IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS FOR RAILWAYS, AND IN WHEELS FOR LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDRE
DROUOT DE CHARLIEU, of the Sablioniere Hotel, Leicester Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of March, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
André Drouet de Charlieu, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said André Drouet de Charlieu, my exors, adññiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said André Drouet de Charlieu, my exors,
adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RAILS FOR RAILWAYS, AND IN WHEELS FOR LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES," com-
municated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said André Drouet de Charlieu,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in

page_text: and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
André Drouet de Charlieu, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention consists of a mode of manufacturing rails for railways, by
applying to the sides of the rail an angular flange in order to prevent the
wheels of the carriage from running off the rail; the flange may be either a
part of the rail, or it may be made in a separate piece, and affixed by means
of bolts or pins to the rail. The Invention also consists in applying to wooden
or other rails of the same shape flat metal bands or strips of iron in such
manner that the pressure of the wheel will take place on those parts, so that
the ordinary rail will not have to be made so thick; these bands may be of
iron or cast steel, or other thin metal.
The improvements in the wheel consists in dispensing with the flange
now applied to the wheels of locomotive carriages, to prevent the wheel
from coming off the rails, as by the improved rail the flange on the wheel is
unnecessary.
But in order that the Invention may be more fully understood I will proceed
to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 shews a transverse section of a rail having the Invention applied
thereto. The flange, it will be seen, is a separate piece from the rail, but
attached to it by means of bolts or pins; the angle I prefer for the flange is
105 degrees, but I do not confine myself to that angle. Figure 2 shews a
rail and flange formed of one piece. Figure 3 shews another rail in which
the rail and the flange are formed of two separate pieces; Figure 4 shews the
parts separately. Figure 5 shews the section of another rail, shewing how the
quantity of metal to form the rail may be reduced; A is the ordinary rail;
B, the piece attached to the rail, having the angular pieces fixed at the upper
end; a and b shew where the piece B is attached to the rail A, either by pins
or bolts, or by any suitable means; the angular piece a, b, is fixed to the
chair at B'. The piece B may be either of wood or metallic material, except
the upper part which must be of metal, care must be taken they are securely
fixed together. Figure 2 shews a form of rail on to which the flat bands of
iron or other metal are fixed by means of pins or other means, and they may

page_text: be placed at intervals on the rail, so that the pressure of the wheel will take
place at those parts. The dotted line in the Drawing, Figure 2, shews the
situation of them, the upper lines representing them when placed over the
whole of the rail, and the flange and the under ones the position of those parts
where the friction takes place. The wheels will be so constructed as to have
the sides which press against the flange of the rail made according to the
angles of the flange, or rounded on the sides which press against the flange of
the rail. D is another form of rail, in which the flange is made in a separate
piece; the advantage of which is in this form of rail, that when the upper part
is worn away it may be turned over and the under side brought to the upper;
the flange part E may be adjusted to the rail by bolts or pins, or any other
suitable means, and also fixed to the chair; although I have shewn this rail in
two pieces it may be made in one.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I am aware that rails have
been constructed with a flange F fixed to it, but in that case the flange was at a
right angle, or nearly so, to the rail. I do not therefore claim the so constructing
rails with flanges; but I do claim,―
First, the constructing rails with flanges when the flange is at an angle to
the rail at not less than 93 degrees, whether the flange be a part of the rail or
whether it is a separate piece bolted to the rail, as herein described.
Secondly, I claim the application to wooden and other rails of bands of
metal in such manner that the pressure of the wheel acts upon such bands on
the surface of the rail.
And, thirdly, I claim the dispensing with the flanges on the wheels of
locomotive carriages.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, on this Tenth
day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-four
ANDRE DROUOT (L.S.) DE
Taken and acknowledged by André Drouet de
Charlieu (party hereto), at Paris, in the
Kingdom of France, this Tenth day of Sep-
ANDRE DROUOT (L.S.) DE CHARLIEU.
Taken and acknowledged by André Drouet de
Charlieu (party hereto), at Paris, in the
Kingdom of France, this Tenth day of Sep-
tember 1844, before me,

page_text: This is the Specification referred to in the affidavit of William Henry
Ritchie, sworn before me, this 20th day of September 1844.
W. IIORNE.
William Henry Ritchie, of the Patent Office, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, maketh oath and saith, that he is acquainted with the
manner and character of the handwriting of Thomas Pickford, Her Britannic
Majesty's Consul at Paris, within the Kingdom of France; and this deponent
further saith, that the name or signature "Thomas Pickford," written upon
or indorsed in the margin of the Specification, marked A, hereunto annexed,
and dated the Tenth day of September instant, and purporting to be executed
by André Drouot de Charlieu, whereby it is stated that the said Specification
was acknowledged, by the said Andre Drouot de Charlieu before the said
Thomas Pickford on the said Tenth day of September now instant is of the
proper handwriting of the said Thomas Pickford, and that the said Thomas
Pickford at the time of setting, and subscribing his name on the said Specifi-
cation in manner above stated was and now is Her Britannic Majesty's Consul
at Paris.
W. H. RITCHIE.
By Affid'.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of William Henry Ritchie
the Specification aforesaid was enrolled, word for word, as above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute måde for that purpose.
.