IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE RAILWAYS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Heinrich Andreas Spalding of Jahnkow in the Kingdom
of Prussia and Empire of Germany for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PORTABLE RAILWAYS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Heinrich Andreas Spalding.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th November 1882.
HEINRICH ANDREAS SPALDING of Jahnkow, in the Kingdom of Prussia and
Empire of Germany "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE RAILWAYS"
This invention relates to improvements in the construction of small gauge
portable railways as used in farming, in the cultivation of land, in wars and for
other purposes for the rapid transport of loads to places which are inaccessible by
permanent ways, or for other purposes.
The railway is composed of equal, interchangeable sections all the rails being of
the same length. They are provided at one end with a light sleeper of suitable
material, at the other end with a still smaller one, or in place of it with a cross-tie.
These four pieces are connected in such a way that they form a very rigid and
at the same time light section.
To establish a railway, one section after the other is laid down and connected to
the preceding, which is accomplished by means of a very simple clamp mounted on
the sleeper, or directly on the rails. This clamp has a curved or inclined mouth to
facilitate the proper adjustment of the two sections and its construction is such
that, keeping the new section firmly connected to the preceding one, it allows
nevertheless any desirable deviation to the right or the left, up or down, so that
this improved portable way may be laid upon any ragged or uneven ground,
without previous levelling or grading.
It is taken up just as easily, and single sections may be taken out of the track
without any trouble and without disturbing the balance by only loosening two
screws and turning two clamps the distance of about 90 degrees.
The invention embraces also smaller devices as washers and pins to fasten the
rails to the sleeper and to steady their position, also double-wedged plates and
bolts to complete the inclined or curved shaped opening of the clamps when wooden
sleepers are used.
The improved portable railway may be used in combination with branches, frogs,
turn-tables and other well known appliances.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Heinrich Andreas Spalding in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd May 1883.
HEINRICH ANDREAS SPALDING of Jahnkow in the Kingdom of Prussia and
Empire of Germany "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE RAILWAYS"
This invention relates to improvements in the construction of small gauge
portable railroads or railways as used in farming, in the cultivation of land, in war
for the rapid transport of loads to places which are not accessible by permanent.
roads, or for other purposes; and its object is to so arrange the single sections and
the means of coniecting them, that the cost of the construction and of the
application of such railway is reduced and its manipulation simplified and
facilitated.
Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a plan and elevation of several sections of rails
connected together and drawn to a smaller scale than the undermentioned
Figures.
.
The track of the rail road is composed of equal interchangeable sections, all the
rails A. A¹. being of the same length that is to say of about 6 to 8 feet or nearly
so and of any suitable cross section. They are provided at both ends with a light
sleeper C. D. of suitable material, or on one end with a sleeper and on the other
with a cross-tie E, consisting of a round or flat iron rod screwed or rivetted to the
rails. These four pieces are connected in such a way that they form a very rigid
and at the same time light section. The rails are fastened to the sleepers CD, by
screws or screw bolts a. (Figures 5 and 6) and washers b. which latter possess for
wooden sleepers the sharp cross ribs r and seats and the rails are secured in their
place by set-pins & Figures 4 and 8.
For establishing a rail road one section after the other is laid down and each
one connected to the preceding one by means of very simple clamps e. mounted on
the sleeper C, or directly on the rails. These clamps form curved or inclined mouths
by their projecting rounded noses fin combination with the direction heads d. for
facilitating the proper adjustment of the two sections. The clamp e. is fastened by
a headed screw or bolt g to the sleeper and the nose f is formed on its underside in
such a way as to touch the foot of the rail only in a line and not in a plane should
it come in contact with it. The tenon z of the clamp e. fitting into a corresponding
mortice in the sleeper C secures the proper position of the clamp e. By
unscrewing the bolt g, lifting the tenon z, out of the mortice and turning the
clamp e about 90 degrees the removing or exchanging without difficulty of a single
section of the laid track is made possible, see Figure 3. The above mentioned
direction beads d. are double wedged or bevelled or inclined iron pieces with cross
ribs r, fastened to the sleeper C by the bolts m. the heads of which are also
bevelled. In adding a section to one already laid the ends of the rails, guided by
the oblique faces of the direction-heads d. and the curved or inclined mouth of the
clamp e. find their proper position very easily and the work of laying progresses
rapidly.
This construction of the rail joints, keeping the sections firmly connected allows
nevertheless any desirable deviation to the right or the left, up or down, so that
such improved portable railway or railroad may be laid upon any ragged or uneven
ground without previous levelling or grading. It is also taken up easily.
Figures 7 and 8 shew a modification of the joint, which may be made use of,
provided the taking a single section out of the laid track is not desired. The
curved or inclined mouth is formed by the employment of a plate q. fastened to the

page_text: inside of each of the two rails A near their end and by a countersunk rivet or
screw o in such a way that it can turn a little. Each plate q has two cheeks 8
bevelled in front, between which enters the rounded and bevelled tenon p. fastened
to the end of the rails of the next section. In this construction which works in
respect to the flexibility of the track as well as the first described, the second
sleeper of each section may be dispensed with and the rails connected at one end
only by cross-ties.
The rails may rest with this end either on the wide sleeper C of the preceding
section, or only on the tenons p and cheeks 8 of the plates q, in which case the
Bleeper C may be narrower, as shown in Figures 7 and 8 by dotted lines.
The improved portable railway or rail road may be used with branches, switches,
frogs, turn tables and other appliances.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
carrying it into operation, I would have it understood that what I claim is :-
First. Constructing the sections of portable railways or railroads of two rails
with two sleepers on their ends, or with but one sleeper and a cross tie, in com.
bination with a joint, which allows a universal adjustment of the sections, the end
of each of them entering the inclined or curved shaped mouth of the preceding one
substantially as herein shown and described.
Second. In the construction of the joints the clamps e. with the rounded and
bevelled noses f. and the tenons z fitting in mortices in the sleeper C, to which the
clamps e. are fastened by the bolts g substantially as herein shown and described.
Third. The direction heads d with cross ribs r. for wooden sleepers in com-
bination with the bolts m. the heads of which are bevelled in the same way as the
direction heads d. substantially as herein shown and described.
Fourth. In the production of an inclined or curved shaped mouth for the joints of
portable railways the clamps e constructed as shown, in combination with the
direction heads d. and the bevelled heads of the bolts m. into which mouths enter the
rails of the next section substantially as herein shown and described.
Fifth. In the production of an inclined or curved shaped mouth for the joints
of portable railways the plates 9 with their cheeks 8. bevelled in front and fastened
to the inside of the rails, into which mouths enter the tenons p of the rails of the
next section substantially as herein shown and described.
In witness whereof I the said Heinrich Andreas Spalding have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Seventh day of May in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty three.