IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Frederick Mathiesen and Louis
Harty at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th September 1877.
CHARLES FREDERICK MATHIESEN, of Mincing Lane, in the City of London,
Merchant, and LOUIS HARTY, of La Louvière, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Our Invention relates more particularly to an improved construction of metal
sleeper for supporting the rails of railways or tramways. The object being to
dispense with the ordinary metal chairs and spikes and to give the foot of the rail
a firm, solid, and wide bearing on the sleeper itself.
Longitudinal iron sleepers have heretofore been occasionally employed for sup-
porting the rails of railways, but they are open to serious objections which have
prevented them from being more generally adopted.
Our improved sleepers are placed transversely across the line as is the case with the
ordinary wooden sleepers. They are made in the shape of an inverted trough, that
is, of a concavo-convex form, with the concave downwards, and of any suitable
length, according to the gauge of the railway. Being dished on the under side,
they can be very readily and firmly packed by running ballast under them so that
they will not be so liable to sink as the ordinary transverse wooden sleepers, from
under which the ballast is very liable to escape by the constant vibration to which
the permanent way is subjected from the passage of the trains. A portion of the
upper side of the sleeper is made flat and even throughout its length so as to give
a firm seat for the base of the rail to rest upon, and a sunk groove or recess is made
along the sleeper from end to end, to receive a pair of clips and a screw bolt,
whereby the rail is held down in its place on the even face of the sleeper. The
clips whereby the rail is held down are short pieces or blocks of metal, provided at
each end with a hook or shoulder, one of which hooks on to the foot of the rail
while the hook at the other end is passed through a hole at the bottom of the sunk
groove or recess and hooks under the base or bottom of the groove. Holes are
made through these clips and a transverse screw bolt is passed through them and
under the foot of the rail. One end of this bolt has a square or octagonal head,
while the other end is screwed to receive a nut or nuts, and by screwing up these

page_text: nuts the clips are tightened on the foot of the rail and will hold it down firmly on
its seat.
If preferred, the bolts may be made to pass freely through one of the clips and to
screw into the other, in which it is held by a jam nut which will prevent it from
becoming accidentally unscrewed.
We find it desirable to place between the foot of the rail and the face of the
sleeper a thin piece of caoutchouc or leather, or strong fabric, or any other suitable
substance which will prevent the parts from jarring on each other.
Instead of having two separate clips to hold down the rail on its seat, two hooks
or clips may be formed at the end of a plate which may be secured in the sunk
groove or recess by rivets. One of these rivets may be provided at its upper end
with a projecting pin which takes into a side notch made in the foot of the rail.
When the rail is placed on its seat, it may be secured by means of a wooden or
other key which can be driven into it between the rail and the overhanging hook
or clip. The rail in this arrangement, as in the former, rests upon the flat face of
the sleeper, a piece of leather, rubber, gutta percha, felt, or other fabric being placed
between the two parts, as in the former instance, to prevent jarring or rattling.
In this arrangement, the holding clips being permanently secured to the sleeper,
the screw bolt and nuts are dispensed with, and there are no loose pieces except the
wooden or other key.