Improvements in the Fastenings and Supports of Railway Rails.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 11th May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Jan., 1892-Accepted, 27th Feb., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by MARC MAURICE ROTTEN, of Schiff bauerdamm,
294, Berlin, Germany, Engineer.].
Improvements in the Fastenings and Supports of Railway Rails.
I, OLIVER IMRAY, of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of London, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved construction of the chairs or sleepers and
fish plates of the permanent way of railways whereby the fish plates also constitute
the support for the rail, while at the same time they operate in conjunction with
separate chairs, base plates, or sleepers in such manner as to automatically apply
an increased grip to the rail when this is loaded, so that the fish bolts are relieved
of strain when the load is passing over the joint.
For this purpose the fish plates are formed angular, with a vertical portion which
fits against the web of the rail, between the head and the base, and a horizontal
portion terminating in an inclined end face, so that the inclined end faces of the two
fish plates form together a wedge which fits against the correspondingly inclined
side faces of a trough-shaped base-plate, chair, or sleeper, so that on exerting a
downward pressure upon the horizontal limbs of the fish plates by means of screw
bolts securing them to the bottom of the base or sleeper a wedging action is
produced whereby their vertical limbs are pressed against the web of the rail,
independently of the pressure exerted by the ordinary fish bolts passing through
the fish plates and rail.
Furthermore, when the rail is loaded by a passing train, the downward pressure
exerted thereby still further increases such wedging action and consequently also
the inward pressure or grip of the vertical limbs of the fish plates, so that the fish
plates will then be relieved of strain instead of having increased strain put upon
them as in the case of ordinary fish plates where the load of a passing train causes
the head of the rail to exercise a downward wedging action on the fish plates,
tending to force these outwards, away from each other.
The force applied to the fish plates for producing the gripping action in the
above described construction, is not limited to the comparatively small surfaces
represented by the heads and nuts of the fish bolts, in the case of ordinary fish
plates, but extends along the entire surface of the inclined faces of the fish plates,
so that the strain at any one point is considerably less than in the first named case,
and consequently the wear and tear is also decreased.
".
The trough of the base-plate, chair or sleeper must of course be of such a depth
that the base of the rail will always be out of contact with the bottom of the trough
when loaded. The base-plate, chair, or sleeper may otherwise be constructed in
various ways for the purposes of the invention, but by preference the two sides of
the trough are made of a hollow bridge form of sufficient strength to withstand the
lateral wedging strain put upon them by the fish plates.
When used as a chair, the base plate can be either made of such a length as to
extend over two cross sleepers, to which it is fixed by screw bolts or spikes passing
through lugs or flanges on the chair, or it may be only of such a length as to be
carried by a single cross sleeper. When used as a longitudinal sleeper, it is made
in convenient lengths bolted or otherwise secured together. In this case inter-
mediate pairs of the angular fish plates may be provided for supporting the rails
between the joints, but without fish bolts passing through them, the requisite grip
being afforded by the fixing bolts passing through the bottom of the trough.
It will be seen that in the above described fastening, the screw bolts securing the

page_text: fish plates respectively to the rails and to the chair, base plate, or sleeper need only
be screwed up to such an extent as to hold' the several parts together, the required
grip being effected entirely by the pressure of the passing train.
Dated.this IIth day of May 1891.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE. SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Fastenings and Supports of Railway Rails.
I, OLIVER IMRAY, of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of London, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
.performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This invention relates to an improved construction of the chairs or sleepers and
fish-plates of the permanent way of railways, whereby the fish-plates also constitute
the support for the rails, while at the same time they operate in conjunction with
separate chairs, base plates or sleepers in such manner as to automatically apply an
increased grip.to the rail when this is loaded, so that the fish-bolts are relieved of
strain when the load is passing over the joint.
The new arrangement is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which
Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of the fastening and of the support in a vertical
section on line y-y Fig. 3;
Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2-
Fig. 3;
Fig. 3 is a side view with a vertical section on line of Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 shews in plan the new arrangement for the whole railway-track when
using the new base-plates as a chair extending over twc cross sleepers between
which the joint of the rails is placed.
