IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING OR SECURING THE RAIL OR TRAMWAYS USED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS BY MACHINERY.
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edmund Donisthorpe, of Leeds, in the
-County of York, for the Invention of. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING OR
SECURING THE RAIL OR TRAMWAYS USED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER
MINERALS BY MACHINERY.".
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edmund Donis-
thorpe at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st October 1864.
I, GEORGE EDMUND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING OR
SECURING THE RAIL OR TRAMWAYS USED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS
BY MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
. Heretofore when getting coal and other minerals by means of picks or
cutters actuated by machinery, the cutters have been usually carried by trucks
running on rails laid on the floor of the mine, along the front of the face of
coal or other mineral, upon which the cutters are to be made to operate,
and difficulty has been experienced in laying the rails securely to prevent their
shifting when the machine is at work. Now, according to my Invention I
employ posts or pillars, wedged or held between the floor and roof of the mine,
to hold the rails in position, and prevent them shifting sideways away from
the face of the work. The posts may be constructed in various ways to

page_text: accomplish this object; but I prefer to make them capable of being elongated
by means of a screw, and when using them, holes are bored in the floor and
roof to receive their upper and lower ends. In fixing such posts in holes
previously bored to receive them, the lower end of the post would first be
stepped into the hole in the floor, and the post then elongated to cause its
upper end to enter the hole in the roof; collars are placed on the posts near
their upper and lower ends, and the screw is turned until these collars bear
firmly against the floor and roof respectively; by these means the posts will
be firmly held; the rails are by preference carried by transverse iron sleepers
having the chairs to receive the rails formed in one piece with them, and a
post, such as is above described, is placed opposite each sleeper at the end
that is furthest from the work. The end of the sleeper is connected to the
post at the requisite height from the floor to bring the rails to the desired
level, the post and sleeper being for this purpose suitably constructed to allow
of the sleeper being connected to the post at any desired height. The end of
the sleeper nearest to the work is packed or blocked up from the floor of the
mine to bring the inner rail to the desired level. By connecting the end of
the sleeper to the post, as above described, the sleeper is prevented from
moving, and the rails are thereby secured in position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Edmund Donisthorpe in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDMUND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters!
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Edmund Donisthorpe, Her special licence that I, the said George
Edmund Donisthorpe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, 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 FIXING OR SECURING THE RAIL OR TRAMWAYS USED WHEN

page_text: GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS BY MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, 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 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 George Edmund Donisthorpe, 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 :-
Heretofore when getting coal and other minerals by means of picks or
cutters actuated by machinery, the cutters have been usually carried by trucks
running on rails laid on the floor of the mine, along the front of the face of
coal or other mineral upon which the cutters are to be made to operate, and
difficulty has been experienced in laying the rails securely to prevent their
shifting when the machine is at work. Now, according to my Invention, I
employ posts or pillars wedged or held between the floor and roof of the mine;
to hold the rails in position, and prevent them shifting sideways away from
the face of the work.
The Drawings hereunto annexed show the manner in which I now prefer
to accomplish this object.
Figure 1 of the Drawings being a side view of the arrangement, and
Figure 2 a plan view, partly in section.
In this arrangement the rails a, a, upon which the machine used for
cutting the coal runs, are carried at one end of sleepers or bearers b; b, of
wrought iron; these sleepers or bearers are made of considerably greater
length than the distance between the rails, and the ends of the sleepers or
bearers to which the rails are attached are merely supported and brought to
the desired height from the floor by blocks of wood, as is shewn, the opposite
ends of the sleepers or bearers are supported by and fixed to posts or pillars
wedged or held between the floor and roof of the mine. The parts of which
these posts or pillars are composed are shewn separately at Figures 3, 4, 5,
and 6. At Figures 3 a side view and end view of the main portion or body
of the post is shewn; this part of the post is composed of two plates c, c, of
wrought iron, connected together and held at a distance apart from each other
by rivets and distance pieces c', c', as is shown. The foot of the post is-shown
separately in plan, under side view, and section at Figures 4;. this foot is of
cast iron, and on its under side it is formed with two- descending flanges d, d

