IMPROVE- MENTS IN PART OF THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter MacLellan, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Baitain, Iron Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PART OF THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."-A communication
from abroad by John Gregory, of Lisbon, in the Kingdom of Portugal,
Engineer.
Sealed the 15th November 1859, and dated the 9th August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter MacLellan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
August 1859.
I, WALTER MACLELLAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Iron Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PARTS OF THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as
follows, that is to say:
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of cast-iron
sleepers and chairs, or the holding and supporting parts of the permanent way
of railways, in such manner as to insure superior stability and economy in
such permanent way.
According to one modification by which this Invention may be judiciously.
carried out in practice, each sleeper is cast in the bridge form, and on the
apex or crown of this bridge is cast solid with, it the ordinary or other rail

page_text: chair. The longitudinal section of the sleeper is of a serpentine or undulating
form, so as to produce a certain amount of elastic effect during the passage
over it of the load. The sleeper is quite open on each side, and it is
strengthened internally by ribs or projections; each sleeper is disposed at a
right angle with the line of rail, and the individual sleepers of each opposed
pair are tied together transversely by a wrought-iron tie or tension rod. For
this purpose the sleeper has a central longitudinal aperture cast in it on each
side of the spring of the arch or bridge portion. These holes have edge or
collar pieces cast on or round them to receive the ends of the transverse ties,
and permit of a substantial fastening of the rod ends by cotters or other
attachments. The transverse tie bars are purposely made thin and deep, so
as to form a central rib for the base of the sleeper, and give an increased hold
upon the ground; and the ballast is rammed up against the tie at the part
where it passes through the sleeper from each open side of the latter. The
chairs, which may be of any suitable form, may be disposed on the sleeper
either with their rail line in line with or at right angles to the arch of the
sleeper, and they may either be cast on or separately attached. The open
sides of these sleepers permit of great convenience and facility in the surface
packing of the ballast, as the hollow of the arch can be got at with great ease.
Each sleeper bears upon the earth or ballast throughout the whole extent of
its length of arch; it gives a firm support to the rail, and imparts a pleasant
elasticity to the road, and the rammed ballast cannot escape upwards as in
surface packed sleepers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Walter McLellan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, WALTER
MCLELLAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Iron
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the.
said Walter McLellan, Her special license that I, the said Walter M*Lellan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter
McLellan, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should.at any time agree:

page_text: with, and no others, from time to time and 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," a communication from abroad by John
Gregory, of Lisbon, in the Kingdom of Portugal, Engineer," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Walter McLellan, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Walter McLellan, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of cast-iron
sleepers and chairs, or the holding and supporting parts of the permanent way
of railways, in such manuer as to insure superior stability and economy in such
permanent way.
According to one modification by which this Invention may be judiciously
carried out in practice, each sleeper is cast in the bridge form, and on the
apex or crown of this bridge is cast solid with it the ordinary or other rail
chair. The longitudinal section of the sleeper is of a serpentine or undulating
form, so as to produce a certain amount of elastic effect during the passage
over it of the load. The sleeper is quite open on each side, and it is
strengthened internally by ribs or projections. Each sleeper is disposed at
a right angle with the line of rail, and the individual sleepers of each opposed
pair are tied together transversely by a wrought-iron tie or tension rod. For
this purpose the sleeper has a central longitudinal aperture cast in it on each
side of the spring of the arch or bridge portion. These holes have edge or
collar pieces cast on round them, to receive the ends of the transverse ties,
and permit of a substantial fastening of the rod ends by cotters or other
attachments. The transverse tie bars are purposely made thin and deep, so
as to form a central rib for the base of the sleeper, and give an increased hold
upon the ground; and the ballast is rammed up against the tie at the part
where it passes through the sleeper from cach open side of the latter. The
chairs, which may be of any suitable form, may be disposed on the sleeper

