IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO RAILWAY CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Andrew Muir and James McIlwham, both
of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Machinists, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO RAILWAY CHAIRS AND
SLEEPERS."
Sealed the 13th December 1864, and dated the 16th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Andrew Muir
and James McIlwham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
: with their Petition, on the 16th June 1864.
We, MATTHEW ANDREW MUIR and JAMES MCILWHAM, both of Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, Machinists, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO RAILWAY
CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention comprises certain improvements in and relating to railway
chairs or sleepers, and applicable jointly or separately to chairs and sleepers
of the kinds described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to the
present applicants, and dated 14th March 1862 (No. 709), and also to other
kinds of chairs or sleepers. The rail is held in the chair by means of a metal
bolster and a tapered metal key, the key being curved, as seen in plan, whilst
the bolster is made concave and the inner bearing surface of the jaw convex
at the parts between which the key is forced in, with which arrangement
tendency to shake loose in either direction is avoided, whilst the parts may be

page_text: Steu so as to obtain a good bearing notwithstanding any slight irre
gularities in the chair, bolster, or key. A part of the present Invention
consists in making the tapered key so as to show a curved outline in vertica
section on one side, whilst the other side shows a straight outline or a curved
outline of a different degree of curvature, this being instead of making the
key with its inner and outer vertical faces parallel to each other as hitherto,
and the object being to permit the key to adjust itself more accurately to its
bearing on the flatter side, the bearing on the other side remaining equally
good, notwithstanding such adjustment. The bolster is made to bear on the
web of the rail when this rests on the bottom of the chair, and also by pre-
ference when the rail is suspended, the jaw on the other side being in this
case formed with a longer bearing surface. If the chair is cast in one piece
with the sleeper, the latter is by preference made of the form and proportions
shown and described in the earlier Specification herein-before referred to, but
with a bearing surface for the rail extending more or less beyond the jaws on
each side.
Another improvement consists in casting a vertical flange on the upper side
of the sleeper, against which flange the tie or gauge bar is bolted.
formed on the top edge of the flange to hold the bar down, and the screw bolt
A lip is
is by preference held in a slot or notch with which the flange is cast. As the 2
ie or gauge bar is fixed on the upper side, it can be fixed or removed without
listurbing the sleeper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Andrew Muir and James McIlwham in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 15th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MATTHEW
ANDREW MUIR and JAMES M°ILWHAM, both of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Matthew Andrew Muir and James M'Ilwham, Her special
licence that we, the said Matthew Andrew Muir and James M'Ilwham, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Matthew 3
Andrew Muir and James McIlwham, our executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: 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 AND RELATING TO RAILWAY CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Matthew Andrew Muir and
James M'Ilwham, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or one of our 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Matthew Andrew Muir and James
McIlwham, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manuer the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
Our said Invention comprises certain improvements in and relating to
railway chairs and sleepers, and applicable jointly or separately to chairs and
sleepers of the kinds described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted
to us, and dated 14th March 1862 (No. 709), and also to other kinds of
chairs or sleeper chairs.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, we have hereunto appended a Sheet
of explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
various modifications of our improved arrangements.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a transverse vertical section, and
Figure 2 is a plan representing one modification, and in this, as also in the
other modifications shown, the rail 1 is held between the jaws 2, 3, of the
chair by means of a metal bolster 4 and a tapered metal key 5, this key being
curved, as seen in plan (in Figure 2), whilst the bolster 4, which is next the
web of the rail, is made concave on its outer side, and the inner bearing
surface of the jaw 3 convex at the parts between which the key 5 is forced in.
With this arrangement the tendency to shake loose in either direction is
diminished in consequence of the bolster 4, on which it is believed such
loosening tendency first acts, being broader at the ends than in the middle, so
that whichever end tends to move inwards a jamming or tightening of the
fastening is the result. The parts of the fastening may also be adjusted so as

page_text: to obtain a good bearing notwithstanding any slight irregularities in the chair
bolster, or key; and the object of a part of our present Invention is to further
develop and increase this and other advantages of the arrangements described
in our earlier Specification herein-before referred to.
One of our present improvements consists in making the tapered key 5 of
such a shape as to show a curved outline in vertical section (Figure 1) on one
side, whilst the other side shows a straight outline (or it might be a curved
outline of a different degree of curvature), this being instead of making the
key 5 with its inner and outer vertical faces parallel to each other as hitherto,
and the object being to permit the key 5 to adjust itself more accurately to its
bearing on the flatter side, the bearing on the other side remaining equally
good in consequence of the curvature, notwithstanding such adjustment. It is
to the inner side of the key 5 that we prefer to give the described curvature,
and we prefer to make it convex; and the outer surface of the bolster 4 is made
with a corresponding concave curvature to meet that of the key 5, with which
it is in contact. The contact surfaces of the key 5 and bolster 4 are thus
shaped so as to present curved lines in both the horizontal and the vertical
sections. The bolster 4 is made to bear on the web of the rail 1 when this
rests on the bottom 6 of the chair, and we also prefer to make it do so when
the rail is suspended, the jaw 2 on the other side being in that case formed
with a longer bearing surface. If the chair is cast in one piece with the
sleeper 7, as shown in the Figures, the latter is made in the modification now
being described, and shown in Figures 1 and 2, of the form and proportions
shown and described in our earlier Specification herein-before referred to, but
with the bearing surface 6 for the rail 1 extending between the dotted lines 8, 8,
Figure 2. And such bearing surface for the bottom of the rail may extend
or be situated more or less beyond the jaws 2, 3, on each side; an ordinary
chair is subjected to a very severe strain, which has a great tendency to
loosen the fastening when the wheels of a train pass over it; the rail being
nipped at one point tends to hinge or rock thereon as on a centre, the rail
being depressed on one side as the wheel approaches, and then on the other
side as the wheel leaves the chair, whilst the leverage on the chair is not
sufficient to make the chair partake of the rocking movement, and so save
the fastening. By extending the bearing surface 8, 8, for the bottom of the
rail the sleeper chair is made to yield to the deflecting or rocking motion of 3
the rail, and the hinging action or strain on the fastening is thereby reduced.
The principles herein involved we find to be susceptible of further develop-
ment, as is exemplified in the modifications of our arrangements herein-after
described; at the same time we may here remark that we make no claim to

