IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SLEEPERS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SLEEPERS." A communication from
abroad by Jules Leonard Lenoir, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th September 1876.
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SLEEPERS."
The object of this Invention is to produce railway sleepers of a more durable
character than those heretofore employed, and by that means to effect a considerable
economy in the maintenance of the permanent way in a proper state of repair.
In the system most generally adopted in this country for constructing railways
the chairs are usually supported upon transverse wooden sleepers of considerable
length (8 feet) with a sectional area of from 45 to 60 inches. Sleepers of this size
are expensive, and even when prepared by some suitable preservative process they
do not usually last more than from 10 to 12 years, when they must be renewed at
considerable expense in cost of materials and labour. So long however as they
remain in a sound state these wooden sleepers answer the purpose in a most satis-
factory manner.
Attempts have been made to use iron as a substitute for wood for sleepers, but
although more durable they are much more expensive, and owing to their want of
elasticity they give rise to many inconveniences, which the use of wood would
avoid.
From the preceding observations it will be understood that both wood and iron
offer certain advantages, but at the same time both are open to certain objections,
for the reasons already mentioned.
The Inventor of the system which forms the subject of the present Invention has
devised what he called a "mixed system," in which he uses a combination of wood
and iron, so that he obtains the advantages of both materials without the serious
inconveniences incidental to either.
The Invention consists in making the transverse sleeper of cast iron, and forming
therein at a suitable distance apart (according to the guage of the road) recesses, in
[Price fidl

page_text: which are secured in any convenient manner short blocks of wood, on the top of
which are fastened by means of spikes or otherwise the chairs which support the
rails. By this means the elasticity of the wood is retained, while the quantity
used (of this perishable substance) is reduced to a minimum, and when one of the
wooden blocks becomes decayed it can be easily removed and a new one put in its
place with facility and at little cost.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th March 1877.
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. " IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SLEEPERS."
A communication from abroad by Jules Leonard Lenoir, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.
The object of this Invention is to produce railway sleepers of a more durable
character than those heretofore employed, and by that means to effect a con-
siderable economy in the maintenance of the permanent way in a proper state of
repair.
In the system most generally adopted in this country for constructing railways
the chairs are usually supported upon transverse wooden sleepers of considerable
length (eight feet) with a sectional area of from forty-five to sixty inches. Sleepers
of this size are expensive, and even when prepared by some suitable preservative
process they do not usually last more than from ten to twelve years, when they
must be renewed at considerable expense in cost of materials and labour. So long
however as they remain in a sound state these wooden sleepers answer the purpose
in a most satisfactory manner.
Attempts have been made to use iron as a substitute for wood for sleepers, but
although more durable they are much more expensive, and owing to their want of
elasticity they give rise to many inconveniences, which the use of wood would
avoid.
From the preceding observations it will be understood that both wood and iron
offer certain advantages, but at the same time both are open to certain objections
for the reasons already mentioned.
The Inventor of the system which forms the subject of the present Invention has
devised what he calls a "mixed system," in which he uses a combination of wood
and iron, so that he obtains the advantages of both materials without the serious
inconveniences incidental to either separately.
The Invention consists in making the transverse sleeper of cast iron, and forming
therein at suitable distances apart (according to the gauge of the road) recesses, in
which are secured in any convenient manner short blocks of wood, on the top of
which are fastened by means of spikes or otherwise the chairs which support the
rails. By this means the elasticity of the wood is retained, while the quantity
used (of this perishable substance) is reduced to a minimum, and when one of the
wooden blocks becomes decayed it can be easily removed and a new one put in its
place with facility and at little cost.
But in order to enable the Invention communicated to me to be better
understood I will proceed to describe the same by reference to the accompanying
Drawing.

page_text: Figures 4 and 5, transverse sections respectively on the lines a, b, and c, d,
Figure 3.
.
Similar letters in all the Figures represent similar parts.
In Figures 1 and 2 the sleeper is shown both with a "double-headed" rail and
with a single-headed and flat-footed" rail applied thereto.
A is the cast-iron transverse sleeper cast hollow, as shown at a, b, c, and formed
with recesses at B, C, to receive the short wooden blocks D, D, fixed therein in any
suitable manner, and serving to receive the chairs carrying the rails or the rails
direct, as the case may be. The chair d carrying the double-headed rail e is
spiked or otherwise fixed to the wooden block D in a similar manner as to an
ordinary wooden sleeper, as is also the case if a single-headed rail be employed.
Having thus described the Invention communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, what is claimed under the herein in part recited Letters Patent is,
constructing railway sleepers of a combination of wood and iron, as herein-before
described and represented in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
W. E. NEWTON. (LS.)