IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS OR SUBWAYS, AND IN WORKED THEREIN "
Year: 1863

page_text: both of 4, Martin's Lane, Cannon Street, In
OT
HICSCA
Surveyors, and Edward Ellis Allen, of 5. Parliament Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS OR SUBWAYS, AND IN
WORKED THEREIN "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Dudgeon, George
Frederick Lee Meakin, and Edward Ellis Allen at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th February
1863.
ARTHUR DUDGEON and GEORGE FREDERICK LEE MEAKIN, both of 4.
Martin's Lane, Cannon Street. in the County of Middlesex; Surveyors.
and EDWARD ELLIS ALLEN, of 5, Parliament Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS
OR SUBWAYS; AND IN CARRIAGES TO BE USED OR WORKED THEREIN," to be as
follows:
Our Invention consists, firstly, of a new and improved mode of constructing
what are known as "underground" railways or "subways," or such as are
carried along beneath the public roads or highways in whole or in part, when
Price Sd.]

page_text: such railways or subways are covered in or inclosed, the road or highway being
made good over them; and the main objects of our Invention are to avoid in
great part. the lengthened interruption of the ordinary traffic during the con-
struction of such subways, to considerably reduce their height, and consequently
their cost; as also to avoid the possibility of any settlement of the buildings
standing along the sides of the streets or roads under which the said works
are being carried.
Our Invention may be generally described as a method of constructing the
sides and roofing of subways or underground railways by the removal, in the
first instance, of such an amount of earth only as shall be sufficient to lay,
imbed, or sink such sides and roofing separately, or at the same time
replacing the said earth and making the roadway good over the subway,
leaving the earth between the said sides and under the said roofing to be sub-
sequently excavated and removed in any convenient manner through open
cuttings or shafts at places where no great amount of Irallic exists, or where
stations may be intended to be formed, and the ground or land be in pos-
session of the company or person or persons constructing the said works.
After the excavation or removal of the earth in the tunnel or subway shall
have been effected the bottom may be formed and made good, and the subway
consequently finished in considerably less time than would be possible were
the whole of the earthwork removed down to the base or floor of the subway
at one and the same time.
The mode in which we propose and prefer to carry out the above described
Invention is by sinking hollow cast or wrought iron cylinders, or square or
other shaped hollow piles or piers at certain distances of, say, 15, 20, or 30
fect, more or less, according to circumstances, by excavating or clearing away
the ground within such piles, piers, or cylinders in the usual manner of sinking
such piers for bridges, forcing the said piles, piers, or cylinders down by weights
laid on them, successive lengths being added as the work proceeds, such
lengths being bolted or secured together by screw bolts or rivets passed
through flanges formed on the inside of the said cylinders, piles, or piers, such
cylinders, piles, or piers being afterwards filled in with concrete, brick, or other
suitable filling, in order to make them solid and capable of resisting the lateral
pressure of the earth against themselves, and the walls, facings, or sides of the
tunnel or subway which they are all designed to support. Flanges or grooves
may be cast upon or in such cylinders for attaching the said sides or walls to,
and these walls may be constructed of iron. stone, or other material, or partly
of one and partly of another according to circumstances. If of iron we prefer
to construct such sides of double plating, united together by suitable stays,

