A NEW OR IMPROVED RAILWAY CHAIR
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Nickless, of Coalbrook Dale, in the County
of Salop, Pattern Maker, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
RAILWAY CHAIR."
Sealed the 29th October 1857, and dated the 1st July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Nickless at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1857.
I, JOSEPH NICKLESS, of Coalbrook Dale, in the County of Salop, Pattern
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED BAILWAY CHAIR," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of a new or improved railway chair for holding
the rails of railways, which said chair is constructed in the following manner:―
The said chair is made of cast iron, and consists of two parts, one fixed and
the other moveable. The moveable part rests upon the bed plate of the fixed
part, and between the cheeks of the fixed and moveable parts the rail is held.
The moveable part is made to bear firmly against the rail, and hold the said
rail between it, the said moveable part and fixed part, in the following
manner: A wrought-iron wedge or cotter is driven between the moveable
part and two uprights or side wings on the bed plate of the fixed part, tho
motion of the said cotter or wedge being in a horizontal plane. By the action
of the said wedge or cotter, the moveable part of the chair is made to bear

page_text: firmly against the rail, and hold the said rail securely in its place. The said
wedge or cotter may be fixed, either by a key fastened transversely through its
end, or by a nut on its screwed end, or the said end of the wedge or cotter
may be split, and then clenched after it has been put in its place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Nickless in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joseru
NICKLESS, of Coalbrook Dale, in the County of Salop, Pattern Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Nickless, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Nickless,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Nickless, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED
RAILWAY CHAIR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Nickless, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Joseph Nickless, 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:-
My said Invention consists of a new or improved railway chair for holding
the rails of railways, which said railway chair is constructed in the manner
herein-after described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in elevation, Figure 2

page_text: represents in vertical section, and Figure 3 represents in plan, a railway chair
constructed according to my Invention, the said railway chair having a rail-
fixed in it in Figures 1 and 2. I make my new or improved railway chair by
preference of cast iron; but I do not limit myself to the use of any particular
material.
b
The said railway chair consists of two parts, one of the said parts being
fixed, and the other of the said parts moveable on the said fixed part. The
fixed part is marked a in Figures 1, 2, and 3, and the moveable part is marked
6 in the said Figures. The forms of the parts a and b, respectively, will be
understood by an inspection of the Drawing. The moveable part 6 rests upon
the bed plate of the fixed part a, and the rail c is held between the part 6 and
the fixed cheek d on the part a. The moveable part 6 is made to bear firmly
against the rail c, and hold the said rail between it, the moveable part and the
fixed part, in the following manner:-A wrought-iron wedgo or cotter e is
driven between the moveable part 6 and the uprights or wings f, g, h, the said
cotter or wedge e engaging underneath the heads of the uprights f, h, and
bearing laterally against the part g, as will be understood by reference to
Figure 2. The motion of the cotter or wedge e is in a horizontal plane. By
the action of the wedge or cotter e, the moveable part 6 of the chair is made
to bear firmly against the rail c, and hold the said rail securely in its place.
The wedge or cotter e may be fixed in its place either by a key or cotter
passed through its smaller end, or by a nut screwed on its smaller end; or
the wedge or cotter e itself may be split at its smaller end, and the said split
end may be opened after the wedge or cotter e has been driven in its place, so
as to clench the said wedge or cotter.
Figure 4 represents in vertical section, and Figure 5 in plan, a railway
chair constructed according to my Invention, to be used for holding a single-
headed rail, a piece of rail being represented held by the chair in both
the said Figures.
As the parts of the chair, Figures 4 and 5, differ in no essential respects
from those of the chair represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, I do not think it
necessary to describe the same further than by indicating the parts which
correspond essentially with those of the chair, Figures 1, 2, and 3. The fixed
part of the chair, Figures 4 and 5, is marked i, and the moveable part is
marked k. The wedge or cotter / engages with the upright m on the fixed
part i, in a manner nearly resembling that already explained with reference to
Figures 1, 2, and 3, and which will be understood by an examination of the
Drawing. The arrangement, Figures 4 and 5, may also be applied to double-
headed rails, by such an alteration in form as will make it fit the said double-

page_text: headed rails. The chair is fixed to the sleeper by pins passing through boles
marked n, in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same 5
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention, the new or improved railway chair herein-before
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a
railway chair consisting essentially of two cheeks, between which the rail is
held, one of the said cheeks being fixed to the bed plate of the said chair, and 1
the other cheek sliding upon the said bed plate, the moveable chcek being
made to press the rail against the fixed cheek by a wrought-iron wedge,
driven horizontally between the moveable cheek and an upright or uprights
on the bed plate of the said chair.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Nickless, have hereunto set my 1
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JOSEPH NICKLESS. (L.s.)
Witness,
WILLIAM NICHOLAS.