IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Lesley, of Philadelphia, in the United States
of America, at present residing at Morley's Hotel, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS."-A communication from abroad by Thomas
Shoenberger Blair, of Pittsburgh, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 29th December 1863, and dated the 15th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Lesley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th October
1863.
1, PETER LESLEY, of Philadelphia, in the United States of America, at
present residing at Morley's Hotel, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
Rails made entirely of steel have before been employed in constructing
railways, but their great cost and their liability to fracture, especially in cold
climates or in winter, render their use for the most part inexpedient.
Surfaces of steel have also been welded upon the upper portions of the rails
of railways, but besides the great expense of this process, a fatal objection
lies in the fact that such steel surfaces separate and peel off from the rail
under the action of the wheels which pass over them. Case hardening has

page_text: been applied to the upper surfaces of rails, but the influence of this process
being strictly superficial affects merely the skin of the rail, which speedily
laminates off and leaves the rails in the ordinary unprotected condition.
Attempts have also been before made to produce a rail partly of iron and
partly of blister steel without welding, by imparting carbon to the upper portion
or surface of a rail in a converting furnace, while the rest of the surfaces of
the rail are isolated in order to retain them in the condition of iron, but all
such attempts have hitherto proved fruitless, and, so far as I am informed, have
been abandoned. When thus converting the upper surface of a railway bar,
the surface so carbonized is rough or blisted and crooked, or if prevented
from crooking, yet the other objections remained, and the texture of the car-
bonized part has remained crystalline, and the rail has therefore been too
brittle to be used with safety.
The nature of this Invention consists in combining the carbonization of a
part of a railway bar with the subsequent re-rolling of the whole rail while
still hot or after being re-heated.
In carrying out the Invention, railway bars, either in the finished condition
in which they are commonly laid down or else in a condition not entirely
finished, but requiring one or more passages through the finishing rolls, are
packed in the "pots" of a converting furnace of ordinary construction for
producing blister steel, where they receive carbonization by the well-known
process. The packing with which the rails are surrounded may consist
entirely of carbonaceous materials, or only so much of it as surrounds the
heads of the rails, whilst the rest of the surfaces of the rails are placed in
contact with clay, sand, or other isolating non-carbonaceous material. The
pots being filled with successive, layers of rails and sealed up, heat is then
applied, as practised in the usual manufacture of blister steel, until the trial
bars indicate that the desired degree of carbonization has been attained. The
fire may be then extinguished, and the furnace and its contents allowed to
cool, and the rails afterwards removed in readiness for the next step of the
process. But I prefer to make the breasts of the pots removeable at pleasure
in sections, so that the rails may be withdrawn one by one while still at a
sufficiently high heat, and immediately taken to and passed through the rolls
until the blisters are reduced and removed, the surface rendered smooth, and
the texture of the carbonized portion of the rail changed from that charac-
terizing blister steel to that characterizing spring steel, that is, condensed
and toughened. After which the rails are straightened in the usual way
and used.
If it be desirable to have additional hardness of surface for special cases,

page_text: the rails while still hot from the rolling may be tempered in water, oil, or any
other liquid now employed in the treatment of steel for that purpose, but this
is not an essential part of the process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Lesley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th April
1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
LESLEY, of Philadelphia, in the United States of America, at present
residing at Morley's Hotel, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, 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-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Lesley, Her special licence that I, the said Peter Lesley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter
Lesley, 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 MANU-
FACTURE OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS," a communication to me from abroad by the
Inventor, Thomas Shoenberger Blair, of Pittsburgh, in the United States of
America aforesaid, upon the condition (amongst others,) that I, the said Peter
Lesley, 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 Peter Lesley, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings and the letters
thereon, that is to say:-

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents an end view of a rail packed partly in clay, sand, or
other medium for isolation, and partly in charcoal or other carbonaceous
matter for the purpose of carbonizing or converting into steel the head or
tread of the rail while the remaining portion remains in the condition of iron;
Figure 2 represents a similar end view after the rail has been through the
converting or carbonizing process; the more dense lines representing the
portion which has been carbonized, and the less dense lines representing the
portion which remains in the condition of iron.
Rails made entirely of steel have before been employed in constructing
railways, but their great cost and their liability to fracture, especially in cold
climates or in winter, render their use for the most part inexpedient. Surfaces
of steel have also been welded upon the upper portions of the rails of rail-
ways, but besides the great expense of this process a fatal objection lies in the
fact that such steel surfaces separate and peel off from the rail under the
action of the wheels which pass over them. Case hardening has been applied
to the upper surfaces of rails, but the influence of this process being strictly
superficial affects merely the skin of the rail, which speedily laminates off, and
leaves the rails in the ordinary unprotected condition. Attempts have also
been before made to produce a rail partly of iron and partly of blister steel
without welding, by imparting carbon to the upper portion or surface of a
rail in a converting furnace, while the rest of the surfaces of the rail are
isolated in order to retain them in the condition of iron, but all such attempts
have hitherto proved fruitless, and, so far as I am informed, have been
abandoned. When thus converting the upper surface of a railway bar, the
surface so carbonized is rough or blistered and crooked, or if prevented from
crooking, yet the other objections remained, and the texture of the carbonized
part has remained crystalline, and the rail has therefore been too brittle to be
used with safety.
The nature of this Invention consists in combining the carbonization of a
part of a railway bar with the subsequent re-rolling of the whole rail while still
hot, or after being re-heated.
To enable others skilled in the art to make use of the Invention to produce
the new article which I describe, I proceed to explain and describe the
process, reference being had to the Drawings.
In carrying out the Invention, railway bars A, either in the finished condition
in which they are commonly laid down, or else in a condition not entirely
finished, but requiring one or more passages through the finishing rolls, are

page_text: packed in the "pots" of a converting furnace of ordinary construction for pro-
ducing blister steel, where they receive carbonization by the well-known
process. The packing with which the rails are surrounded may consist
entirely of carbonaceous materials, or as in Figure 1, only so much of it as
surrounds the heads of the rails represented by C, whilst the rest of the surfaces
of the rails are placed in contact with clay, sand, or other isolating non-
carbonaceous material represented by B. The pots being filled with suc-
cessive layers of rails and sealed up, heat is then applied as practised in the
usual manufacture of blister steel until the trial bars indicate that the desired
degree of carbonization has been attained. The fire may be then extinguished
and the furnace and its contents allowed to cool, and the rails afterwards
removed in readiness for the next step of the process. But I prefer to make
the breasts of the pots removable at pleasure in sections, so that the rails may
be withdrawn one by one while still at a sufficiently high heat, and imme-
diately taken to and passed through the rolls until the blisters are reduced
and removed, the surface rendered smooth, and the texture of the carbonized
portion of the rail changed from that characterising blister steel to that
characterising spring steel, that is, condensed and toughened. After which
the rails are straightened in the usual way and used.
If it be desirable to have additional hardness of surface for special cases,
the rails while still hot from the rolling may be tempered in water, oil, or any
other liquid now employed in the treatment of steel for that purpose, but
this is not an essential part of the process.
Having thus fully described the nature, purpose, and object of the Inven-
tion, I would state that what I claim as the Invention and desire to secure by
Letters Patent, is, a new article of production useful in the arts, to wit, a
tempered or untempered railway rail, partly iron and partly steel carbonized
and re-rolled, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Lesley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
PETER LESLEY. (L.S.)