page_text: stones, or iron plates, strengthening partitions, such double plating enclosing a
space sufficient to carry on the excavation and removal of the earth within
them, the strengthening partitions forming conveniently the stages required for
removing the earthwork, and so sinking the said sides or walls in the same
manner as the cylinders before described; or the said walls may he constructed
of a single plate or series of plates of wrought or cast iron properly, and suitably
strengthened and stiffened but not enclosing any space, as before described,
but sunk in the usual manner of sheet piling. the excavation necessary for
doing this being best made on the inner or railway or subway side of such
wall or sheet piling, the earthwork at the back of the said sheet piling being
as little disturbed as possible, and made good by the spaces being firmly filled
in with concrete or earth firinly ramined down.
The walling may also be constructed by increasing the number of piles or
piers, the spaces between the same being formed of masses of brickwork or
stone slabs. From the tops of the sunken cylinders or piers we propose to
place wrought iron or other girders extending from side to side of the subway,
or in some cases from the sides respectively to a central line of sunken
cylinders or piers, and upon these girders, and generally at right angles or
nearly so to them, to place lighter girders extending from one of the said main
girders to another, such lighter girders being of cast or wrought iron, and upon
these latter to construct brick arches or lay stone slabs, mallets, or buckled
plates," or curved or arched plates of wrought or cast iron, or flat plates
properly ribbed or strengthened, or any other material fitted for the purpose,
covering the same with concrete and asphalt and finally with earth, so as to
again form the roadway over them, the exact form of the roofing greatly
depending upon the height which could be allowed in any given case between
the crown of the subway and the level of the street, road, or highway. The
bottom of the subway may in like manner be formed of various materials, such
as those above named; but this bottom or base of the tunnel would not be
generally formed until after the sides and top had been completed, as above.
described. We propose to carry the cylinders or piers, and also the walling
between them, so far below the bed of the subway as would be necessary to
resist the tendency of the earth of the bed of the tunnel or subway from
being discharged by the pressure or thrust of that at the sides of the same,
and where the sides are carried down to a sufficient depth it may not be
necessary to construct the bottom of the subway of brick, iron, or stonework,
but to at once lay the ballast upon which the rails and sleepers rest.
In order to carry out the construction of subways, as above described, and
will be readily understood that it is only necessary in commencing operations

page_text: to occupy so much of the road or public thoroughfare (say, 10 to 15 feet in
width), under which the subway is about to be formed, as may be sufficient
to drive or sink the cylinders and wall forming one side only of such subway.
When this has been completed and the roadway made good, a similar space
only would be required to form in like manner the other side, and upon com-
pletion of this and the roadway being made good the space between the two
sets of cylinders or piers and walling attached thereto may be taken possession
of for the purpose of forming the roof, which may be done in short sections
and in a comparatively very short time, the excavations only reaching the
crown of the intended subway and not to the base thereof.
In some cases it may be desirable to construct the sides and roof of subways
or underground railways entirely of brick or stonework as well as the roof
thereof, or the sides of iron and the roof of brick or other material, or finally,
the sides of brick or other material and the roof of iron, and in this case we
adopt the same method of construction as already described, the sides or
walling being first formed and afterwards the roof, or both simultaneously.
but without removing the earthwork occupying the space between the said
walls or beneath the said roof until afterwards, as above described.
Another modification may be made by the substitution of a series of piles
or square or rectangular cells of cast or wrought iron placed side by side, so
as to form the sides of subways instead of the cylinders or piers above named.
In this case the main beams for the roof would be considerably lighter and
more numerous, and the brick or iron arches, or buckled or other plates, or
stone or granite slabs laid from main beam to main beam, there being no
intermediate or cross beams; or, lastly, the walls of subways may be formed
of the double iron cellular constructions first described, but without any piers,
the thrust of the earth being resisted by the roof and floor beams, or the
former only when the sides are carried far enough down.
In all the mode of carrying out our Invention we propose to adopt the
same general plan of constructing the walls or sides and roof of the tunnel or
subway first, afterwards removing the earth from between the said walls and
under the said roof.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in constructing the carriages to be used
or worked in subways constructed as above described, and where great dimi-
nution in the height of the same may be made by forming the floors of the said
carriages nearer to the level of the rails and below the axles of the wheels, the
said axles passing under or between any pair of seats in a suitably constructed
passage made from side to side of the carriage. the wheels of such carriages
we propose to place in recesses formed in the sides of the said carriages, such

