Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application. 11.h Nov., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 19th Dec., 1890-4ccepted, 24th Jan., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways.
I, JOSEPH JOHN CALLAHAN of 280, Montgomery Street, Newburgh, in the County
of Orange and State of New York, United States of America, Bricklayer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the permanent way of railways; and the object of my
invention is to provide a metallic sleeper which shall, when laid, possess the requisite
degree of elasticity to obviate the injurious effect to rolling stock, which shall be
practical and safe, and which may, if desired, be constructed to hold the rail without
the use of separate bolts.
The invention consists essentially of a sleeper comprising two metal plates locked
together at an angle at their upper edge to form an inverted trough and formed with
seats for the rails. These plates are locked together at their edges by projections
which interlock, a downwardly-projecting lip being formed at the edge of each pro-
jection so that when the rails are in position and the plates fastened together, the lips
overlap the plates and form a firm lock or fixture while a space, the size of the
thickness of the flange of the rail, is formed which gives room for expansion and
contraction of the rail without material displacement of the plates relatively to each
other or to the rails. In this manner the grip on the rail is as in a vice and the
sleeper and rail become fixed and act as one. When the weight of a train comes
upon the rails and the plates are depressed and yield, the lips limit the spreading of
the plates.
The rails are not bolted to the plates but are held by projections on the plates
which are undercut to form locking lugs which grasp the opposite edges of the base
of the rail and when the rail is depressed under the weight of a passing train,
producing a spreading action of the lower edges of the plates, the said locking lugs
grasp the rail with increasing force according to the weight brought upon the rails.
The plates are, by preference, formed with flanges which furnish wide supports for
the rails. The projections on the plates prevent them from moving endwise.
In laying the line, the plates will be locked together and placed and tampd wholly
or partially from the open ends of the inverted sleeper and then the ends will be
closed by triangular end pieces each formed with a lower lug to enter a small notch
or socket in the plate and also with an upper key-lug to pass through an opening in
the plate to receive a key.
In the case of a switch, a wide seat would he provided for the rail, and in this
would be placed a supporting and chafe plate held by a projection passed down
between the adjacent edges of the plates. The plates may be formed at their lower
edges with under cut slots_forming lugs which adapt them to be conveniently
fastened upon the Deams or Trails which are commonly used in trestle work and
bridges.
To prevent the rails from shifting and limit the depression of the sleeper, an anchor
may be secured to the rail between the plates. The angle of the anchor is less than
that of the plates when in normal position, so that a space is left to permit the lower
edges of the plates to slide on the beam until the plates strike the anchor which
limits further depression. The anchor is formed with flanges which rest on the
beams.
Dotad this 11th day of Novambar 1894

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways.
1, JOSEPH JOHN CALLAHAN of 280, Montgomery Street, Newburgh, in the county
of Orange and State of New York, United States of America, Bricklayer, 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 :-
My invention relates to the permanent way of railways; and the object of my
invention is to provide a metallic sleeper which shall when laid possess the requisite
degree of elasticity to obviate the injurious effect to rolling stock, which shall be
practical and safe and which may if desired be constructed to hold the rail without
the use of separate bolts.
The invention consists principally of sleeper comprising two opposite metal plates
locked together at an angle at their upper edge to form an inverted trough and
formed with seats for the rai s.
The invention also consists in forming the plates of which the sleeper is composed
with opposite locking lugs to engage with and hold the flanges of the rails in and
upon the seats formed for them in the plates.
