IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the Firm of J. C. Robertson & Co., of 166, Fleet
Street, City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
+
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of Novem-
.ber (One thousand eight hundred and fifty), in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,, and Man,
and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS," (communicated to me from abroad); in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Inven-

page_text: tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
"
The improvements in railways consist in an improved method of joining
the different lengths of rail end to end, whereby the upper surfaces with
which the carriage wheels come in contact are at all times kept flush one
with the other, and at one uniform level.
Figure 1 is a side view of two U-shaped or bridge rails as thus joined
together; and Figure 2 a cross section on the line a, b, of Figure 1. A, A,
are the two rails; B, a coupling bar of wrought iron which is of the same
form in cross section as the hollows on the under side of the rails, and fits
into these hollows with some degree of tightness; C, C, are rivets (for which
screw or key bolts may be substituted if preferred) by which this coupling
bar is farther secured to two rails at the two ends. The rivet holes at one
end (say, those indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1) are punched out of an
oblong form to allow for the expansion and contraction of the metal. One
rail only is in the first instance riveted to the bar, as represented in Figure 3,
and after this has been laid in its place, the other rail is rivetted up to it.
The joint thus formed is perfectly stiff, both vertically and laterally, yet at the
same time permits of a sufficiency of play for the expansion and contraction
due to the difference of temperature.
Figure 3 represents a section of one of the rails and connecting bar on the
line of one of the rivets.
And having described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is the connecting the
different lengths of U-shaped rails end to end by means of coupling bars of
wrought iron and rivets or bolts, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
R. A. (L.s.) BROOMAN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Richard Archibald Brooman came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and speci-
fied, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one.