Improvements in or relating to Sleepers for Use on Railways and the like.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 10th July, 1899-Accepted, 9th Sept., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Sleepers for Use on Railways and
the like.
I, FRANÇOIS HENNEBIQUE, of 54, Boulevard Saint Michel, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Engineer, 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: —
Hitherto efforts for substituting in practice sleepers of cement beton
strengthened by a metal core for the wood or metal sleepers at present employed
have been unsuccessful and yet the defective durability of railway tracks con-
structed with these latter is recognised by all engineers.
In order to increase the durability and stability efforts have been made to
increase the weight of the sleeper which is possible with strengthened beton
without causing too great an exponse for its construction. Prismatic blocks
of strengthened beton of a sliape analogous to the shape of wooden sleepers,
but of larger dimensions have therefore been employed. The sleepers thus
formed do not allow of the rails being suitably fixed thereon, and as, on the
other hand, they only produce a slight increase of actual stability, they have
been abandoned.
The improvements which I have introduced in the construction of sleepers
proper of strengthened beton and in the method of fixing the rails which form
the object of the present application, avoid all the difficulties which prevent
the use of strengthened cement beton for constructing railway tracks.
The characteristics of my invention are as follows:-
My sleepers have a form which ensures their perfect connection with the
ballast. They are arranged to act as a support for the rails and prevent spread-
ing or widening of the track. Finally the judicious distribution of the iron
skeleton or strengthening in the mass of cement ensures to them a resistance
to the various strains to which they are subjected by the passage of trains over
the rails. In principle I give the sleeper the form of a reversed T (1), or
even the form of a double T laid on its side () so as to have a large flat
horizontal area forming a dish, and on this area one or two vertical parts having
a considerable amount of inertia, the ballast accumulating on the horizontal wings
or flanges round the vertical wings, which serve it for support, and thus pre-
venting the sleeper from turning or moving in the direction of the track. In
case a double horizontally laid T() shaped sleeper is employed, the ballast
bears on the two faces of the horizontal area. Each of the vertical skeletons
of the sleeper are formed like a strengthened cement girder and arranged accord-
ing to the principles explained in my prior patent No. 30143 of 1897. To sum up,
the sleeper is formed of one or more beams connected on a flat area forming a dish, the
whole forming a monolith, and allowing the ballast to accumulate on the sleeper
instead of merely enveloping the latter. In case the shape of a double Ț laid
on its side is used, the sleeper is formed by twin beams or twin girders connected'
by a flat area.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown as an example two forms of
sleepers arranged according to the principles herein before enumerated, Figures 1
NAWAGnting
alaunan in the fame of
T21.7

page_text: formed by a girder resting on a flat area forming a dish, and serving for the
accumulation of ballast. Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of a half sleeper,
Figure 2 a corresponding plan view, Figures 3, 4 and 5 are transverse sections
respectively on the lines 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 of' Figures and 2.
The vertical skeleton or core V forming the beam is strengthened by means
of two longitudinal iron bars FF connected by stirrup shaped pieces E. The
immovable connection between the skeleton or core V and the part H for forming
the monolith is ensured by horizontal stirrup shaped pieces E E. The horizontal
area may be strengthened particularly at those points where it will undergo
the greatest strains, that is to say, towards the ends and in the parts adjacent to
the rails, by irons R R. The rail rests on an enlarged part forming the
shoulder C, against the core or skeleton V. This partitioning of the reversed T
shaped tapered core where the rails pass further increases the facility of retain-
ing the sleeper against lateral displacements. The core or skeleton is. hollowed
out or recessed at e, the lateral faces el e³ of the recess forming a shoulder for
the support of the devices for keying and fixing the rail.
Figures 6 and 7 slow respectively in longitudinal section and partial plan
view a half sleeper in the form of a double T laid on its side, whilst Figures
and 9 are transverse sections respectively on the lines 8-8 and 9-9 of Figure 6.
The vertical parts or wings are formed of two girders of strengthened cement
VV connected by a flat area H' forming a dish for holding ballast, and serving
for retaining or anchoring this latter. The constitution of the girders V1 V2 is
according to the principles herein before mentioned, and the formation of the
block or monolith is ensured by means of iron bars R or stirrup shaped horizontal
picces suitably distributed. The rail always rests in a recess which in this
whole arrangement is obtained by a groove enabling the area H to be employed
as a surface for the support of the rail. Partitions CC serve as shoulders and
strengthening pieces and also for preventing the Interal displacement of the
sleeper.
