Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways, in part Applicable as Substitutes for Chairs and Fish-plates.
Year: 1889

page_text: tate or Application, 12th Nov., 1889
Complete Specification Left. 2nd Sept, 1890-Accepted, 4th Oct., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways, in part Applicable
as Substitutes for Chairs and Fish-plates.
I, JOSEPH WALWYN WHITE, of Hule Bank, near Widnes, in the County of
Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its principal object a combined sleeper and fastening for
railways obviating the necessity of fish plates, bolts, nuts, and chairs, and so arranged
that the metallic or wooden sleeper used can be laid with or without the rail
attached.
If the sleeper be laid without the rail being attached, the rail can be immediately
applied afterwards without any other instrument than a hammer. With metallic
sleepers, in place of having a chair to hold the rail to the sleeper I form the sleeper with
a half chair firmly secured or fastened to it so as to be in one piece with the sleeper.
This jaw or half chair can if desirable have two or four studs projecting from it to act
the part of fish plate bolts, it itself acting as a fish plate. Swivelling on the sleeper if
it be a metallic one or a projection from the stationary half chair if it be a wooden
sleeper I place a clip so formed that when it is swivelled against the rail it will press
against it with great force, so much so indeed, that it has to be hammered or forced into
position with considorable pressure. This clip is also preferably so arranged as to have
to pass over a point on each side of its final normal resting place at which it is in
unstable equilibrium, and having a strong tendency to fly into the position which it has
hereafter to assume. This can be done in several different ways. The sleeper in a
line with the pivot can be slightly bulged upwards and the back part of the clip formed
also of a curved corresponding contour so that when the salient point of the sleeper
is opposite the concave portion of the clip, the latter will have a very strong tendency
to remain in that position as it will have to mount up with its salient points on the salient
portion of the sleeper before it can get out of its locked position. The clip is preferably
of spring steel and so shaped that when it is in clipping position it is pressed by the
rail into a position of considerable strain. By this means it is prevented from working
loose even with considerable wear. The clip is made rather longer than might
otherwise be necessary in order to give it sufficient leverage and elasticity. When
the invention has to be applied to wooden sleepers the half chair forming the one jaw
has a plate projecting from it under the rail upon which the clip swivels.
This bed plate is well attached to the sleeper.
3
F
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways, in part Applicable
as Substitutes for Chairs and Fish-plates.
1, JOSEPH WALWYN WHITE, of Hale Bank, near Widnes, in the County of
Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates to rail supporting or fastening devices. It has for its principal
object a supporting or fastening device which is so arranged and combined with the
sleeper-whether metallic or wooden-as to obviate the necessity of employing fish-