page_text: recesses being open in front and made to contain the springs and grease boxes
and break blocks. To enter such carriages no platform would be required, or
one raised a few inches only from the level of the rails, and a waste of vertical
height of about three feet avoided. The back of the recess for the wheels
would in this case take the place of the ordinary "horn" plates.
SPECIFICATION
in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Dudgeon, George Frederick Lee Meakin, and
Edward Ellis Allen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th August
1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ARTHUR
DUDGEON and GEORGE FREDERICK LEE MEAKIN, both of 4, Martin's Lane,
Cannon Street, in the County of Middlesex, Surveyors, and EDWARD ELLIS
ALLEN, of 5, Parliament Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Arthur Dudgeon, George Frederick Lee Meakin, and Edward
Ellis Allen, Her special licence that we, the said Arthur Dudgeon. George
Frederick Lee Meakin, and Edward Ellis Allen, our executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Arthur Dudgeon, George
Frederick Lee Meakin, and Edward Ellis Allen, our executors, administra-
tors, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS
OR SUBWAYS, AND IN CARRIAGES TO BE USED OR WORKED THEREIN," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Arthur Dudgeon, Georga
Frederick Lee Meakin, and Edward Ellis Allen, our executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under 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 saine was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calenda
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Arthur Dudgeon, George Frederick
Lee Meakin, and Edward Ellis Allen, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that
is to say:
Our Invention consists, firstly, of a new and improved mode of constructing
what are known as "underground" railways or subways," or such as are
carried along beneath the public roads or highways in whole or in part, when
such railways or subways are covered in or inclosed, the road or highway
being made good over them, and the main objects of our Invention are to
avoid any lengthened interruption of the ordinary traffic during the construc-
tion of such subways, io considerably reduce their height, and consequently
their cost, as also to avoid the possibility of any settlement of the buildings
standing along the sides of the streets or roads under which the said works
are being carried.
Our Invention may be generally described as a method of constructing the
sides and roofing of subways or underground railways by the removal in the
first instance of such an amount of earth only shall be sufficient to lay,
embed, or sink such sides and roofing separately, or at the same time re-
placing the said earth, and making the roadway good over the subway, leaving
the earth between the said sides and under the said roofing to be subsequently
excavated and removed in any convenient manner through open cuttings or
shafts at places where no great amount of traflic exists, or where stations may
be intended to be formed, and the ground or land be in possession of the
company or person or persons constructing the said works; after the excavation
or removal of the earth in the tunnel or subway shall have been effected, the
bottom may be formed and made good, and the subway consequently finished
in considerably less time than would be possible were the whole of the earth-
work removed down to the base or floor of the subway at one and the same
time.
The mode in which we propose and prefer to carry out the above-described
Invention is by sinking hollow cast or wrought-iron cylinders, or square or
other shaped hollow piles. or piers at certain distances by excavating or
clearing away the ground within such piles, piers, or cylinders in the usual
manner of sinking such piers for bridges, forcing the said piles, piers, or
cylinders down by weights laid on them, successive lengths being added as the
work proceeds, such lengths being bolted or secured together by screw bolts
or rivets passed through flanges formed on the inside of the said cylinders,
piles, or piers, such cylinders, piles, or piers being afterwards filled in with

