IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Price Williams, of 9, Great George
Street, in the City of Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Scaled the 17th March 1874, and dated the 9th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Price Williams
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th October 1873.
I, RICHARD PRICE WILLIAMS, of 9, Great George Street, in the City
of Westminster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to myself and James
Price, No. 2705, in the year 1871, was described the employment of a
material called wood asphalte, or other compounds of gas tar, or
bitumen, or asphalte interposed between the rails and their supports.
According to this Invention in place of the wood asphalte or such like
material being placed within a metal sleeper of a trough section, as
shewn in the Drawings annexed to that Specification, I form a sleeper
of this wood asphalte, or of other compounds of gas tar, bitumen, or

page_text: asphalte, and inbed within such sleeper a rod or tie of angle iron or iron
of other section, or the sleepers may be formed without such metal tie,
or when transverse sleepers are used the two end portions of each sleeper
may be of the asphalte material and be tied one to the other with an
angle iron or other metal tie. When longitudinal sleepers are used
sections of the sleepers may also be similarly tied one to the other; the
rails or the chairs in which they are held may be fixed to such sleepers
by trenails in the ordinary manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Price Williams in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
PRICE WILLIAMS, of 9, Great George Street, in the City of Westminster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Richard Price Williams, Her special
license that I, the said Richard Price Williams, executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Price Williams,
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 THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Price Williams, 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 tho 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Price Williams, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:—
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to myself and James
Price, No. 2708, in the year 1871, was described the employment of a
material called wood asphalte, or other compounds of gas tar, or bitumen,
or asphalte interposed between the rails and their supports.
According to this Invention in place of the wood asphalte or such like
material being placed within a metal sleeper of a trough section, as
shewn in the Drawings annexed to that Specification, I form a sleeper of
the wood asphalte, or of other compound of gas tar, bitumen, or asphalte,
and imbed within such sleeper a rod or tie of angle iron or iron of other
section; or the sleepers may be formed without such metal tie; or when
transverse sleepers are used the two end portions of each sleeper may be
of asphalte material, and be tied one to the other with an angle iron or
other metal tie. When longitudinal sleepers are used sections of the
sleepers may also be similarly tied one to the other; the rails or the
chairs in which they are held may be fixed to such sleepers by trenails
in the ordinary manner.
In the annexed Drawings Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 is a plan,
and Figure 3 is a transverse section of a sleeper constructed according
to my Invention, with chairs and rails mounted upon it.
a is the sleeper; b, b, the chairs, fastened to it by trenails; and c, c,
are the rails. The sleeper here shewn is of a length to carry both rails;
it is constructed of "wood asphalte" or other such like compound of
gas tar, bitumen, and asphalte.
The composition which I prefer to employ consists of boiled tar, pitch,
bitumen, or asphalte compounds mixed with sawdust, peat, sand, or
stone, and into which may be introduced shavings, chips, or other
vegetable or animal waste. These materials when thoroughly mixed and
quite hot are rammed into an open trough-like mould, and the hoop iron
ties a¹, a¹, are embedded in the material to give additional strength to
the sleeper and aid in maintaining the gauge of the line. The holes to
receive the trenails are preserved by means of cores inserted into the
mould.

page_text: In place of making the sleeper long enough in one piece to carry both
rails it may be made in two pieces, being divided in the middle, as is
shown in Figures 4, 5, and 6; and then in order to keep the line in
gauge I employ iron tie bars, one of which is shewn at d in the
Drawings. I fix these tie bars by through bolts taking the place of 5
trenails on the inner sides of the chairs, as the Drawings shew. A very
suitable material for the manufacture of these sleepers is obtained by
mixing 3 cwt. of asphalte and 20 lbs. of sawdust; a small proportion of
sand or grit up to, say, ten per cent. may also be added.
In some cases I fix the tie bars into the two portions of the sleepers 1
independently of the chairs. This arrangement is shewn at Figures 6,
7, and 8. Figure 6 is an elevation; Figure 7, a plan; and, Figure 8, a
transverse section. The sleepers have sockets formed in them by means
of suitable cores fixed in the mould; the tie bars are of angle iron, their
ends enter the sockets and are secured by bolts passing through the 1
sleepers and the flanges of the tie bars. Longitudinal sleepers I con-
struct in a similar manner but with short tie pieces or dowels, so that
the sleepers are able to butt end to end, or nearly so.