IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS AND BLOCKS FOR PAVING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Collins Russell, of Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
RAILWAY SLEEPERS AND BLOCKS FOR PAVING AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 8th May 1877, and dated the 2nd March 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Collins Russell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd March 1877.
JOHN COLLINS RUSSELL, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS AND BLOCKS FOR PAVING AND OTHER
PURPOSES."
My Invention relates to the manufacture of railway sleepers and blocks for
paving and other purposes, and it consists in the agglomeration and consolidation
under powerful hydraulic or other pressure of various waste substances in com-
bination with suitable agglutinating materials and chemical agents having pre-
servative action, whereby a sleeper may be produced at a less cost than ordinary
sleepers made from solid wood, possessing great durability and powers of
resistance.
Ordinary wood sleepers are generally impregnated more or less with creosote
and other chemical agents having a preservative action, which are forced into the
pores of the wood, but generally fail to thoroughly permeate the timber, and the
heartwood is consequently unimpregnated with the preservative solution, and the
sleeper is therefore liable to become useless after a short time.
According to my Invention the waste materials (such as shavings, barks, or
branches of trees, bamboo, sugar cane, sawdust, straw, peat, grasses, paper pulp,
cotton waste, &c.), are immersed in the preservative solution in their primitive
state, and likewise in the agglutinating material, or treated with chemical agents to
impart the necessary cohesive quality, and then subjected to powerful pressure in
moulds to form the sleeper or block, and express the surplus creosote and other
agents employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said John Collins Russell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st August
1877.
JOHN COLLINS RUSSELL, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS AND BLOCKS FOR PAVING AND OTHER
PURPOSES."
My Invention consists in improvements in the manufacture of railway sleepers,
blocks, and bricks for paving, building, and ornamental purposes, curved or straight
beams, roofing tiles or slabs, the voussoirs of arches, and blocks or articles for
other analogous purposes by amalgamating and consolidating in moulds various
refuse and other materials, hereafter specified, under hydraulic or other pressure,
and rendering the same indestructible by the application of chemical or other agents
during the processes of amalgamation and consolidation.
The materials which I employ (separately or collectively) are the products of
natural growth and waste or refuse materials, macerated, pulped, disintegrated, or
otherwise treated, such as peat, wood shavings (preferring those of sap woods),
barks, twigs, and branches of trees, cocoanut fibre, oakum, bamboo, sugar cane, saw-
dust, straw, bulrushes, seaweeds, grasses, paper pulp, cotton waste, cotton fluff, flax
waste, and other refuse fibrous materials, and generally all materials of a refuse
nature capable of being pulped, shredded, or macerated.
The materials in their primitive or reduced state are to be impregnated, mixed,
amalgamated, or conglomerated by the processes herein described. The materials
thus treated are then submitted to hydraulic or other powerful pressure with or
without the aid of heat, and may afterwards be covered if necessary with a water-
proof cement.
I use moulds of cast iron, cast steel, or malleable cast iron of various shapes and
sizes, according to the object to be produced, and of sufficient strength to sustain
the pressure to be exerted in them; they may be made with suitable channels for
heating by the circulation of hot air or steam. The moulds are provided with loose
bottoms to admit of the moulded article being released therefrom, and each mould
has a plunger fitted in it, between which and the bottom of the mould the materials
are compressed. A series of these moulds can be arranged on top of and beside
one another in the press, so that a number may be pressed simultaneously.
It would be impossible to more fully describe the moulds, as they will necessarily
vary in construction and arrangement according to the material operated on and
the article to be produced; and, moreover, I do not claim to use moulds of any
special construction.

page_text: for the purposes intended (because it will shrink in drying), and place the same in
moulds with loose bottoms (perforated with holes of about an eighth of an inch in
diameter, four to the square inch), and fitting the bottom of the mould very closely.
Each side of the mould is also similarly perforated. Upon the peat in the mould a
a plunger is placed, the plunger being likewise similarly perforated. Sufficient
pressure is then applied to expel the water or water and sludge, and leave a hard
solid mass in the mould. The bottom and sides of the mould and the face of the
plunger are each lined on the inside with a piece of fine wire gauze to prevent too
much of the sludge being expressed, but if it is advisable (as it sometimes is) to
express as much as possible of the sludge, then the wire gauze is to be dispensed
with. The sludge or peat mud expressed from the moulds is to be collected, and
saved to be used to fill interstices, or for any purposes herein-after stated. The
moulded block is then removed from the mould and dried in the air, or by any of
the artificial methods now known, or by the method of covering it with lime and
sand and asphalte, as herein-before mentioned. It is only required to cut the peat
larger than is necessary (to allow for shrinking) when it is intended to treat the
peat in a block, and not disintegrate it. The pressed and dried peat is pounded
or ground in a mill or by edge stones, or it may be disintegrated or pulped previous
to drying.