page_text: concrete, brick, or other suitable filling, in order to make them solid and
capable of resisting the lateral pressure of the earth against themselves, and
the walls, facings, or sides of the tunnel or subway which they are designed to
support. Flanges or grooves may be cast upon, or in such cylinders for
attaching the said sides or walls to, and these walls may be constructed of
iron, stone, or other material, or partly of one and partly of another, according
to circumstances. If of iron, we prefer to construct such sides of double
plating of cast or wrought iron united together by suitable plates and stays,
with iron strengthening partitions, such double plating enclosing a space
sufficient to carry on the excavation and removal of the earth within them.
the strengthening partitions forming conveniently the stages required for
removing the earthwork, and so sinking the said sides or walls in the same
manner as the cylinders before described, or the said walls may be constructed
of a single plate or series of plates of wrought or cast iron properly and
suitably strengthened and stiffened, but not enclosing any space as before
described, but sunk in the usual manner of sheet piling, the excavation neces-
sary for doing this being best made on the inner or railway, or subway side of
such wall or sheet piling, the earthwork at the back of the said sheet piling
being as little disturbed as possible. and made good by the space being firmly
filled in with concrete or earth firmly rammed down.
The walling may also be constructed by increasing the number of piles or
piers, which may then be screw piles, the spaces between the saine being
formed of masses of brickwork or stone slabs. From the tops of the sunken
cylinders or piers we propose to place wrought iron or other girders extending
from side to side of the subway, or in some cases from the sides respectively
to a central line of sunken cylindrical columns or piers, and upon these girders
and generally at right angles or nearly so to them, to place lighter girders
extending from one of the said main girders to another, such lighter girders
being of cast or wrought iron, and upon these latter to construct brick arches,
or lay stone slabs, buckled plates," or curved or arched plates of wrought or
cast iron, or flat plates properly ribbed or strengthened, or any other material
fitted for the purpose, covering the same with concrete and asphalte, and
finally with earth, so as to again form the roadway over them, the exact
form of the roofing greatly depending upon the height which could be allowed
in any given case between the crown of the subway and the level of the
street, road, or highway. The bottom of the subway may in like manner be
formed of various materials such as those above named, but this bottom or
base of the tunnel would not be generally formed until after the sides and top
had been completed as above described. We propose to carry the cylinders

page_text: or piers, and also the walling between them so far below the bed of the
subway as would be necessary to resist the tendency of the earth of the bed of
the tunnel or subway from being dislodged by the pressure or thrust of that at.
the sides of the same, and where the sides are carried down to a sufficient
depth, it may not be necessary to construct the bottom of the subway of brick,
iron, or stonework, but to at once by the ballast upon which the rails and
sleepers rest.
In order to carry out the construction of subways, as above described, it
will be readily understood that it is only necessary in commencing operations
to occupy so much of the road or public thoroughfare (say, 10 to 15 feet in
width), under which the subway is about to be formed as may be sufficient to
drive or sink the cylinders and wall forming one side only of such subway;
when this has been completed, and the roadway made good, a similar space only
would be required to form in like manner the other side, and upon completion
of this and the roadway being made good, the space between the two sets of
cylinders or piers and walling attached thereto may be taken possession of for
the purpose of forming the roof, which may be done in short sections, and in a
comparatively very short time, the excavations only reaching the crown of the
intended subway, and not to the base thereof.
In some cases it may be desirable to construct the sides and roof of subways
or underground railways entirely of brick or stonework, as well as the roof
thereof, or the sides of iron and the roof of brick or other material, or finally
the sides of brick or other material and the roof of iron, and in this case we
adopt the same method of construction as already described, the sides or walling
being first formed, and afterwards the roof or both simultaneously, but without
removing the earthwork occupying the space between the said walls, or
beneath the said roof until afterwards as above described.
Another modification may be made by the substitution of a series of piles or
square or rectangular cells of cast or wrought iron placed side by side, so as to
form the sides of subways, instead of the cylinders or piers above named. In
this case the main beams for the roof would be considerably lighter and more
numerous, and the brick or iron arches or buckled or other plates or stone or
granite slabs laid from main beam to main beam. there being no intermediate
or cross beams; or lastly, the walls of subways may be formed of the double iron
cellular constructions first described, but without any piers, the thrust of
the earth being resisted by the roof and floor beams, or the former only when
the sides are carried far enough down.
In all the modes of carrying out our Invention we propose to adopt the
same general plan of constructing the walls or sides and roof of the tunnel or

