IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richardson, John William Richardson,
and Adam Spencer, all of West Hartlepool, in the County of
Durham, Ironmasters, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF RAILS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson,
John William Richardson, and Adam Spencer at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 4th November
1870.
We, THOMAS RICHARDSON, JOHN WILLIAM RICHARDSON, and ADAM
SPENCER, all of West Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, 'Iron-
masters, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILS," to be as follows:→
The improvements have for their object the use of economical
descriptions of iron from which flanged or other rails may be rolled,
and consists in so forming and placing in the heating furnace piles
of such iron that a thorough welding of the upper parts which form

page_text: the head of the rail may be secured, thus preventing lamination, and
that the lower parts which form the flange may be bonded and protected
from being overheated, thus preserving the fibre and consequently the
strength of the rail.
"
The improvements may be carried into effect by building the pile on a
base plate formed in one piece of best puddled or other iron, placing the
'sides" (which are made of an irregular T shape or other suitable
form from rail crops without overheating, or from other iron,) together
with layers of best puddled or other bars so as to secure the requisite
amount of fibrous iron to form the flange of the rail; the intermediate
portion of the pile may be made up with puddled bar or other iron
in the usual way, over which is to be placed the slab to form the head
of the rail. The pile thus formed is to be introduced into the heating
furnace in the same position, that is to say, with the slab from which
the head is to be formed uppermost, after which it is to be treated in
the ordinary manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Richardson, John William Richardson,
and Adam Spencer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd May
1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, THOMAS
RICHARDSON, JOHN WILLIAM RICHARDSON, and ADAM SPENCER, all
of West Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, Ironmasters, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Thomas Richardson, John William
Richardson, and Adam Spencer, Her special licence that we, the said
Thomas Richardson, John William Richardson, and Adam Spencer, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Thomas Richardson, John William Richardson, and Adam Spencer, our
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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Thomas Richardson, John William Richardson, and
Adam Spencer, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, 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 we, the said Thomas Richardson, John William
Richardson, and Adam Spencer, 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,
that is to say-
The improvements have for their object the use of economical
descriptions of iron from which flanged or other rails may be rolled,
and consist in so forming and placing or charging in the heated furnace
piles of such iron that a thorough welding of the upper parts which form
the head may be secured, thus preventing lamination, and that the
lower parts which form the flange may be bonded and protected from
being overheated, thus preserving the fibre and consequently the strength
of the rail.
The improvements may be carried into effect by building the pile and
base plate formed in one piece of best puddled or other iron, placing the
"sides" (which are made of an irregular T shape or other suitable form
from the rail crops without reheating, or from other iron,) together with
layers of best puddled or other bars, so as to form the requisite amount
of fibrous iron to form the flange of the rail; the intermediate portion
of the pile may be made up with puddled bar or other iron in the usual
way, over which is to be placed the slab to form the head of the rail.
The pile thus formed is to be introduced into the heating furnace in the
same position, that is to say, with the slab from which the head is to
be formed uppermost, after which it is to be treated in the ordinary
manner.
The accompanying Drawings will serve more fully to illustrate, our
Invention and a convenient way of carrying it into effect; the Drawing
represents a "pile" nine inches by nine and a half inches.

page_text: "
"
"
D is the slab of best puddled or other iron to form the head of the
rail, and in the Drawing is shewn one and three-quarter inches thick,
under this comes five inches of puddled bars or other iron in bars or
layers of three-quarters of an inch thick, as shewn at C, C; at the
bottom there is about two and a half inches of fibrous iron with layers
of five-eights of an inch thick B, B, and with "* sides
or "side pieces
A, A; in the Drawing these "sides are shewn of an irregular T shape,
but they may be Ľ shaped, or | -shaped, or | _ shaped, or of
any other shape suitable for the purpose, made from the rail crops
without reheating, or from other iron. The pile thus constructed is
intended to be introduced into the heating furnace with the slab D, of
which the head is formed uppermost, thus securing a thorough welding
of the head so as to prevent lamination, and also protecting the lower
part which forms the flange from being overheated, thus preserving the
fibre and consequently the strength of that portion of the rail.
It is obvious that the size and shape of the pile and its component
parts may differ somewhat materially from the Drawing, which is only
given as an illustration, without in the least departing from the nature
of the Invention so far as the form of the "side," the method of piling,
and the charging of the pile head upwards is concerned.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Richardson, John William
Richardson, and Adam Spencer, have hereunto set their hands and
seals, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.
T. RICHARDSON.
(L.S.)
J. W. RICHARDSON. (L.S.)
ADAM SPENCER.
(L.S.)