A New or Improved Method of Securing Railway Rails to their Sleepers.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Aug., 1896--Accepted, 17th Oct., 1898
[Communicated from abroad by ЕмIL RUTTKOWSKI, of Brieseo, Prussia.]
A New or Improved Method of Securing Railway Rails to their
Sleepers.
I, HUGH DONALD FITZPATRICK of 70 Wellington Street, Glasgow, Registered
Patent Agent, 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 :-
Heretofore it has been usual to secure flanged rails to their sleepers by means of
iron bearing plates and screws and hook spikes or cramps and fang bolts which are
passed through both the bearing plates and the flanges of the rails.
As a result of this method of fixing when a train passes over the rails, they,
being resilient, yield in the ordinary manner, and, as their screws and hook spikes
are in direct contact with the rails they become loosened and require to be
tightened up frequently. This constant tightening up necessitates a periodical
amount of work which is generally included under the heading of "Costs of
maintenance."
The sleepers and the small iron fastenings also soon become useless and further
the sleepers are eventually split and exposed to rot through the many holes bored
in them.
The foregoing are not all the defects of the present system of securing flanged
rails, as, even in new laid permanent ways, changes of position take place in the
tracks, the nails and screws not being capable of resisting the powerful lateral
pressure of the rolling stock, these changes which often cause the track to be
narrowed at various places thereby causing lateral concussions and loosening of
the permanent way, necessitate much work as they require to be constantly
attended to.
Bulgings and depressions also occur at the joints of the rails necessitating
constant attention and repair and sometimes leading to the fracture of the rails.
Under this invention the rails are not fixed directly to the sleepers, as heretofore,
by means of screws and spikes but the bearing plates only are secured to the
sleepers in this manner, the rails being fixed separately and by horizontal pressure
upon the bearing plates.
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood I have hereunto
appended an explanatory sheet of drawings, wheroon,
Fig. is a section showing how a rail is inserted in the divided bearing
plate.
Fig. 2 shows a rail looked in position in its bearing plate.
Fig. 3 is a plan of the bearing plate, the parts being looked together.
Fig. 4 is a view showing the parts of the bearing plate unlocked.
Fig. 5 is a cross section, on line - Fig. 6, showing the method of securing the
fish plate of a rail joint to a bearing plate.
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal transverse section of a rail joint with its fish plate taken
on the line-Fig. 7.
Fig. 7 shows both sides of the rail joint.
The bearing plates in which the rails are locked
part a of which is secured to the wooden sleepers.
consists of two parts a, b, one
Each part is provided on its

page_text: upper sie with overnanging ringe or ric, or o, and the part a with & hole d
for the passage of. the screw fand a rectangular hole e for the reception of the
bent catch h on the part b.
The rail A is first laid upon the part a in such a manner that the flange of the
rail is caught by the rib c, the other part 6 is then securel by its rib o' to
the flange of the rail aud its projecting catch his inserted in the opening of the
part a in the manner shown at Fig. I so that the rail is held by gravity in tho
parts a, b, of the bearing plate which is securely fixed to the sleeper. The shocks
and springs of the rail are taken up by the bearing plate a, b, and the spike so
that. the rail cannot be loosened or the wood of the sleeper injured. The rails can
be easily and speedily changed, all that is necessary being to loosen the connection,
then dislodge the rail and remove the part b.
In the modification showing a fish plate connection at Figs. 5 to 7, the fish
plate B is made sufficiently long to extend from sleeper to sleeper and its ends,
which rest on the bearing plates a, b, are provided with wedge shaped projections
(Fig. 5) which, as shown, engage in recesses in the plates. On the opposite side
of the rail to the fish plate B is secured a second fish plate C which is similar in
form to the plate B with the exception that it has no bottom flange.
The ends of the rails A, A', meet at the centre of the fish plates B, C, which
latter are preferably so made, as shown, as to support them. The plates B, C, are
connected together by bolts D in the usual manner. The bolts serve to secure the
plate C the plate B not requiring to be specially fixed.
The bearing plate has, in this case, only one rib c¹ ou the part b and the
rectangular opening on the part a for the reception of the projection of
the fish plate B. The opening takes the place of the second rib c of Fig. 1.
There is a hole for a bolt and also if necessary an opening for a regulating
clamp.
When putting the invention into practice the parts a of the bearing plates are
first fixed on the sleepers at suitable distances from one another by bolts and the
plates are then sccured by bolts iuserted at the sides of the ribs c. The rail is now
tilted and its flauge inserted below the rib c of the part a, then the part b is secured
in place, and then the supporting fish plate B secured and the rail let down.
Thereafter the regulating clamping plate is fixed in position and the scrow of the
second bearing plate inserted in place. Finally the fish plate C is introduced and
bolted up when the work is finished.
The advantages of the invention are as follows:-
1. The traffic does not loosen the screw bolts.
2. Lateral changes in the position of the rails are not so likely to occur.
3. The joints between the rails are so consolidated owing to the peculiar form
and arrangement of the fish plates, that the strain is transmitted from the rails to
the fish plates and through them to the bearing plates, thereby obviating the effects
of shocks or concussions on the joints.
4. The intimate connection of the fish plates with the adjoining parts of the
bearing plates, formed through the fish plates resting on and engaging with the
said bearing plates, the rails are securely held in the proper position.
5. Finally the rails can be quickly laid or changed and the amount of work
performed thereby reduced.
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 and desire to claim is :-
1. The method of fixing rails by their own weight wherein divided bearing
plates are used one part of each plate having a rib c and the other part a rib o' the
two parts being capable of being interlocked by means of a projection h and a
hole the rail being secured in the bearing plate by inserting one edge of its
flange in the rib c and its other edge in the rib c' the parts h, e, being made to
engage so that when the rail is dropped down it is securely held between the

page_text: ribs c, d, substantially as herein before set forth with reference to the drawings
annexed.
2. The modified construction of the bearing plate shown at Figs. 5 to 7 wherein
the part a is provided with one or more openings (instead of a rib) capable of
receiving one or more locking projections on the fish plate B, substantially as
hereinbefore described and shown.
حليوم
1000
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
70 Wellington Street, Glasgow.