page_text: subway first, afterwards removing the earth from between the said walls and
under the said roof.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in constructing the carriages to be used or
worked in subways constructed as above described, and where great diminution
in the height of the same may be made by forming the floors of the said car-
riages nearer to the level of the rails, and below the axles of the wheels. the
said axles passing under or between any pair of seats in a suitably constructed
passage made from side to side of the carriage. The wheels of such carriages
we propose to place in recesses formed in the sides of the said carriages, such
recesses being open in front, and made to contain the springs and grease boxes
and break blocks.
To enter such carriages no platform would be required, or one raised a few
inches only from the level of the rails, and a waste of vertical height of from
two to three feet avoided. The back of the recess for the wheels would in this
case take the place of the ordinary "horn" plates.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention. we will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same, reference being made to
the accompanying illustrations, which shew some of the various ways in which
our Invention may be carried out.
Figures 1 and 2 shew section and plan of a subway. the sides being formed
of cells A, A, A. of cast iron, each of which may be in one piece or several
pieces bolted together, flanges being formed at B for attaching the several
cells together whether there be two or more: one of the main girders is
shewn at C, resting upon a cap D, placed on the upper cell. The cells may
be filled in with concrete after being sunk by excavating the earth from within
them, and so gradually lowering them to the required depth. The roofing
may in this case be constructed of cast-iron plates (curved and strengthened
by flanges) let in between the main beams or girders, an inveried T-iron
being bent to the same curve as the plates, and so placed that the curved
edges of two of the said plates may bear upon it. A cast-iron filling piece
may be conveniently introduced between the ends of every pair of main girders.
being bolted to the top flange of the upper cell, and filling pieces may also be
used at the lower end of the bottom cells so as to form a bed for the spring of
an inverted arch of masonry (when such is required) to resist the upward
pressure of the earth below the tunnel, each side of the tunnel thus formed
is intended to be sunk separately, the cells being forced down by weights or
pressure, the earth on either side being left undisturbed and thus avoiding the
possibility of the settlement of buildings standing along the sides of the road
under which the subway is intended to be formed. The cells instead of being

page_text: of cast iron may be made of wrought-iron plating and angle iron rivetted
together. Should four, lines of rails be required the main girders may be
supported in the centre by a central row of cast-iron column or piers which
may be put in place either at the time the roof of the tunnel is made or before.
In the formation of a subway on the plan above described from 10 to 15
feet of one side of a street would be first taken, the ordinary traffic passing
along on the opposite side, which in its turn would be stopped up for the con-
struction of the second side. the road being first made good over the first, and
tht traffic re-established there: when both sides are formed short lengths of
the street would be required, the whole width or half the width of the subway.
so as to form the roof. the ground being removed down to the level of the
bottom of the main girders only, and turned over temporally until the said
main girders with the T-irons and curved plates before described were laid.
and which would be very rapidly done, the roadway being made good over
them by the earth temporally removed being replaced. when another section
would be proceeded with in a similar manner. By the mode of construction
here described a subway may be made of the full width of any public throughfare
withont stopping the traffic at all, or for a few days only, whereas from three
to six months are required when a tunnel of the ordinary form and construction
is adopted. The whole of the earthwork from the inside of the tunnel would
be removed at any convenient points along a line. such as the sites of proposed
stations, any flooring to the tunnel being put in at the same time. To provide
for the drainage of houses along the throughfares under which it is proposed
to construct a railway. i.e., where the existing sewers are interfered with, they
must be first formed along each side of the street, and the connections with
the houses made good, or in some cases a central sewer may be formed under
the railway after the earthwork has been removed, and to which connection
can be made by tunnelling to the buildings on either side of the throughfare.
Figures 3 and 4. show a modification of the arrangement above described.
designed with a view of reducing the cost of construction. instead of a series
of cells locking into each other, the sides of the tunnel are formed of cast-
iron piles E. E. of H or other section driven into the ground, between which
are let down curved plates F and G, temporally united together if necessary.
and enclosing a space in which the excavating can be carried on as in the case
of the cells already described. In this case however the plates F alone would
permanently remain (these being made strong enough to resist the pressure of
earth against them the plates G being removed when the earth from centre
of tunnel is cleared away, the space between F and G being left empty or filled
in with earth until the completion of the tunnel. In order to sustain the

