FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAIL, TRAM, OR OTHER ROADS, AND IN THE ROLLING STOCK OR APPARTUS USED THEREFOR;
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME OR BE
MADE KNOWN, I, PETER BRUFF, of Handford Lodge, Ipswich, in the
County of Suffolk, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her
said Majesty's reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Peter Bruff, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Peter Bruff, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
Peter Bruff, my exors, admors, and 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 might lawfully make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention "FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAIL, TRAM, OR OTHER ROADS, AND IN
THE ROLLING STOCK OR APPARTUS USED THEREFOR;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Peter Bruff, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said herein in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being had thereto,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso in the said
Letters Patent contained as aforesaid, I, the said Peter Bruff, do hereby
declare that the nature of my said Invention "for Improvements in the Con-
struction of the Permanent Way of Rail, Tram, or other Roads, and in the
Rolling Stock or Apparatus used therefor," is fully described and ascertained
in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
illustrative Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters of reference
marked thereon on each of the Figures or Diagrams respectively.
My Invention consists,―
or
Firstly, of improvements in the construction of railways, its object being
to secure, support, and strengthen the joints of the rails; and for such purpose,
firstly, I manufacture a metallic clipping clasping, plain or webbed, as may
be found most desirable, or as greater or less strength is required. Into this
metal clip, which I term a fishing key, the ends of each rail at its junction
with the preceding or succeeding rail are received, and become securely
clasped, either by the natural spring of the metal when made to fit tight, as
shewn at Figure 5 of the annexed Drawing, or by a wooden key block or
wedge driven in by the side of the rails in the usual manner, as in Figures
1, 2, 3, and 6. My metal fishing key or clip is unconnected with any fixed
chair or bearing; it gives support to the rail ends, uniting them, and thereby
increasing their bearing powers and general stability. In applying my fishing
key, it is desirable, when chairs are used for supporting the intermediate
portions of rail, that those next the joints should be within eighteen inches
of the fishing key or jointed portion of the railway line. By this arrangement
the rails will be firmly supported, and not inclined to work as when the rail
ends terminate in a joint chair in the usual manner, where my fishing key
closely fits the rails, and is used without the wood wedge. A screw bolt may
with advantage be passed through its cheeks, and through and between the
rail joints, as shewn in Figure 5, or it may be screw bolted, rivetted, or
keyed to the end of one of the rails, and being formed to clasp the other
rail end, it will prevent either shifting its position, leaving, nevertheless, the
rails free to expand or contract from variation in temperature. In this and
similar cases I make and fit my fishing key or clip with its ends slightly open,
so as to allow of its being driven on to the rail ends with facility. Where wood
wedges are used with my fishing key, a metal pin or screw key may be

page_text: introduced with advantage either from the top or through an operture left in
its outer side by the side of or into the wood wedge, or the rail or inside of the
outer jaw of the fishing key may be serrated or burred so as to embrace the
wood key more closely, and prevent the wedge when once driven in from
easily working loose. I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement,
nor to any particular dimensions of clip or fishing key and appurtenances,
using, according to circumstances, longer or shorter clips, and either with or
without the sides or jaws being continuous; neither do I confine myself to
the precise mode of fixing or distance of the chairs shewn in the annexed
Drawing; for I also use my fishing key or clip with longitudinal or with
transverse sleepers, or with both combined; and, in fact, I prefer using a
longitudinal sleeper or bearer so as to have the chair on each side of every
joint on the same sleeper or bearer. By this means the timber sleeper or
bearer become mutual supports to each other, and serve, as it were, to break
joint. Another mode of supporting rails at their joints or ends consists in
an improved mode of laying the sleepers or bearers and chairs on railways by
the use of a longitudinal sleeper laid beneath the joints (the intermediate
sleepers or bearers being laid longitudinally or transversely, as the case may be),
and placing a chair on either side the joint, instead of immediately under it,
as commonly practised. Lateral displacement may be prevented by my
improved mode of securing the ends of rails to render them more firm and
durable, for which purpose I cut a key way laterally through the centre of
each rail end, and introduce a bolt or key with a head on one side, fastening
it on the other with a joint or key (either with or without washers). The
head and nut or keys must be of sufficient dimensions to embrace sufficient
of the rail end under the extreme limit of contraction to which the rails are
liable.
Secondly, my Invention consists in a combination of timber beams or
sleepers, planking, and iron work, the timber being either prepared by some
preservative process or used in its natural state, for the formation of roads
and streets, or in common with or forming part of ordinary roads and streets..
The surface of my roadway I protect, where desirable, by a covering of sand,
fine gravel, ashes, and of asphalte, kamptulicon, or any preparations of caout-
chouc or gutta percha, alone or combined, or by any other suitable material.
Among the advantages of such planked roads and streets are the paucity of
noise, cleanliness, the facility of traction, the firmness of foothold, and saving
the wear to the feet of horses. In forming my roadway I lay the planking
upon two or more longitudinal sleepers of timber, the planking being so laid
as to present the grain of the timber transversely or diagonally to the line of

