Improved Method of Joining and Securing the Rails of Railways.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 24th Sept., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of Joining and Securing the Rails of Railways.
We, THOMAS STIRLAND, of 7 Ruthin Street, High Street, Pendleton Steel
Worker and JAMES SINGLETON of 13 Williamson Square, Liverpool, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Our invention consists essentially of a novel method of joining the rails of
railways and also of securing the said rails to their chairs the object of this invention
being to dispense with the fish plates hitherto used.
In accordance with our invention we employ a rail having one flange only and
formed with tapering or sloping sides after the form of an inverted V and we also
employ a wedge which is driven vertically into the chair against the said rail being
secured by a bolt and nuts passing from beneath the chair and thus binds and holds
the rail in position.
In joining the rail we cause the ends of the rail to meet in the chair and we
divide the wedge aforesaid into two portions providing each portion with a bolt and
nut to secure it in position.
And in order that this our said invention may be more readily understood and
carried into practical effect we have hereunto annexed a sheet of drawings illustrative
of our invention and we will now proceed to describe the same with the assistance
of the various figures and letters of reference marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the application of our improvements both
as regards joining the rails and also as regards securing the same to the chairs.
A designates our improved rail and B the wedge fitting vertically with its
feather edge in between the side of the chair and the rail as illustrated. The chair
is modified to receive the wedge accordingly, the side of the chair being inclined as
shown.
For securing the rail a single wedge only is required as illustrated at Y in Fig. 1
and in transverse section Fig. 3 with a bolt C passing through a hole in the wedge
and secured by nuts D to hold the same in position but for joining the rails together
a divided wedge or two wedges is or are preferred as illustrated at in Fig. 1.
For securing the rail to the chairs midway between the ends of the rail the old
form of wedge may be employed as illustrated at X in Fig. 1 and in transverse
section Fig. 4.
It will be readily seen that a rail of the section described and illustrated in
combination with a wedge driven vertically into the chair affords an effective means
for binding and joining the rail and of securing it to its chair and we entirely
dispense with the fish plates hitherto used and avoid the bolt holes which necessarily
weaken the rail.
In addition to the lock nuts, split pins or other means may be adopted for holding
the wedge or wedges in position.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1st. For joining and securing the rails of railways the cross section of rail A in
combination with the winden
D Line balto land D

page_text: their equivalent and suitably shaped chair all mounted and arranged substantially
as herein before described and illustrated on the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 19th day of August 1892.
JOHN G. WILSON,
Agent for the Applicants.