AN IMPROVED LOCK-JOINT FOR THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1856

page_text: Sealed the 18th July 1856, and dated the 23rd January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexandre Tolhausen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd January 1856.
I, ALEXANDRE TOLHAUSEN, of No. 7, Duke St., Adelphi, London, County
of Middlesex, Sworn Interpreter at the Imperial Court of Paris, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED LOCK-JOINT FOR THE
RAILS OF RAILWAYS, being a communication from James Richard Hilliard,
United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a joint, of a peculiar form, for connecting the ends
of the several lengths of rail, whereby a perfectly continuous track is obtained,
& chairs are dispensed with, without dividing the rails all along, as is done
in what is termed compound rail, & several of the inconveniences attending
the use of chairs or other connections are obviated.. This purpose is attained
by connecting the ends of the several lengths of rail in railway tracks by lock

page_text: joints, of a form the characteristics of which are that neither part of the joint
can be disconnected from the other by downward pressure, or by lateral
pressure in either direction, but that the two parts can be disconnected by an
upward movement, whereby a perfectly continuous track is obtained, & at the
same time proper facility is afforded for the removal of a rail, or insertion
of a new one.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexandre Tolhausen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDRE
TOLHAUSEN, of No. 7, Duke Street, Adelphi, London, County of Middlesex,
Sworn Interpreter at the Imperial Court of Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year. of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give. and grant unto me,
the said Alexandre Tolhausen, Her special licence that I, the said Alexandre
Tolhausen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alexandre Tolhausen, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVED LOCK-JOINT FOR THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," a communication
from James Richard Hilliard, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexandre Tolhausen, 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 Alexandre Tolhausen, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement.

page_text: The object of my Invention is to unite the sections of rail in the construction
of railroads by a compound lap joint, so disposed that while the joints give
perfect freedom of end play for the expansion and contraction due to the
changes of temperature, and admit of separation for the purpose of repairs
without the use of screw bolts, nuts, wedges, or other equivalent devices, and
with no other fastening than by spikes to the cross ties or other bed, the sections
shall be as effectually kept in line as if each rail was one continuous bar from
end to end. And with the view to the accomplishment of this important and
long-desired result, my Invention consists in forming the joint of one section
with another, by lapping the one against the other in a central, longitudinal,
vertical plane of any desired length, and extending only a portion of the height
of the rail from the top to within a third of the base, more or less, when this is
combined with the lapping of each section on and under the other in planes
longitudinally parallel with the axis of the rail, and transversely inclined
in opposite directions from the outside towards the central vertical plane of
division of the first-named laps.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one end of a
section of rail; Fig. 2 is a top view of the joint formed between the two
sections of rail; Fig. 3 is a side view of the same; Fig. 4 is a transversc
section of the joint on a plane passing between the bases of the two sections of
rail; and Fig. 5 is an end view of a section of rail. Similar letters of refer-
ence indicate corresponding parts in the several Figs. I form one end of
a section A of a rail by cutting out one-half of its thickness for about a
distance of six inches from the end, and about two-thirds of the depth from the
tread or upper surface to the bottom or under surface of the web, so that the
récess formed will present a longitudinal vertical plane a in the line of tho
middle of the thickness of the rail. The extreme end of the rail will present a
plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the rails, and the inner end of the
recess a vertical plane & parallel with the end of the rail. And the bottom of
the recess will present a plane b', which longitudinally is parallel with the .treai
or upper surface of the rail, and transversely at an inclination to the base, so as
to be lowest at the junction with the central vertical plane a, and inclining
upwards to the outer surface of the rail, so that at the cross section of this
recess it will present one-half of what is known as a dovetail rebate. At a
distance of one-half the length of this recess from the end, I cut away the web
or lower part of the rail from the plane 6¹ in a vertical plane c at right angles
to the longitudinal axis of the rail, and the under face of the part which
projects beyond the cross vertical plane c. I cut to a plane b the exact
reverse of the before-described plane b', so that the cross section of this pro-

page_text: jecting part will present one-half of what is known as a dovetail tenon.
Having thus cut or otherwise formed one end of a section of rail, I cut or
form the adjacent end of the next section the exact reverse thereof, so that
the central, longitudinal, vertical plane a of the one will come in contact with
the corresponding plane of the other, the end of the projecting part of the one
against the cross vertical plane d at the end of the recess of the other, the
transverse inclined under face or plane 6 of the one on to the inclined bottom b
of the recess of the other, and the cross vertical plane c of the web of the one
against the corresponding plane of the other; thus completely locking the two
sections, the one to the other without the necessity of using chairs or clamps
of any kind, but simply spikes to secure them to the cross ties, sleepers, or
other bed. When thus locked, it will be seen that one section cannot be
moved out of line in any direction without the other; one section cannot riso
without the other, because it extends both over and under the other section.
They are prevented from moving laterally, independently of each other, in one
direction, by reason of the contact of the faces of the vertical planes a, a, and
in the opposite direction by reason of the lap of the lateral inclined planes b, b',
which acts as a dovetail to resist such lateral play; and the one cannot be
depressed without the other, because each laps over and under the other
by laps, which are parallel with the longitudinal axis of the rail, so that if all
support were removed from under the joint, neither section could sink without
bending or breaking the metal of both sections constituting the laps. And as.
cach rests on a surface of the other, which inclines downward from the outside
towards the central plane of division, it follows that the passage of a weight on
either of the sections will tend to close the joint of the central division. As
the laps constituting the joints are all in a longitudinal direction parallel with
the longitudinal axis of the rail, and no bolts, rivets, keys, or equivalent devices
are used to bind together the sections, it follows that perfect freedom is left for
expansion and contraction, a result never before obtained in connecting the
sections of railroad bars. Although a joint constructed on this plan. will
effectually resist all the tendencies to carry either section out of line, in-
dependently of the adjacent section, nevertheless it will admit of separation,.
for the purposes of repairs without the necessity of cutting or breaking either
section by drawing out a sufficient number of spikes on either side of the
joint to be disconnected; to admit of bending the rail, the joint can be lifted
up, as represented in Fig. 6, which is a side view of parts of two sections of
rail on a smaller scale than the other Figs. of the accompanying Drawing,
and then disconnected and replaced at pleasure. This is to be effected entirely
by the flexure of the rails, and not by a corresponding depression of the

page_text: opposite ends of the sections. It must be observed that although the joint
will not yield downward to a force applied on the top, even without any under
support, and one section cannot be lifted without the other, still both can be
lifted together, and the joint gradually opened and separated, because when
lifted the extreme over lap of each on the other is raised from the surface on
which it rests, as 6 from 6. But the separation cannot be effected in the
opposite direction, because motion in that direction is first resisted by the
extreme over lap of each on the other.
Ifaving thus described the nature and particulars of the said Invention as
communicated to me, I desire to state that what I claim in joining the sections
of rails for railroads is, the combination of the several laps, substantially as
herein described, that is to say, consisting of,-
First, the lapping of each against the other along a central, longitudinal,
vertical plane, or nearly so.
Second, lapping each into and under the other, on planes parallel or nearly
so with the longitudinal axis of the rail.
And, third, making the surfaces where each laps into and under the other,
inclining downwards from each side of the rail towards the central longitudinal
vertical plane of division of the joints, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Tolhausen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
(·om)
TOLLLATISTINT