IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PER- MANENT WAY OF Railways
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Travers Hartley Falkiner, of the City of Dublin,
Ireland, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PER-
MANENT WAY OF Railways."
Sealed the 6th January 1863, and dated the 19th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Travers Hartley Falkiner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th August 1862.
I, TRAVERS HARTLEY FALKINER, of the City of Dublin, Ireland, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved mode of securing the fish-plates or
other means of connecting the rail ends together, and consists in forming upon
the ends of the bolts employed two screwed portions or lengths, the one
being of larger diameter than the other, and the threads on each portion.
being in reverse directions, the one portion being a right-and-the-other a left-
hand thread. On each of these portions a nut corresponding to it is screwed,
that on the inner screwed portion serving as the ordinary or tightening nut,

page_text: whilst that on the outer portion (which is of lesser diameter) being screwed
in the reverse direction serves the combined purposes of jamming the inner
nut and of counteracting the tendency of the bolts to turn loose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Travers Hartley Falkiner in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, TRAVERS
HARTLEY FALKINER, of the City of Dublin, Ireland, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Travers Hartley Falkiner, Her special license that I, the said
Travers Hartley Falkiner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Travers Hartley Falkiner, my executors, administrators,
or 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 RAILWAYS," upon
the condition, (amongst others) that I, the said Travers Hartley Falkiner,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the saine 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 Travers Hartley Falkiner, do hereliy
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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to an improved mode of securing the fish-plates
or other contrivances for connecting the rail ends of permanent way together,

page_text: and consists in forming upon the ends of the bolts employed two screwed
portions or lengths, the one being of larger diameter than the other, and the
threads on each portion being in reverse directions, the one portion being a
right and the other a left hand thread. On each of these portions a nut
corresponding to it is screwed, that on the inner screwed portion serving as the
ordinary or tighteuing nut, whilst that on the outer portion (which is of
lesser diameter) being screwed in the reverse direction serves the combined
purposes of jamming the inner nut and of counteracting the tendency of the
bolts to turn loose.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the correspond-
ing Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represent a transverse sectional view of a bridge
rail and joint chair, shewing the mode of applying my double-reverse screwed
bolts and their respective nuts; Figure 2 is a similar view of a foot rail and
fish-plates secured according to my improved method; and Figure 3 is a
transverse section of the ordinary double-headed rail and fish-plates similarly
secured with the improved bolts. In these Figures A represents the rail,
B, the joint chair or fish-plates, as the case may be, and C, C, the improved
bolts which serve to secure the rail joints. The ends of these bolts have two
distinct screwed portions made upon them, the part a being of larger diameter
than the part b, and the two having their screw threads in reverse directions,
as shewn in the Drawings. The object of making the end of the bolt smaller
than the screwed part a is to enable the first or tightening nut c to be readily
passed over the screwed end b, and then screwed on to the part a. The
second nut d, which serves as a jam nut, is screwed in the reverse direction to
the first nut, and consequently effectually prevents the turning or loosening of
the main securing nut c.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the application and use to and in the
permanent way of railways of bolts having two distinct screwed portions formed
thereon, the threads in each portion being in reverse directions, in combination

page_text: with separate nuts, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein-
before described and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Travers Hartley Falkiner, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
TRAVERS HARTLEY FALKINER. (L.S.)