AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME GREETING,
I, LEWIS DUNBAR BRODIE GORDON, of Abingdon Street, in the City of West-
minster, Civil Engineer.
WHEREAS Her most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Ninth day of May, Anno Domini One thousand eight hundred and forty-
eight, in the eleventh year of Her Majesty's reign, did give and grant unto me,
the said Lewis Dunbar Brodie Gordon, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Lewis Dunbar Brodie Gordon, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others
as 1, the said Lewis Dunbar Brodie Gordon, my exors, adññiors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter. during the term of years therein mentioned, should and might
lawfully make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney,
and Sark, and in all Her Majesty's Colonics and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the said Lewis Dunbar
Brodie Gordon, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument

page_text: in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being
thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Lewis Danbar Brodie Gordon, do hereby describe the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Hitherto when two lengths of rails meet the joint has been made either a
simple butt joint or as a perpendicular overlap joint. Several inconveniences
arise from these kinds of joint; the ends of two rails are seldom on the same
level, and the evil is increased when the sleeper is carelessly packed so as to
cast it on one side, and this inequality of level gives rise to the disagreeable
jolting of the carriages, and to extra wear and tear of machinery.
My first improvement in railways consists in forming the ends of the rails so
as to make an "underlap" joint, the rails being laid so that the end of one
rests upon the end of another, as shown by the several examples in Figures
1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5 & 6. In Figures 5 & 6 is shewn the principle of intro-
ducing a fitting piece of hoop or other iron, so as to bring the end of the rails
to the same level when they have been imperfectly cut, or when the bearing
surfaces have become worn. Figures 3, 3, and 6 shew the joint I recommend
for double-headed rails when these are to be turned over, so as to make use of
the other side of the rail when one has become damaged by wear. Figures
1, 2, 3, 4, 4, and 5, refer to the joint to be cut for single-headed rails.
Figures 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, represent the joint cut so that a stop may be introduced
into the chair to prevent the rails travelling through the chair, a circumstance
well known to those practically acquainted with the maintenance of the
permanent way.
My second improvement in railways consists in a peculiar manner of
adapting thin sheets or plates of malleable iron to form either cross sleepers or
longitudinal bearings for supporting the rails. For this purpose I take a plate
of iron of sufficient length to form a sleeper of from one-sixth to one-quarter
of an inch in thickness, and suitable width, say from ten to sixteen inches, and
punch a hole in the middle, as at c, Figure 8, and two or more holes at the
parts where the chairs are to be fixed, as shewn at e, f, Figure 8; I then bend
the plate into a cylindrical arc, having a radius of from eighteen to thirty-six
inches, or so that there is a concavity of from one and a balf to two and a quarter

page_text: corresponding holes over the moulds of the
chairs, which I thens cast, using enough:
metal to form a thickness of half an inch or
so of cast iron inside. the sleeper, and in this manner I form an inseperable
connection between the chair and the sleeper, no bolts or rivets being. required
to fasten them together. I adopt the following mode of strengthening the
sleeper by a brace or braces marked b, d, b, in Figure 8; the centre hole in the
sheet iron receives a malleable iron ring post" c, d, which is fixed in its placo
by casting round its end a button of iron c, shewn at Figure 9; the brace must be
put in its place before the metal is cast, and is fixed by the metal of the chair,
as shewn at Figure 8, as one of many. ways of doing it. Figure 10 is a longi-
tudinal section through the rail chair and sleeper. Figure 11 is a view shewing
the chair on the sleeper and the rail in the chair. Figure 12 is a side view of
a longitudinal sleeper or bearing with chair attached to it according to my
Invention with a rail in the chairs. Figure 13 is a plan of it, and Figure 14
a section through the chair; Figure, 13ª is a section, Figure 14° an elevation,
and 14b a plan, shewing the manner in which I propose. to make longitudinal
bearers for "bridge rails," the bed for the rail being a continuous casting
(with bolt holes at every 15 inches or thereby apart) on the. sheet iron, as
shewn in the Drawing. As the length of plates is limited, the manner of
insuring an uniform strength of the bearing is shown at 9, g, Figures 12 and
13; a plate of the same strength as the bearers, and about eighteen inches.in
length, is bent so that its convex side fits the concave side of the bearers, and
extends an equal distance under the ends of them. For the purpose of
keeping the rails to the guage when longitudinal bearings are used, I cast a
hole in the joint chair, or at every 12 feet of the length, when the bridge rail
bed is used, and drop into it one end of. a rod of iron bent at right angles, and
the other end also bent into a similar hole in the chair or rail bed opposite.
My third improvement consists of a mode of strengthening or fishing the
rail at the joint by means of a trough or other guider of malleable iron;
Figure 16 shews a plan of doing this. The chairs next the joint are made with
a projection at one side, and the sleepers are two feet two inches or so apart.
The trough girder m, m, rests on the projection of the chairs and supports the
ends of the rails, as shewn in Figure 15, which is a longitudinal section.

page_text: My fourth improvement consists of a mode of fastening the rails in' the
chairs; Figure 18 illustrates this. I make use of a screw for fastening the rail
in the chair, it works through a nut which fits into a recess cast in the chair;
there is a slot for the purpose of allowing the screw and nut to be put in or taken
out without unscrewing the nut; the screw and nut are shewn at Figure 20.
Figure 17 is a section through the chair; shewing the screw in its place
pressing against the wooden key or other elastic medium, a thin piece of iron
being interposed between the end of the screw and key. When wooden keys
are used I prepare them in this manner, I make a varnish of any of the drying
oils by boiling it for several hours. with an addition of red lead equal to
from one-sixteenth to one-twentieth of its weight. When the oil has been
thus prepared, I maintain it at a température of about 450° Fahrenheit, and
by steeping the keys in it they soon become so thoroughly impregnated with
the varnish that their, hygroscopic! quality is destroyed (though their elasticity
is unimpaired), and thus they do not alter in bulk under the influence of
moist and dry seasons.
Having now described the nature of my improvements, what I claim 'as my
-Invention.is,―
First, forming the ends of rails in such. a manner that the end of one shall
.rest upon the end of another in the manner described....
Second, the manner of adapting thin plates of iron to' form sleepers for
supporting rails.as.described, combined with the mode of fastening the chairs
to,malleable iron sleepers, as also:described.
Third, the mode of supporting the ends of the rails by means of a girder, as
'described.
Fourth, the arrangement for fastening the rails in the chairs above
:described.
'
I
And, fifth, the mode. of preparing keys for railways in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said Lewis Dunbar Brodie Gordon, bave
hereunto set my hand and scal; this Third day of November, Anno
Domini One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of November, in the
year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid Lewis Dunbar Brodie Gordon came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.