page_text: either with thin rail line in line with or at right angles to the arch of the
sleeper, and they may either be cast on or separately attached. The open
sides of these sleepers permit of great convenience and facility in the surface
packing of the ballast, as the hollow of the arch can be got at with great ease.
Each sleeper bears upon the earth or ballast throughout the whole extent of
its length of arch; it gives a firm support to the rail, and imparts a pleasant
elasticity to the road, and the rammed ballast cannot escape upwards, as in
surface packed sleepers.
And in order that my said Invention of improvements in parts of the.
permanent way of railways may be properly understood, I shall now proceed
to describe the several illustrative Figures on the explanatory Sheet of
Drawings, which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing
certain modifications under which my improvements may be judiciously
carried out in practice, that is to say :-
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is an end elevation of my
improved cast-iron sleeper arranged for a line of rails; Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal elevation or side view, and Figure 3 is a plan of the same; Figure 4 is
an under side view or plan of one of the chairs detached; Figure 5 is an end
elevation of a double line of rails supported on my improved sleepers; and
Figure 6 is a plan of a single line of rails arranged in a corresponding
manner.
In the modification delineated in the accompanying Drawing, the sleeper A
is of a rectangular figure, curving upwards at the central portion into an arch-
like form, as is more particularly shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying
Drawing. The two ends of the sleeper rest on the ground, the arched portion
thus serving to partially enclose a comparatively large mass of the ballast,
upon which the sleeper rests firmly. And in order to give the sleeper a still
firmer hold on the ballast, the metal is cast so as to form curved or undulating
surfaces on the upper and lower faces of the sleeper, the corrugations ex-
tending across the sleeper in the direction of its width. The sleeper A is
strengthened by casting on its under side the transverse ribs or feathers B,
shown in Figure 4; these ribs extend across the sleeper in a diagonal direction
from each corner. Each sleeper has cast in it two apertures, which are made
at the spring of the arched' part, and parallel with the lateral edges of the
sleeper. These apertures extend outwards through the laterally projecting
collar pieces C, which are intended to receive the ends of the tie bars D; the
collar pieces are, by preference, cast with rectangular apertures in them, but
other shaped openings may, if preferred, be made therein. In this modification
the tie bars D are simply flat bars of malleable iron, having slots made therein

page_text: corresponding to the width of the sleepers asunder. The tie bar for each
pair of sleepers arranged opposite to each other is passed through the apertures
of the sleepers, and is fastened thereto by means of keys driven in through
the slots of the tie bar D. The corrugated arched form given to the sleepers
admits of the ballast being driven firmly in at the open ends, so as to form a
solid foundation for each sleeper, the hold of the sleeper on the ground being
greatly increased by the corrugated. figure given to the surface. The open
ends of these sleepers afford the utmost facility in getting at the ballast, so
that it may be easily kept in a solid condition, at the same time as no escape
of the ballast can take place in an upward direction, the loosening. or dis-
integration of the ballast does not readily occur, as is the case with those
sleepers in which openings in the upper parts are made. Upon the upper
part of the arch of the sleeper is cast the chair E, in which the rail F is
supported, as arranged in the accompanying Drawings; the chairs are of the
ordinary kind, but the sleepers may be cast solid, or in one piece with chairs
of any other form or configuration to which preference may be given. The
rail F rests upon a curve or indentation on the upper part of the sleeper, and
it is firmly wedged against the inner part of the chair by means of the wooden
key G. When the sleepers and rails are arranged in position, as shown in
Figures 5 and 6, the thin flat tie bars D serve as an additional means for
increasing the solidity and firmness of the sleepers, as the tie bars form a series
of transverse ribs passing through the solid mass of rammed ballast. The
means preferred for effecting the junction of contiguous rails is delineated in
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings; it consists simply of a short
trough-like piece of wrought iron or fish joint H, the central part of which
curves inward, so as to embrace the lower part of the rail F; above this
inwardly curved part the sides of the fish joint H are continued upwards, and
reach the shoulder of the rail, as shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying
Drawings. A wooden key I is driven in between the lower face of the rail
and the joint H; two holes are made through the upper part of the joint and
the rail, and the whole is firmly secured together by means of the bolts and
nuts J. These improved fish joints may also be constructed so as to dispense
with the wooden key I, in which case the fish joint H is made of a shallower
form to admit of the rail resting directly upon the inner surface of the fish
joint. With these improvements lines of railway can be laid down with great
economy and dispatch, the arrangement affording at the same time every
possible facility for complete inspection and removal of any part, if necessary.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried

page_text: into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of sleepers for railways, as
herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the system or mode of forming those parts of the permanent way of
railways, technically known as sleepers, of a more or less arched figure, with
open ends, and having corrugations or other inequalities formed on the surface,
for the purpose of increasing the hold of the sleeper on the ballast or ground
beneath, as herein-before described and delineated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Third, the system or mode of forming and constructing corrugated or other
similar sleepers for railways, either with the chair cast in one with the sleeper
or without, as herein-before described..
Fourth, the system or mode of increasing the stability and firmness of
corrugated and other generally similar railway sleepers by means of flat iron tie
bars or tension rods, as herein-before described and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter McLellan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
WALTER MAC LELLAN. (L.S.)
WALTER MAC LELLAN. (L.S.)