IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY KEYS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,. I,. WILLIAM
HENRY BARLOW, of Derby, Civil Engineer, 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 Twenty-seventh day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Henry Barlow, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Henry Barlow, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Henry Barlow, my exors, adñiors, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY
KEYS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
William Henry Barlow, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, 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. said
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Henry Barlow, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In the use of wood keys for fastening the rails of railways in their chairs,
it is well known that they are liable to expand in wet and damp weather,
and to contract and become loose, and even drop out, in dry weather,
and this is the case even with the wood keys which have been subjected
to pressure and heat, such as are now very commonly employed. Now my
Invention consists of so treating and impregnating wood keys for railways
with matter which is insoluble in water, that the keys when used shall not
be liable to expand or contract, or so little that, practically speaking, they may
be considered as if not contracting or expanding by dry and moist weather.
There are many matters, as is well known, which being insoluble in water
may be introduced into wood, and therefore may be used in carrying out my
Invention. And I would state at once that I do not claim the introduction
of matters insoluble in water into wood, as that has heretofore been döne
for various purposes;. but my Invention consists of manufacturing railway keys
of wood.so treated. The materials I employ, and which I believe to be
the best, are as follows:-Four gallons of creosote; one gallon of naptha;
twenty-four lbs. of pitch, and a half a gallon of boiled linseed oil, but other
insoluble matters may be used if preferred, so long as their use is such as
to render the keys so little subject to shrink that they will after being driven
into the chairs not be liable to become loose and fall out. The quantity of
the above-mentioned ingredients which I have used for the process is about
one gallon of the composition to each cubic foot of wood. The manner in
which I treat the wood is as follows:-The wood keys having been cut to the
desired form, they are to be steamed for about four hours; they are then
dried at a temperature which I prefer to be a little below boiling water, for
a period of from eighteen to twenty-four hours, by which they are considerably
shrunk, and on being taken from the drying stove, and whilst hot, they are
to be subjected to the saturating process, which may be done by simple
immersion for about sixteen to twenty-four hours, or the process of saturation
may be greatly facilitated by placing the wood keys in vessels and removing the
air, and then admitting the composition, as is well understood in saturating
wood with various ingredients. for other purposes.
. In place of steaming and drying the wood keys as above explained, I have
obtained a. like state of shrinkage and dryness by steeping the wood keys in
linseed oil kept heated from two hundred degrees to two hundred and twenty

page_text: degrees of Fahrenheit. On first introducing the wood keys there will be
considerable ebullition; when that ceases the wood keys are to be removed,
and subjected to the saturating process of a matter insoluble in water, as
before explained. The wood railway keys are now fit for use, supposing
they are not to be subjected to pressure; but I prefer that they should be
compressed, and for this purpose I subject them to pressure in any of the
modes heretofore practised for like wood railway keys, but I make no claim
to compressing wood railway keys.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that what I claim
is the manufacturing wood keys for railways, by impregnating them with
matter insoluble in water, so as to prevent, or for the most part prevent, their
expanding and contracting when in use.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Barlow, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
WILLIAM HENRY (L.s.) BARLOW.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid William Henry Barlow came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.