Year: 1887

page_text: We, MAX AM ENDE of 3 Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, in the City
of Westminster, Civil Engineer, and ALEXANDER BUCHANAN, of Brittania Ironworks,
Derby, Managing Director of the said Ironworks, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object improvements in iron and steel flooring for railway
bridges and road bridges.
At the present time the flooring of bridges is usually laid in corrugations or in
ridge and furrow, or in troughs, sometimes running parallel with the rails or the road,
sometimes transversely. Sometimes the corrugations or troughs are laid side by side
without any connection between them, and sometimes the troughs are placed upside
down. In the following description we shall call the hollow part of a corrugation or
the furrow a trough.
Now we find that in such structures each trough practically has to support its own
load and derives but little aid from adjacent troughs. Now the load on the floor of a
railway bridge or of a road bridge is not equally distributed, but (as respects the
heaviest loads to which the flooring is subjected) the load is applied at points at a
distance apart equal to the wheel base of the locomotive or carriage longitudinally and
equal to the wheel gauge transversely.
Now, according to our invention we proportion these troughs so that the distance
between their centres is approximately the same as the distance between the points at
which the load is applied. In a railway of the ordinary gauge the distance between
the troughs when longitudinal will accordingly be about five feet, and when the
troughs are transverse the distance between the troughs may be about five or six feet
according to the wheel base of the bogie or the driving wheels of an engine. In all
cases the proportion is such that between the two troughs, loaded in this manner,
there is not an intermediate trough which is not loaded, whereas, in railway bridge
floors as heretofore constructed it has always been the case that between two troughs
D...631

page_text: .
loaded by the bogie or the driving wheels of an engine, there has been an intermediate
trough exposed to a much smaller load; an arrangement which shews that the metal
in the floor is not disposed to the best advantage.
Variously formed troughs may be used, as the simple zig-zag with flat sides made of
plates making equal angles with the vertical; or the plates may be buckled, or the
corners of the zig-zag may be flattened, or they may be formed by the introduction of
rolled bars of various forms; or curved plates may be used laid either convex or
concave; or in some cases the tops and bottoms of the troughs may be horizontal and
the sides vertical. In all cases additional strength may be obtained, for example at
the centre of the span, by strips of plating or other additional metal rivetted on at the
tops and bottoms of the troughs.
On the underside or sometimes above the bottoms of the troughs stiffeners are
attached for the purpose of giving the requisite stiffness to the plating between the
sides of the troughs, and we arrange them at distances which depend on the nature
of the material with which the plating is covered and on the thickness of that material
and of the plating.
In some cases we use troughs which are broad enough to contain a pair or a group of
railway sleepers when they lie parallel with the troughs enclosing them sideways and
beneath and in some cases when the sleepers lie crossways with the trough we form
the trough to contain the whole of the sleeper.
Dated this 9th day of November 1887.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Iron and Steel Flooring for Railway and other
Bridges.
We, MAX AM ENDE, of 3 Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, and ALEXANDER BUCHANAN, of Brittannia Ironworks,
Derby, Managing Director of the said Ironworks, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for its object improvements in iron and steel flooring for railway
bridges and road bridges.
At the present time the flooring of bridges is usually laid in corrugations or in
ridge and furrow, or in troughs, sometimes running parallel with the rails or the road,
sometimes transversely. Sometimes the corrugations or troughs are laid side by side
without any connection between them, and sometimes the troughs are placed upside
down. In the following description we shall call the hollow part of a corrugation or
the furrow a trough.
Now we find that in such structures each trough practically has to support its own
load and derives but little aid from adjacent troughs. Now the load on the floor of a
railway bridge or of a road bridge not equally distributed, but (as respects the
heaviest loads to which the flooring is subjected) the load applied at points at a
distance apart equal to the wheel base of the locomotive or carriage longitudinally and
equal to the wheel gauge transversely.
Now, according to our invention we proportion these troughs so that the distance
between their centres is approximately the same as the distance between the points at
which the load is applied. In a railway of the ordinary gauge the distance between
the troughs when longitudinal will accordingly be about five feet, and when the
troughs are transverse the distance between the troughs may be about five or six feet
or more according to the wheel base of the bogie or the driving wheels of an engine.
In all cases the proportion is such that between the two troughs loaded in this
manner, there is not an intermediate trough which is not loaded, whereas, in railway
bridge floors as heretofore constructed it has always been the case that between two
troughs loaded by the bogie or the driving wheels of an engine there has been an
intermediate trough exposed to a much smaller load; an arrangement which shews
that the metal in the floor is not disposed to the best advantage.
Variously formed troughs may be used, as the simple zig zag with flat sides made of
plates making equal angles with the vertical; or the plates may be buckled or the
corners of the zig-zag may be flattened, or they may be formed by the introduction
of rolled bars of various forms; or curved plates may be used laid either convex or
concave, or in some cases the tops and bottoms of the troughs may be horizontal and
the sides vertical. In all cases additional strength may be obtained, for example at
the centre of the span, by strips of plating or other additional metal rivetted on at the
tops and bottoms of the troughs.

