IMPROVEMENTS IN PARTS OF THE PERMANENT WAY OFS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Burges Sayer, of Newport, in the County of
Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "
DA on n DeAY OF RAILWAYS"
IM-
Sealed the 24th August 1860, and dated the 16th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Burges Sayer at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th March 1860.
I, ROBERT BURGES SAYER, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth,
Monmouthshire, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PARTS OF THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS,"
to be as follows:-
propose to make or form railway chairs (adapted) for joint and intermediate
chairing on railways constructed with cross sleepers and double or single tee-.
headed rails.
My chairs will be made in two parts tongued together with circular joints
and keyed together in the bottom thereof with plates of wrought iron, (or other
metal if preferred). The inside end of plate will have an inclined plane, and
snugs will be made on the bottom of the chairs, fitting into slots in the bottom
plate, so that the fang bolt fastenings will alone draw the whole together
perfectly rigid and firm, dispensing with the use of keys, plugs, or other
fastenings.
I propose to, make the joint chairs about eleven inches in length, with a

page_text: wrought iron (or other metal) cross fillet cast in the centre of the chair, which
will form a perfect fish joint. The rails will be supported on the bottom and
under the top head of the rail by the chairs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Burges Sayer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BURGES SAYER, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, Monmouthshire,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Burges Sayer, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Burges
Sayer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Burges Sayer, 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 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PARTS OF THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Burges Sayer, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Séal Patent, Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Burges Sayer, do hereby declare.
the nature of my said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following:
statement, 'reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings thereunto
annexed and forming part of this my Specification, and to the letters of
reference marked thereon, and serving to denote similar parts where such
parts appear or can be seen at each of the Figures respectively. I
*
My Invention of improvements in parts of the permanent way of. railways
is in that part thereof termed the railway chair, and it is adapted for joint and

page_text: intermediate chairing on railways constructed with cross sleepers and double
or single tee-headed rails...
.
The half chairs are seated on a wrought-iron plate, (as shewn in the Draw-
ing, Nos. 1, 2, and 3,) the outer half of the chair bearing against a square
shoulder on the plate, and also a snug on the bottom of, the chair that fits into
the plate, (see Drawing, Nos. 1 and 3,). the inside edge of the plate is
bevilled to form an inclined plane, the inside half of chair fits down on this,
and by means of the fang-bolt fastenings is drawn down tight into its place.
against the rail, and thus supports the rail under the neck as well as on the
bottom of the chair.
The method of laying down this description of permanent. way is to chair:
the sleepers in the ordinary way. When the sleepers are arranged in their.
places slacken the outside fang bolts (three or four turns only), take the
inside fang bolts out and remove the inside half chair, lay the rail. in. its place
(bolding it there with a cant hook), and then replace the inside half chair and
fang bolts, and tighten up the outer bolts. Each joint chair has a wrought-
iron fillet a, cast into the chair. The object of this fillet is to prevent the ends
of the rails sliding forward out of the chair, a circumstance which is apt to
occur where the traffic is great, or the gradient steep (if the course of the
railway be straight an allowance for the expansion of the rails should be made
by not bringing the ends close up to the fillets). The outer half of each
chair o, with the wrought-iron plate b underneath, is first laid on the sleepers c
in chairing, and fastened to it by means of the fang bolts d, (to prevent con-
cussion, and for making a tighter joint, a piece of felt may be placed in the
chairs); 'the rail is then placed in those halves of the chairs, and then the
inner halves of the chairs I are put in their places and fastened to the sleepers
by means of the fang bolts e, being perfectly keyed together with the bottom
wrought-iron plates b. The snugs f, on the bottom of the outer halves of
the chairs of Drawing No. 1 and 3, drop into slots formed in the bottom
plates b, and this prevents the plates working out and with the rounded joint
to the half chairs g, together with the tongues h, keep the half chairs (together)
perfectly rigid and firm. Each whole joint chair is thus fastened by four fang
bolts, and each intermediate chair is fastened by two fang bolts. The letter O
is cast on the outside half chairs in order to denote this to be the outer half,
and the letter I on the inside halves denotes that to be the inside half. This
is necessary to preserve the proper inclination of the rails.
The sleepers for the joint chairs I prefer to be each twelve inches by six
inches, creosoted fir, and nine feet in length. The sleepers for the intermediate

page_text: chairs may be of the ordinary description in use on railways, namely, half
round larch cut nine feet long, and nine inches by four and a half inches.
Having now described.the nature of my said Invention and the means by
which I carry it into practical effect, I would have it distinctly understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein given, or to the exact
proportions of parts shewn in the accompanying Drawings, and I claim as of
my Invention the exclusive use of the mode of connecting half chairs by means
of circular tongued joints and bed plates, whereby all timber keys are dispensed
with, and a perfect fish joint chair obtained without any fish-plates, keys, bolts,
or other ordinary modes of fastening, and also the exclusive use of the cross'
fillet in the joint chairs to prevent rails running out of the chairs on steep or
other gradients.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Burgess Sayer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
THOMAS ED. HORNER,
Courty Bella,
Newport,
Monmouth.
ROBERT BURGES SAYER. (LS.)