Improvements in Railway and Tramway Rails.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 21st May, 1892-Accepted, 25th June, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway and Tramway Rails.
We, Dr. FRIEDRICH PAUL ALWIN VIETOR, Engineer and HERMANN AUGUST
HAARMANN, General Manager of Georgs Marien Bergwerks und Hütten Verein,
both of Osnabrück, in the Empire of Germany, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows :-
This invention relates to railway and tramway rails, and consists essentially in
making the rails in two or more parts, the head being supported by means of
spring-clips applied under the same at each side and resting on the foot of the rail,
the parts of the rail and the clips being held together by screw-bolts passing
through the clips and through the web of the rail.
Dated the 10th day of October 1891.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway and Tramway Rails.
We, Dr. FRIEDRICH PAUL ALWIN VIETOR, Engineer, and HERMANN AUGUST
HAARMANN, General Manager of Georgs Marien Bergwerks und Hütten Verein,
both of Osnabrück, in the Empire of Germany, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to railway and tramway rails.
If railway or tramway rails be made up of several weight-carrying portions, the
forces tending to separate these portions act chiefly at the bearing surface of the
rail head and at the bearing surface of the foot. The pressure of the wheels
brings about a thickening or expansion of the upper layers and in the foot of the
rail the tension which is caused in the seating operates as a pressure in an upward
direction. By means of rivets or screws which pass through the webs of the rails
the separate webs are first of all drawn merely together; the permanent connection
of the heads and feet must necessarily be brought about by the rigidity of the webs
themselves.
In the working of such rails, it has shewn itself to be desirable that the two or
three bearing portions should be pressed together farther above at the head and
farther down at the foot, in order more effectually to oppose the forces which tend
to separate the bearing portions, and this is best effected by a strong pressure
against the lower surface of the head and the upper surface of the foot, that is
to say, against the oblique surfaces to which at the joints of the rails the fish-plates
are applied.
According to the above mentioned invention there is applied on both sides of the
rails so divided into parts, for this purpose, a spring-clip, which being made of
corresponding outline fits between the surfaces of the head and foot which serve
for the attachment of the fish-plates to the rails, and such a pair of clips is applied
by means of a screw passing at half their height at right angles through the
spring-clips and the web of the rail. Several examples of such a spring-clip
fastening are shewn in the appended drawing.
The spring-clips a are placed in pairs at any desired distance, Figure 1, corre-
sponding to the demands likely to require fulfilment.

page_text: In determining the section to be given to the spring-clip, which is preferably
constructed of rolled iron or rolled steel, it is not necessary to distribute the
material far from the horizontal neutral axis as the clips are not subjected to
great bending strain but care must be taken that the clips a ensure the
requisite vertical pressure against the surfaces of contact a' when the screws bare
tightened up.
Figure 2 shews the spring-clip fastening applied to Haarmann's system of combined
sleepers and rails in two parts.
Figure 3 shews the fastening by spring-clips of a rail in two parts for laying in
streets, with grooved for the flanges of the wheels of the vehicles.
In Figure 4 the single bearing rail of Figure 3 is replaced by a bearing rail
(sleeper rail) in two parts and the groove d formed by a third member.
Figure 5 shews the spring-clip fastening of another tramway rail in three parts
with a groove d. The holes for the screws in all these examples are made in the
neutral axis which is not exposed to bending strains, so that the section of the rail
is not weakened.
In this respect the method has an important advantage over those connections in
which the separate bearing members are held together by rivets or screws in the
webs of the rails in the immediate vicinity of the head or foot of the rail without
any intermediate piece.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. Supporting the heads of rails, made in two or more parts from the base by
means of clips arranged on both sides of the rails and held together by screw-bolts,
substantially as herein before described.
2. The improved railway and tramway rails herein before described and illus-
trated in the various figures of the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 21st day of Mar 1892.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.