CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FORMATION OF IRON RAILS FOR RAILROADS, AND OF THE CHAIRS OR PEDESTALS IN OR UPON WHICH THERAILS MAY BE PLACED OR FIXED
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
Losu, of Benton House, in the County of Northumberland, Esquire, do send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of Sep-
tember, in the ninth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said
William Losh, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Losh, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and every of them, by myself, himself, or themselves, or by my,
his, or their deputy or deputies, servant or servants, agents, or such others as
I, the said William Losh, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, shall at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
FORMATION OF IRON RAILS FOR RAILROADS, AND OF THE CHAIRS OR PEDESTALS IN
OR UPON WHICH THE RAILS MAY BE PLACED OR FIXED;" in which Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Losh, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to bo performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Losh, do hereby declare that my said Invention is fully described and
ascertained by the Drawings in the Schedule annexed to theso Presents, and
the following description thereof (that is to say):-
In ny improvements I have two objects in view: first, to give additional
strength to such parts of the rails as in former modes of constructing them
appear to suffer most from the pressure and shocks to which they are subjected
by the passage of loaded waggons or other carriages; secondly, to join the
rails to the chairs which support them by such means as shall be less liable to
be deranged by the carriages which shall pass over them than those modes
which have hitherto been adopted. To accomplish these objects, I form my
malleable iron rails with certain projections upon their lower edges, and which
projections may be formed by welding, hammering, rolling, or otherwise, at the
joints of my improved cast-iron rails, which I propose to make with half-lap
ends or joints. I introduce, by casting them in proper moulds, studs and
cavities or sockets on the sides of the half laps, and which will add to their
strength at the same time that they will facilitate and make more perfect their
junction with the chairs on which they are to rest. Lastly, I form, by casting
them in moulds made from proper models, chairs of such peculiar forms as
shall be adapted to receive and support the rails of my particular construction.
I do not claim as new the mode of rolling malleable iron rails, or of pro-
ducing projections upon malleable iron rails by passing them through the
grooved rollers; but I claim as my improvement the formation of malleable
iron rails with projections upon them in peculiar relative positions, in order to
produce the effects I intend; and which projections can alone be formed by
rollers with grooves or channels cut in them for that express purpose, or by
hammering or pressing the lower edges of the rails into the forms of the
intended projections, or by attaching to the lower edges of the rails pieces of
iron of the required form by the common process of welding.
Figure 1 is a side view of part of a malleable iron edge rail of the usual
construction, supported by cast-iron chairs at A, A, resting on stone blocks or
wooden sleepers B, B. At X the side of the chair is left off to shew the flat
bearance of the rail on the chair; and at Y the straight or flat bearance of the

page_text: rail is shown without a chair. Figure 2 is a side view of part of a malleable
iron edge rail, which I claim as my improved construction, supported by cast-
iron chairs at A, A, three feet apart, resting on stone blocks or wooden
sleepers B, B, three feet apart. On the lower edge of the rails, at their
junction with the chairs, I form, in the act of rolling the rails or otherwise,
certain projections as shewn at X and Y; and it is in the formation of
malleable iron edge rails, with such projections on their lower edges at their
points of rest or places of support, that I claim my improvement in the con-
struction of malleable iron edge rails. I am inclined to think that a segment
of a circle will be found to be the best form for this projection, because it
appears the best calculated to retain a true reciprocal bearance between the
lower edge of the rail and the bottom of the chair, if the block should, as usually
happens, incline out of the position it was originally placed in relative to the
plane of road, but a parabola or other conic section may be found preferable
in practice. I, therefore, do not confine myself to the exact form of the
projection. The advantages to be derived from these projections are, that
they will give additional strength to the rails at their points of support, and
