IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW FASTENINGS FOR RAIL FISHED JOINTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I SAMUEL RIDEAL of the City of Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN SCREW FASTENINGS FOR RAIL FISHED JOINTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES to
be as follows:-
"
:
My Invention is designed for application more particularly to the fastening of tho
fished joints of the rails in Railways and Train ways but is also applicable in some
other cases wherein the fastenings are liable to become loose. In fished joints the
fish plates are secured to the rail by means of bolts and the nuts on these bolts are
liable to become loose owing to the vibration as is well understood. To remedy
this defect I make the nut of such a forin as that the centre of gravity is on one
side of the centre of the tapped hole. When the nut is screwed up it is left in such
a position as that it tends by its own gravity to turn in the direction which will
tighten the nut upon the bolt. In the simplest form the nut is made oblong
instead of square the tapped hole being at one side of the centre of the length of
the nut. In cases wherein the bolt is made without a square I prefer to make the
bolt head oblong or projecting on one side to check the tendency of the bolt to turn
under vibration. In some cases I form the bolt head with a notch or with a fin or
mark to indicate the position of the bolt in the screwing machine and afterwards
in tho joint. The projection on one side of the nut may be of any suitable form to
suit the requirements in each case as for example for flat bottom rails the said
projection is curved or shaped to clear the bottom web of the rail.

page_text: I SAMUEL RIDEAL of the City of Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
"and
IN SCREW FASTENINGS FOR RAIL FISHED JOINTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings.
My Invention is designed for application more particularly to the fastening of
the fished joints of the rails in Railways and Tramways but applicable in some
other cases wherein the fastenings are liable to become loose. In fished joints the
fish plates are secured to the rail by means of bolts and the nuts on these bolts arc
liable to become loose owing to the vibration as is well understood. To remedy
this defect I make the nut of such a form as that the centre of gravity is on one
side of the centre of the tapped hole. When the nut is screwed up it is left in such
a position as that it tends by its own gravity to turn in the direction which will
tighten the nut upon the bolt. In cases wherein the bolt is made without a square
I prefer to make the bolt head oblong or projecting on one side to check the
tendency of the bolt to turn under vibration.
In the sheet of drawings which accompany this specification, my invention is
illustrated in its application to the securing of railway fish plates. In the said
drawings Fig: I is a vertical section taken on the centre line of one of the fish
plate fastenings and Fig: 2 is a front view of a fish plate joint. Figs 3 and 4 are
corresponding views of the joint of a "Vignoles" or flat bottom rail. In Figs 1
and 2 a is the rail, b, b, are tlie fish plates and c, c, are the bolts. These bolts are
of any ordinary form but are provided with my improved nuts d. Each nut is
formed with a wing or weight d' projecting from one side which imparts to the
nut a tendency to turn in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig: 2. When
the nuts are tightened up by means of a suitable koy which will fit the nuts the
latter should be left somewhat in the position indicated in the case of the fourth or
the second nut in Fig 2. The wing will then by its weight resist any tendency
there may be for the nut to turn in the direction which will slacken the bolt so
that the vibrations which under the ordinary conditions cause the nuts to become
slack will have the contrary effect and will tend to tighten the nuts by the gradual
sinking of the wing as indicated in the case of the third nut. Each bolt is forined
with a square to prevent the bolt from turning when in position. When the nut
has assumed the position indicated in the first nut, it will not tend to turn any
further. Whenever it is considered that the nuts require to be tightened or when
they do not tighten up into the positions 2 and 4 it is only necessary to remove the
bolt and to turn it on its axis to the extent of a quarter, half or three quarters turn
as may be required and to reinsert it and apply and tighten up the nut. In the
example illustrated by Figs 3 and 4 the bolts are formed without squares but have
heads which are in each case elongated on one side. When the nuts are tightened
up these heads are either left down as in Fig: 3 or are left in positions which cause
the bolt to tend to turn in the direction which will tend to tighten the fastening as
indicated by the dotted lines in Fig: 4. I do not confine myself to any particular
form of nut so long as it is excentrically formed that is to say has its contre of
equipoise considerably outside its axis in order that the tendency of the nut to
become loose may be checked. In some cases I may make the uut of a simple
oblong form as indicated by Fig: 5. Although I have only illustrated the principal
use for which my improved nuts are adapted I do not confine myself to such use.
My Invention relates only to the nuts which are tightened or turned by means of
scrow keys or removable levers.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The fish joint fastenings formed and used substantially as and for the
purpose set forth and indicated herein before and in and by the accompanying
drawings.
2. The nuts to take the places of ordinary square or hexagon nuts for some uses
and forined and adapted to be used substantially as set forth and indicated.
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent,
41, John Dalton Street, Manchester,