page_text: which are to embrace wooden sleepers, upon which these feet are placed; in
the upper surface of the foot two recesses e, e, are formed, which are to
receive the lower ends of the two plates c, c. The head of the post is shewn
in side view, section, under side view, and plan at Figures 5; this head
fits on the top of the two plates c, c, and is bushed at f; f; in this bush a
screw thread is cut, in which the screw g works; on the top of this screw is a
circular head, which is to bear against the roof or ceiling of the mine, a 'block
of wood, being by preference. placed between them, as is shown at h, h,
Figure 1. The sleepers or bearers which support the rails are composed of
two parallel plates of wrought iron, connected together at a distance apart
from each other by rivets and distance pieces, as is shown in the plan view of
one of the sleepers at Figure 7. Through the plates of which the sleeper is
composed, circular holes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, are formed at distances apart from each
other, as is shewn, the distance between the holes corresponding to the depth
of cut which is made into the coal by the cutters; these holes are to allow of
a pin k being passed through, which pin also passes through a hole in a
link m, shewn separately in side view, edge view, and section at Figures 6';
this link is placed between the plates c, c, of the post, and is connected to
them by a bolt and nut n, which passes through slots in these plates, and
also through the hole in the upper part of the link; the link can by means of
this bolt and nut be connected at any desired height to the post by reason of
the bolt being able to slip up or down in the slots e, and when the link is
brought to the desired height it can be retained there by screwing up the nut
on the bolt. The two kinds of rails I employ are shewn separately at Figures
9 and 10; the rail shewn at Figures 9 supports the rollers or wheels at the
side of the machine furthest from the work, and has a screw rack formed on
its upper 'face, into which a worm or screw on the machine gears, and by
which the machine is caused to travel forward when at work. The rail shewn
at Figures 10 is a plain rail, and is to support the wheels on the side of the
machine nearest to the work. Both these rails are made of a length equal to
the distance that it is desired to have between the sleepers or bearers; the
sleepers or bearers have notches or recesses formed in them, into which the
ends of the rails are dropped. The rails shewn at Figures 9 have at each
end a piece' projecting downwards, through each of which a hole is formed, as
is shewn; corresponding holes are also formed through the plates of which
the sleeper or bearer is composed, in order that a bolt may be passed through
these holes to secure the rails in their places, and the bolts are by preference
secured by a key passing through a slot in the bolt, as is shewn at o, o,
Figure 2. The rails shewn at Figures 10 in addition to dropping into

page_text: notches in the sleepers or bearers have also notches: formed on their under
sides, which notches embrace the plates of which the .sleepers are composed;
and so hold the ends of the sleepers. in their places; and as these rails..are
merely dropped into their places on the sleepers they may readily be removed
and again replaced when desired.
In order to set up a line of rails supported in the manner above described,
a row of wooden sleepers, such as are shown in plan view and section.at
Figures 8, are first laid along, the floor of the mine parallel with the face of the
coal which is being worked. Upon these are placed the. cast-iron feet of the
posts; the posts are then inserted in their places.in.these. feet, and the heads
of the posts are put on, and the screws carried by them turned, so as to cause
the head of the screw to bear against the roof of the mine, and so wedge the
posts firmly in their places; the sleepers or bearers which support the rails
are then passed into their places through the posts, and a pin k is passed
through the link carried by each post, and also through the holes 1 formed in
the sleeper or bearer; the ends of the bearers which are nearest to the face of
coal to be worked, and which support the rails, are then wedged up to the
desired level, and the ends which are connected to the pillars are also brought
to the proper level, and secured there by means of the bolt and nut n, the
rails are afterwards secured to the sleepers or bearers. When the cutting
machine has travelled along rails so laid in position, and has made the
requisite number of cuts in the face of the work, the coal is broken off by
means of levers or wedges, and is removed, the bearers are then moved a
distance forward towards the work, in order that the pins k may be passed
through the holes 2 in the bearers; the ends of the bearers nearest .the face
of the work are then again wedged up, and the machine is caused to work a
fresh series of cuts in the coal, the coal is then again removed, and afterwards
the sleepers or bearers are again moved forwards, and so on until the pin k
has been placed in the last hole 5 in the bearers. A fresh row of pillars is
then erected between the row of pillars already set up and the face of coal
that is being worked, these pillars being adjusted so that the pins k which
pass through the links carried by them may also be passed through the
holes 1. Before the pins are passed through these holes the bolt which
connects each link with its post is free to rise and fall in the slots in the post ;
when the pins have been inserted in their places links are secured to the posts
by the screw bolts. The set of posts first erected may then be removed, and
yet the bearers will still be retained at the same level at which they were first
laid. The level or line at which the rails are laid should in most cases
coincide with the line in which the seam of coal runs. If the seam of coal

page_text: is at any time found to incline upwards or downwards, the level at which the
bearers are retained can at any time be readily re-adjusted.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that although I have only
given a precise description of one arrangement of apparatus for carrying out!
my Invention, yet I do not confine myself to this arrangement, as other
arrangements of apparatus may be employed in carrying out my Invention ;
what I claim is, the holding in position the rails upon which machines used
in getting coal and other minerals run by posts or pillars wedged or held
between the floor and roof of the mine.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.