AN IMPROVE- MENT IN RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND BEING A COMBINED CHAIR AND SPLICE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Forman Barnes, of the City and State
of New York, United States of America, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND BEING A COMBINED CHAIR AND SPLICE.”
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 25th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Forman Barnes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th February 1861..
I; EDMUND FORMAN BARNES, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND BEING A COMBINED CHAIR AND SPLICE,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention or improvement combines a railway chair or seat for the
support of the ends of the rails, and also a splice which serves the purpose
of a joint to hold the ends of the rails in position, and prevent them moving
sideways or vertically, and which is so arranged in respect to the ends of the
rails that there can be no break or opening between the ends of the rails
to effect the motion of the carriage, or by which the rails can be injured by
the percussion of the wheels, but a continuous unbroken bearing surface is
secured.
The seat or chair proper, A, may be made after any of the usual and approved
forms, designed to support the ends of the rail. To the centre of the
chair A, and rising vertically therefrom is fixed a piece of iron, B, which is

page_text: generally of a thickness about equal to the one-third of the rail C, and the
height of which is the same with that of the rail C. This piece B may
be riveted to the chair, or may be fastened by screws extending through the
chair and secured by nuts. I prefer to have the heads of the part B curved
as represented in the Drawing, as such form acts as a preventive to any
upward movement of the ends of the rails, but in all other respects the operation
and effect of the part B would be the same if the ends were straight or T-
shaped. The ends of the rail are made with a recess or opening, as shewn
in Fig. 3, corresponding in size and shape with the splice B, so that when
the chair and splice are placed in position, and the rails combined with it,
the part B will be within the rails, one half in each, and this joint and splice be as
shewn in Fig. 1. When so combined with rails the splice B furnishes and
secures a continuous bearing for the tread of the wheels at the point or
place where most neeeded, at the place of the meeting of the ends of the
rails, and wholly and completely prevents any such break or opening between
the rails so that the rails can be injured by the percussion of the wheels, or
the track be rendered at all uneven, and no contraction or expansion of the
rails can at all affect such continuity of-bearing surface. By placing also the
splice B in the centre of rail, and the bearing of the wheels is upon both
rail and splice, and not upon either alone, except at the single points of
division of the rails where the splice is the strongest. No arrangement or
device has thus far been described to effectually prevent the effect of the
percussion of the wheels on the ends of the rails and also secure a continuous
rail; but this Invention or improvement entirely prevents the former and
secures the latter. It thus not only effects a great saving in rendering
unnecessary the continued' setting up of the ends of the rails, but also renders
the track more even and pleasant, and adds greater safety to locomotion
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters, Patent, filed
by. the said Edmund Forman Barnes in the Great Seal Patent Office on 30
the 23rd August 1861.
J.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
FORMAN BARNES, of the City and State of New York, United States of I
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
'Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto m, the
said Edmund Forman Barnes, Her special licence that I, the said Edmund
Forman Barnes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edmund Forman Barnes, 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND BEING A COMBINED CHAIR AND SPLICE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edmund Forman Barnes,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their bands 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 Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Forman Barnes, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 or improvement combines a railway chair or seat for the
support of the ends of the rails, and a splice which serves the purpose of a
joint, to hold the ends of the rails in position and prevent them moving
sideways or vertically, which is so arranged in respect to the ends of the
rails that there can be no. break or opening between the ends of the rails
to affect the motion of the carriage, or by which the rails can be injured by
the percussion of the wheels, but a continuous unbroken bearing surface is
secured.
Fig. 1 is a view of the chair and splice in position and combination with
the rails; Fig. 2 is a view of the chair and splice detached; Fig. 3 is a
longitudinal sectional view of Fig. 1 shewing the union of the rails. with the
chair and splice.
The chair A or seat for the rails, may be made after any of the usual forms
adapted to furnish a sufficient support for the ends of the rails. To the
centre of the chair A, and rising vertically therefrom, is fixed a splice or
part B of iron or steel, which is generally of a thickness about equal to one-
third or one-half of the thickness of the narrow part of the rail C, and of a
height equal with that of the rail. The piece B may be riveted to the

page_text: chair A or connected therewith in any secure manner. I prefer to have the
ends of the piece B curved as represented in Figs. 2, 3, as such form acts:
as a guard to prevent the ends of the rails lifting or rising upwards; but
if the ends of the part B are straight up and down, so as to 'make the
whole T-shaped, such part will still be as effectual to prevent side movement
of the rails, and will afford the same continuity of bearing surface. The
sides of the piece B may also be such as to give the splice a form somewhat
like that of the rail, but such form is not deemed as desirable as that shewn
in Fig. 2; variations of form in the part B are not however material.
In the ends of the rails are recesses or cavities, as shewn in section in Fig. 3,
corresponding in size and shape with the splice B, so that when the rails C, C,
are brought together on the chair A, the splice B will enter within the cavity
in each end of the rail as seen in Fig. 3, the several parts forming a
continuous rail with an unbroken bearing surface as shewn in Fig. 1.
As will be readily apparent, the splice B entering within the ends of the
two rails C, C, effectually keeps them in line and renders impossible any
side movement by which they can be carried or pressed away from each
other, and secures them together as firmly and permanently as the best fish
or other joints. This part B being also fixed to the chair A, the ends of
the rails are wholly prevented from jumping up, and being located centrally
as to the rail, it cannot become broken or displaced, and is kept constantly
in the same position, and where it must be necessarily a bearing surface
under all circumstances. Such chairs as have an upright piece on the
outside of the rails even when such part extends to the top of the rail, are
defective both because such vertical part is very liable to become displaced
or broken, and because when for any reason the car crowds or presses against
either rail, the tread of the opposite wheel will be entirely off from such
part of the chair, and the rails will then be liable to the same injury as when
the ordinary chairs are used, from the battering of the ends of the rails.
Both of these defects and objections are removed by the arrangement- of
the part B as herein-before described and as shewn in Fig. 1. The splice B
effectually breaks or interrupts the joint between the rails C, C, and provides
and secures a continuous and uninterrupted bearing surface, notwithstanding
the seperation of the ends of the rails by contraction and from other causes.
From the central position also of the piece B it will be a bearing surface
whatever may be the position of the car; and the bearing or pressure will also
be upon both rail and splice, except momentarily at the single point of the
division of the rails.
To all who are familar with railways and the matters connected therewith,

page_text: it is well known that the expense attendant upon setting up and repairing
the ends of rails which have been battered and flattened by the percussion
of the wheels is a very heavy item; and in addition to such expense the
track is thereby rendered more or less uneven, and the travel over it rendered
both unpleasant and dangerous, and the rolling stock also receives great
injury therefrom. By the use however of the combined chair and splice
the battering and destruction of the ends of the rails is prevented, and the
vertical vibratory motion of the cars produced by the battering of the ends
of the rails is prevented and locomotion rendered pleasanter and safer.
What I claim as my Invention and seek to have protected is the combina-
tion and arrangement of the chair A, and splice B, in connection with the
rails C, C, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Forman Barnes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 22nd day of August, A.D. 1861.
EDMUND FORMAN BARNES. (L.S.)