page_text: weight on the piles cast-iron brackets may be bolted or otherwise fitted to the
lower ends of the said piles so as to increase their bearing surface: caps may
be fitted to these piles for carrying the main girders of roof. and cast iron
or brick arches and fillings may be used for roofing and upper portion of the
sides of tunnel.
Figure 5 shows a plan of a modified form of pile to that last described. In
this case the piles are made circular of comparatively small diameter, the
earth being raised from within them by any suitable means as by boring, or
they may be sunk in holes already formed to receive them, or forced down by
means of screws formed on their lower ends. Grooves may be formed in these
piles in order to guide and keep in place the. plates and which may both
remain, the space being filled in with concrete, or the inner one may be removed
(as before described in reference to Figures 3 and 4). the outer plates being
made strong enough to resist the thrust of earth against them. The entire
height of the side of tunnel would be formed of several of these plates one
over the other united by flanges bolted together.
Figures 6 and 7 show another mode of making the piles of a section suitable
for retaining a walling of brickwork (formed in blocks if preferred) between
them. In this case à trench must be cut to the required depth. the earth
being retained by shoring in the ordinary way: the cavity on outer side of
walls. may then be filled in with concrete and that on the inside by earth
temporally rammed in, but removed when the tunnel is excavated.
The modes of constructing underground railings above described are those
which we prefer to adopt in carrying out our Invention, but it is obvious that
the sides as well as the roof and floor of subways may be constructed of brick-
work or masonry, or more or less of these materials may be used for either all
or any portions of subways; the same principle of construction being adopted,
videlicit, that of first forming each side separatively. or both sides at the
same time, then the roofing of the tunnel, and finally clearing it of earth and
constructing the flooring, or forming one or both sides, and the roofing simul-
taneously afterwards removing the earth and constructing the flooring: or.
thirdly, by forming one side and half of the roof first, then the other side and the
other half of the roof, the main girders being in two pieces rivetted or bolted
together and then excavating and completing the tunnel. In other words so
forming an underground railway in sections or portions in such a manner as to
cause little interruption to the traffic or in some cases to avoid it altogether.
Figure 8 shews a section of screw pile cast circular but cored eccentrically
so as to better resist external pressure on one side only, the flanges of side
plates meeting and fitting the pile: Figure 9 shews an outline pian.

page_text: (Figure shewing a cross section) of a railway carriage constructed according
to the second part of our Invention. The body of the carriage is lowered with
reference to the centre of the wheels. the axles being nearer the floor level
of the carriage and made to pass below the level of the seats or between the
backs of two adjoining seats. Recesses are formed in the framing of the car-
riages to allow of the wheels. springs, grease boxes, and break blocks being
placed within them, the back plate of such recesses may answer the purpose
of the ordinary horn" plates or these latter may be outside the wheels and
attached to main frame of carriage.
Having thus described the nature of our improvements, and the manner of
performing the same we would have it understood that we do not claim any of
the mechanical parts separately. nor do we confine ourselves to the details
herein described so long as the object of our said improvements may be
obtained by modifications thereof; but what we claim as our Invention
and for which the herein-before recited Letters Patent have been granted to
us is :-
Firstly, the mode or method of constructing underground railways or sub-
ways in sections or portions so as to avoid the least interruption of the traffic
in the throughfares under which it may be desirable to construct such railways
or subways.
Secondly, the mode of constructing railway carriages (for whatever pur-
pose used) so that the floors of such carriages may be brought lower down,
with reference to the centres of the wheel axles in the manner described.
In witness whereof. I. the said Edward Ellis Allen. on behalf
of myself and Arthur Dudgeon and George Frederick Lee Meakin.
have hereunto set my hand and seal. this Twenty-sixth day of
August. in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three.
EDW. E. ALLEN. (L.s.)