Improvements in the Keys for Fastening Rails of Railways in their Chairs or Sleepers.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Feb., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 19th Oct., 1896-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Keys for Fastening Rails of Railways in their
Chairs or Sleepers.
I, STEPHEN BALLARD, of Colwall Malvern, in the County of Worcester, Malt
Vinegar Brewer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention to be as
follows:-
My invention has for its object, improvements in the keys for fastening the rails
of railways in their chairs or sleepers which I accomplish in an exceedingly simple
manner. Attempts have been made from time to time to introduce metal keys for
this purpose but they have generally been of a complicated or expensive kind.
My key is made from plate or sheet metal whether steel iron or other metal and
is of a simple channel section that is to say with two wings bent up from the plate
with one wing at an acute angle to the plate and the other at an obtuse angle to the
plate. One or both of these wings may be grooved or serrated to give it a bite
when driven home. It will be at once seen that these keys are exceedingly simple
to manufacture either by rolling or stamping, under a press. The plate itself or base
of the channel may curved inwards to give a certain amount of spring if desired
but otherwise the spring is afforded by the extremities of the wings.
Dated this 12th day of February 1896.
GEORGE BARKER,
77 Colmore Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.
Improvements in the Keys for Fastening Rails of Railways in their
Chairs or Sleepers.
I, STEPHEN BALLARD of Colwall, near Malvern in the County of Worcester,
Malt Vinegar Brewer do hereby 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 :-
My invention has for its object improvements in the keys for fastening the rails
of railways in their chairs or sleepers which I accomplish in an exceedingly simple
manner. Attempts have been made from time to time, to introduce metal keys for
this purpose but they have generally been of a complicated or expensive kind.
My key is made from plate or sheet metal whether steel, iron, or other metal and
is of a simple channel section that is to say with two wings bent up from the plate
with one wing at an acute angle to the plate and the other at an obtuse angle to
the plate. It will be at once seen that these keys are exceedingly simple to
manufacture either by rolling or stamping under a press. The plate itself or base

page_text: of the channel may be curved inwards to give a certain amount of spring if desired
but otherwise the spring is afforded by the extremities of the wings. The taper of
the key will generally approximate to the taper in the jaw of the chair or sleeper
in which it is used.
In order that my invention may be clearly understood and more easily carried
into practical effect I have appended hereunto a sheet of drawings illustrating its
application to a railway chair or sleeper which will be found a sufficient example
to enable others to use the invention and to apply it to the various uses met with
in practice.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation through the rail R.and a side elevation of the
chair or sleeper jaw C and also of the key K but the jaw shewn would of course
vary in its configuration specially externally according to whether it be formed
from cast iron, wrought iron, steel, or other material.
Figure 2 is a plan of the chair or sleeper jaw C with the rail R broken off as
regards its length and also shewing the key K driven home to its normal or
central position.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of one modification of the key.
Figure 4 is an end view or cross section of another modification of the key K
which may be reversed or driven with either the wings or the plate k³ upwards or
downwards.
Figure 5 is a modification shewing the plate or bottom of the U bent inwards
at k³.
The particular section of the rail R may of course be varied and also of the
jaws and cof the chair or sleeper C as my new key is intended to be adapted to
existing railway rails and chairs without any alteration to the permanent way
whatever. The key shown at Figures 1. 2. and 3 are made with a straight plate
at k and having the wings k' and k² and the acute angle and the obtuse angle ³
and generally I place the acute angle and plate at the upper part as seen at
Figure 1 as the plate k is adapted to throw off the water, but the wings k¹ and k
may be at the top when desired and when it is necessary to drive the key left
handed. The illustrations Figures 1 and two shew the key driven in right-handed
with the taper of the key arranged to suit when the plate k³ is at the top of the
chair or sleeper jaw. The perspective view Figure 3 shews the key in perspective
when the angle k is acute and the angle k is obtuse but both angles may be alike
or more nearly alike as shewn at Figures 4 and 5 and the plate k may be hollowed
inwardly as seen at Figure 5 to give a certain amount of elasticity to the plate ³
which is sometimes useful when only little or no taper is given to the key. These
keys as it will be understood are exceptionally easy to manufacture as in the case
of parallel keys the section, whether with corresponding or equal angles may be
rolled in one length and simply sawn off to the desired length or if taper the may
be afterwards pressed to the desired taper. Or the plate may be rolled so that its
width agrees with the length of the key and short lengths such as 1. 2. 3. 4 severed
to a taper as seen at Figure 6 and then bent under a press or cut quite square. If
cut quite square the length of the key may run either across the plate or lengthwise of
the plate, and the taper may be given by the plate being more curved at k³ at one
end than the other. One of great advantages of my key is the cheapness of the
manufacture as they can be produced for very little more than the ordinary price
of plate or sheet metal. I find in practice that there is no need of serrations in
the key or jaw of the chair though they may be used in which case I do not
claim them as part of my invention apart from the particular configuration of
form of my key.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
The improvements in keys for fastening the rails of railways in their chairs or

page_text: sleepers consisting of a plate of metal with two wings bent from the same and
either with or without an internally bent hollow substantially as herein set forth
and shewn upon the drawings.
Dated this 17th day of October 1896
GEORGE BARKER,
77 Colmore Row, Birmingham, Agent.