Improvements in Railway Sleepers and Chairs.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Oct., 1895-Accepted, 9th Nov., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway Sleepers and Chairs.
I, JOHN QUINN, of Houtzdale, in the County of Clearfield, and State of
Penusylvania, 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 :-
This invention relates to an improvement in railroad ties. The object of the
present invention is to do away with the trouble of spiking rails to ties and to
provide a metallic tie as a substitute for the ordinary wooden tie in common use,
said metallic tie to be provided with means whereby the rail may be secured
thereto and held firmly in place or readily removed when desired. Other objects
and advantages of the invention will appear in the course of the subjoined
description.
To the above end the invention consists in a metallic railroad tie having certain
novel features and details of construction and arrangement, as hereinafter fully
described, illustrated in the drawings and finally embodied in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a railroad tie constructed in accordance with this
invention with rails applied thereto.
Figure 2 is a similar view, partly in section showing the manner in which the
locking chairs may be operated to receive or release a rail.
Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the improved ties with the chairs omitted.
Figure 4 is a similar view with sections of rails applied, showing also the
locking chairs.
Figure 5 is a vertical transverse section through several ties.
Figure 6 shows the manner in which this invention may be applied to an ordinary
wooden tie.
Figure 7 is a view of the chair.
Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in the several figures
of the drawings.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates my improved metallic tie,
which is formed with upper and lower horizontal flanges 2, the same being
connected by means of an interposed web 3 formed integrally with said upper and
lower flanges. This form of metallic tie, may of course, be varied but that shown
in the drawing is the preferred form, combining the requisite strength for supporting
the rails with the necessary bearing surface for said rails and also providing an
efficient hold for the ballast. Adjacent to its ends, said tie is provided with
integrally formed upwardly and inwardly extending chairs 4, the same being located
the proper distance apart according to the gage of the road. The inner faces of
the chairs conform to the shape of the rail, being cut out underneath to embrace the
base flange of the rail having also a vertical face adapted to bear against the web
of the rail and further provided with an inclined upper edge or portion arranged to
lie beneath the head of the rail as shown. 5 designates a chair which pivotally
mounted in the upper face of the tie and is made in the form of a bell crank having
an upper arm 6 forming the chair proper and corresponding in general shape to the
stationary or integral chair 4 above referred to, said pivoted chair also having a
lower arm 7 adapted to underlie the base of the rail shown at 8. The tie is
recessed in its upper face at two points to receive the lower arms 7 of the pivoted
D
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page_text: chairs, and said recesses indicated at 9 are made slightly deeper than the depth of
the arms 7 in order to permit a slight movement of the latter whereby the chairs
may properly adjust themselves to the rails. The chair 5 is provided at its elbow
with laterally projecting trunnions 10 and the inner portion of the recess 9 is
widened to receive said trunnions.. The inner wall of the widened portion of the
recess 9 is concaved as indicated at 11 in order to prevent the accidental displace-
ment of the chair, although there is but little tendency to do this, as the strain is in
an inward and downward direction by reason of the upper portion of the chair
bearing beneath the head of the rail and the lower arm of the chair being held
down by the rail and the weight of a train passing over the same.
The pivoted and locking chair 5 is provided with a perforation' in its lower arm
beneath the base of the rail for the reception of a small spiral spring 12 and said
spring is adapted to bear firmly against the base of the rail, the effect of which is
to hold the lower arm of the chair depressed and to afford a firm engagement
between the upper arm of said chair and the rail.
In operation, the pivoted chair is tilted upward as indicated in Figure 2, and the
rail is also tilted in such manner as to bring the outer portion of the base flange
thereof beneath the stationary chair 4, the opposite or inner portion of the base
flange of the rail entering between the upper and lower arms of the pivoted and
locking chair. By pressing the rail downward the base flange thereof operates
against the lower arm of the pivoted chair or against the spring carried thereby,
when said chair will spring into the position indicated in Figure 1 in which position
it forms an effective brace and lock for the rail, the latter being capable of removal
only when lifted.
In order to more effectively hold the rails laterally with relation to the ties, each
tie is provided in its upper flat face with a shallow depression 12, at either end,
said depression being of a width corresponding to the width of the base of the rail.
The strain caused by the lateral thrust of the cars and trucks will thus be
applied to the ties themselves and a large proportion of the whole strain be
removed from the chairs.
Figure 6 shows how the invention may be varied to admit of the use of an
ordinary wooden tic, this being accomplished by employing a base plate 13 secured
to the upper face of a wooden tie, by means of suitable screws or bolts 14. Two of
such base plates are employed and spaced a suitable distance apart according to the
gage of the road. Each plate is formed with the integral chair corresponding to
the one 4, above described, and is also recessed in a manner similar to the metallic
tie to receive the bell crank chair and lock, which is also the same as the chair 5
above described. This construction operates precisely and in the same manner as
in the metallic tic above described, and is only shown and referred to in the
description for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the locking chair
may be applied to an ordinary wooden tic.
It will be apparent that the relative positions of the stationary and pivoted chairs
may be reversed, that is, the stationary chair may be located inside of the rail and
the pivoted chair outside thereof. It will also be apparent that other changes in
the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without
departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.
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 :-
A railroad tie comprising a metallic body having a flat upper surface and formed
with grooves or depressions therein for the reception of the bases of the rails, and
also provided with other recesses for the reception of suitable chairs, and a pair of
integrally formed rigid chairs, in combination with a pair of pivoted chairs made
substantially in the form of bell cranks and provided with laterally-projecting
trunnions resting within the recesses in the upper face of the tie, the lower arms
of said chairs being arranged in recesses in the upper face of the tie beneath the

page_text: bases of the rails, and a spring for the lower arm of each pivoted chair, arranged
and operated substantially as specified.
Dated this 8th day of October 1895.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.