Having my peat dry and powdered I then proceed as follows, which is one
method of fulfilling my purpose:-Into a kettle or iron cylinder fitted with a
mechanical stirrer I put the powdered peat well mixed and incorporated with a
sufficient quantity of cotton fluff (obtained from the cotton seed) well separated, or
cocoanut fibre, oakum, or cotton waste (well separated), or small twigs, or heather,
or bulrushes, or grasses, or any material of a fibrous nature, and then mixed with
some or other of the following resins, oils, cements, guns, and solvents, &c., viz.,
asphalte (val de travers), guerderon, liminer (either one or a mixture of each),
Stockholm tar, Trinidad pitch, boiled oil, litharge, caoutchouc (dissolved as men-
tioned herein), caoutchoucine, rectified spirits, spike oil of lavender, coal tar,
naphtha, carbon disulphide, benzole, spirit of turpentine, pyro-ligueous acid, gutta
percha, shell-lac, common resin, copal gum, kaurie gum, or other resins, borax,
silicate of soda or potash, mica, quick lime, hydraulic lime, freshly burned and slack
lime, pozzuolana, well washed and sifted sharp sand, flint glass in fine powder, any
silicious, aluminous, calcareous, or magnesian minerals or mixtures, carbolate of
lime, creosoted lime, white arsenic, glue, Portland or any hydraulic cement, iron
filings or borings, petrifying well water, mother water of salt ponds, fresh blood, }
and cause the mass to be well stirred and heated by superheated steam or otherwise
until the resins, oils, cements, gums, &c., that are separately or collectively used are
all well fused or softened enough to mix and thoroughly incorporate with one
another and the peat. The whole mass is then taken out of the kettle or cylinder,
and placed in moulds of any requisite shape (and perforated and protected as
before), and as much pressure applied, either aided by heat or otherwise, as may be
found necessary to consolidate the body. The pressure may be continued or not
as may be found necessary and advisable. The articles are then removed from the
moulds, placed either in hot-air chambers, dried in the open air, or stove dried, and
after such drying if necessary again pressed in moulds. The articles placed in hot-
air chambers, or subject to stove drying, may be so heated that the temperature is
gradually raised to any degree that may be found preferable or necessary for the
resins, oils, cements, gums, or solvents that may be used. The bottom of the inside
of a mould has a coarse piece of canvas placed thereon in place of the wire gauze
previous to putting in the substance to be pressed; the sides are provided with
the wire gauze,
and on top of the substance when placed in the mould a piece
of coarse canvas or bagging is placed both top and bottom, the canvas or bagging
having been first saturated with a marine glue, or such of the resins, oils, cements,
gums, &c., above mentioned as are most suitable to the result aimed at, and then
the pressure applied.

page_text: I will now proceed to describe the method of treating shavings or any similar
materials. The shavings can be ordinary carpenter's or wood-working machine
shavings, or they may be made of sap wood in removing the latter from logs of
timber, and of a thickness or size in length or breadth to suit the purposes of the
intended manufacture. The shavings are either first well saturated with Stockholm
tar, and allowed to thoroughly dry, and then well and evenly dusted with quick
lime, or well coated or dusted with hydraulic lime previously incorporated with one
or two per cent. of carbolate of lime or creosoted lime, or with hydraulic lime
well incorporated with white arsenic. Fresh blood, either alone, diluted with
water, or mixed with any preserving or hardening liquid (all used cold), is then
thoroughly mixed with limed shavings, the whole being then quickly placed in the
'mould and pressed, heat being applied during or after pressure to any extent found
necessary.
The moulds and apparatus used may be constructed as described in reference to
the treatment of disintegrated peat; or shavings or any similar material may be
treated as follows:-The shavings are soaked in a hot solution of glue 35 parts
with 65 parts of pyro-ligneous acid pressed and dried in the air at ordinary tem-
peratures; or I dissolve 1 part of borax in 12 parts of boiling water, add gra-
dually while boiling 2 parts of powdered shell-lac, stirring well till dissolved.
I soak and thoroughly saturate the shavings, &c., then press and dry in the air at
ordinary temperature. Any of the formulae numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8, and A, B, C, E,
and F appended hereunto are applicable to this description of material.
In any of the above methods shavings can be used alone or in combination with
sawdust or any disintegrated materials herein mentioned. The upper and lower
surfaces of the blocks so manufactured can be protected partially or on their entire
length and breadth by thin sheets of iron or other suitable material.
Whenever bamboo or sugar cane is used, either in a hardened or a green state, it
must be crushed between rolls to a requisite thinness, and then thoroughly dried
either in the air or chambers, and can be treated by any of the following formulae :-
Nos. 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, A, B, C, E, or by any suitable combinations of the
resins, oils, cements, gums, solvents, &c., mentioned herein.
