CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS;
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
REYNOLDS, of Oakwood, near Neath, in the County of Glamorgan, Iron
Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of May, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Reynolds, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence that I, the said
John Reynolds, ny exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Reynolds, my exors, adñors, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Reynolds, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said

page_text: John Reynolds, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist of certain methods of giving to the rails, bars, or plates, on which the
wheels of carriages run, or are intended to run, a similar and equal support in
every part of their length, so that they shall not be susceptible of depression
or deflection by an incumbent weight at one part more than another part; and
and this I effect by two methods, viz. :-
Firstly, by cast iron bearers laid and joined end to end in and upon the
ground or roadway, and which are of such width and strength as to be
incapable of being in any part depressed into the ground or roadway (it having
been properly consolidated under and about them) to any injurious degree, by
carriages passing upon or along them, they (the said bearers) being so con-
nected or fastened to each other as that no one of them shall be capable of
any vertical or lateral movement independent of those next adjoining it. The
rails, bars, or plates over which the carriage wheels are intended to run, may
be either cast on and with the bearers, and form part of them, or they may
be separate pieces of wrought or cast iron, fixed end to end upon or into the
bearers, so as to rest thereon throughout their whole length or at short
intervals of their length.
Secondly, by bearers formed of blocks of natural or artificial stone, joined
end to end, and laid or bedded upon and in the ground or roadway, and which
are of such breadth and depth as to be incapable of being depressed into the
ground or roadway (it having been properly consolidated under and about
them) to any injurious degree, by carriages, passing upon or along them, the
said bearers or blocks being placed edgeways, and so connected or fastened
together as that one of them shall be capable of vertical or lateral movement,
independently of those next adjoining it (such placing and connecting being
all that I claim as a novelty). The rails, bars, or plates on which the wheels
of carriages are intended to run, are fixed in or upon the upper side of the
bearers or blocks, so as to rest thereon throughout their whole length or at
short intervals of their length.
The forms and sizes which I consider most suitable for the said cast-iron
bearers, either with or without the rails being cast on and with them, and the
modes which, I consider most suitable for joining and fixing the said cast-iron
bearers to each other, and for joining the said stone bearers to each other, and.
for fixing the rails, bars, or plates upon or into the iron bearers or stone
bearers respectively, and also the forms and dimensions which I prefer and
consider most suitable for the said rails, bars, or plates, I, the said John
Reynolds, have particularly set forth in the following description, and in the
Sheet of Drawings annexed, and the figures and letters respectively marked

page_text: 'thereon, in which said Drawing the same letters are affixed to the same parts
in the different Figures.
are
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 (No. 1) and Figure 2 (No. 2)
each a plan of the two ends of a cast-iron bearer, having the rail a cast on it.
Figure 3 is a cross section of the part intermediate between the extreme ends
or joining parts, a being the wheel track. The bearers may be of any length
which can be conveniently cast. The cross section, Figure 4, represents the
end A placed in the end B, and the space between e and the snug or pro-
jection d is intended to receive a wedge to fasten the two ends together, so
that the end B cannot be depressed independently of the end A. Between the
two may be placed sheet lead, felt, pasteboard, or other packing, to adjust
them to each other; and the portions of A which come in contact with such
packing, and in contact with the wedges, should be rendered smooth to facili-
tate the motion produced by the expansion and contraction of the iron. If
preferred, both ends of the bearers may be made like A, and meet in a
detached joining piece or saddle, of which the end B would represent one half.
Figure 2, (No. 2), represents the joining parts A and B lengthened, the end B
having four snugs or projections d, d, d, d, so as to admit of two pairs of wedges
being employed to fasten the two ends together, whereby greater stiffness at
the joint will be produced. When the bearers have been properly adjusted,
and fixed end to end, as before described, gravel, broken stone, ashes, or other
suitable and convenient material, is to be rammed, beaten, or compressed
under and on both sides of them, and rendered level, or nearly so, with the
edges marked c in the different Figures. Figure 5 is a cross section of a cast-
iron bearer, with a wrought and cast iron rail a resting upon it, between which
rail and the rib g is a space to admit wedges, blocking or packing, either
throughout the whole length or at intervals. The hollow on the under side of
the rail is introduced both to save metal and to give it a slight degree of
lateral expansiveness, where compressed by the wedges, blocking, &c.
bottom rib or fin, which may be introduced when great longitudinal strength
and lateral stiffness are required. Figure 6 is a section, and Figure 7 a plan;
shewing another mode of fastening the rails to the bearers. h, h, are nails or
bolts with large heads, bevilled so as to coincide with the sides of the rails;
and which are driven close to the rails on opposite sides of them, so as both to
hold them down and prevent lateral motion. Holes to receive the nails or
bolts are cast in the bearers, and may be either such as to fit them, or such as
will contain wood, lead, or other blocking or packing to fix and hold them:
The nails or bolts may be placed at two or three feet, or such other distance
from each other as may be preferred; those on the side on which the flanges of
x is a

