, and dated the 6th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Emerson Dowson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th August 1863.
I, JOSEPH EMERSON DOWSON, of 4, Victoria Street, Westminster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW APPLICA
OF ROLLED METAL PLATES TO THE FORMATION OF ROADWAYS, BRIDGES,
TRAMWAYS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture and use of rolled metal plates of
a trough-like section with flat, concave, convex, or otherwise formed soles or
webs, having double angular edges or flanges along each side. These plates are
bolted, riveted, or otherwise fastened together, so as to form the roadways of
bridges, platforms, floors, roofs, sea, retaining, and other walls, arches, and inverts,
or for any and all land or marine structures or parts thereof (whether of an
engineering, architectural, or other character. The plates are either placed
flange to flange. with or without intermediate abutment blocks of cast iron cr

page_text: other suitable material inserted between them, or joined by angle iron, as
shown at Figs. 4, 5, and 6, as shown in the accompanying Drawing; or they
may be placed flange to flange by inverting every alternate plate, and be
united together by rivets or bolts, or other suitable fastenings, through the
flanges, as shewn at Figs. 1, 2, and 3; or they may be placed flange to flange,
as shown at Fig. 7, so as to form arches or inverts; or they may be placed
flange to flange, as shown at Fig. 8, so form masts and yards of ships.
This Invention also relates to the employment of the aforesaid metal plates
for the permanent way of railways or tramways, and as railway sleepers, both
transverse and longitu:linal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Emerson Dowson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
EMERSON DOWSON, of 4, Victoria Street, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Emerson Dowson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Emerson Dowson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
1, the said Joseph Emerson Dowson, 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
"A NEW APPLICATION OF ROLLED METAL PLATES TO THE FORMATION OF ROADWAYS,
BRIDGES, TRAMWAYS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Emerson Dowson, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Joseph Emerson Dowson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture and use of rolled metal plates of
a trough-like section, having flat, concave, convex, or otherwise formed soles
or webs, with angular edge plates or flanges along each side, or with a single
flange, as herein-after described, for railway purposes, &c. These double
flanged plates are bolted, rivetted, or otherwise fastened together, flange to
flange, the said flanges lapping over or abutting against each other, or having
abutment pieces of metal or other suitable hard material placed, fitted, or run
in between the surfaces in contact, and which surfaces may be either flat, or
one may be hollow, concave, or undulating, while the other is made round,
convex, &c., to fit the neighbouring plate. By the plates thus formed and
joined I form the soffits of arches, or the roadways of bridges, platforms, floors,
break waters, harbours, jetties, piers, dams, or weirs, or other sea or river
structures, retaining and other walls, also arches and inverts, or apply the
same in the formation of any and all land or marine structures or parts thereof
(whether of an engineering, architectural, mechanical, or other character.
These plates may be either placed and joined as before described, or they may
be joined by angle iron rolled to the required section; or they may be joined
flange to flange by inverting every alternate plate, that is to say, by placing
the first, third, fifth, &c. plates with the flanges upwards or outwards, and tho
second, fourth, sixth, &c. with the flanges downwards or inwards; or they
may be placed flange to flange in regular order, to form an arch or invert, or
be joined so as to form masts and yards of ships, and the like.
The said Invention also relates to the application of the aforesaid metal
plates to the formation of hollow shafts, columns, piles, struts, masts, yards of
ships, and the like, by joining the plates with single or double headed T iron,
the soles or webs of such plates being flat, concave, convex, or otherwise formed,
and the angular edges or flanges made to project internally or externally, or
both internally and externally, according as the case may require.
For increasing the strength of piles, shafts, columns, masts, or any other
hollow structure formed of any of the plates of my said Invention, I propose to
introduce a flitch plate or plates running through their axes longitudinally, and
extending across, between, and through the flanges or longitudinal joints
transversely. These flitches may be of metal or any suitable material, and in
continuous, sectional, or trussing form, according as the nature of the particular
structure may require.
The said Invention also relates to the formation of grooves or channels in
combination with hollow shaft, columns, piles, struts, and the like, formed. of

page_text: the said metal plates as aforesaid, by attaching such grooves or channels to
the said shafts, columns, piles struts, and the like through the flanges thereof,
which grooves or channels will serve to hold in place slabs of stone, plates of
metal, timber, framed or otherwise, or any other suitable material for forming
retaining, sea, and other walls, or for holding in place the aforesaid rolled
metal plates. The said grooves or channels may be made of metal or
other convenient material, and may either be made of one or more pieces.
The said Invention also relates to the application of the aforesaid metal
plates having a rail head formed thereon or fitted thereto to the permanent
way of railways or tramways, or as railway transverse or longitudinal sleepers.
The ends of any of the above-mentioned plates may be secured together by a
lap joint by a fishing plate, plain or ribbed, by angle iron, or by the formation
of flanges on their ends, and by bolting, rivetting, or otherwise.
The general forms and modes of joining the aforesaid plates are intended to
be illustrated upon the accompanying Drawing.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively shew the forms and modes of joining the
plates by simply bolting or rivetting flange to flange; Figs. 5 and 6, the mode
of joining with angle iron. a, Fig. 6, shews the addition of an abutment piece
for increasing the strength; Fig. 7 shews the mode of forming the joints with
abutment pieces only; Fig. 8, mode of forming arches or inverts; and Fig. 9,
masts, yards, &c.; Fig. 10 shews the mode of forming hollow columns, ships!
masts, and the like with the single and double T iron joint, and external or
internal, or external and internal flanges; Fig. 11 shews the mode of strength-
ening by the flitch plate Fig. 12 shows the grooved or channelled piles, &c. ;
u, a, are the said grooves or channels.
a.
Fig. 13 shews the form of plate employed for the permanent way of railway.
u, the sole of the plate resting upon the ballast; b, a flange formed thereon
to receive the rail c, or which rail may be formed entire therewith. When
the flange 6 is formed with a rail bead, or with the rail fitted, the ends of tho
plates may be joined by an under plate, and both bolted thereto, but when the
rail is fitted as shewn in the Drawing, the length of the plates and rails being
equal, I prefer to make the joints of the rails midway along the plates and
the joints of the plates midway along the rails, or so as to "break joint." The
rails are kept in gauge by a hollow strut traversed by a tie rod passing through
the flange and rails, and fastened by a nut as here shewn, or the gauge may
be kept by independant struts and ties. d is a cushion of india-rubber or other
suitable material placed between the supporting and bearing surfaces of the

page_text: plates and rails. Figs. 14 and 15 shew the mode of laying the plates and
fixing the rails on the transverse system. The forms of these plates may be
varied as circumstances may require, and the angles of the flanges may be
varied from those here shewn to a greater or less extent.
Having thus described and illustrated my said Invention, I would here
further state that I do not absolutely restrict myself to the precise forms and
modes of joining the plates as shewn in the Drawings, as the angles of
the flanges and the forms of the soles may be varied as circumstances may
require.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Emerson Dowson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
ARTHUR CHABOT.
JOSEPH EMERSON DOWSON. (L.S.)