IMPROVEMENTS IN: TESTING THE DURABILITY AND STRENGTH OF RAILS, AND FOR ASCERTAINING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE VARIOUS PARTS, FORMS, AND ARRANGEMENTS OF PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Price, of the City of Dublin, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN: TESTING THE DURABILITY AND
STRENGTH OF RAILS, AND FOR ASCERTAINING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE VARIOUS
PARTS, FORMS, AND ARRANGEMENTS OF PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS, AND
IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Sealed the 28th October 1868, and dated the 15th May 1868:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Price at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th May 1868..
I, JAMES PRICE, of the City of Dublin, Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TESTING THE
DURABILITY AND STRENGTH OF RAILS, AND FOR ASCERTAINING THE EFFICIENCY
OF THE VARIOUS PARTS, FORMS, AND ARRANGEMENTS OF PERMANENT WAY OF
RAILWAYS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as.
follows:-
This Invention has for its object the providing adequate tests whereby
the endurance and efficiency of rails and other parts of permanent way:

page_text: can be determined before laying down the way. It is intended to
supply a deficiency in the test of dead weights and falling weights
usually adopted, neither of which are satisfactory or at all analogous
to the forces which wear out and destroy the rails and other parts of
the permanent way of railways when in actual use..
By this Invention permanent way is subject to rolling weights equal
to or greater than the heaviest weights usually allowed on the driving
wheels of engines. In testing rails and ascertaining the efficiency of
any particular system of proposed permanent way before proceeding to
lay the same according to this Invention, samples of the rails to be
tested (whether iron or steel) are to be chosen at random and curved
to a convenient radius suitable to the testing mill or machine as hercin-
after described. This must be done while the rails are hot from the
rolls or in such other manner as will not injure the texture of the
rail. These rails are then to be laid in their proper relative position
round the circumference of the mill so as to form in fact a circular
railway of which the rails are supported, joined, and fastened in the
manner in which it is proposed they shall be afterwards arranged when
forming the actual permanent way. The mill or testing machinery
consists of a vertical shaft caused to revolve by means of a steam
engine, water power, or other convenient prime mover. Attached to
this shaft are a number of horizontal radii held in their proper places
by rings, plates, or otherwise; these radii may be of any convenient
length, say from 20 to 50 feet, the outer ends being turned so as to
form axles, upon each of which a heavy roller revolves. Each roller
may weigh or be weighted to, say, 5 tons or upwards, or the pressure on
the rails may be produced by means of a heavy frame or by means of
the weight of the driving engine and a boiler resting on the rollers or
wheels. The power may be applied either to the vertical shaft, or
the engine may be carried round with the rollers on wheels, using any
one or more of them as driving wheels. The machinery being set in
motion the rollers are caused to move at any desired speed, say from
20 to 40 miles per hour, over the surface of the rails to be tested. By
the working of this machine the rails and joints are subjected to the
passage of a vast number of tons at a high velocity, and thus the
defects of the material, forms, or arrangements are quickly developed.
In order to render the test more searching and severe the following
expedients may be adopted, either severally or in combination, with a
view to test permanent way under all conditions, namely, some or all

page_text: the rollers may not be true circular cylinders. A break may be put
on some so as to cause them to slide instead of roll along the rails.
Water, or sand, or both may be thrown on to the surface of the rails
if desired. The rollers may have flanges formed thereon and the ring
of rails may be placed eccentric so as to cause a rubbing against the
edges of the rails; or the same effect may be produced by allowing
play in the rollers so as to admit of their moving from the centre.
The joints may be multiplied and the number of samples increased
by using short pieces of rails (say 12 feet long) cut from longer rails;
the intervals of the sleepers moreover may be increased. The testing
rollers employed may be of cast iron or metal with wrought-iron or
steel tyres; finally, other and various devices may be adopted in using
this machine so as to add to the severity of the tests. Should it be
found necessary to conduct away any heat generated by the rapid
motion, water may be applied upon or around the rails. The number of
rollers are to be regulated by the speed at which the rails are to be
tested as they must not be so numerous as to accumulate heat at the
required speed sufficient to softer the material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Price in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PRICE, of the City of Dublin, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of IIer reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Price, Her special license that I,
the said James Price, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Price, 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,

page_text: and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TESTING THE
DURABILITY AND STRENGTH OF RAILS, AND FOR ASCERTAINING THE EFFICIENCY OF
THE VARIOUS PARTS, FORMS, AND ARRANGEMENTS OF PERMANENT WAY OF
RAILWAYS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Price, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 James Price, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:-
My said Invention has for its object the providing adequate tests
whereby the endurance and efficiency of rails and other parts of
permanent way can be determined before laying down the way. It
is intended to supply a deficiency in the tests of dead weights and
falling weights usually adopted, neither of which are satisfactory or
at all analogous to the forces which wear out and destroy the rails
and other parts of the permanent way of railways when in actual
use.
By this Invention the permanent way is subjected to rolling weights
equal to or greater than the heaviest weight usually allowed on the
driving wheels of engines. In testing rails and ascertaining the
efficiency of any particular system of proposed permanent way before
proceeding to lay the same according to this Invention, samples of
the rails to be tested (whether iron or steel) are to be chosen at random
and curved to a convenient radius suitable to the testing mill or
machine as hereafter described. This must be done whilst the rails
are hot from the rolls or in such other manner as will not injure the
texture of the rail. These rails are then to be laid in their proper
relative position round the circumference of the mill so as to form in
fact a circular railway representing one of a pair of rails of which the
rails are supported, joined, and fastened in the manner in which it