Barks, twigs, or branches of trees must first be reduced to a pulp or macerated
or shredded, thoroughly dried, and then. treated by any of the methods stated
herein for similar materials.

page_text: other materials of a like nature can be treated collectively or separately mixed
with sawdust, peat, shavings, or other suitable material, but always in a perfect
state of dryness, and treated by any of the formulae last mentioned, or by a suitable
combination of the resins, oils, cements, &c., mentioned herein.
TREATMENT OF PEAT IN BLOCKS.
I will now proceed to describe the method of treating the blocks of peat when
pressed and dried, and not disintegrated. In a bath or tank, so arranged and pro-
vided with appliances for maintaining the requisite amount of heat to keep the
combination in a sufficiently fluid state, I place the result of any of the formulac
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 and B, C, D, appended hereunto, or a combination of
the resins, gums, oils, cements, solvents, &c., above mentioned. These combina-
tions or formulae can be used thinner or stouter, and the peat can be soaked at
various intervals or continuously for longer or shorter periods. Having the blocks
thoroughly impregnated and saturated according to one or other of the formulae,
or with a combination of any of the resins, oils, cements, gums, solvents, &c., above
enumerated, they are then placed in moulds of the desired shape, and provided
with the appliances hercin-before mentioned where necessary and advisable, and
pressure is applied to such an extent and for such periods as will ensure a solid
perfect setting of the whole mass under treatment. Heat is applied during pressure,
and after pressure where from the nature of the combinations used it may be found
advisable.
Whenever any of the different solvents are expressed from the blocks care must
be taken to preserve and collect the saine by means of trays under the moulds, or
by means of moulds especially constructed with a view to such saving, as the same
solvent can be used over and over again for the same purposes. The same pre-
caution is to be taken with reference to the different gums, oils, cements, resins, &c.,
herein mentioned, where the nature of the same will allow of their being again
profitably employed.
In the manipulation, according to any of the combinations of formulae referred
to herein, whatever mineral powder be mixed with melted resinous matter should
be first highly dried or frothing will occur, owing to the escape of aqueous vapor.
Frothing occurs more or less in any case, so that the heat should be moderated, and:
the powder added gradually with constant stirring.
Whenever a block is to be manufactured of the peat in the mass, or, in other
words, prior to disintegration, and of a size deeper than, say, six. inches, it is best
to do so in layers or in separate pieces, extending the whole length of the block to be
manufactured, and to bind the layers together under pressure (having previously
separately treated them by any of the formulac or by a combination of the resins,
oils, cements, gums, solvents, &c., herein mentioned) by the insertion between the
layers of bagging or coarse canvas well saturated with a thick cream of marine
glue, or a paste formed by some of the resins, oils, cements, gums, solvents, &c.,
herein mentioned, or by marine glue alone, or by means of bolts passing through
the several layers, and the heads of the bolts or nuts prevented from penetrating
the block by means of cross pieces or plates of iron; or the whole length and
breadth of the block can be strengthened and protected by means of thin plates of
iron or other metal secured by bolts passing through the whole.
I further and in a different manner treat the surface of any of the blocks manu-
factured as herein described, whenever it is necessary to secure a hard and resisting
surface, by the addition on such surface of a coating or thickness of iron filings or
borings clean and free from rust, and pressed into the block during its manufacture,
that is to say,
the block having been partially pressed the plunger is raised, the
coating of iron filings or borings is applied to the top surface of the block, and the
final pressure is applied; and, further, if necessary after having exerted an ordinary

page_text: 1. Asphalte, 10 parts; viscid boiled oil, 2 parts; caoutchouc, 1 part; Stockholm
tar, 2 parts; melted together. (Used for peat in the solid or any disintegrated or
other material, or as a cement or coating).
2. Asphalte, 10 parts; common rosin, 5 parts; boiled oil, 1 part; coal tar
naphtha, 15 parts. Applicable to the same purposes as No. 1.
3. 4 parts of Penang india-rubber in small pieces dissolved in 12 parts of coal
tar naphtha or carbon disulphide, or both; 4 parts of shell-lac, 8 parts gutta percha,
2 parts Trinidad pitch, 1 part boiled oil, melted together and reduced with coal tar
naphtha to a thickish paste; while warn the india-rubber solution is cautiously
added, and all melted together. Applicable to the same purposes as No. 1.
4. Asphalte, 10 parts; solution of india-rubber (prepared as in No. 3), 4 parts
(equal to 1 part pure india-rubber); all dissolved in coal tar naphtha to a more or
less thick cream, as occasion may require. Applicable to the same purposes as
No. 1.
