IMPROVE- MENTS IN RAILS, AND IN THE ERECTION THEREOF ON COMMON ROADS OR TRACKS THE PASSAGE OF COMMON CARTS, WAGGONS, CARRIAGES, AND OTHER VEHICLES HAVING WHEELS WITHOUT FLANGES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Sowerby, Civil Engineer, of London, now
resident at Surat, in the East Indies, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILS, AND IN THE ERECTION THEREOF ON COMMON ROADS OR TRACKS
THE PASSAGE OF COMMON CARTS, WAGGONS, CARRIAGES, AND OTHER
VEHICLES HAVING WHEELS WITHOUT FLANGES."
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by William Sowerby at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the. 23rd June 1868, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SOWERBY, Civil Engineer, of London, now resident at Surat, in the East
Indies, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILS AND IN THE ERECTION THEREOF ON COMMON ROADS OR TRACKS FOR

page_text: THE PASSAGE OF COMMON CARTS, WAGGONS, CARRIAGES, AND OTHER VEHICLES
HAVING WHEELS WITHOUT FLANGES," and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:
The rail on each side of the road or track for the passage of common
carts, waggons, carriages, or other vehicles having wheels without flanges
to be of the form, section, and shape shown by Figure A on the accom-
panying Drawings, such shape being three longitudinal webs, bars, or
flanges, marked a, a, a, on Figure A, radiating from a solid centre
marked b on Figure A. The said webs, bars, or flanges are to be of
equal length, and the whole to be made of either cast iron, wrought
iron, steel, or wood. This form of rail is such that it can be reversed
three times, each time presenting a hollow for receiving the outer rims
or tyres of the carriage wheels. The length of each rail may be of any
dimensions that should be found most convenient to manifacture. The
ends of the rails to be fixed to a cast-iron saddle-shaped sleeper or chair,
as shown on the accompanying Drawings by Figures marked B which
is an elevation, and C which is a section of the said sleeper or chair. The
upper portion of the rail is to be laid level with the surface of the road,
The rails and chairs are to be kept in their proper position and at an
uniform distance apart by means of gauge rods marked c, c, c, and bolts
marked d, d, d, which said bolts and gauge rods are to be of suitable size
and length, and are shown on the Figures B and C on the accompanying
Drawings.
Figures D which is a side view or elevation, and E which is a section,
show another mode of fixing and securing the rails in sandy or boggy
ground by means of dwarf screw piles, the ends of the rails being
fixed on to cushions of iron, steel, or wood, which cushions are also
shown on Figures D and E, and are marked e, e, e, e. These cushions
act like fish plates, and the bolts f, f, f, f, are to pass through them and
also through the ends of the rails, as shown by g, g, g, g, and h, h, h, h,
on Figures D and E on the accompanying Plan; there are other bolts
which pass through the tops of the piles, and through the ends of the
gauge rods and through the cushions and rails.
What I claim is the peculiar form of rail shown by Figure A which
has been above more particularly described, and also the mode or modes

page_text: of fixing the same together, and likewise securing the same into the
ground, as shown by Drawings B and C and D and E.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Sowerby, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM SOWERBY. (L.S.)