IMPROVEMENTS IN PARTS OF THE PERMANENT WAYS OF RAIL- WAYS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
WILLIAM BARLOW, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day
of June (one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine), in the twelfth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Peter William Barlow, my exors, admiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Peter
William Barlow, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Peter William Barlow, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PARTS OF THE PERMANENT WAYS OF RAIL-
WAYS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said.
Peter William Barlow, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter William Barlow, do hereby declare that the nature of my said.

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following-statement-thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say.:-
My Invention consists first, of casting two or more chairs or supports, or
two or more parts of chairs or supports, in combination with such a plate or
bearer that the use of wood or other sleepers may be dispensed with, the
plate or bearer cast with the two or more chairs acting not only as the means.
of connecting the chairs together, but also as the sleeper for such chairs; and
secondly, my Invention consists of casting those chairs which are to be fixed
to wood or other sleepers of railways in two parts. And in order that my
Invention may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will
proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 shew two transverse sections of chairs and bearers according
to the first part of my Invention. Figure 3 is a side view of part of a railway
where this part of my Invention is employed. Figure 4 shews a plan of
Figure 3, and it will be seen by these Figures that where the ends of two rails
come together, the bearer or longitudinal sleeper of cast iron has three chairs
cast therewith, whilst the intermediate bearers or longitudinal sleepers are cast
with two chairs each, but this may be varied. Each chair will consist of two
jaws, and may be according to any desired form, depending on the section of
the railway bar to be used therewith, and according to the means employed
for fixing the rails in such chairs. The effect of this arrangement will be that
where the ends of two railway bars meet the ends will be received in and held
by the middle chair, and each rail will be further held at a distance from such
middle chair by another chair cast with the same bearer or sleeper, by which
means the ends of each railway bar will be more securely held and kept. in
position than heretofore where separate sleepers were used:
In Figures 1 and 2, the railway bars are fixed in two different ways, but the
chairs are similar in other respects. In Figure 1 there is a wood key under
the rail, and in Figure 2 there is a plate of metal of a wedge-shaped' section
dropped in between the jaws and the rail. Such plate should be of a length to
extend between two or more contiguous chairs cast in the same bearer or
__.sleeper, and the tendency of such wedge-shaped plate to drop lower will go to
keep the railway bar secure in such chairs; but the manner of fixing the rails
in the chairs may be as heretofore, or in any other convenient manner, the
jaws of the chairs being made suitable for the particular means to be resorted

page_text: to for fixing the rails. In place of making the two or more chairs and their
bearer or sleeper in one casting, these parts may be made in two castings, each
casting consisting of one part of the bearer or sleeper combined with two or
more parts of chairs, and the other casting to consist of the other portion or
part of the bearer or sleeper and the other two or more parts of chairs, so
that when two such castings are placed on either side of a rail and suitably
combined together, the rail at such part will be supported by a cast-iron bearer
with two or more chairs, the chairs and the bearers being longitudinally divided;
in other respects they will be similar to those above explained, that is, each
bearer will have cast with it two or more chairs, which will receive and hold
the railway bar at distances apart, and in this respect will act like ordinary
chairs. Figure 5 shows a section of such an arrangement; and the mode by
which I prefer to combine these parts is by means of transverse ties of iron
passing through the two parts of which a bearer (with its two or more chairs)
is composed, and I fix the parts by bolts or pins a, a, as shown, though other
means may be resorted to for combining the two parts or castings, such as is
shewn by the section Figure 6, or otherwise.
I will now describe the second part of my Invention,―
Figure 7 shews a chair suitable for fixing on ordinary sleepers, but in place of
being made all in one casting it is made in two parts, with suitable means for
holding such two parts together to prevent their separating, and the best means
I believe of accomplishing this are those shewn in the Drawing; but the same
may be varied so long as a chair is made of two parts, and is suitably formed
for being fixed to ordinary sleepers, as heretofore, when using a chair of one
casting.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the details as herein described, so long as the peculiar character of either part
of my Invention be retained; but what I claim is,―
First, the combining two or more chairs or supports, or two or more parts of
chairs or supports, with a bearer or sleeper in the same casting as herein
explained; and,
Secondly, I claim the making of chairs which are to be fixed to sleepers,
each of two castings, as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter William Barlow, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine.
PETER WILLIAM (L.S.) BARLOW.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Peter William Barlow came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord