Improvements in Surface and Sub Drains for Street Tramways.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Nov., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 30th June, 1801-Accepted, 5th Sept., 1891
TOOT ACcepted, th Sept. 1957
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Surface and Sub Drains for Street Tramways.
ALFRED DICKINSON Civil Engineer, Tramways Depot, Darlaston, South
Staffordshire do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN SURFACE AND SUB DRAINS FOR STREET TRAMWAYS to be as follows:-
A metal box fitting under and to the web of the tramway rail, having holes for
connecting to drains, the upper portion of the box forming the frame for the lid or
cover, and the cover forining the check of the tramway rail, the check and bottom
of groove of rail being cut away to form a slot to admit the water into the box.
Proper means are provided for securing the lid, and the boxes are connected by
means of a drain secured to the holes in the boxes. The holes to which no drains
are attached are to be fitted with a cover plate or junction piece as circumstances
may render necessary.
Dated this 15th day of November 1890.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Surface and Sub Drains for Street Tramways.
ALFRED DICKINSON, Civil Engineer, & Tramway Manager, Tramways Depot,
Darlaston, South Staffordshire, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention consists of a metal box, fitting under the flange, and to the web of
the rail, the upper portion of the box forming the frame for receiving the
removable lid or cover, the check and bottom of groove of rail being cut away to
form a slot to admit the surface drainage into the boxes which have holes in the
sides and are connected by means of conduits or sub drains, the hole in one side of
the box being closed by means of a cover plate when only one outlet is required.
The boxes may be used in sets of two, or more, in accordance with the number of
tracks of tramway, and all connected to one outlet, or two, or more, outlets may be
formed according to circumstances.
In order that my invention, and the manner of applying it, may be clearly
understood, I have appended hereunto one sheet of drawings which I will now
proceed to describe.
Figure 1. is a plan shewing my invention applied to a single track of tramway,
A. A being the ordinary tramway rails having the check and bottom of groove
cut away to form the slots a. a. The letters B. B' denote the metal boxes, and
the letters b. b the removable covers to the same. C. is a metal conduit or sub
drain having faced flanges D. D' attached to the holes in the boxes by means of
the bolts c. c ecc. E. is the out conduit or drain and is connected, at the spigot
end 9, to ordinary drain pipes which discharge into the street drain or gully. The
faced flauge F. is secured to the box B' by means of the bolts d. ddd, and G. is
the cover plate, fixed by means of the bolts e. e' e² over the hole L' in the box B.
In the event of two outlets being required an additional conduit similar to E. is
substituted for the cover plate G. and in the case of two or more tracks of tram-
way, additional conduits similar to C. are used to connect each pair of boxes.
Figure 2. is a sectional elevation on the line H. H. shewing the hole J. in the
box B and the flange F. of the conduit or sub drain E. attached by means of the
bolts d. dd ď³.

page_text: Figure 3. is a sectional elevation on the line K. K. shewing the hole L. in the
box B, and the flange D. of the conduit or sub drain C. attached by means of the
bolts c. cc c³.
Figure 4. is a section on the line M. M. shewing the rail A¹ with the check and
bottom of groove cut away to form the slot a¹, resting on the sides f. f of the
box B with the holes J. J', part of the conduit C. together with the flange D'
secured by the bolts ce, and the outlet conduit E. together with the flange F.
secured by the bolts d. dd³ and the spigot end . to fit the ordinary drain pipes.
Figure 5. is a section on the line N. N. shewing the rail A. with the check and
bottom of groove cut away, resting on the sides ff of the box B. with the hole L'
closed by means of the cover plate G being attached by the bolts e. ¹ e².
Figure 6. is an elevation of the end of the outlet conduit E. shewing the spigot g.
for connecting to the ordinary drain pipes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Surface drains in the form of metal boxes fitting to the tramway rail and
having removable covers, substantially as shewn and herein described.
2. Conduits or sub drains connecting the said metal boxes, substantially of the
form shewn and herein described.
3. Outlet conduits or sub drains having spigot ends for connecting to ordinary
drain pipes, substantially as shewn and herein described.
4. Cover plates for covering unused holes in the beforementioned boxes, substan-
tially as shown and herein described.
5. The combination of two or more of the metal boxes forming the before-
mentioned surface drains with one, or more, of each of the conduits or sub drains
and cover plates, substantially as shewn and herein described.
Dated this 29th day of June 1891.
ALFRED DICKINSON.