IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Macnee, of No. 2, Westminster Chambers, in
the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Macnee at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th October 1880.
DANIEL MACNEE, of No. 2, Westminster Chambers, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
My Invention relates to a method of supporting and securing flanged rails on
wooden sleepers and to the construction of chairs for that purpose. The chair
consists of a metal plate having its upper surface slightly inclined, so that when it
is placed on a level sleeper the rail laid upon it receives the necessary cant or tilt
inwards. The lower surface of the chair plate is made with sharp fins or projections,
which, when the plate is pressed down, penetrate a little into the sleeper and aid
in preventing the chair from shifting. On the upper face of the chair plate I
provide clips curved inwards towards the rail to catch over one edge of the rail
flange and a projecting fillet to form an abutment for the other edge. Beyond the
clips on one side of the chair-plate I provide a hole strengthened by a boss around
it, through which hole a trenail is driven into the sleeper to secure the chair plate
thereon, and on the other side of the chair plate I provide another hole, through
which a clip headed spike is driven into the sleeper to secure the rail on the chair
plate and to aid in securing the plate to the sleeper. By the use of chair plates, as
above described, I am enabled to place the rails with their necessary cant or tilt
without having to cut the faces of the sleepers; I provide extended bearing surface
for the rails, whereby the durability of the sleepers is greatly increased, and I
obtain a firm hold on the sleepers without throwing lateral strain on the trenails or
clip spikes, for which, when desired, bolts or screws with clip plates may be
substituted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Daniel Macnee in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
April 1881.
DANIEL MACNEE, of No. 2, Westminster Chambers, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
My Invention relates to a method of supporting and securing flanged rails on
wooden sleepers and to the construction of chairs for that purpose. The chair
consists of a metal plate having its upper surface slightly inclined, so that when it
is placed on a level sleeper the rail laid upon it receives the necessary cant or tilt
inwards. The lower surface of the chair plate is made with sharp fins or projections,
which, when the plate is pressed down, penetrate a little into the sleeper and aid
in preventing the chair from shifting. On the upper face of the chair plate I
provide clips curved inwards towards the rail to catch over one edge of the rail
Hange, and a projecting fillet to form an abutment for the other edge. Beyond the
clips on one side of the chair-plate I provide a hole strengthened by a boss around
it, through which hole a trenail is driven into the sleeper to secure the chair plate
thereon, and on the other side of the chair plate I provide another hole, through
which a clip headed spike is driven into the sleeper to secure the rail on the chair
plate and to aid in securing the plate to the sleeper. By the use of chair plates, as
above described, I am enabled to place the rails with their necessary cant or tilt
without having to cut the faces of the sleepers; I provide extended bearing surface
for the rails, whereby the durability of the sleepers is greatly increased, and I
obtain a firm hold on the sleepers without throwing lateral strain on the
trenails or clip spikes, for which, when desired, bolts or screws with clip plates may
be substituted.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan of a chair plate according to my
Invention; Fig. 2 is a side view; Fig. 3 an end view, and Fig. 4 a transverse
section. A is the plate, which is cast somewhat thicker at one side than the other,
so that when it is placed on a level sleeper its upper surface is slightly inclined to
give the rail R the necessary cant or tilt; B are sharp fins or projections on the
underside of the plate, which when the plate is pressed down penetrate a little into
the sleeper and prevent it from shifting; C are the clips, which catch over one edge
of the rail flange, and D is the projecting fillet forming an abutment for the other
flange; E is the trenail, which is driven through a hole strengthened by the boss F,
and G is the clip headed spike, which secures the rail and aids in securing the plate
to the sleeper.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I claim,-
Supporting and securing flanged rails on wooden sleepers by means of chair plates
constructed and applied in combination with trenails and clip headed spikes,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Macnee, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.