The invention also consists in the construction arrangement and combination of
parts all as hereinafter described and claimed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this Specifi-
cation, in which
Figure 1 is a plan view of the sleeper shewn as supporting two rails which are
broken away to shew the construction of the plates;
;
Figure 2 is an end elevation of the sireper and one rail
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation, on line -, Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a side view of the sleeper;
Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of the same, on line y-, Figure 4 ;
Figure 6 is a detailed plan view of one end of the sleeper placed upon the track
beam of a trestle or bridge;
Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of the same, on line y¹y Figure 6; and
Figure 8 is a detailed perspective view of the anchor and beam shewn in Figure 7.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
A and B represent the metal plates which together compose the sleeper. These
plates are locked together at their edges to stand at an angle to each other and
the locking is effected in this instance by projections a, a¹, a², a³, on plate A and
projections b, 1ª, 6², 3, on plate B. These projections interlock, as shewn clearly
in Figure 1, and a downwardly-projecting lip m is formed at the edge of each
projection so that when the rails are in position and the plates fastened together
the said lips overlap the plates and form a firm lock or fixture and a space m'
the size of the thickness of the flange of the rail is formed which gives room for
expansion and contraction of the rail without material displacement of the plates
relatively to each other or to the rails. In this manner the grip on the rail is
as in a vice and the sleeper and rail become fixed and act as onc. When the
weight of a train comes upon the raiis R and the plates A B are depressed and
yield or spread, the said lips bearing on the outer surfaces of the plates limit the
spreading action of the plates The rails R are not bolted to the plates A B but
are held by the projections a¹³ and a these being undercut to form the locking
lugs d d d d which grasp the opposite edges of the base of the rail and when
the rail is depressed under the weight of a passing train producing a spreading
action of the lower edges of the plates the said locking lugs grasp the rail with
increasing force according to the weight brought upon the rails. The plates A B
are by preference formed with the flanges which furnish wide supports for the
rails, as shewn clearly in Figure 3. The locking projections a² 2 together and
with the projections a¹ prevent the plates from moving end wise. In setting the
sleepers in the rail bed, the plates A B will be locked together and placed and

page_text: tamped wholly or partially from the open ends of the inverted sleeper and then
the ends will be closed by the triangular end pieces each formed with a lower
lug c to enter a small notch or socket e in the plate and also with an upper
key-lug c to pass through an opening e' in plate B to receive a key e², as shewn
clearly in Figure 1.
At the left of Figure 4 is shewn a wide seat for a switch rail. In this is
placed a supporting and chafe plate for the switch rail held by a projection /
passed down between the adjacent edges of the plates A B. In Figures 4 and 6,
the plates A B are formed at their lower edges with the undercut slots n which
form the lugs n' which adapt them to be conveniently fastened upon the beams
or T-rails N which are commonly used in trestle work and bridges.
In Figures 7 and 8 is shewn an anchor P secured to the rail N between the
plates A B to prevent them from shifting and to limit the depression of the sleeper.
The angle of the anchor is less than that of the plates when in normal position
so that a space is left to permit the lower edges of the plates to slide on the
beain until the plates strike the anchor which limits further depression. The
anchor is formed with flanges p which rest on the beams, as shewn in Figure 8.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A metallic railway sleeper composed of two separate plates each having locking
devices at one edge whereby they are locked together in diverging position, sub-
stantially as described.
2. A metallic railway sleeper comprising two plates formed with seats for the
rails and with lugs for grasping the rails and holding the latter on said seats, the
plates being provided on one edge of each with projections which interlock with
each other and lock the plates together, substantially as described.
3. A railway sleeper comprising two separate plates each formed with locking
projections having downwardly-projecting lips, substantially as described.
4. A railway sleeper comprising two separate plates each formed at one edge
with locking projections with seats for the rails and with side flanges f, substantially
as described.
5. A railway sleeper comprising two separate plates each formed with locking
projections and with sockets e and openings e' in combination with the end pieces
formed with projections e c', substantially as described.
6. The combination, with the interlocking plates A B and beam N, of an anchor
secured to the beam between the plates, substantially as described.
7. A railway sleeper comprising the plates A B formed with projections a a¹ a² a³
nd the projections a¹ b₁ and a³ ³ being undercut to form the locking
ugs d d dd, substantially as described.
8. The plates A B each formed with locking projections at one edge and with
lots n having locking projections n' at one edge, substantially as described.
Dated this 19th day of December 1890.
J. J. CALLAHAN.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.