AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR UNITING THE ENDS OF RAIL- WAY RAILS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR UNITING THE ENDS OF RAIL-
WAY RAILS." A communication from abroad by Daniel Rice Pratt,
of Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Sealed the 26th January 1869, and dated the 22nd August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd August 1868.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR UNITING THE
ENDS OF RAILWAY RAILS," a communication, to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in the mode of applying springs
or flexible or yielding substances to fish bars of railway rails to com-
pensate for the expansion and contraction of the rails and at the same

page_text: time to absorb all the vibration occasioned by the wheels, thereby pre-
venting the breaking of the rails and allowing the strain to take place
without injury to the joint or its various parts, and keeping the same
always uniformly tight under all conditions of temperature. I make two
plates fitting the surfaces of the rails; bolts passed through these
plates and the web of the rail are also extended through cups which
contain the springs or elastic substance which is arranged to press
against a nut fitted on the end of each bolt. The plates are formed
with recesses for the purpose of preventing the turning of the bolts and
cups when the nut is forced down upon the parts. I prefer to use
springs made of vulcanized india-rubber, but springs made of steel in
the form of concave washers or coiled flat or other shaped steel springs
may be employed. Hair, cotton, wool, cork, leather, felt, and soft
wood, or other flexible or yielding material, may also be used in the
cups, though these substances are inferior to good rubber springs, which
may be made impervious to atmospheric changes and which absorb to
a great extent the tremor or vibration. The bottoms of the cups fit
into lóngitudinal grooves. Washers or followers are provided which
have two or more projections to keep them from turning round by
the friction of the nuts, and the cups have corresponding recesses to
fit the followers so that the latter can follow the nuts when the same
are screwed down to compress the springs or yielding substances in
the cups.
A modification of my Invention consists in making the outside fish
plate so thick that the recesses in the plate may be made deep enough
to receive the springs or flexible or yielding substances making sub-
stantially an outside fish plate with the cups attached all in one piece.
A small projection on the cup extends over the follower on either side
for the purpose of confining the spring, cup, and the follower together,
making all the parts like one piece. I make the cups and the followers
of good malleable iron, and I sometimes make the fish plates of
malleable iron with cups attached. The fish plates have holes through
them corresponding to the centre of oblong holes in the rails so as to
allow the said rails to expand and contract without striking the bolts.
The shape of the bolt head centralizes the shank of the bolt by fitting
the longitudinal groove in the inside fish plate. The hole through the
cup is slightly larger than the bolt, and the shank of the latter is
centralized by means of the projection on the bottom of the cup, which
fits so that the groove on the outside plate and the bolt are held in

page_text: a perfect central position in the oblong holes of the rails, any shearing
or wearing of the bolts from vertical movement of the rails is thus
prevented. The rails have longitudinal oblong holes through the neck
so that expansion and contraction can take place freely through the
splicing plates, such expansion or contraction being permitted by the
flexible fastenings of the joint.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR UNITING THE ENDS OF RAILWAY
RAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, 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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings forming a part of this Specification: -
The nature of my Invention consists in the mode of applying springs
or flexible or yielding substances to fish bars of railway rails to com-
pensate for the expansion and contraction of the rails, and at the same
time to absorb all the vibration occasioned by the wheels, thereby
preventing the breaking of the rails and allowing the strain to take
place without injury to the joint or its various parts and keeping the
same always uniformly tight under all conditions of temperature.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my Invention,
I will proceed to describe its construction and operation by the aid
of the accompanying Drawings.
Figure 1 represents the ends of two railway rails joined together
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse section of the
same; and Figures 3, 4, and 5 are detached portions drawn to an
enlarged scale. I make two plates C, B, fitting the surfaces of the
rails A. The plates are formed with recesses for the purpose of
preventing the turning of the bolts and cups when the nut is forced
down upon the parts.
Figures 4 and 5 show the cups E in cross section with the springs
of flexible or yielding substances J and H and the followers F. The
nuts G are fitted on the bolts D as seen in Figure 5. I prefer to
use springs made of vulcanized india-rubber, but springs of steel made
as seen in Figure 4 in the form of concave washers, or as seen in
Figure 3, or coiled flat or other shaped steel springs or coiled springs
of any other compact shape may be used. Gutta percha, hair, cotton,
wool, cork, leather, felt, and soft wood, or other flexible or yielding
material may also be used in the cups, though none of these substances
are so good as a good rubber spring made impervious to atmospheric
changes, as such springs absorb the tremor or vibration and are therefore
very valuable as means for accomplishing the great object of this
Invention. The bottoms of the cups E fit into longitudinal grooves as
seen in Figure 1. The washers or followers have two or more arms
or projections to keep them from being turned round by the friction
of the nuts, and the cups F have corresponding recesses to fit the

page_text: follower arms, so that the said followers can follow the nuts when the
same are screwed down to compress the springs or yielding substances
in the cups E.
A modification of my Invention which is illustrated in Figure 3
consists in making the outside fish plate so thick that the recesses
in the plate may be made deep enough to receive the springs or flexible
or yielding substances, making substantially an outside fish plate with
the cups attached all in one piece. In Figure 4 it will be observed
that a small projection on the cup extends over the follower on either
side. These projections are for the purpose of confining the spring, cup,
and follower together, making all the parts compact and as though
formed in one piece as shewn in Figures 1 and 4. I make the cups
and followers of good malleable iron, and I sometimes make the fish
plates of malleable iron with the cups attached. The fish plates have
holes through them corresponding to the centre of oblong holes in the
rails so as to allow the said rails to expand and contract without striking
the bolts. The shape of the bolt head, see Figure 5, centralizes the
shank of the bolt by fitting the longitudinal groove in the inside fish
plate as shewn in Figure 2. The hole through the cup is slightly
larger than the bolt and extending through the cup centralizes the shank
of the bolt by means of the projection on the bottom of the cup, which
fits so that the groove on the outside plate and the bolt are held in
a perfectly central position in the oblong holes of the rails, any shearing
or wearing of the bolts from vertical movement of the rails is thus
prevented. The rails have longitudinal oblong holes made through the
neck so that expansion and contraction can take place, the slipping of
the rails through the splicing plates during such expansion and con-
traction being permitted by the flexible character of the joint.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim,-
First. The india-rubber springs made and vulcanized in such a manner
as to be impervious to atmospheric changes substantially in the manner
and for the purposes herein described:
Second. The use of steel springs on fish plates with or without cups
for the purposes herein set forth.
Third. The cups and followers made in the manner and for the
purposes set forth.

page_text: Fourth. Springs or cushions formed of gutta percha, hair, cotton, felt,
wool, cork, wood, or leather, when used substantially in the manner and
for the purpose herein set forth.
Fifth. The cups E and followers F, or cups and followers of any
other suitable form, with springs or flexible or yielding substances, com-
bined together with or without fish plates, when made substantially as
described.
Sixth. The cups E as shown, or of other suitable shape, followers F
with springs H, J, I, or their equivalents as described, when used on
a fish bar made of wood to be used on the outside for the purposes
set forth.
Seventh. The cups made with projecting points as shewn in Figures 1
and 4 for the purpose of confining the parts together substantially as
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here- 1
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of February
in the year of our Lord 'One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)