page_text: road, and close joint and spike down, or otherwise securely fasten the planks
to the sleepers. Under some circumstances I prefer using the softer descrip-
tions of timber, as soft woods unite more freely with the covering material,
are easier for the draught, and afford better foothold for animals; and where
the road is not perfectly level, or more than usual foothold is required, I cut
chaseways or grooves by taking off the arisses of the planking, which will then
better retain the covering surfaces and prevent partial wear. Where I
construct planked roads in combination with ordinary roads, I plank one or
both sides of the road, according to the traffic, leaving the other side, or the
middle portion, as the case may be, in its ordinary condition. In making my
planked roads, the sleepers or stringers before mentioned should be well or
firmly bedded in the materials of the old roadway, or, when my road is entirely
new, secured in the soil or roadway material, so that the planking obtains a
fair and solid bearing, equal throughout. Or my plank roadway may be con-
structed with two or more thicknesses of thinner planking, laid diagonally with
the line of road and with each other, thus dispensing with the stringers or bearers.
When finished in connection with old roadways, and thinly covered with any
of the before-mentioned materials, my road should present the same surface
as the remaining portion of the roadway, so as to allow of the whole extent
being used indiscriminately, as shewn at Figures 7, 8, and 9. This part of my
Invention further consists in the construction of roads or ways, or in the
alteration of roads or ways, in such a manner as to be available either as
railways or as ordinary or planked roads, as before described, to combine in
one road a railroad and an ordinary or planked road. I denominate roads so
constructed or altered agricultural railways, as by my Invention great facilities
will be given for the economical transport of passengers and produce, either in
ordinary road or in railway carriages, and because they will be especially
useful where the traffic of a district will not warrant the expence of forming
a railway in the ordinary manner. My Invention will also be useful in
extending or connecting lines of railway through streets or roads of great
traffic, where ordinary railways would be inadmissible from the obstructions
their rails would create. I construct my improved rail or combined roads or
ways by fixing an edge rail of any form on the outer side or extreme verge of
the ordinary or planked roadway, with a guard rail, which may be made of
timber, fixed withinside the rail, to act as a guide in preventing the railway
carriages from quitting the track. Such edge rail and guard will offer no
obstruction to the passage of ordinary vehicles along the planked or ordinary
portion of the road. To lay down the inner rail I securely fasten by any of
the known modes of fastening or securing upon the ordinary or planked road;

page_text: if on the former, upon a longitudinal sleeper or flat bar or dished rail, whose
bearing surface shall be raised only sufficiently to allow clearance for the
flange, so as to be level, or nearly so, with the material forming the ordinary
or planked roadway surface, the guard or guide rail previously described
being sufficient to keep the railway carriages upon the track. This inner rail
being therefore level, or nearly so, with the roadway surface, will present little
or no obstruction to the passage of ordinary vehicles along the planked or
ordinary portion of the roadway. This arrangement is shewn at Figure 10.
When a double railway track is required, I make a similar arrangement to
that lastly described, with similar edge and guard rail placed on the opposite
extreme verge of the roadway, with a similar flat bar or dished rail at its
proper guage distance. By these arrangements the entire width of roadway
from the guard rail on the one side to the guard rail on the other, will be
available for the free traffic or passage of ordinary wheeled carriages. The
dished rail described will also in some degree serve as a guide for ordinary
wheeled carriages, by which traction will be much facilitated.
Thirdly, my Invention consists in constructing the wheels of railway carriages
so as to permit them to be moved upon any hard level surface with facility.
This will be found convenient, particularly at termini of railways, and in
repairing shops and railway warehouses. With my improved wheels, railway
carriages may be run off the rails on to any hard level surface, and either
with or without a turntable may be placed in a desired position.
accomplish this, I make the flanges of the tyres with square faces, and of such
increased width as circumstances will allow, but not so as to present any
obstruction to their passing through the ordinary railway crossings.
To
Having now described the whole of my Invention "for Improvements in
"the Construction of the Permanent Way of Rail, Tram, or other Roads, and in
"the Rolling Stock or Apparatus used therefor," in compliance with the proviso
before mentioned, and the manner in which the same is to be carried into
practical effect, I desire it to be undersood, that wherever I have described a
combination of parts, as in my fishing key, roadways, or otherwise, that I lay
no claim to the parts taken separately, or to the material or materials of which
such part is or may be composed, except in such case as I may have reserved
and claimed the same; and I would observe that, where sizes or proportions
are given, I have endeavoured to give nearly as possible those most correct.
I do not confine myself to them as set down or mentioned, as it is evident
that under various circumstances such proportions or sizes may, or in fact,
must be varied to suit or apply to such circumstances, as the different forma-