CER- TAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Shepherd, of 39, King William Street,
in the City of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "CER-
TAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left. by the said George Shepherd
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th November 1853.
I, GEORGE SHEPHERD, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAIL-
WAYS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction or manufacture of sleepers
for the use of railways either with cast or wrought iron, or with
wrought or cast iron combined are made in all the various forms of
sleepers used for railway purposes, and in the following manner:
First, the sleepers are made of cast iron in triangular or other
forms, and cast in moulds for that purpose, the sleepers being hollow in
the centre.
Second, the sleeper is made of wrought iron, or wrought and cast
iron combined; the iron is bent or corrugated on the top, and rivetted
to the piece which forms the base of the same, or vice versâ, forming
a hollow; or the sleeper may be made in the same manner with
wrought iron.

page_text: Third, the sleeper is also made in one piece, hollow in the centre,
by being passed through rollers whilst hot on a mandril, and afterwards
cut to the proper lengths for railway uses, to which in each case the
chairs are attached to hold the rails.
In the manufacture of the sleepers the requisite grooves can be
made to attach the chairs to to hold the rails. The sleepers are to
be perforated with holes to drain off the water from the railway
ballast.
ADDITION TO PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
The Invention sought to be protected is, constructing railways with
sleepers made of, cast or wrought iron, hollow or corrugated, such, for
instance, as shewn by the diagrams subjoined.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Shepherd in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE SHEPHERD, of 39, King William Street, in the City of London,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her licirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Shepherd, Her special licence
that I, the said George Shepherd, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Shepherd, 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

page_text: 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Shepherd, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 George Shepherd, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 consists in constructing railways by means of or
employing in the construction of railways hollow sleepers or bearers of
wrought or cast iron, or of a combination of wrought and cast iron.
These sleepers or bearers may be made in various forms and com-
binations, as herein-after described, by reference to the annexed
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Shepherd, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 George Shepherd, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 consists in constructing railways by means of or
employing in the construction of railways hollow sleepers or bearers of
wrought or cast iron, or of a combination of wrought and cast iron.
These sleepers or bearers may be made in various forms and com-
binations, as herein-after described, by reference to the annexed
Drawings.
DESCRIPTION.
Fig. 1, is the elevation; Fig. 2, the end view; and Fig. 3, the
section of one form of sleeper, made from wrought or sheet iron, bent
into an angular form with flanges at the sides A, which are rivetted to
the piece B, forming the base; C, is the chair; D, the rail; E, the
bolts which are screwed into the female or double nut F to secure the
chair to the sleeper; G, is a piece of india-rubber placed between the
chair and the sleeper, as shewn in the Drawing. The top and bottom
pieces, or either of them, may be of cast iron in the form shewn, and
rivetted or screwed together. Figs. 4 and 5, are the elevation and end
view in section of the semicircular sleeper of wrought or sheet iron,
bent, as in the preceding case, into a semicircular form, and rivetted to
the bottom piece B; C, is the chair; D, the rail; E, one of the bolts
which are screwed in the female or double nut F to secure the chair

page_text: sleeper. This form of sleeper may also be made of cast iron, the two
pieces being rivetted or screwed together. In order to avoid the cutting
or bevelling of the top of the wooden sleepers to give the rail the
requisite angle, the angle may be cast in the chair, either in the recess
for rail, or in the base of the sleeper, as shewn at Fig. 6, in the Draw-
ing. C, the chair; E, the bolt; F, the female nut; HI, the dotted
line, shewing the angle in the recess for the rail. Figs. 7 and 20, are
circular and elliptical forms of sleeper, of which I is the section or end
view; and L, the elevation. This form of sleeper may be cast iron,
cast in one piece, or of wrought iron with the edges lapping over and
welded together, or rolled out on a maundril without welding. The
chair, is to be cast to fit the surface of the sleeper, as described in
Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 8, is another form of sleper, consisting of the
top piece A, and the bottom piece B, which is also circular, in order
to give the sleeper more strength; D, is the rail. This sleeper is
rivetted, as before described in reference to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or the
upper and lower pieces may be welded together. Figs. 9 and 10, are
other forms of sleepers, in which A is the top, and B the bottom.or
base piece of wrought iron bent and rivetted or welded together. In
order to adopt the sleepers to the chairs now in use on the railways
a wedge-like piece of iron may be rivetted on the top of the sleeper.
G, is the india-rubber; M, the wedge shape piece of iron, so as to
give the chair the requisite angle to receive the rail, as before
described. Fig. 11, is a semicircular sleeper; I, is the section; L, the
elevation. This sleeper may either be cast in one piece, in cast iron,
or of wrought iron, rolled or lap welded, or rolled out on a maundril
without welding, as before described. Fig. 12, is
sleeper; A, is the bottom or bent piece; B, the top.
.
Figs. 13 and 14, are a
which may be of cast
a semicircular
These sleepers
may be either of wrought or cast iron, and used either side upper-
most to receive the chair to hold the rail.
triangular and semicircular form of sleeper,
iron or of wrought iron rolled out on a maundril in one piece, or bent
in the proper form, but welded together; I, is the section; L, the
elevation; or may be rivetted, as shewn in the Drawing Fig. 14.
Figs. 15 and 16, are rectangular sleepers of wrought iron; A, is the
top piece; B, the bottom pieces, which are divided in two parts; each-

page_text: piece is rivetted to the iron flanges of the top piece, and so leaving
the bottom of the sleeper open, or partially so, for drainage of the
road; D, is the rail. Figs. 17 and 18, are two triangular sleepers of
wrought iron. Fig. 17, shews the sleeper in two pieces rivetted
together; Fig. 18, the sleeper so rivetted together in three pieces;
I, is the section; L, the elevation of the same. Fig. 19, shews a
circular sleeper, which is made from two semicircular pieces of
wrought iron rivetted together, as shewn in the Drawing; I, is the
section; L, the elevation of the same. Fig. 21, is a rectangular
sleeper of wrought iron; I, is the section; L, the elevation. These
sleepers may be either rolled in that form, or welded, or made in
parts and rivetted together. Fig. 22, is a T sleeper of wrought iron;
I, is the section; L, the elevation. Fig. 23, is another form of sleeper,
formed in one piece of wrought iron, the top bent, as shewn in the
Drawing; I, is the section; L, the elevation. The sides of this sleeper
are rivetted together at intervals by internal iron stays, as shewn in
the section. Fig. 24, is another form of sleeper of wrought iron, on
which the rail is to be laid longitudinally, as shewn in the Drawing;
I, is the section; L, the clevation; D, the rails; N, the fastenings and
braces to unite the two longitudinal sleepers together to keep the rails
proper guage for the carriages.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not claim the several processes herein-before referred to in the
manufacture of the sleepers; but what I claim is, the hollow sleepers in
one piece, whether rolled or welded, and the improvement in the con-
struction of railways by the use and adaptation of sleepers of the forms
and materials herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Shepherd, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
GEORGE SHEPHERD. (L.S.)