that, when placed on chairs with corresponding curved bearances, as shown at
X, Figure 2, they will prevent the end motion or sliding of the rails upon the
chairs, which prevention is a great desideratum, particularly on inclined
planes. At X, Figure 2, one side of the chair is taken off to shew the curved
bearance of the rail on the corresponding curved bearance of the chair; and
at Y, Figure 2, the curved projection on the rail at the point of support is
shewn without the chair. Figure 3 is a plan of part of a malleable iron rail
to show the breadth of the top or upper surface. Figure 4 is a side view of
part of a malleable iron edge rail, in the construction of which I also claim an
improvement, because it admits of a junction with the chair without the use
of pins, wedges, or keys. If C and D be any bead or rib running in the
longitudinal direction of the rail paralell to its top, and if there be another
similar rib on the opposite side of the rail, and if a portion of these ribs or
beads to be taken off as shewn between E and F, Figure 4, from both sides
of the rail, and still more distinctly shewn at E, F, Figure 7, which is a view
of the lower edge of a portion of the rail, then will the rail at E, F, admit of
being placed in the slit or opening between the two sides of the chair, a cross
section of which is shewn at Figure 5, and the grooves on the sides of the
chair A, A, Figures 5 and 6, will take in the beads or ribs of the rail, and
allow of the chair being pushed to the position A, B, Figure 4, where it will
support the rail, and at the same time keep it from rising, and thus the
expense of pins or wedges may be avoided, and also the liability to derange-

page_text: ment of the joints from the fracture or shaking loose of the pins and wedges
will be removed. The curved projection on the lower edge of the rail, and
the corresponding curved bearance of the chair, will prevent the rail from
sliding. One side, however, of the bottom of the chair must be flat, in order
to allow of its being placed under the projection at the lower edge of the rail,
as will be apparent from an inspection of Figure 4, where a section of the
bottom of the chair is shewn at B, but the remaining curved rise on the
bearance of the chair will prevent the end motion of the rails. Figure 6 is a
cross section of Figure 4 through A, B.
Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11 are meant to explain the formation of a chair
which I claim as an improvement compared with those which have hitherto
been used. In all these four Figures the same letters denote the same objects.
A, A, A, A, are the holes to fix the chair to the block; B, B, B, B, B, B, are
the brackets which support the sides of the chair; C, C, C, are the fixed side
of the chair; D, D, D, D, a loose piece of metal which I call a clutch from
its use, and which clutch is applied to the side of the rail when placed in the
chair, and secured there by the pin or key E, E, E. Chairs thus formed are
calculated to retain in their position any rails of the usual form without the
aid of cross pins, or wedges through the rails or between the sides of the rails
and the chairs, provided that the rails have either grooves or holes or beads
formed in or upon their sides at the places where they shall be placed in or
upon the chairs, because the chairs can be cast with corresponding beads or
studs or grooves on or in their sides, or on or in the loose piece of metal or
clutch D, D, Figure 11; and when the clutch is keyed up, and the corre-
spondent grooves and beads or holes and studs attached to each other, as
shewn at Figures 8, 9, and 10, it will keep the rails from rising; and if
the rail be of my construction, the swell on the lower edge will secure it from
end motion or sliding.
Figure 12 is a side view of a cast-iron edge rail, supported by chairs fixed
to blocks of stone P, P, at four feet apart. The rail has half-lap or scarf
joints where the ends of the adjoining rails meet in the chair which supports
them. I claim as my improvement upon such rails the formation and
peculiar arrangements of certain studs and projections, and sockets or cavities,
upon the sides of the half laps. Figures 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are
meant to explain the positions of these studs, and projections, and sockets,
and grooves, their formation, and mode of application to produce the proposed
improvement. The letters on all the above Figures shew similar parts.
Figure 13, from X to Y, is a plan of a portion of the top of the rail. From
W to X, and from Y to Z, it shews an horizontal section of Figure 12

page_text: through C and D. At the end Y, Z, of Figure 13, I form a stud at F, and a
socket at C on the opposite sides of the half lap, and at the other end of the
rail I form the two studs at D and E on the opposite sides of the half lap.
