Improvements in Railway Rail Joints.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application. 28th May, 1839-Accepted, 29th June, 1889
Improvements in Railway Rail Joints.
I CHARLES RICHMOND HASTINGS, residing at No. 510 Connecticut Street Buffalo
in the County of Erie and State of New York, in the United States of America,
Gentleman, 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 :-
The object of this invention is to avoid the hammering of railroad rails at their
juncture by the passage of cars over them as well as to avoid the wear and tear of
the rails at that point and also on the car trucks and the invention as constructed
and applied will be understood by reference to the following description.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a top plan of my jointed rails.
Figure 2 a cross section on line x-x of Figure 1, showing the attachment of the
fish plate.
Figure 3 a cross section on line y-y of Figure 1.
Figure 4 a top plan of both rails separated.
Figure 5 a perspective view of one rail and plate.
Figure 6. a side elevation of one rail showing the slotted bolt holes.
A and B represent two rails both having projecting portions at each end, formed
by dividing and cutting out the rail in the centre of the face, a short distance from
the end, leaving one side A representing one half the end extending over and beyond
its base b, so as to rest on that part of the base b¹ of the next rail, as shown, the
base 61 extending only about half way under each part A¹ and B'. Each rail is made
with a right hand projection A¹ at one end and a left hand projection B' at the other
end so as to joint with the next rail and so on, and each projecting end A¹, B¹ placed
side by side makes a continuous rail and their ends resting on the opposite base bl
gives a firm foundation so that wheels running over them will not especially wear and
pound the rails at their joints.
In order to firmly unite these rails at their juncture, I bolt a fish plate C thereto.
This plate is oblong and fits in the side of the rail resting on the two opposite hases b¹61.
One rail end B¹ has the ordinary round bolt holes d, the bolts c c c, passing through
plate Cand ends A¹, B' held in place by the usual nuts as shown in Fig. 1. The
oblong holes d d d permit a slight play of the rail longitudinally to allow for any
contraction and expansion of the rails.
The plate C has in addition a square lug on the inside, see Fig. 5, and one rail B
has a corresponding square slot a on the side of the rail into which the lug C¹ fits, a
bolt c passing through the whole to aid in keeping the parts in place, the lug giving
stability to the plate.
When this rail is moved backward or forward by the frost, the plate and rail B by
reason of its round bolt holes and the lug and slot move together, and the other rail Å
having the oblong holes d d allows this movement.
The rails near the ends of the rails proper before the projection begins, are made of
the same thickness from face to face to give greater solidity at this point, the slot a
being provided in said portion, as shown in Figs. 2, 5 and 6.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. A railroad rail when constructed with the end projections described.
2. Railroad rails having their ends constructed with projections A', B¹ adapted to
braak inints by averlanning sh than
decaihad
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page_text: hase of the opposite rail, in combination with a fish plate for securing said rails
together.
3. Railroad rails having their ends constructed with the projections A¹ B¹, adapted
to break joints by overlapping each other as described, each projection resting on the
base of the opposite rail, in combination with the plate C having a square lug, (" on
the inside and fitting in a slot a in the side of the rail B and the bolts c c.
4. Railroad rails having their ends constructed with the projections A¹ B' adapted
to break joints by overlapping each other as described, each projection resting on the
base of the opposite rail, and one of said projections being provided with elongated
openings d, in combination with a fish plate and bolts passing through said plate and
openings.
CHARLES RICHMOND HASTINGS.