page_text: plates, bolts, nuts and chairs. The invention permits of the sleepers being laid without
the rails being first attached thereto, such attachment being afterwards readily effected
by the aid only of a hammer.
The drawings illustrate the invention as applied to a flanged or single headed rail.
Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, looking at the inner side of the rail.
Figure 2 is an end elevation, showing the rail in section.
Figure 3 is an elevation, partly in section, looking at the outer side of the rail.
The above figures all show the invention as applied at the junction of two rails.
Figures 4, 5 and 6 are views similar to Figures 1, 2 and 3, showing the fastening
device as applied at intermediate points on the rail.
Figure 7 is a section showing a modification and taken as on line, Figure 5.
Figure 8 is a plan view showing a slight modification of the fastening device.
Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 5, showing one way of applying the improved
device to wooden sleepers.
C is the sleeper of any ordinary construction, the V-shaped trough formn shown being
the kind I prefer to employ.
A is a stationary jaw or half chair which is rigidly attached to the sleeper on the
outside of the rail D, as by rivets a, passing through the flanges c of the sleeper. The
jaw A thus serves also to strengthen the sleeper. The jaw hugs or abuts against the
adjacent rail flange d, as in Figures 2 and 5. It also hugs the whole or part of the web d
as in Figure 5, or it may only bear against the fish planes at the top and bottom of the
web, as in Figure 2.
When the jaw A is placed at the junction of two rails as in Figures 1 to 3, it also
serves as a fish-plate. For this purpose, it is preferably made of a greater length as
shown in Figure 3, and is provided on its inner face with two or more studs or
projections a, which are adapted to enter or pass through the fish-plate bolt holes in
the rail, and may be slightly tapered if desirable. The studs a' and jaw A thus take
the place of the fish-bolts and fish-plates respectively. A rail holding jaw with
projections or studs as above described. is however fully described in my Patent
Specification No. 14028, dated September 5th 1889.
On the inner side of the rail opposite the jaw A, one or more swivelling clips or
jaws B are placed. They are each pivoted (as by a rivet b) upon the sloeper C or
other part rigidly connected to the jaw A. Each clip is so formed that, when swivelled
round against the rail, considerable force has to be employed in hammering or other-
wise bringing it into the postion shown in Figures 2 and 3, and, when in that position,
it presses hard against the rail, or rather against the flange thereof. The clips are, by
preference. made of spring steel, say inch or & inch thick.
Each clip B is so arranged that, in being swivelled into its normal position, (as in
Figures 2 and 5) it has to pass a point or points at which it is in unstable equilibrium,
and has a tendency, by reason of its elasticity, to move into said normal position. Its
elasticity also acts to keep it in position when once forced therein. There are various
ways in which this can be effected.
For instance :-
The sleeper flange c, in a line with the pivot b, can be slightly bulged upwards as
at c', Figure 7, and the back part of the clip formed also of a curved corresponding
contour, so that, when the salient point of the bulge of the sleeper is opposite the crown
of the concave portion of the clip, the latter will have a very strong tendency to
remain in that position, as it would have to mount up with one of its salient points 6262
on to the salient portion c² of the sleeper before it could get out of its locked
position.
Or the sleeper flange c may remain in its unaltered flat condition and the salient
points of the curved clip may project beyond the edges of the sleeper flange, as
shown in Figures 1 and 4, so that one or both of these points bave to rido over the
edges of the flange before the clip can become unfastened. If desired, the clips can
be still further secured, when in position, by hammering the points b³ 6 down over
the flange c.
As the clip is forcibly sprung into position, as above set forth, it is prevented by its

page_text: elasticity from working loose even after considerable wear. The clip is made rather
longer than might otherwise be necessary, in order to give it sufficient leverage and
elasticity.
Figure 8 shows a modification of the clip B. One corner of that part of the clip
which is to bear against the rail is turned back, as at 6', before the clip is swivelled into
position. After it is in position, the part 6 is hammered down against the rail, and
the corners bb prevent the clip from turning upon its pivot. Or the toe of the clip
may be bent back entirely instead of only at one corner thereof, so that the rail may be
placed in position and the clip bent forward upon it. In this case, it is not essential
that the clip should be made to swivel upon the sleeper.
When the invention has to be applied to wooden sleepers, the jaw A has attached
to it or formed in one with it a rigid projection or plate a², Figure 9, which passos
below the rail, and upon which the clip B swivels. This bed-plate or projection a³ is
securely attached to the sleeper, as by spikes a³.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. A rail fastening device, consisting of the combination of a fixed jaw rigidly
attached to the sleeper and hugging or abutting against one side of the rail, and one
or more opposing swivelling clips adapted to be swivelled or hammered into position
so as to hug or bear against the opposite side of the rail and be locked in place,
substantially as described.
2. In a rail fastening device, an elastic rail clip B swivelling on a pivot upon the
sleeper with part of its under surface in contact with the upper surface of the sleeper
or of a plate thereon, one of said surfaces having two points, one on each side of the
pivot, projecting normally beyond the level of an intermediate point on the adjacent
opposing surface, all three points lying on a circle concentric with the pivot, whereby
a portion of the clip is sprang forcibly upwards as it approaches a position on either
side of its normal position, and the clip thus has a strong tendency to spring into the
latter position and to remain therein, substantially as described.
3. The improved rail fastening device constructed as a whole, substantially as
described and illustrated in the drawings.
Dated this 29th day of August 1890.