Suppose Figure 14 to represent a section at the same horizontal level of the
end of the rail which is to be attached to the end Y, Z, of Figure 13, then if
the two half laps were applied to each other the stud E in Figure 14 would
fit into the socket C of Figure 18, and the stud D in Figure 14 and the stud
F in Figure 13 would fit into the grooves in the sides of the chair, which must
be made to receive them, as shewn at G, Figure 16. Then a joint would be
formed, as shewn at W, X, in Figure 13, and by Figure 15, which is a cross
section of the rail and chair through R and P in Figure 12, which I claim as
an improvement. The projections on the outsides of the half lap may be a
semi-elliptic spindle or semispheroid, or other projecting figure, but I prefer a
semi-spherical stud a a section of the middle frustrum of an elliptic spindle,
as shewn in Figure 17, and these half laps so constructed would fit into the
chair, a plan of which is shewn at Figure 18. The advantages of such a joint
are, that the end of one rail cannot rise out of the chair without raising the
corresponding end of the adjoining rail, so that each end of every rail is kept
down by the united gravity thus exerted; and by an inspection of the Figure
it will be apparent that the two adjoining rails cannot by any force applied to
them in the direction of the plane of the road separate from cach other, or
from the chair which supports them, so long as all the parts which form their
junction remain free from fracture.
Figure 19 shews a side view of a pair of rollers for forming rails according
to my improved plan, to accomplish which an oblong square bar of iron, at a
proper degree of heat to allow of its being moulded into the shape required,
is passed through grooves 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, in the order of the figures. In
the eccentric groove A, B, it receives the undulating form shewn at the lower
edge of the rail, Figure 2, from Y to X. To form this groove the roll is
placed on the centres of a lathe, and a concentric groove cut out of its
periphery of the depth required at the points of bearance A, B, Figure 2,
exclusive of the projections shewn at X and Y on the bottom of the rail.
It is then taken off, and replaced on the centres of the lathe at points suffi-
ciently distant from the centres of its own journals or axles, to produce an
eccentric axis, in revolving round which the required depth may be given to
one side of the groove to produce the greatest depth of the swell in the rail
without increasing that of the opposite side, but, on the contrary, gradually
decreasing in depth as it approaches the opposite point of the groove.

page_text: Figure 20, which is a cross section of the roll at the groove A, B, shews the
form of the groove thus produced. At B, Figures 19 and 20, the point
opposite to the greatest depth of the groove, with a chisel or other tool I make
a notch or indentation of the form which I wish to give to the projections on
the bottom of the rail, shewn at Y and X in Figure 2. If then a pair of
rollers, formed as they are represented in Figure 19, and secured so that they
cannot vary from their relative positions, be propelled with sufficient velocity
in different directions round their centres, and bars of heated iron of a proper
size be passed in succession through the different grooves there shown in the
orders of the figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, rails will be produced of a form similar
to that shewn at Figure 2, and of which Figure 21 is a cross section through
C, D, the middle point between the blocks B, B.
The dimensions of malleable iron rails vary, of course, in the ratio of the
A rail of
weights of the carriages which may be required to pass over them.
the dimensions described by Figures 2 and 3, and its different sections, will
be sufficiently strong for carriages weighing about four tons, and it will weigh
about twenty-eight pounds per yard. A rail one inch and five-eighths of an
inch broad at the top, one inch and seven-eighths of an inch deep at the points
of support (exclusive of the projection there), and two inches and five-eighths
of an inch at the swell between the props, will be sufficient for carriages of
about two tons, and weigh about sixteen pounds per yard. A rail weighing
thirty-five pounds per yard, with a swell of three and a half inches at the
middle between props, and the other parts in proportion, will be sufficiently
strong to carry locomotive engines of seven and eight tons each. The cast-iron
rail, Figure 12, will be sufficient for carriages of four tons weight.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Losh, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid William Losh came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.