IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF STREET RAILWAYS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Burn, of Delahay Street, Westminster, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY
OF STREET RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 12th April 1861, and dated the 15th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Burn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
October 1860.
1, CHARLES BURN, of Delahay Street. Westminster, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PERMANENT WAY OF STREET RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate more particularly to the form of and mode of
supporting the rails as shewn in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which
Fig. is a girder rail with a groove A, for the reception of the flanges
for guiding the wheels upon the bearing surface B; and Fig. 2, a cross sec-
tion of a paved street or road with a street railway constructed as described in
Fig. 1. The transverse tie beams C, C, are for the purpose of holding or
maintaining the girder rails laierally at an uniform distance apart, and for
insuring the necessary stiffness, and are fixed to the girder rail by means of
bolts F, F, as shewn in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 represents a grooved T-rail supported by cast iron chairs G, G.
placed at suitable distances apart, and to which chairs the rails are fixed by
means of bolts or other similar contrivance. The rails are supported and held
017

page_text: at their joints by fish plates or other suitable means. The chairs G, G, and
the cross or transverse tie beams H, H, are cast or made in one piece.
Fig 4 is a cross section
and Fie
alancitu linal coatio
at their joints by fish plates or other suitable means. The chairs G, G, and
the cross or transverse tie beams H, H. are cast or made in one piece.
Fig. 4 is a cross section and Fig 5a longitudinal section of a road or street
with a railway constructed in the manner as described in Fig. 3.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Burn in the Great Seal Patent Office on
15th April 1861.
the
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. 1. CHARLES
BURN, of Delahay Street. Westminster, Civil Engineer. send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her Letters
Patent. bearing date the Fifteenth day of October. in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign.
did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors. give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Burn. Her special licence that I. the said Charles Burn, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I. the said Charles Burn.
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 THE PERMANENT
WAY OF STREET RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Charles Burn, 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 Charles Burn. do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This Invention consists in improvements in the form and mode of supporting
iron rails so that they may be laid along common roads and paved streets
without impeding the ordinary traffic. and adapted for vehicles having flanged
wheels.
And that the Invention may be fully understood I will proceed to describe

page_text: the same, having reference to the accompanying Drawings which form part
of this Specification.
Figures 1, 7, 9, 14. and 16 shew cross sections of a wrought iron grooved
rail D rolled in the form of the letter, T hereafter called a T-rail. The groove
A is for the reception of the flanges of the wheels, in order that the tyre of the
wheel may be kept upon the bearing surface B. The rails are supported and
held at their joints by fish plates V, and bolts as shewn in Fig. 3. Fig. shews
the T-rail supported by a transverse cast iron chair, and sleeper G combined.
the rail is fastened to the chair by bolis K. Fig. 3 shews a longitudinal section
of the same. Fig. 7 shews the T-rail D. supported by a cast iron chair E, which
is bolted to a transverse wrought or cast iron sleeper H. by bolts F. F; the rail
is fastened to the chair by bolts K; Fig. 8 shews a longitudinal section of the
same; Fig. 9 shews the T-rail D, supported by the cast iron chair J, resting
on and bolted to a transverse wooden sleeper W by bolts L, L; the rail is
fastened to the chair by bolts K; Fig. 10 shews a longitudinal section of the
same: Fig. 14 shews the T-rail D, resting on two longitudinal wooden sleepers
Y, Y, to which it is bolied by bolts U. U; the two longitudinal sleepers will
rest on transverse wooden sleepers or not, as may be found necessary.
Fig. 16 shews another modification of the same: Fig. 1 shews a cross
section of a T-rail D, without a groove, but with a depression $ in the rail,
instead of a groove for the flange of the wheels. This rail may be supported by
cast iron chairs in the same manner as shewn in Figs. 1, 7, 9, or by two
longitudinal wooden sleepers as shewn in Fig. 15; Fig. 4 shews a cross section
of a grooved girder rail R, having a groove A, for the reception of the flange
of the wheel to guide the tyre of the wheel on the bearing surface B. The rail
is supported on wrought or cast iron sleepers M, in the manner as shewn in
Figures 5 and 6; Fig. 12 shows a cross section of a girder rail R, having a
depression S, instead of a groove, to guide the flange of the wheels upon the
bearing surface B.
Fig. 2 is a cross section of a tramway or a paved and macadamized street
consisting of a double line of grooved T-rails D, of the form shewn in Fig. 1,
and of which Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section; Fig. 5 shews the cross section
of a tramway on a paved and macadamized, street consisting of a double line
of groove girder rails R, of the form as shewn in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 shews a
longitudinal section of the same.
Fig. 13 shews a cross section of a tramway on a paved and macadamized
street, consisting of a double line of girder rails R. of the form shewn in
Fig. 12.
When the grooved rails are laid along a macadamized road place a row

page_text: of paving stones on each side of the rail, as shewn in Fig. 2 and 5, one of
which P is placed on the outside of the rail and level with it, and the other,
N in the inside of the rail and also at the same level. These two rows of
stones are for the object of maintaining the level of the road on each side
of the rail.
In cases when rails without grooves, but with a depression S are laid along
a macadamized road to guide the flange, as shewn in Fig. 13, 1 also place
two rows of paving stones on each side of the rail, one of which P is pitched
in the inside of the rail and level with the bearing surface B, which corresponds
with the general level of the road; the other row of stones N is pitched in
the inside of the rail and level with the depression S. In this case I intend
that the rows of stones N should serve as a tramway for vehicles having
ordinary wheels, the wheels being guided upon the stones N, by the rise
in the rail formed by the bearing surface B of the rail being higher than
the depression S.
Having now fully ascertained and described the nature of my Invention
and how the same may be best carried into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details, dimensions, or
relative proportions herein-before set forth, as it will be readily understood
that the same may be considerably varied without departing from my Inven-
tion; but what I do claim is,-
Firstly, the peculiar form and use of the rails herein-before described, or
any mere modification of the same, upon which may travel vehicles having
flanged wheels only, such rails to be laid down in the streets of cities and
in common roads & highways for the purposes of street railways.
Secondly, protecting the rails of street railways when laid along a maca-
damized road by pitching two rows of paving stones on each side of the
rails, as shown in Figures 2, 5, & 13, the said stones also serving as a tramway
for ordinary vehicles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Burn. have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHLADILO DIDY
Witness,
T. SHILLITO,
Assistant to Charles Burn.
CHADE TO
DIDY
POTUE