As regards the method of fixing the rail on sleepers made of beton, various
conditions must be complied with. It must enable strains, which tend to raise
or lift the rail, to be resisted without deteriorating the sleeper, it must avoid
longitudinal displacement, and widening or spreading of the track, and further
allow of the rail being easily and rapidly removed.
These conditions which seem incompatible, more particularly with the use for
the sleeper of a material such as strengthened cement or beton, which only
possesses a very sliglit actual elasticity, are realised by the arrangement herein-
after described which I have adopted. In the joint which I shall now describe,
and which I have shown in detail in the accompanying drawings, the fixity is
regulated, so to speak, automatically.
Figure 10 is a longitudinal section along the axis of the joint of a sleeper
and rails mounted thereon; Figure 11 is a corresponding plan view; Figures 12,
13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 are details of the keying or fixing devices. The outer
Hange 1 of the foot of the rail r is fixed by a clamp 3 bedded in the sleeper and
consequently forming one piece with it. This clamp is shown in front and side
elevation respectively in Figures 16 and 17, and may in certain cases be
replaced by a cement packing 4 placed between the neck of the rail and a
projection C formed on the sleeper, and arranged for this object as is shown
in the modified form of construction in Figures 6 and 7.
The essential characteristic of the joint consists in the method of fixing the
internal flange 2 of the foot of the rail. A first groove or recess indicated in
plan view by 5, 6, 7, 8, of Figure 11, and in section by 9, 10, 11, 12 of Figure 10
is formed in the axis of the sleeper at the side of the flange 2 of the foot of the
rail. After the rail has been placed in position, a piece 13 shown in detail
respectively in longitudinal and lateral elevation in Figure 14 and 15 is first
engaged in said groove or recess, and secondly a piece 14 shown in detail
respectively in longitudinal and lateral elevation in Figures 12 and 13.

page_text: 13 is a large clamp having a widened base 15 16. Figure 15 and longitudinal
faces 17, 15, 18, 16 tapering from the summit to the base. 14 is a horse-shoe
shaped piece of metal, the arms of which bear by means of a longitudinal face 19,
20, Figure 13, on the face 17, 15 of the clamp 13. This face tapers from 19
towards 20 so as to be parallel with 17, 15. The other vertical face 21, 22 bears
on the vertical wall 12, 11, 6, 7 of the recess 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 formed in the
sleeper.
It is immediately seen that any tendency to raise or lift the foot 1, corre-
sponding to a tendency to widen or spread the track, would be shown by a
raising of the clamp 13, which with its inclined plane 15, 17 would slide down
the corresponding inclined plane of the arms 20, 19 of the horse-shoe 14. This
latter would immediately descend by its own weight, and the fixity of the
whole of the joint would remain thus automatically ensured:
In order to allow of the rail being rapidly and easily removed without injuring
the sleeper, I form in the recess of this latter between the two arms of the
horse-shoe 14 a recess indicated in plan view by 23, 24 and in section by 11,
12, 25, the width being slightly inferior to the distance 26, Figure 12 between
the two arms of the horse-shoe in order that the latter may bear strongly against
the vertical bottom 6, 7 of the recess. It is easy by means of a tool introduced
into the slot or recess 23, 24 to seize or grip the horse-shoe 14 by its horizontal
flange and release it from the joint.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
-
1. In the construction of sleepers of strengthened cenient beton for railways
and the like, the method of forming said sleepers of a reversed T or a double T
laid on its side, or more generally by means of one or more vertical parts (V V₁
V) forming connected. girders with a dish shaped horizontal area (III) which
latter serves for the accumulation of ballast thereon to prevent the sleeper
from turning, said sleepers being preserved against any lateral displacement
by means of partitions or shoulders (CC) preferably arranged in such a way
as to act as a support for the rail, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
2. In an arrangement for fixing rails on sleepers of railways and the like
more particularly applicable for sleepers of strengthened cement beton, the
combination of two parts 13, 14 placed in juxtaposition, the longitudinal faces
of which being in contact and suitably tapered, slide one on the other, whilst
the opposite longitudinal faces bear against the walls of a recess in the sleeper,
one of said parts 13 forming a clamp on the foot of the rail, the other 14
forming a wedge for automatically securing said clamp in a groove in the sleeper,
substantially as hereinbefore described, and with the object set forth.
3. A method of fixing rails on sleepers of railways and the like by means of
two combined parts 13 and 14 such as herein before described, the part 14 con-
sisting of a horse-shoe-shaped piece, capable of being easily withdrawn by its
horizontal arm, on the introduction of a tool into a recess formed for the purpose
in the sleeper, substantially as set forth.
Dated the […].. 1000
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.