IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CHAIRS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph. Hostage, Thomas Ives Brayue Hostage, and
John Tatlock, of the City of Chester, in the County of Chester, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CHAIRS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hostage, Thomas
Ives Brayne Hostage, and John Tatlock at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th January 1856.
We, JOSEPH HOSTAGE, THOMAS IVES BRAYNE HOSTAGE, and JOHN TATLOCK,
of the City of Chester, in the County of Chester, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CHAIRS" to be as
follows:-
We make the chair in two parts; the one, designated the "fixed part," has
cast upon it a seat for the rail, and cheek or solid abutment to fit outside the
rail. This, in the first instance, is spiked to the sleeper on the one side only
in the ordinary manner. The immediate seat of the rail or rails is elevated
about an inch above the top of the lower plate of the chair which rests on the
sleeper. We make a space or opening in the centre of this seat, extending

page_text: under the fixed cheek, for the admission of the tongue in the other part of the
chair, about two inches wide by one inch deep. The other part of the chair,
designated the "slile part," which may be made either of cast or rolled iron,
ia also formed with a check to fit the inside of the rail, and is furnished with a
projecting tongue to fit the space or opening described in the "fixed part" of
the chair, and which projects such a distance beyond the outside of the cheek
in the fixed part as to admit a wedge or cotter of wrought iron or other suitable
material to be driven down vertically through a slot in the tongue and lower
part of the chair, and some distance into the sleeper, the position of the two
slot holes being such as to allow the wedge to draw the whole up tight; a
spike then secures the slide and bottom plate to the sleeper in the ordinary
We also put a thin piece of felt or other suitable material between
the chair and rails, if found necessary, to meet any slight irregularities in the
iron work
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Hostage, Thomas Ives Brayne Hostage, and John
Tatlock in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
HOSTAGE, THOMAS IVES BRAYNE HOSTAGE, and JOHN TATLOCK, of the City of
Chester, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, för Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Joseph Hostage, Thomas Ives Brayne Hostage, and John Tatlock,
Her special licence that we, the said Joseph Hostage, Thomas Ives Brayne
Hostage, and John Tatlock, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Joseph Hostage, Thomas Ives Brayne Hostage,
and John Tatlock, our 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
RAILWAY CHAIRS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Joseph Hostage, Thomas Ives Brayne Hostage, and John Tatlock, by an

page_text: instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and scal
of one of us, 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 Royal Letters Patent.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Hostage, for and on behalf of
-myself and the said Thomas Ives Brayne Hostage and John Tatlock, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in, what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
Our Invention consists in constructing the chair in parts, one of which we
designate the fixed part, having a scat for the rails, and a check or solid
abutment to fit the outside of the same, which fixed part, in the first instance,
is spiked to the sleeper on. one side only to the gauge of the railway in the
ordinary manner. We elevate the immediate seat of the rail-or,rails, about
one inch above the top of the ibasement plate of the chair which rests on the
sleeper, and make a space or opening through the centre of the rail seat
(extending under the fixed cheek for the admission of the tongue of the other
part of the chair), about two inches wide by about. one inch deep. The other
part of the chair, which we designate the slide part, is also formed, with a check
to fit the inside of the rail; it is furnished with a projecting tongue to fit the
space or opening already described in the "fixed part" of the chair, and which
projects such a distance beyond the. outside of the check in the fixed part.as.to
admit a wedge or cotter to be driven down vertically through a slot in the
tongue and basement. plate of the chair some distance into the sleeper, the
position of the two slot holes being such as to allow the wedge to draw, the whole
up tight; we then secure the slide and bottom part by the ordinary spike
driven through both picces into the sleeper. We put a thin piece of felt or
other suitable.material between the chair and rails, where found necessary, <to
meet any slight irregularities in the iron work.
By this construction and arrangement of the chair there is no obstacle to
prevent the rails being readily bodded on their seat in the act of plate-laying,
while at the same time a perfect fit against the solid.check of the chair..which
forms the abutment.and support for.the rail on the pressure side. is ensured..
The slide and tongue portion of our improved chair, which also carries the
other side or cheek, is firmly drawn úpragainst the rails by, means of a cotter;
but it will be seen that the stability of the rails is not dependant on the cotier,
as the usual sleeper spike, being driven: down vertically, performs the double

page_text: .
task of holding the check firm against the rail and through the base of the
chair to the sleeper, the bevil form of the tongue also checking any rising
tendency. The simplicity of this Invention, and the security which it affords
in the fixing, present many, advantages over the more costly and complicated
appliances hitherto adopted, combining as it does a firm grip of the rail, non-
liability to vertical or lateral motion, and entire absence of any workmanship
whatever on the rails. The compound chair itself has also an unbroken solid
bearing on the sleeper, while both portions are fastened not only together, but
also down to the sleeper on each side of the rail.
The details of these our said improvements will be more clearly understood
by reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and the letters of
reference thereon, in which, Fig. 1 is a section of the chair, rail, and fastenings;
Fig. 2, plan of a joint chair and rails when fixed; Fig. 3, an end elevation of
a chair where the slide tongue is shewn under the rail. An alternative mode
of using the cotter is shewn by the dotted lines y, z, in Fig. 8, namely, driving
it horizontally through corresponding slot holes in the chair, cheek, and tongue.
Fig. 4, a view of the slide and tongue portion of the chair carrying the moveable
cheek. a, a, represents the principal portion of the chair, having its base, the
seat of the rail, and main cheek in one block of metal; b, c, the slide, and
tongue, carrying the other cheek, also in one piece, as seen at Fig. 4; d, the
ordinary spike, or other fastening of any suitable construction, by which the
principal portion of the chair is in the first instance secured to gauge and to
the sleeper ready for plate-laying; e, the other spike, by which the slide and
tongue picce b and c are secured against the rail A, and down to the base of
the chair, and through to the sleeper, when the slide and tongue have been
drawn up by means of the cotter f. It will be observed, that the sides of the
tongue x, x, are bevilled or dovetailed in the groove under the solid cheek of
the principal part of the chair. In relaying old lines, when the ends of the
rails are fringed or jagged, it may be advisable to cast the chairs with a small
plough or groove in the inside of each cheek, and in the line of junction of
the rails.
Having thus fully described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed; we are aware that it has been suggested,
before the date of our said Letters Patent, to make a railway chair in two parts,
but such suggestion has not been brought into general use; we hereby declare
that we do not claim as our Invention the making a chair in two parts, except
when made in the manner herein-before described; and we hereby declare
that we claim, as the Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters

page_text: Patent, the constructing railway chairs in parts, with slide and tongue, as herein
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hostage, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Thomas Ives Brayne Hostage and John Tatlock,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Joseph Hostage, in the presence of
GEO. HOSTAGE,
Chester.
JOSEPH HOSTAGE. (L.S.)