IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY FASTENINGS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, of the Firm of
Ibbotson Brothers and Company, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, Steel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY FASTENINGS."-A communication from abroad by Honoré
Demoor, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
Sealed the 19th February 1869, and dated the 10th September 1868..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Buckingham
Ibbotson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 10th September 1868.
I, ALFRED BUCKINGHAM IBBOTSON, of the Firm of Ibbotson Brothers
and Company, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RAILWAY FASTENINGS," (a communication,) to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its objects the fishing or uniting of the
ends of railway rails, and it consists in the combination of an elastic
gripping steel or Bessemer metal clip B, of the form shown on the
accompanying Drawing marked A, with two or more bolts C and

page_text: nuts D of the form likewise shown on the said Drawing, by which
greatly increased security in the joints will be obtained. The forms
of both the clips and bolts may be somewhat modified to suit the
different sections of rails E,
t
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 23rd February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
BUCKINGHAM IBBOTSON, of the Firm of Ibbotson Brothers and Company,
of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Buckingham Ibbotson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY FASTENINGS," a communication to
me from abroad by Honoré Demoor, at present residing at Brussels, in
'Belgium, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Buckingham Ibbotson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in. what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
This said Invention relates to the permanent way of railways, and
consists of certain improvements in the form and manufacture of the
joints or parts thereof for securing the ends of the rails together.
This Invention has for its object the fishing or uniting of the ends
of railway rails by the combination of an elastic gripping steel or
Bessemer metal clip of the form shewn on the accompanying Drawings
with two or more bolts and nuts of the form likewise shown on the
said Drawings, by which greatly increased security in the joint will
be obtained.
And in order that this said Invention may be fully understood I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose I shall refer to the Drawings (shewn in section) hereunto
annexed.
.
A, A, is the rail;
the nut for the bolt. The clip is formed with a curve B' under-
neath, and its sides are made to fit the rails tightly only at the
points A', A', A', A', and somewhat apart from the web A', A*, of
the rails. The bolts are each formed with a round collar C', largo
enough to fill or nearly to fill the straight side of the clip, and with
a square elongated head C³, and being passed through the clip and
rail are screwed into the nuts D, which are square and also large
enough to fill or nearly to fill the other straight side of the clip,
and which nuts are of course therefore stationary, having no room to
turn in. By reason of the space left between the inner sides of the
clip and the web A³, A% of the rail with the aid of the bolts and
nuts the clip can be kept always tight at the points A', A', A', A¹.
while the slight yielding of the clip at that part to their pressure has
a tendency to prevent the threads of the said bolts and nuts being
stripped.
B, B, is the clip; C, C, is a bolt; and D is
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe that I do not confine or
restrict myself to the precise form of all the parts shewn in the
Drawings referred to, as many variations may be made therefrom to

page_text: suit the various other sections or forms of rails without deviating
from the principles or features of the said Invention; but what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The improved mode of uniting rails with the elastic gripping
steel or Bessemer metal clip in combination with the bolts and nuts,
as herein described.
Secondly. Any modification in the form of the joint described that
may be required to suit any other section or form of rails, and in
which there is no deviation from the principles or features of the said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.