IMPROVEMENTS IN RAIL- WAYS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Cox, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Iron Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAIL-
WAYS." A communication.
Sealed the 10th November 1857, and dated the 28th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Cox at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th May 1857.
I, NATHANIEL Cox, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Iron Mer-
chant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RAILWAYS," to be as follows:--
Two side rails or trams are laid down, on or in which the wheels of the
carriages run. A central corrugated rail, or rail having undulated grooves
in its surface, is laid between the other two rails. The driving wheel or wheels
of the engine run upon this central rail, and thus obtain a greater degree of
adhesion than on the ordinary plain rails. This central rail may extend the
whole length of the railway, or may be employed only on steep inclines, where
the adhesion of the wheels on the ordinary rails is inadequate. In lieu of a
single central corrugated rail, two such rails may be employed, either between
the two side rails or outside them.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nathaniel Cox in the Great Seal Patent Office. on the 24th
November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHA-
NIEL Cox, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Iron Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Nathaniel Cox, Her special licence that I, the said Nathaniel Cox, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Nathaniel
Cox, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAIL-
WAYS," (communicated to me from abroad), upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Nathaniel Cox, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Nathaniel Cox, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:-
Two side rails or trams are laid down, on or in which the wheels of the
carriages run. A central corrugated rail, or rail having undulated grooves in
its surface, is laid between the other two rails. The driving wheel or wheels
of the engine run upon this central rail, and thus obtain a greater degree of
adhesion than on the ordinary plain rails. This central rail may extend the
whole length of the railway, or may be employed only on steep inclines, where
the adhesion of the wheels on the ordinary rails is inadequate.
In lieu of a single central corrugated rail, two such rails may be employed,
either between the two side rails or outside them.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a plan of a portion of railway
constructed according to the Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse section of
the same.
The same letters refer to similar parts in each Figure. A, A, A,
are longitudinal bearers or sleepers; B, B, are the side rails or trams; C is
the central corrugated rail. Figure 3 is a full-sized section of one of the side
trams B. Figure 4 is a full-sized section, and Figure 5 is a full-sized side
view, of the corrugated rail C. In lieu of the trams B, rails of any of the
ordinary forms, supported on chairs or otherwise, may be employed. The rail
C is of wrought iron, and is rolled with small undulations or corrugations in
its surface. These corrugations may lie at right angles to the length of the
rail, as at d in Figure 1, or they may be inclined in either direction, as at e
and fin Figure 1, or in both directions, as at 9 in Figure 1, or they may be
of zig-zag or curved form. They may be of the form and dimensions shewn
in Figure 5, in which the total depth of the grooves or corrugations is three-
sixteenths of an inch. Their form and dimensions may be varied; but when
the grooves or corrugations are placed at right angles to the length of the
rails they must never be made more than three times as wide and deep as
those shewn in Figure 5 of the accompanying Drawing, for if made of too
great width the wheels will not run over them with sufficient smoothness and
ease of motion, and if made too deep their strength will be impaired. When
the grooves or corrugations are placed diagonally across the rail, they may be
made of greater width, as one part of the wheel will arrive on the summit of
one corrugation before another part of the wheel has left the summit of the
previous corrugation. In all cases, however, I consider it preferable to make
the corrugations small, as the rail is intended to be travelled upon by a plain
cylindrical wheel, and is not intended to act as a rack for a toothed wheel on
the locomotive engine. By employing this rail with a wooden wheel, or a
wheel with the tire or outer rim partially or entirely constructed of or faced
with wood, a great amount of adhesion is obtained. And I would here
observe that I am aware that it has been heretofore proposed to apply a cast-
iron rack in proximity to the rails of a railway, and to cause the engine to
propel itself by means of a toothed wheel entering such rack while the weight
of the engine was supported by the rails. In this arrangement the rack and
wheel were made with large teeth, and if the rack did not extend the whole
length of the railway, or if any part of it got out of level with the rails, there
was a risk of the teeth of the wheel coming down upon those of the rack
instead of entering the spaces between them, and thus breaking the teeth or
raising the wheel and the engine, and, perhaps, throwing them off the rails.

page_text: These defects are avoided by the rail with small corrugations or with diagonal
corrugations, as herein-before described, which is adapted for the passage of a
plain cylindrical wheel over it.
In lieu of one central corrugated rail, two corrugated rails may be employed
and placed near to the side rails and on either side of them, and supported by
the same or different sleepers or barers. As already mentioned, the corru-
gated rail or rails may extend the whole length of the railway, or may be em-
ployed only on steep inclines. The form of the base of the corrugated rail and
the mode of supporting it may be varied. The corrugated rails are to be
manufactured of wrought iron by rolling them with rollers having grooves of
corresponding form.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is, constructing railways with the ordinary rails or trams in combination
with an additional rail or rails of wrought iron rolled with corrugations or
grooves, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Cox, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JAMES ROWE, Solicitor,
Chapel Walk, Liverpool,
NATHANIEL COX. (L.S.)