IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAIRS AND APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING F PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION FOR RECEIVING AND SECURING THE ENDS OF THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to The Honorable William Erskine Cochrane, of
Osnaburgh Terrace, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAIRS AND APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING
F
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said The Honorable William
Erskine Cochrane at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Pétition, on the 30th September 1859.
I, The Honorable WILLIAM ERSKINE COCHRANE, of Osnaburgh Terrace,
Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAIRS AND APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING AND
SECURING THE ENDS OF THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in chairs and apparatus for
receiving and securing the ends of the rails of railways. For these purposes,
in constructing chairs the inner surface of one of the jaws of each chair is
made to fit one side of the rails; the inner surface of the other jaw is made
with a horizontal groove and two vertical grooves, and there is a suitable space
between this jaw, which it is preferred should be upright, and the surface of the
rail to admit of a plate being slid down between the jaw and the side of the
rail, such plate having thereon two ribs or projections suitable for entering
the vertical grooves in the inner surface of the jaw; or the grooves and ribs or

page_text: projections may be reversed by having the ribs or projections on the jaw and
the grooves in the plate. The horizontal groove is to receive a wedge or key
to force up the plate to the side of the rail.
The above arrangement or construction is peculiarly suitable to be used
with apparatus such as is described in the Specification of a former Patent
granted to me, and dated the 14th November 1856 (No. 2681), for holding
the ends of rails of railways together by projections on a connecting plate or
instrument entering into holes in the ends of two rails, and when using such
mode of holding the ends of two rails together the back of the connecting
instrument is formed with vertical grooves or ribs, and corresponding ribs or
grooves are formed in the plate above mentioned, by which means the rails
and all parts will be securely held to the chair. When such or other mode of
connecting the ends of two rails together are not used in conjunction with my
present Invention, other means of filling up the hollow of the rails is to be
resorted to. In some cases particularly if it is required to use old chairs, the
vertical and horizontal grooves and ribs are dispensed with, and the outer
surface of the plate is formed with projections, which come on either side of
the jaw of the chair, and prevent the plate moving laterally, and a wedge or
key is used between the plate and the holding apparatus made according to
my former Patent, or between the plate and the chair.
When an instrument, such as above mentioned, is not used at the joint of two
rails, then the apparatus and means above described may be used simply for
making a good holding of the ends of two rails in a joint chair, and the rails
may be prevented moving endways by having holes or recesses in them,
and pins or instruments may be introduced or applied near or in intermediate
chairs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said The Honorable William Erskine Cochrane in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 30th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, The
Honorable WILLIAM ERSKINE COCHRANE, of Osnaburgh Terrace, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said William Erskine Cochrane, Her special licence that I, the said William
Erskine Cochrane, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Erskine Cochrane, 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 CHAIRS AND APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING AND SECURING THE ENDS
OF THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition. (amongst others) that I, the
said William Erskine Cochrane,. my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 William Erskine Cochrane, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in chairs and apparatus for
receiving and securing the ends of the rails of railways. For these purposes
in constructing chairs the inner surface of one of the jaws of each chair is
made to fit one side of the rails; the inner surface of the other jaw is made
with a horizontal groove and two vertical grooves, and there is a suitable space
between this jaw, which it is preferred should be upright, and the surface of
the rail to admit of a plate being slid down between the jaw and the side of.
the rail, such plate having thereon two ribs or projections suitable for entering
the vertical grooves in the inner surface of the jaw; or the grooves and ribs or
projections may be reversed by having the ribs or projections on the jaw and
the grooves in the plate. The horizontal groove is to receive a wedge or key
to force up the plate to the side of the rail.
The above arrangement or construction is peculiarly suitable to be used with
apparatus such as is described in the Specification of a former Patent granted
to me, and dated the 14th November 1856. (No. 2681), for holding the ends
of rails of railways together by projections on a connecting plate or instrument
entering into holes in the ends of two rails, and when using such mode of holding
the ends of two rails together, the back of the connecting instrument is formed
with vertical grooves or ribs, and corresponding ribs or grooves are formed in
the plate above mentioned, by which means the rails and all parts will be

page_text: i
securely held to the chair. When such or other mode of connecting the ends
of two rails together is not used in conjunction with my present Invention,
other means of filling up the hollow of the rails is to be resorted to. In some
cases particularly, if it is required to use old chairs, the vertical and horizontal
grooves and ribs are dispensed with, and the outer surface of the plate is
formed with projections, which come on either side of the jaws of the chair,
and prevent the plate moving laterally, and a wedge or key is used between the
plate and the holding apparatus, made according to my former Patent, or
between the plate and the chair.
When an instrument such as above mentioned is not used at the joint of
two rails, then the apparatus and means above described may be used simply
for making a good holding of the ends of two rails in a joint chair, and the
rails may be prevented moving endways by having holes or recesses in them,
and pins or instruments may be introduced or applied near or in intermediate
chairs.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews a side elevation of a railway chair and apparatus for holding
the ends of two rails thereon constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2
shews a plan thereof; and Figure 8 shews three views of the plate used'in
fixing the rails in the chair. The jaw a of the chair it is preferred should be
made to fit the side of the rail, as is shewn in the Drawing, whilst it is
preferred that the inner surface of the other jaw 6 of the chair should be
vertical, and in this jaw a horizontal groove is formed at c, to receive a key d,
which is driven between the jaw b and the plate e, which is formed with two
projecting ribs e', e', on its outer surface to fit into corresponding grooves
formed in the jaw b. The plate e has also two other projecting ribs e, e², on
its other face or surface, which fit into two corresponding grooves or recesses
formed on the plate or instrument f, which is similar to what is described in
the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and such plate has two
projections ff, formed thereon, which enter holes punched through the
ends of the two rails. In some cases the plate or instrument f is made longer,
and is formed with four projections f³, two of which are to enter two holes
formed near the end of one of the rails, and the other two to enter two holes
formed near the end of the other rail. It is not, however, essential that the
instrument or plate f should be used as a plate without any such projections;
f may be employed in place thereof, but it is preferred to use my present

page_text: Invention in combination with a plate or instrument f, as described under my
former Patent, to retain the ends of the two rails received into and held in a
joint chair.
And although it is preferred to use chairs such as are above described,
other joint chairs may be employed in place thereof, in which case the pro-
jections or ribs e, e¹, on the plate e would be formed thereon in a suitable
manner to come on either side of the jaw of the chair, so as to prevent the
plate moving lengthwise through the chair, and in order to prevent the
plate e, when used in such an arrangement, from rising, the plate e is formed
with a projecting flange at its lower inner edge, to come under the plate or
instrument f, interposed between the plate e and the side of the rail. The
wedge or key will in this arrangement be driven in the groove formed in the
plate e, and against the inner surface of the jaw of the chair, which, however,
will not be grooved.
Although I have shewn my Invention applied to a joint chair, it will be
evident that it may be applied to an intermediate chair, and if in such case
an instrument f be used, then the rail must have holes to receive the
projections f¹.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
combination of parts herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Erskine Cochrane, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
W. E. COCHRANE. (L.8.)