Fig. 5 shews also in a plan the same arrangement when using the base-plate
as a chair carried only by one cross sleeper, over which the joint of the rail is
placed;
Fig. 6 shews the same arrangement the base plate being used as a longitudinal
sleeper.
For effecting the purpose aforesaid in.all these cases the fish-plates L1 L2 which
hold the rail in a suspended position with its base away from the base plate B, are
formed angular, with a vertical portion which fits against the web of the rails S1 S2
between the head and the base, and a horizontal portion terminating in an inclined
end face, so that the inclined end faces of the two fish-plates L1 L2 form together
a wedge which fits against the correspondingly inclined side faces o, d of a trough
shaped base plate, chair, or sleeper B, having the configuration a efo gdhib, so
that on exerting a downward pressure upon the horizontal limbs of the fish
plates L1 L2 by means of screw bolts S 3 S4 screwing them to the bottom g of
the base or sleeper, a wedging action is produced whereby their vertical limbs are
pressed against the web of the rail, independently of the pressure exerted by the
ordinary fish bolts passing through the fish plates and rail.
Furthermore, when the rail is loaded by a passing train, the downward pressure
exerted thereby still further increases such wedging action and consequently also
the inward pressure or grip of the vertical limbs of the fish plates, so that the fish.
bolts will then be relieved of. strain. instead of having increased strain put. upon
them as in the case of ordinary fish plates where the load of a passing train caused
the head of the rail to exercise a downward wedging action on the fish plates.tending
to force these outwards, away. from. each other.
The force applied to the fish plates for producing the gripping action in the above
described construction, is not limited to the comparatively small surfaces repre-
sented by the heads and nuts of the fish bolts, as in the case of ordinary fish plates,

page_text: but extends along the entire surface of the inclined faces of the fish plates, so that
the strain at any one point is considerably less than in the first named .case, and
consequently the wear and tear is also decreased.
The trough of the base plate, chair or sleeper B must of course be of such a
depth that the base of the rail will always be out of contact with the bottom of the
trough when loaded. The base plate, chair or sleeper B may otherwise be
constructed in various ways for the purposes of the invention, but by preference
the two sides of the trough are made of a hollow bridge form of sufficient
strength to withstand the lateral wedging strain put upon them by the fish plates.
When used as a chair, as shown in the Figures 4 and 5, the base plate can be
either made of such a length as to extend over two cross-sleepers, to which it is
fixed by screw bolts or spikes passing through lugs or flanges on the chair, as at
Fig. 4, or it may be only of such a length as to be carried by a single cross-sleeper,
as at Fig. 5. When used as a longitudinal sleeper, as shown at Fig. 6, it is made
in convenient lengths bolted or otherwise secured together.
In this case intermediate pairs of the angular fish plates may be provided for
supporting the rails between the joints, but without fish bolts passing through them,
the requisite grip being afforded by the fixing bolts passing through the bottom of
the trough.
It will be seen that in the above described fastening, the screw bolts securing the
fish plates respectively to the rails and to the chair, base plate or sleeper need only
be screwed up to such an extent as to hold the several parts together, the required
grip being effected entirely by the pressure of the passing train.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-.
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
A fastening and support for railway rails wherein angular fish plates have vertical
limbs fitting the web of the rail and bearing against the head thereof so as to hold
the rail suspended, and have also horizontal limbs with inclined or wedge shaped
end faces that bear against correspondingly inclined sides of a trough shaped base
plate, chair or sleeper, so that on the rail being loaded, the downward pressure
being exerted on the fish plates produces a wedging action of the inclined end
surfaces of their horizontal limbs upon the trough of the base plate, chair or
sleeper, whereby their vertical limbs are made to grip the rail between them with a
uniformly distributed pressure, substantially as described.
· Dated this 23rd day of January 1892.
ABEL & IMKAI,
Agents for the Applicant.