page_text: the extended or detached bottom support apart from our other improved
arrangements.
Another improvement consists in casting a vertical flange 9 on the upper
side of the sleeper 7, against which flange the tie or gauge bar 10 is fastened.
A lip 11 is formed on the top edge of the flange 9 to hold the tie-bar 10
down, and the screw bolt 12 is by preference held in a slot or notch 13, with
which the flange is cast. As the tie or gauge bar 10 is thus fixed on the
upper side of the sleeper, it can be fixed or removed without disturbing the
sleeper.
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section, and Figure 4 is a plan of a second
modification embodying our improved arrangements. Parts which are the
same as those herein-before described are marked with the same reference
numerals, and it will not be necessary for us to detail this modification,
excepting in so far as it differs from the modification herein-before described.
The bearing surface for the bottom of the rail in this example is divided, and
the two portions 81, 82, are placed considerably apart; they consist of raised
seats formed upon the upper surface of the sleeper disc 7, and this disc is
formed without the central elevated part shown in Figure 1, whilst the
jaws 2, 3, project upwards sufficiently to hold the rail with its bottom nearly
two inches above the middle of the sleeper disc 7. By these arrangements
two advantages are gained. When the rail rests at the part immediately
between the jaws 2, 3, upon a seat of solid metal which unites those jaws, the
downward blow of a passing wheel is instantaneously transmitted to the seat,
and the risk of fracture is rendered very great from the absence of elasticity,
whilst at the same time the downward blow tends to make the upper parts of
the jaws to close together, whereby the fastening becomes loosened from the
alternate nipping and relaxing due to the intermittency of the action. This
tendency to derangement is obviously entirely avoided by removing the
bottom support from the point immediately between the jaws 2, 3, to the
positions 81, 81, beyond the sides of the jaws. The second advantage gained
by the construction in this modification consists in more elasticity being
imparted to the jaws 2, 3, by their increased projection from the surface of
the sleeper disc 7, in consequence of which the key may be driven in more
forcibly, whilst it will have less tendency to shake loose. The tie or gauge
bar 10 may be connected to the sleeper, as in Figures 1 and 2, or it may
extend across above the sleeper disc 7, and through ways or sockets 14 formed
in connection with the jaws 2, 3, but not extending across the space between
them.
Figure 5 is a transverse vertical section, Figure 6 is a plan, and Figure 7

page_text: is a longitudinal vertical section, showing a third modification embodying our
improved arrangements. In this example the bottom supports 81, 81, are
placed still further apart, whilst to admit of this the sleeper disc 7 is made
elliptical, as seen in plan, Figure 6. The fastenings are also somewhat
modified by combining with our present improvements certain features already
proposed or in use, namely, an undulating or indented configuration of the
contact surfaces of the jaw 3 and key 5¹, associated with elasticity in the
key 5 or bolster 41. These modifications are best shown in the enlarged
horizontal section, Figure 8. The bolster 4' instead of being of cast iron is in
this example made of malleable iron or steel, and is shaped so that whilst its
middle bears on the key 5' it is only with its ends that it bears on the rail 1.
The vertical and horizontal curvatures of the contact surfaces of the bolster 4¹
and key 51, as herein-before described, are of course retained whilst the outer
concave side of the key 5¹ is formed with undulations, the ridges of which
cross it vertically. The inside face of the jaw 3 is formed with corresponding
undulations or indentations, and when the key 5¹ is driven in the elasticity of
the bolster 4' and of the jaw 3 permits of the ridges passing each other,
whilst they offer great resistance to the withdrawal of the key. If the jaw
possesses sufficient elasticity in itself, a rigid or solid bolster 4 may be sub-
stituted for the elastic one.
Our improved fastenings are obviously applicable to chairs which are not
cast conjointly with their sleepers, and to exemplify this we have in Figures 9
and 10 shown in elevation and plan an ordinary chair with a modification of
our fastenings similar to that last herein-before described, and with the various
parts distinguished by the same reference numerals.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is or may be performed, we have to state that whilst we do not
restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated, we
do not claim to have invented every separate detail herein described or
delineated; but that what we believe to be novel and original, and claim as
the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
1. The making of our tapered metal key and bolster with a vertical
curvature as well as with the horizontal curvature formerly given to them,
substantially as herein-before described.
2. The constructing of sleeper chairs with provision for fixing the tie or
gauge bars on the upper side, substantially such as is herein-before described
in connection with Figures 1 and 2 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
And, generally, 3, the combining of the parts and fastenings of railway

page_text: chairs and sleepers substantially in the improved modes herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Matthew Andrew Muir and James
McIlwham, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
MATTHEW A. MUIR. (L.S.)
JAMES MCILWHAM. (L.8.)