IMPROVEMENTS IN PINS FOR RAILWAY CHAIRS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hopper, of Houghton-le-Spring Iron Works,
in the County of Durham, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PINS FOR RAILWAY CHAIRS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hopper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
March 1854.
I, GEORGE HOPPER, of Houghton-le-Spring Iron Works, in the County.
of Durham, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PINS FOR RAILWAY CHAIRS" to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to the manufacture of pins for railway chairs,
constructed with a twist on the pin itself, and which I first introduced into
use, and which I have been manufacturing for some years past. The chair
pins I at present make are constructed from square bars, and the pin is neces-
sarily left square at its head. The present improvement consists in forming
that portion of the pin near the head, in which there is no twist round instead
of square, by which means it fits readily in the chair, and is held much more
firmly than by the present arrangement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Hopper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HOPPER, of Houghton-le-Spring Iron Works, in the County of Durham,
Engineer, send greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, 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 George Hopper, Her special license that I, the said George Hopper,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Hopper, my executors, administrators, or 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 PINS
FOR BAILWAY CHAIRS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Hopper, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Hopper, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the manufacture of wrought-iron pins or spikes
as at present, used for fixing and holding down the chairs used on railways; the
particular form, or class. of; pin or spike to which my Invention directly refers,
is that wherein the body of the pin is spirally twisted, so as to give it a better
hold in the sleeper, and which form or class I first introduced into practical use,
and have been in the habit of making the same for several years past. Such
pins or spikes as hitherto made by me are manufactured out of square bar
iron, and the shank or body of the pin or spike is left square at its head or

page_text: neck portion beneath the head. Now, according to my Invention I form the
neck portion, or that part of the shank which, according to the hitherto
existing system of manufacture, receives no twist round or cylindrical, in
transverse section instead of square or rectangular. Pins or spikes made in
this way fit accurately all round in the holes of the chairs; they allow no
jarring wear to take place, and the chairs, and consequently the rails, are held
with much more firmness than hitherto.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
attached. +
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the old form of twisted pin which
I have hitherto manufactured, and which I have here delineated in order
that my present improvement upon it may be more clearly comprehended.
Figure 2 is a transverse section of this old form of pin, as taken through
the upper non-twisted or neck portion of the shank along the line a, b.
Figure 3 represents an elevation of my improved railway chair pin; and
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the same, taken along the line c, d. The
upper non-twisted portion of the shank A, in Figure 1, is square, or of a
rectangular section, as shewn by the transverse section at Figure 2, whilst
that of the improved pin B is round or cylindrical, as shewn in Figure 4 of
my Drawings.
The improvement will be obvious to the practical man, as the rounded and
slightly conical portion of the shank of the pin will fit much more accurately
and firmly into the round hole in the chair, than the rectangular shank of my
original pin.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without de-
viating from the principles or main features of my 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 application and use of twisted railway chair pins, which are so con-
structed that the upper or non-twisted portion of such pins shall be round or
circular in transverse section, whilst the twisted or screwed portion of the pin
is rectangular or polygonal in transverse section.
Second, the system or mode of constructing pins for railway chairs with

page_text: cylindrical or conycal necks, whilst the main body of the pins is twisted or
angular in transverse section.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hopper, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
GEORGE HOPPER. (L.B.)