AN IMPROVED MODE OF COUPLING. THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1861

page_text: Sealed the 26th April 1861, and dated the 19th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th February 1861.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF COUPLING.
THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to connect together the abutting ends of
railroad rails in a manner that will allow of the expansion and contraction
of the rails consequent on the changes of temperature, and to provide against
the jarring, and consequently the wearing loose and springing of the rails at.
the joints occasioned by the concussion of passing trains over the line, and.
also to neutralize the effect of lateral thrust, at the joints. For this purpose,

page_text: supposing the ordinary T-rails to be used, the head is cut away for a given
distance from one side of the abutting rails to make the head flush with the
neck of the rail, and the portions thus removed from the adjoining rails are
made good by a filling piece, which restores the contour of the coupled rails.
In the ends of the rails a horizontal slot is cut, and a rib or projection on the
inner face of this filling piece enters and fills the slots and projects slightly
beyond the neck of the rails. At each extremity of this rib, and forming part
with it, are screw bolts, which are intended to project through bolt holes in a
fishing plate on the other side of the joint to that on which the filling piece is
situated. The fish plate and the filling plate are secured to the rails by means
of these screw bolts (which pass through round holes made in the fish and
elongated holes made in the rails) and clamping nuts applied thereto. These
coupling pieces fill the hollow in the sides of the rails (at their extremities),
and thus serve to strengthen the head of the rail, the rail's neck, and the
entire joint.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times hereafter 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
"AN IMPROVED MODE OP COUPLING THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,

page_text: 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, is to connect together the abutting ends of railroad rails in a
manner that will allow of the expansion and contraction of the rails conse-
quent on the changes of temperature, and to provide against the springing of
the rails at the joints occasioned by the vibration of passing trains over the
line, and also to neutralize the effect of lateral thrust at the joints.
This Invention consists in cutting away a portion of the head of the rail
(an ordinary T-rail being used) at each end of the sections of rail, and in
cutting a horizontal slot a suitable distance into the neck of the abutting rails;
and in forming the joint or joints after the rails are laid down by the intro-
duction of an artificial head-bearing piece that breaks joints with the rail, and
serves to fill up the spaces cut out of the rails, and to strengthen the rail at
the joint against lateral and downward strain; and in conjunction with this
brace support is used a fishing bar that is placed on the opposite side of the
rail, and serves to strengthen the rail. The whole are to be secured together
by bolts and nuts, the latter of which may be locked if thought necessary to
prevent them from working loose.
The Invention is illustrated by the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the improved rail joint; Figure 2 is
a top view of Figure 1, the end of one rail being in horizontal section the
better to shew the nature of the coupling; Figure 3 is a cross section taken
through the rail at the joint; Figure 4 is a perspective view, showing one end
of a section of rail. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts
in the several Figures.
:
A, A, represent the ends of two sections of the ordinary T-shaped railroad
rail. The ends of each rail are swaged or cut out in the manner represented
by Figure 4, that is to say, the outer side of the rail head is cut away to a
level with the plane of the rail's neck for a suitable distance at each end of
the rail, and then bevilled or cut obliquely to the line of the rail forming the

page_text: shoulder portions a. The end of the rail is also cut horizontally as repre-
sented, forming a slot 6 in the thin portion or neck of the rail, and an ellip-
tical bolt hole c is punched through the neck of the rail near to the end of the
same. Each end may thus be shaped if it is thought desirable to secure
every joint with the improved fastening, but each corresponding rail end
should be formed in the manner described and represented by Figure 4. D is
a piece of metal of sufficient length to extend some distance on each side of
the rail joint, and of a plano-convex shape, that is, the outside is flat and the
inside corresponds exactly to the shape of the side of the rail, so as to fit
snugly against the rail between the base and the head, and when put in its
proper position, to serve as a brace and a nut bar for the bolt nuts. This
fishing bar D is punched with elliptical holes corresponding to the holes in
the rail; E is a bar of about the same length as D, which is formed so as to
fill up the side of the rail that is cut out, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, and
thus give an artificial support for the rolling load, and add strength to the
rail neck at the joint, as this piece, it will be understood, will break joints
with the rail joint." F is a lip that projects from the inner face of the piece
E, and passes through the two slots b in the abutting ends of the rails, and
projects slightly beyond the opposite side of the rail's neck. From each end
of this piece F a screw bolt d projects; these bolts receive nuts e, e, for
locking up the joint. The ends of the piece E extend under the heads of the
abutting rails so as to give support thereto at the bevilled ends a, a. Holes
are punched through the piece E corresponding to those in the rail's neck
and the fishing bar D. In this latter bar D a recess is formed on its inner
face to receive the projecting portion F of the piece E, and it is also pierced
with two round holes to receive the screw bolts d, d.
From this description it will be seen that with this improved joint the rail
ends are rigidly secured against springing in any direction that the portion E,
which serves to strengthen the rail at the joint, receives a portion of the rolling
load, and transmits it to the base of the rail, and at the same time that the
rails can have a free end play sufficient to allow for the changes of tempera
ture. The manner of laying down the rail, and the locking up of the joints
is simply to bring the ends of the rail sections together, and introduce the
bar E, it's portion F passing through the slots b in the ends of the rails; then
the fishing bar D is put in place on the opposite side of the rails, and the
whole set up with bolts, as before described. :
. Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of an improved mode
of coupling the rails of railways, as communicated to me from abroad; and

page_text: explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim forming
the ends of abutting rails and coupling them together, in the manner and for
the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)