Improvements in Railway Sleepers and in Securing Rails thereto.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Mar., 1888
Specification Accepted, 27th Apr., 1888
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway Sleepers and in Securing Rails thereto.
I, JOSEPH JACOBS, residing at No. 2330 Mission Street, in the city and county of
San Francisco, and State of California. one of the United States of America, Assayer,
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:
My invention relates to the class of railway-ties or sleepers; and my invention
consists in a novel metallic case, frame, or flask filled with material of a concrete,
(preferably, an asphaltum-concrete,) artificial stone, or cement nature, which
originally plastic or liquid, hardens and forms the body of the tie, and is protected by
the metallic case, frame, or flask.
My invention also consists of rail-plates and clamps, in combination with said tio
or sleeper.
The object of my invention is to provide effective, cheap, and durable railway- ties
or sleepers.
Referring to the accompanying drawings-
:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the metallic case, frame, or flask of my
railway-tie.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the completed tie.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of tie and the rail-connection.
A is a case, frame, or flask, made of metal and having the general configuration of
a railway-tie or sleeper.
It is, preferably, constructed from a single piece or blank of sheet-metal, and is
struck up, stamped, or otherwise formed or fashioned into the elongated box-shape
shown, in which there is a bottom, two sides, and two onds, thus making a case which
will readily receive, contain, and confine the material forming the body of the tie.
B is the body of the tie, consisting of material originally plastic but which
subsequently becomes hard.
This material is filled into the case, frame, or flask A, and when hard forms the
body or substance of the tie, being fully protected by the metal case, frame, or flask,
which is itself stiffened and strengthened by the filling.
The particular material I prefer to use for its advantageous qualities, such as
cheapness, durability, and elasticity, is an asphaltum-concrete, or cement, which may

page_text: be made in any of the well-known ways, and tempered suitably for the present
purpose.
The combination of this construction of case, frame, or flask and the asphaltum-
concrete, form a railway-tic having the desirable qualities of cheapness, facility in
preparation and construction, case in handling and placing, and durability and
strength for though the case is of sheet-metal, the filling stiffens and strengthens it
to the required extent.
If desirable, I may use a top-plate, such as is shown by C, in Figure 3, and which
may serve as a tie-plate for further stiffening the sleeper, by having each end c serve
as rail-plates, and bolted securely to the clamps or stirrups D, embracing the bottom
and sides of the case A.
These clamps may be made of sufficiently heavy metal to add stiffness and strength
to the tie. Or, if found preferably, the clamps D may be bolted to separate rail-
plates, which form no part of the top-plate, and the top-plate may be omitted.
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
1. A combination railway-tic, consisting of a metal case formed of a single piece
extending across the roadway and adapted to support both rails, said case having
closed bottom and an open top, and provided witli a coherent filling, such as concrete,
or asphalt which will become solid and capable of sustaining the weight of the passing
train, substantially as described.
2. A railway-tie or sleeper, composed of the sheet-metal case, frame, or flask, having
a bottom, sides, and ends, and the filling to strengthen and stiffen it, in combination
with rail-plates across the tie, and clamps embracing the bottom and sides of the tie
and secured to the rail-plates, substantially as described.
3. A railway-tie or sleeper, composed of the sheet-metal case, frame, or flask, and
the strengthening and stiffening filling, in combination with the top-plate having its
ends serve as rail-plates, and the clamps embracing the bottom and sides of the tie,
and secured to the rail-plate ends of the top-plate, substantially as described.
Dated this Thirteenth day of March 1888.