page_text: On the underside of the structure and between the troughs stiffeners are attached
for the purpose of giving the requisite stiffness to the plating between the sides of the
troughs, and we arrange them at distances which depend on the nature of the material
with which the plating is covered and on the thickness of that material and of the
plating.
In some cases we use troughs which are broad enough to contain a pair or a group
of railway sleepers when they lie parallel with the troughs enclosing them sideways
and beneath.
In order that our said invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will proceed to describe the drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the present practice in respect to the construc-
tion of the flooring of railway bridges where the corrugations and troughs are laid
transversely.
a¹ a² a³ a¹ and a represent successive troughs and 6 6 represent the wheels of a
locomotive travelling over the structure. The proportion as will be seen is such that
between the troughs a¹ and at on which the wheels may be standing there is an inter-
mediate trough or intermediate troughs a² and a³ which (although the troughs are all
part of one structure) aid comparatively little in carrying the load.
Figure 2 is a similar diagrain illustrating the present practice where the corruga-
tions and troughs forming the flooring of the bridge run longitudinally.
In this diagram c¹² c³c represent successive troughs and the two rails d d forming
an ordinary line of railway are over the troughs c¹ and c³ leaving an intermediate
trough which aids comparatively little in carrying the load.
This diagram we may observe shows the greatest distance from centre to centre at
which troughs have heretofore been laid in a bridge or railway flooring.
Figure 3 illustrates our novel practice as applied to the flooring of a railway bridge
where the corrugations and troughs are laid transversely. el e² and e³ are three
successive troughs and ƒ ƒ represent the wheels of a locomotive travelling over the
structure.
In the figure the distance from centre to centre is somewhat more than two thirds
of the wheel base and one wheel is represented immediately over the trough e. This
is the position in which the disposition of the load is least symetrical but even in this
position the trough e² is more heavily laden than the trough e³.
Figure 4 illustrates our novel practice as applied to the flooring of a railway bridge
where the corrugations or troughs are laid longitudinally. gl² are two adjacent
troughs of the flooring and h h are the two rails forming a railway line, they stand
upon sleepers laid in the troughs. ii represent the main girders of the bridge and ji
transverse girders on which the trough flooring is laid as shewn. In this case again
there is no intermediate trough between the two loaded troughs of the flooring.
Figure 5 illustrates our novel practice in respect to the employment of a flooring
constructed with troughs of such dimensions as each to receive two sleepers. kk are
the troughs they are laid transversely and in each are two transverse sleepers 1 l.
m shows one of the rails.
nn are
Figure 6 represents a transverse section of a bridge for a common road.
the main girders oo the transverse girders and p p the corrugated or trough flooring
99 represent the wheels of a heavy vehicle passing over the bridge. It will be seen
that the distance from centre to centre of the troughs is still such that between two
loaded troughs there is never an intermediate carrying a lesser load. Figures 7 and 8
illustrate the method in which we strengthen the troughs to give the requisite
stiffness between the sides.
Figure 7 shews two of the troughs e¹ e² of Fig. 3 in section with the stiffener
between them in elevation.
Figure 8 is a section on the line 8 8 in Figure 7.
The strengtheners rare of sheet metal like the rest of the floor structure and are

page_text: secured by angle irons as the drawing indicates. These stiffeners are placed beneath
the rails.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is: -
1. Iron and steel flooring for railway bridges constructed substantially as described
with troughs laid longitudinally in the roadway at a distance from centre to centre
such that the load on the two rails forming a line of railway is supported by two
adjacent troughs without any intermediate and comparatively unloaded trough
intervening.
2. Iron and steel flooring for railway bridges constructed substantially as described
with troughs laid transversely in the roadway and at a distance from centre to centre
such that the load on any two adjacent pairs of wheels is supported by adjacent troughs,
without any intermediate and more lightly loaded trough intervening.
3. Iron and steel flooring for bridges constructed substantially as described with
troughs of a width so proportioned to the distances between the points at which the
loads are applied by a wheeled vehicle passing over that no intermediate more lightly
loaded trough intervenes between adjacent loaded troughs.
4. Iron and steel flooring for railway bridges constructed substantially as described
with troughs each of a sufficient width to receive within it two or more of the sleepers
of the railway line.
5. Iron and steel flooring for bridges constructed substantially as described with
troughs furnished at intervals with transverse stiffeners giving the requisite stiffness
between the sides of the troughs.