IMPROVE- MENTS IN STREET RAILWAYS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STREET RAILWAYS."-A communication from abroad by William
Desmond O'Brion of Brooklyn in the IInited States of America
Sealed the 29th September 1865, and dated the 1st April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st April 1865.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STREET RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing rails of an iron bar formed with a
curved under side adapted to and resting upon a corresponding convex surface
of a sleeper; the rail is also formed with a curved upper surface with slanting
sides or edges, being sectionally of a crescent-like form, thicker in the middle
than at the edges, and sufficiently strong where the wheels run upon the rails,
while the thinner and slanting sides or edges are only sufficiently thick to guide
the wheel flanges and form a cap to protect the sleeper. When laid upon the
sleeper the rails are to be secured by screws passed vertically through them.
Beneath the joints of the separate rails I insert a curved metal plate, which'
prevents the ends of the rail becoming imbedded in the sleeper, and both the
rail and the joint plate direct off any water that falls on the rails, thereby
keeping the upper surface of the sleeper, as well as the portion under the joint
plates, as dry as possible.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that
I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 'my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STREET RAILWAYS,"
(communicated to me from abroad by William Desmond O'Brien, of Brooklyn,
in the United States of America,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
aunexed, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in constructing rails of an iron bar formed with a
curved under side adapted to and resting upon a corresponding convex surface
of a sleeper; the rail is also formed with a curved upper surface with slanting
sides or edges, being sectionally of a crescent-like form, thicker in the middle
than at the edges, and sufficiently strong where the wheels run upon the rails,
while the thinner and slanting sides or edges are only sufficiently thick to
guide the wheel flanges, and form a cap to protect the sleeper. When laid

page_text: upon the sleeper the rails are to be secured by screws passed vertically through
them. Beneath the joints of the separate rails I insert a curved metal plate,
which prevents the ends of the rail becoming imbedded in the sleeper, and
both the rail and the joint plate direct off any water that falls on the rails,
thereby keeping the upper surface of the sleeper, as well as the portion under
the joint plates, as dry as possible.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a cross section of a street
railway constructed according to this Invention, and Figure 2 is a plan of one
of the rails.
a is a cross beam or tie, to which the sleeper 6 is connected by a trenail c,
or in any other suitable manner; d is the rail formed as herein-before
described, and of a size and weight according to the intended use; e is a plate
inserted into the upper surface of the sleeper beneath each joint to render the
joint more rigid and durable; i, i, are screws passed through the rail into the
sleeper below. The paving stones may be laid as shown, so as to come up
to the top of the rail and level with the same, leaving only a small groove on
the inside of the rail for the flange of the wheel to travel in. The joint
plate e is curved at its under side, as represented, while its upper surface is of
a form adapted to coincide with the under side of whatever shape of rail it is
to receive.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the " Improve-
ments in Railway Sleepers,"-
-
First, constructing rails of an iron bar formed thicker in the middle than at
the sides or edges and curved, substantially in manner and for the purposes
berein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the employment beneath the joints of the rails of a curved plate,
substantially in manner and for the purposes herein-before described. and
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
R. A. BROOMAN.
(L.S.)