5. Asphalte dissolved in coal tar naphtha or melted by heat. Applicable to the
same purposes as No. 1.
6. Asphalte, 5 parts; boiled oil, 1 part, melted together mixed with 2 parts of
spirits of turpentine and 8 parts coal tar naphtha. Applicable for peat in the solid,
or as a cement or coating.
7. Powdered and dry peat mixed with 15 parts of asphalte, 10 parts copal gum
or kaurie gum, both in fine powder, 4 parts of india-rubber solution in coal tar
naphtha (described in No. 3). The whole mass is thoroughly mixed (more coal tar
naphtha being added at intervals if necessary), then pressed cold; taken out, air
dried, and finally pressed hot at a temperature of 180° Fahrenheit for some hours

page_text: Applicable for peat disintegrated or other finely divided material, or for a cement or
coating.
8. Asphalte, 5 parts; 2 parts spirits of turpentine, 8 parts naphtha, and 2 parts
of india-rubber solution (as in No. 3). The asphalte is first melted, the turpentine
gradually added, then the naphtha, the india-rubber solution stirred into the warm
mixture, 1 part of quick lime added, and the whole well incorporated. Applicable
to the same purposes as No. 7.
9. Powdered peat mixed with Portland cement or other suitable hydraulic cement
with water, and pressed cold and air dried.
10. Powdered peat mixed with Portland or any suitable bydraulic cement, iron
filings or borings, and water, pressed cold and air dried.
11. Peat in blocks soaked in petrifying well water until sufficiently coated or
permeated with carbonate of lime or silica, pressed and air dried.
12. Well-washed and sifted sharp sand, 40 parts; litharge, 4 parts; freshly-
burned and slacked quick lime in fine dry powder, 2 parts, mixed to a requisite
consistency with linseed oil. Applicable as a cement or coating.
13. Flint glass ground to a very fine powder mixed into a paste with fresh blood.
Applicable as a cement or coating.
14. Chalk, 60 parts; lime and salt, 20 parts each; Barnsey sand, 10 parts; iron
filings or dust and blue or red clay, of each 5 parts, ground together and calcined.
Applicable as a fire-proof cement or coating.
15. Peat cut from the bog, containing up to 90 per cent. of water, is pulped with
or without cotton fluff, or any fibrous material, and with any suitable variety of
lime, hydraulic or otherwise, in proportion not exceeding the solid matter, then
pressed with any of the appliances mentioned in the body of the Specification, air
dried, then soaked in a syrupy solution of alkaline silicate, with or without the
addition of magnesian compunds, again pressed, air dried, the silicatization repeated
if necessary, immersed in water, which may be acidified with hydrochloric or car-
bonic acid for induration and the removal of alkali, and finally if required soaked in
a tarry or resinous liquid to fill up any possible pores.
A. Quick lime or hydraulic lime, previously incorporated with one or two per
cent. of dry carbolate of lime or creosoted lime, is mixed to a cream with fresh
blood, either alone, diluted with water, or mixed with any hardening or preserving
fluid, used cold with the peat, and heat applied after or during pressure. Carbolate
of lime may be replaced by white arsenic if necessary. After drying the sur-
faces would be prepared or protected with any of the waterproof cements or
varnishes given in these formulae, or coated with any silicious or ferrugenous
powder. This can be used with any disintegrated materials, such as powdered peat,
shavings, &c.
B. Hot solution of glue, 35 parts in 65 parts of pyroligneous acid, mixed
with powdered peat, shavings, &c., or any disintegrated mass and pressed; or peat
in blocks may be soaked in the solution, and then pressed and dried in the air at
ordinary temperature. Surfaces coated as in A.
C. Dissolve 1 part of borax in 12 parts of boiling water, add gradually while
boiling two parts of powdered shell-lac, stirring well till dissolved. Applicable for
the same purposes as No. 1, and can be coated as in A.
D. Syrupy solution of silicate of soda or potash, or both, either alone or with lime,
hydraulic or otherwise, to be used for peat in blocks. The surface can be coated
as in A..
E. Peat pulped and dried (or dried and ground in a mill), saturated with Stock-
holm tar, again dried, then thoroughly incorporated with one-third of its weight of
quick lime, then mixed with sufficient fresh blood, either alone, diluted with water,
or mixed with any preserving or hardening liquid in the cold state to form a doughy
mass, immediately pressed, and heat applied while under pressure for two hours, or
until the whole block will have attained a temperature equal to 180° Fahrenheit.
The surfaces can be coated as in A.

page_text: F. Shavings or any similar fibrous material, saturated with Stockholm tar
thoroughly dried, may be treated as in E, and coated as in A.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Collins Russell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
DATAANTT
JOHN C. RUSSELL. (L.S.)