IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SLEEPERS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas William Miller, of 6, Queen's Place,
Southsea, Hants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
SLEEPERS."
Sealed the 25th July 1854, and dated the 16th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas William Miller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th May 1854.
I, THOMAS WILLIAM MILLER, of 6, Queen's Place, Southsea, Hants, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
SLEEPERS" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improved arrangements or constructions of
wrought-iron sleepers for railways by employing plate iron and angle iron.
For this purpose the parts are put together with rivits. The form of angle
iron used may somewhat vary, and the manner of putting the parts together
may also be varied. The forms of angle iron used for the Invention are as
Call

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas William Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL "COME," I, THOMAS
WILLIAM MILLER of 6, Queen's Place, Southsea, Hants, send g greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas William Miller, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
William Miller, my executors, 'administrators; and assigns, or such others as
I the said Thomas Williami Miller, 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 "IMPROVE-.
MENTS IN RAILWAY SLEEPERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas William Miller, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Thomas William Miller, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, 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) ::.
:
This Invention has for its object improvements in the forms of railway
sleepers when wrought iron is used, and consists of employing certain forms of
angle iron, as herein-after explained.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an end view or a section of rolled wrought-iron bar. used
by me in the manufacture of railway sleepers; Figure 2 is a plan thereof;
Figures 3, 4, and 5 show three views of part of a permanent way of railway
constructed with sleepers of the form shown in Figures 1 and 2, but which
may also be constructed with the sleepers hereafter described, such sleepers
having chairs suitable for. the form of rails shown. fixed to them by screw bolts
and, nuts, or it might be, by rivets; Figure 6 shows a section, and Figure 7 a
plan, of another form of rolled wrought-iron bar used. by me in constructing
Figure 1 shows an end view or a section of rolled wrought-iron bar. used
by me in the manufacture of railway sleepers; Figure 2 is a plan thereof;
Figures 3, 4, and 5 show three views of part of a permanent way of railway
constructed with sleepers of the form shown in Figures 1 and 2, but which
may also be constructed with the sleepers hereafter described, such sleepers
having chairs suitable for the form of rails shown. fixed to them by screw bolts
and, nuts, or it might be, by rivets; Figure 6 shows a section, and Figure 7 a
plan, of another form of rolled wrought-iron bar used. by me in constructing

page_text: them;
railway sleepers. These sleepers are to have chairs suitable for the rails used,
fixed thereto by screw bolts and nuts or otherwise. Figure 8 shows a section,
and Figure 9 a plan, of another form of rolled wrought-iron bar employed by
me in making railway sleepers. These sleepers are to have chairs suitable for
the forms of rails used fixed thereto by screw bolts and nuts or otherwise.
Figure 10 shows a section, and Figure 11 a plan, of another form of rolled
wrought-iron bar which I use in constructing railway sleepers, and such
sleepers are to have chairs suitable for the rails employed fixed thereto by
screw bolts and nuts or otherwise. Railway sleepers of the forms above
described may be coated with zinc or other matter to preserve and protect
and in place of having chairs fixed thereto, the rails themselves, when of
a form to admit of it, may be fixed to the sleepers by screw bolts and nuts or
otherwise. I have thus far only spoken of transverse sleepers for railways;
but I also make longitudinal railway sleepers of like forms of rolled wrought-
iron bars, but in such cases I have them rolled as long as I can, and I cause
chairs suitable for the rails used to be fixed thereto by screw bolts and nuts or
otherwise; or the rails themselves may, when of a convenient form, be fixed by
screw bolts and nuts or otherwise to the sleepers, and, when desired, the ends
of the several sleepers may be connected one to the other by fishing pieces, as
is now practised with respect to the ends of rails; and when fixing the rails,
whether in chairs or directly to the sleepers themselves, care should be taken
that the ends of the rails and the ends of the parts of a longitudinal sleeper do
not come opposite each other, and these sleepers may be kept apart at their
proper distances by ordinary stretching bolts with collars and nuts or
otherwise.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
manufacture of the sleepers of railways of the forms of wrought iron herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas William Miller, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
5 Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
T. W. MILLER.