page_text: the carriage wheels are to run having heads so low as not to be touched by
them. Figure 8 is a section also shewing a mode of fixing wrought-iron bars
to the bearers. The bars, having been rolled in the shape a', are placed on
the bevilled rib q, q, of of the bearer; and the flanges or fins n, n, are beaten
in wards, so as to compress and cling to the rib q. By this plan, rails cast
on and with the bearers may be used till their surfaces have become defective
from wear, and be then covered by a wrought-iron rail. If the cavity in the
bearers is intended to be used as a pipe for the conveyance of gas, water, or
other fluid, then a small space must be left under the rail, and all round the
extreme ends of the pipes, so as to give them a projecting edge or lip, which
space is to contain a metallic belt or elastic packing, embracing the adjoining
ends of the pipes, as is shewn in Figure 9, which is a longitudinal section of
the part of which Figure 4 is a cross section. The bearer B is represented
with a rail cast on, and A with a detached rail resting upon it. p and r shew
the space above and below the pipe ends, and which is continued round them.
Some additional thickness may be given to the outside of B to compensate for
that abstracted from the inside to give space for the packing. I would
remark that I make no claim of novelty to the idea of using hollow rails for
the conveying of fluids, but only to such hollow bearers or rails so supported
and connected as here described. In Figure 10 the rail is shewn supported
by a central vertical rib, with angle plates or brackets 1, 1, at short intervals.
The modes of joining is the same as where the rails are supported by hollow
bearers. Figure 11 represents a cross section of a bearer, having a guard
plate or rib t cast on and with it, and extending throughout its whole length,
and which is intended both to afford security against the carriages running off
the rails, and to allow of the tyers of the wheels being made cylindrical (instead
of somewhat conical, as is now the usual practice), and without flanges, in sub-
stitution for which latter small horizontal wheels or rollers may be fixed to
the framework of the carriages, in such manner as that they shall come in
contact with the projecting part of the rib t whenever the carriages have a
tendency to deviate from their proper course. At one end of each bearer will
while the other end will have
be a joining piece or saddle, as at B, Figure 2,
a hollow or recess, as shewn by the dotted lines u, to receive the projection (as
at d of Figure 2), and the wedge which has to be driven under it. The
ground on the outer side of the bearer may level or nearly so with the top of
the guard plate. Figure 12 shews a longitudinal section of stone bearers,
with a rail. A and B shew two different modes of joining the blocks; the
dotted lines i, i, at A shew where on the outside a key of iron or hard stone
may be driven.
K at the joint B shows an iron bolt inserted like a dowell

page_text: into a round hole bored into each stone at corresponding situations. If the
bolt be made polygon, it will drive in more easily (the angles cutting into the
stone) than if it be round. Figures 13 and 14 are cross sections; and
Figure 15 is a cross section, on a four-fold scale, and shews a mode of fixing
the rails on the bearers. h, h, are nails or bolts, as in Figures 6 and 7, h'
being fixed with lead or cement, and h being driven into a trenail or plug of
wood inserted in the bearer. Under the rail is laid a plate of sheet lead or
other packing. By means of a grove cut in the bearers, the mode of
fastening shewn in Figure 5 may be adopted. In the Drawings a depth of
thirty inches is given for the stone bearers; but twenty inches would make a
very firm road. The size of the stone blocks must of course be governed by
the produce of the most accessible quarries and the firmness of the ground on
which the road is to be laid. And so also in respect to the cast-iron bearers,
their dimensions may be diminished or increased according to the firmness or
instability of the ground or subsoil on which they are to be laid. Figure 16
represents a guard rail t for the stone bearers, which consist of bars of wrought
iron, supported by iron bolts or brackets fixed at intervals in the bearers.
Such guard rail is intended to confine the carriages to their proper course by
horizontal wheels or rollers, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Reynolds, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-five