IMPROVEMENTS IN PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Liddell, of Abingdon Street, in the City of
Westminster, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 27th October 1854, and dated the 9th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Liddell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
May 1854.
I, CHARLES LIDDELL, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster,
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of two parts: the one is a mode of fastening rails to
a short longitudinal sleeper of wrought iron in the following way:-The joint
sleeper is to be three or four feet long, of wrought iron, either curved or flat,
or of other convenient shape, the middle of it being grooved the whole length
to fit the ordinary double-headed (I) rail. The ends of two rails being laid on
to this, with the joint at or near the middle, are secured by wrought iron angle
chairs rivetted or bolted to the sleeper on each side of the rail and through the
rail; the exact length of sleeper is not essential, nor is the number of chairs.
The other is a mode of fastening rails to the ordinary wooden or other sleeper,
and consists in the adaptation of short pieces of angle iron rolled to fit the
sides of the rail, the rail being placed athwart the sleeper, either on the surface
or into a hollow grooved out of the sleeper to receive it; the angle iron pieces
are either bolted or rivetted together through the rail and on each side of it,
and bolted or spiked down to the sleepers, so as to form a chair for the rail
upon it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Liddell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
LIDDELL, of Abingdon "Street, in, the City of Westminster,. Esquire, send
greeting.
: .
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs "and "successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Liddell, Her special licence that. I, the, said Charles Liddell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Liddell, 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 THE PERMANENT
WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Liddell, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
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 Charles Liddell, do hereby.declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say :-
My Invention consists of two parts.
The first part of my Invention consists in an improved fastening for the
joints of rails. This improved-fastening is represented in Figures 1, 2, 3,-and-
4 of the Drawings annexed. a, a, are joint sleepers of wrought or cast iron,
about 3 feet long, and grooved in the middle to fit the under surface of the
rails, in the manner shewn in Figures 1 and 2. The ends of the rails are laid
on these joint sleepers, with the joint at or near the middle of 'their length, and
are secured to them by wrought iron angle pieces b, b, fitted on each side of
the rails, and screwed or rivetted to sleepers, and through the rails to each
other, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2. The angle. pieces may be either con-

page_text: tinuous, or divided into three or more parts, as shewn in Figures 3 and 4. The
sleepers may be flat or of any form convenient for the purpose, and the same
kind of sleepers and fastenings may be used for intermediate bearings, as
shewn in Figures 3 and 4.
The second part of my Invention consists in a new mode of securing double-
headed rails to ordinary sleepers. This is effected by the use of pieces of angle
iron, as shewn at c, c, Figures 5 and 6, rolled to fit the sides of the rails, the
rails being placed athwart the sleepers d, d, in grooves formed to receive them,
and the angle iron pieces being bolted, spiked, or screwed to the sleepers, and
bolted or rivetted through the rails to each other, as shewn in Figures 5 and 6.
For intermediate bearings I propose to make the angle iron pieces about six
inches long, and for joints about eighteen inches long; but these lengths may
be varied.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as of my
Invention,-
First, the mode of securing double-headed rails to iron sleepers, in which
are grooves to receive the under side of the rails, by means of angle iron pieces
fitted to each side of the rails, and screwed or rivetted to the sleepers and
through the rails to each other.
And, second, the mode of securing double-headed rails to wooden sleepers, by
means of angle iron pieces fitted to each side of the rails, and rivetted or
screwed through the rails to each other, and bolted, spiked, or screwed to the
sleepers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Liddell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
CHARLES LIDDELL. (L.S.)