Improvements in the Jointing of Railway and Tramway Rails.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 11th July, 1893-Accepted, 26th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Jointing of Railway and Tramway Rails.
We, Dr. FRIEDRICH PAUL ALWIN VIETOR, Engineer, of Breitergang 6, and
HERMANN AUGUST HAARMANN, General Director, of Hamburgerstrasse 7, both
of Osnabrück, in the Empire of Germany, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
The method of construction hitherto employed for the purpose of eliminating the.
universally acknowledged want of strength at the joints of rails by causing them
to overlap at their ends, may be divided into two groups.
The first group relates to those rails in which the webs of the rails when forming
a permanent way or track lie evenly or in a line throughout the whole length of
the track so that the web of each rail must be divided at the same time with the
foot and head when the rails are shaped for the purpose of allowing their ends to
overlap. The second group relates to those rails in which the webs while being
situated similarly to those just described have their ends set or bent back
laterally (to allow them to overlap) either during the rolling operation or
subsequently.
According to this invention we construct a railway or tram permanent way or
track by means of rails, the webs of which are not arranged in the way above
described but are so placed that the web of one rail in the line lies to the right of
an imaginary vertical plane in the middle of the rail in the direction of its length,
whilst that of the succeeding rail in either direction lies to the left of such plane,
and that of the next to the right again and so on alternately.
By this arrangement of rails so constructed the shaping or scarfing the rails to
enable them to be joined only involves the cutting away of a portion of the head
and foot of each rail, no cutting away of the web and consequent weakening
subsequently to rolling being required.
The two rails may be connected together by means of bolts alone or in conjunction
with fish-plates.
When using fish-plates of a length greater than the joint or cut-away portions
of the rails connected by the said plates we advantageously provide the rails with
thickened portions to support the ends of the fish-plates projecting beyond the
webs of the rails.
Dated this 24th day of Databer 1802
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Jointing of Railway and Tramway Rails.
We, Dr. FRIEDRICH PAUL ALWIN VIETOR, Engineer, of Breitergang 6, and
HERMANN AUGUST HAARMANN, General Director, of Hamburgerstrasse 7, both
of Osnabrück, in the Empire of Germany, 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:-
Our invention relates to the jointing of railway and tramway rails, and is
designed to avoid the difficulties and disadvantages now existing when such rails
are to be connected by overlapping the abutting ends thereof.
In jointing railway or tramway rails by what is known as the " overlapping
joint" attempts have been made to so form the joint as not to weaken the rails at
077

page_text: that point. These overlapping joints have for this purpose hitherto so far as we
are aware, been formed in two ways, either by cutting a portion of the rail end
along a vertical line passing centrally through the web, and then cutting transversely
through the rail to the said vertical line, whereby one half of the head, foot, and
web are cut away, or by cutting the head and foot of the rail along the web, and
then transversely to the line of the web, so as to leave the latter intact, and then
displacing the cut portion laterally. In the first mode, the rails at the joint are
materially weakened by reason of their webs being divided whilst in the second
mode the lateral displacement of the cut portion of the rail not only weakens the
rail materially at that point, but breaks the continuity of one edge of the rail head
and foot, necessitating a further cutting of the rail or a special form of rail end..
Our invention has for its object a construction of rail whereby these difficulties
and disadvantges are not only entirely avoided, but the rails are materially
strengthened at their point of junction or connection, without breaking the
continuity of either edge of the head or foot of the rails."
According to our invention we form the web on one side of a given vertical plane
passing through the foot and head of the rail so that the webs of two abutting
rails will lie on opposite sides of the said vertical plane. It is obvious that an
overlapping joint may thus be formed by simply cutting away a portion of the
head and foot of two rails along the proximate faces of their webs and slipping the
rail ends along each other. The web of the rails not only remains intact but perfectly
plane contact surfaces are formed which not only facilitate the bolting of or other-
wise connecting the rails together at the joint, but materially strengthens the rails
at that point without breaking the continuity of either longitudinal edges of the
head or foot of the rails.
To enable our invention to be fully understood, we will describe how it can be
carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figures and 2 are vertical sections of different forms of railway rails constructed
in accordance with our invention.
Figures 3 and 4 are plan views of one of the ends of two rails illustrating the
lines of cut in the formation of our overlapping joint.
Figure 5 is a sinfilar view showing the rail ends jointed..
Figure 6 is an elevation of Figure 5.
Figures 7 and 8 are vertical sections illustrating the mode of connecting the ends
of the rails, without and with fish-plates respectively.
Figure 9 is a top plan view showing several jointed rails.
Figure 10 is a longitudinal transverse section of Figure 9, taken along the web
below the rail head.
Figure 11 is a similar view of a portion of a railway track, and
Figures 12 and 13 are vertical sections of grooved girder tramway rails con-
structed in accordance with our invention.
As shown in the drawings, the webs of the rail A, is formed on one side of a
vertical plane passing through the head and foot as for instance the plane 1-2 so
that by cutting the ends of two rails to be overlapped along the line 1-2 the required
distance as at a-b, Figures 2 and 3, and then transversely to the said line 1-2,
as at that portion of the head and foot overhanging or projecting over the
line 12, will be removed, leaving the web, s, intact and a perfectly plane surface
throughout the full height of the rail and length of the cut away portion, as clearly
shown in Figures 6 and 7, the head and foot at c-b, forming the end abutments
of the joint, while the continuity of the lateral edges of the said head and foot of
the rails remains unbroken, as shown in Figures 5 and 9.
It will be observed that by the described location of the web on one side of a
given vertical plane, the webs of the successive rails when jointed will alternately
lie on opposite sides of the said line, that is to say, the web of one rail A will lie on
one side of the said line, that of the next rail A on the opposite side thereof, that
of the third on the same side as that of the first, and so on, as more clearly shown
in Figures 9 to 11.

page_text: The overlapping ends may be connected together in any desired or well known
manner, such as by simple bolts 2, and nuts as shown in Figure 7. or by means of
fish plates l, and bolts and nuts as shown in Figure 8. When the overlapping ends
of the rails are jointed or connected by means of fish plates, we prefer to provide
the rails with bearings, wo, for the fish plates formed on the foot and underside of
the head of the rail on the side overhanging or projecting over the line 1-2, for the
purpose of maintaining the said fish plates in a given position relatively to the
webs of the abutting rail ends, so as to avoid all danger of drawing the plates down
to the web at the points where the said plates extend beyond the overlapping ends,
and consequently beyond the-web s, of the abutting rail ends, as will be readily
understood.
In Figures 12 and 13 we have illustrated two forms of grooved girder tramway
rails constructed in accordance with our invention.
The advantages derived from the described construction of rail are chiefly that
an overlapping joint may be readily formed without weakening the rails at that
point, but on the contrary strengthening the rails at the said point; that the continuity
of the lateral edges of the head and foot of the rails remains unbroken and that no
change of form of the rail, either by rolling or otherwise is necessary to form the
overlapping joints thereby materially reducing the costs of laying tracts.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A railway rail having its web formed, on one side of a given vertical line
passing through the head and foot so that the webs of two abutting rails will lie
on opposite sides of the said line substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2. The herein described method of jointing railway and tramway rails consisting
in forming the web of the rail on one side of a vertical line, as at 1-2, extending
through the head and foot and removing a portion of the head and foot on a line
with the web and projecting beyond the said vertical line, whereby a plane surface
is formed throughout the height of the rail and the length of the cut-away portion,
and whereby the webs of the rails when joined will lie on opposite sides of the said
vertical line, for the purpose set forth.
Dated the 11th day of July 1893.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.