AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN RAILS FOR RAILWAYS."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th October 1857.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILS FOR RAILWAYS," a communication,
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the construction of the rails of railways, in
such a manner as to obtain the necessary strength with a less weight of metal
than is required in any rails heretofore used. The greatest strain to which a
railway rail is subjected being in a direction obliquely downward and outward,
it becomes a desideratum to contrive a form of rail that, with the necessary
breadth of top and bottom, shall contain along the connecting portion or web
a continuous substance of metal in the line of the greatest strain. These
requisites have been sought to be combined in the forms familiarly known as
the I rail and inverted Trail, in which a solid continuity of substance is
presented in the line of greatest strain. Both of these rails contain much
metal in the head that is unnecessary and useless, which, according to this
Invention, is dispensed with. It consists in forming an inverted T rail with an
aperture or hollow space, extending lengthwise through the thick upper portion
of the rail. The hollow space throughout the length of rail is, in its cross

page_text: section, somewhat of a triangular form, but depending upon the exterior of the
rail. This hollow space is produced by a particular method of rolling the rail,
as follows: The rail is reduced by the rolls to somewhat of the inverted
U-form of rail, after which, and by another rolling, the sides of the U form are
brought together and welded throughout the length of the rail, leaving the
flanges of the U for fixing the rail, as in the inverted Trail, which it resembles
in external appearance. The tread or track of the rail (within which is the
hollow) is at the same point as in the inverted U form, and is of substance and
strength accordingly. This hollow is also of advantage in jointing the rails, as
a pin or plug may be inserted a short distance into the ends of abutting rails.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Clark, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN RAILS FOR RAILWAYS," a communication, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Clark, 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 William Clark, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object the construction of rails for railways, in
such a manner as to obtain the necessary strength with a less weight of metal
than is required in any rails heretofore used. The greatest strain to which a
railway rail is subjected being in a direction obliquely downward and outward,
it becomes a desideratum to contrive a form of rail that with the necessary
breadth of top and bottom, shall contain along the connecting portion or web
a continuous substance of metal in the line of the greatest strain. These
requisites have been sought to be combined in the forms familiarly known as
the I or H rail and inverted T rail, in which a solid continuity of substance is
presented in the line of greatest strain. Both of these rails contain much
metal in the head that is unnecessary and useless, and that is dispensed with'
in this Invention, which consists in forming an inverted T rail with an aper-
ture or hollow space extending lengthwise through the thick upper portion
of the rail.
In the accompanying Drawing, which forms part of this Specification,
Fig. 1 is an end view of a rail constructed according to this Invention;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an end of the rail placed in position within its
joint chair C, and exhibiting the manner of forming the joints in the rail;
Fig. 3 is a front view of the pair of rollers employed in the manufacture of this
form of rail; & Fig. 4 is an end view of a modification of this form of rail.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts where they occur in
the different Figures.
a is the aperture or hollow space extending lengthwise through the thick
upper portion of the rail. The tread or track of the rail is supported on a web
c, d, d', which is formed at first in two flat parts, that become, in the act
of rolling in the rolling machine in which the rail is manufactured, welded
together at the neck c, while the two branches d, d', diverging, as represented,
support respectively the inner and outer edges of the tread or track. A
channel e may be formed along the middle of the sole f (as shown in Figs. 1
and 2), or the rail may be rolled solid at this point.
The successive stages of formation of the rail by the rolling process are
exhibited in Fig. 3, commencing at the left hand of the Figure; a portion of
the inner surfaces of the web in the last pass through the rollers, & become
welded together, as represented, so as to form a solid neck.
The hollowing of the upper portion of the web and the head of the rail
reduces the weight of the rail very considerably, and still leaves a continuity of
:

page_text: substance in the line of greatest strain, which is indicated in Fig. 1 by 'dots;
and the efficiency of the rail, so far from being diminished, is increased,
because, first, the whole substance of the rail being subjected to a very
thorough rolling, is so much toughened as to be comparatively exempt from
bruising, scaling, and lamination; secondly, the nearly uniform thickness or
substance of all parts of the rail diminishes the liability to those transverse
cracks across the top, which frequently occur in the I or H and Trails from
atmospheric changes of temperature; thirdly, a rail of hollow or tubular form
is less liable to have its fibrous texture impaired with use, and consequently
less liable to snap under a passing train.
Another advantage resulting from this construction of rails consists in the
facility for splicing or making a continuous rail, by inserting a plug g at.
the joints (as shown in Fig. 2). This answers all the purposes proposed to be
effected by the various forms of what are called "compound" rails, while it is
free from their weakening subdivisions and their objectionable weight of
metal.
In conclusion, I would remark that I am aware it has been proposed to
construct railway rails by bending the sides of the U rail, in such a manner
as to nearly or quite meet at the base, and therefore I do not wish to
be understood as claiming any construction by which the sides of the rail
remain unwelded; but what I claim as new and as the Invention to be
secured under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is the tubular
inverted Trail, constructed in form and manner substantially as set forth, that
is to say, having the two portions of its web welded together at the neck,
and branching to the outer and inner edges respectively of the tread or
track of the rail..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
W. G. E. SWINNOCK.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)