page_text: is proposed they shall be afterwards arranged when forming one limb
of the actual permanent way. The mill or testing machinery consists
of a vertical shaft caused to revolve by means of a steam engine, water
power, or other convenient prime mover. Attached to this shaft are
a number of horizontal radii held in their proper places by "ring
plates" or otherwise; these radii may be of any convenient length,
say from twenty to fifty feet. Between the "ring plates" are fitted a
number of heavy revolving rollers, each roller weighing or being
weighted to, say, five tons or upwards, or the pressure on the rails may
be produced by means of a heavy frame, or by means of the weight of
the driving engine and boiler resting on the rollers or wheels. The
power may be applied either to the vertical shaft, or the engine may
be carried round with the rollers or wheels, using any one or more of
them as driving wheels. The machinery being set in motion the
rollers are caused to move at any desired speed, say from twenty to
forty miles per hour, over the surface of the rails to be tested. By the
working of this machine the rails and joints are subjected to the passage
of a vast number of tons at a high velocity, and thus the defects of the
material, formis, or arrangements are quickly developed.
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 shall refer to the Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both
the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawing represents a partial section and side
elevation of what I consider the easiest and best arrangement of
apparatus for carrying out my Invention; and Figure 2 is a corre-
sponding sectional plan of the same taken along the line 1, 2.
A is a stationary cross beam supported at each end upon standards
or uprights B, B, bolted or otherwise firmly secured to foundation blocks
C, C, and supported by stays B', B¹. This cross beam carries the main
driving shaft D in suitable bearings a, a, and carries also a socket or
bearing b, for the reception of the upper end of the vertical wrought-
iron spindle E, the lower end of such spindle resting in a footstep F;
a bevel wheel G is keyed or otherwise secured to this spindle and
gears with a bevel pinion H fast on the end of the main driving shaft,
such shaft receiving a rotatory motion from a steam engine or other
prime mover, which motion it transmits by the gearing G, H, to the

page_text: "
vertical spindle E. A number of radial wrought-iron rods I, I, are
secured in any well known or other manner at their inner ends to
the vertical spindle E whilst their outer ends are secured by bolts,
rivets, or otherwise to the ring frame K, K, the two concentric
rings constituting such frame being maintained at the proper
distance asunder by tubular stays c through which the ends of the
radial rods pass, as shown in the Drawings, or they may be combined
together in any other suitable manner. A wrought-iron "driver or
strengthening stay I' is secured across the diameter of the ring frame
K, and is rivetted thereto at the centre and circumference. At suitable
intervals round the ring frame there are fitted the metal rollers L, L,
revolving each on an axis of its own carried by the frame K. I prefer
to construct and arrange the axes of the several rollers Lin the following
manner-Each roller has cast upon its inner face a projecting stud d
which works in a bearing in the inner ring of the frame K. Upon
the outer face of the said roller a socket e is cast into which projects
one end of a steel pin f fitted into and carried by a cast-iron beam M.
This beam is supported by having its two extremities fitted on to
the ends of the two contiguous radial rods, a wrought-iron strap N
being placed over the beam as a safeguard in case of fracture of the
cast-iron beams M and the two are secured on to the radial rods by
nuts at g, g. The space between the frames K should be wide enough
to admit of each roller being adjusted or shifted laterally so as to bring
a different portion of its tread into action. The rails P to be tested are
laid in a circle concentric with the spindle E or slightly eccentric
thereto, according to the test required, such rails being secured to
sleepers Qby the same system of fastenings which it is proposed to
adopt on the real permanent way, whereby the entire system before
its adoption may be tested both as regards strength and durability in
the manner herein-before described.
In order to render the test more searching and severe the following
expedients may be adopted, either severally or in combination, with a
view to test permanent way under all conditions, namely, some or all
the rollers may not be true circles. A break may be put on some so as
to cause them to occasionally slide instead of roll along the rails; water,
or sand, or both may be thrown on to the surface of the rails if desired.
The rollers may have flanges formed thereon and the ring of rails may
be placed excentric so as cause a rubbing against the edges of the rails;
or the same effect may be produced by allowing play in the rollers so

page_text: as to admit of their moving from the centre. The joints may be
multiplied and the number of samples increased by using short pieces of
rails (say twelve feet long) cut from longer rails. The intervals of the
sleepers moreover may be increased. The testing rollers employed may
be of wrought iron or of cast iron chilled or not on the surface, and
in cither case provided if desired with wrought-iron or steel tyres ;
finally, other and various devices may be adopted in using this machine
so as to add to the severity of the tests. Should it be found necessary
to conduct away any heat generated by the rapid motion, water may
be applied upon or around the rails. The number of rollers are to be
regulated by the speed at which the rails are to be tested, as they
must not be so numerous as to accumulate heat at the required speed
sufficient to soften the material. Any ordinary or other counter R
may be employed for the purpose of indicating the number of revolutions
and the consequent speed at which the several rollers travel along the
rails to be tested.
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 mode or modes of and apparatus for testing the durability and
strength of rails and for simultaneously ascertaining the efficiency of
the various parts, forms, and arrangements of permanent way of railways,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Price, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of
November, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JAMES PRICE. (L.S.)