IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS FOR USE IN PACKING PERMANENT WAY
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles de Bergue, of 10, Strand, in the City of
Westminster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS
FOR USE IN PACKING PERMANENT WAY."
Sealed the 9th July 1867, and dated the 12th January 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles de Bergue at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th January 1867.
I, CHARLES DE BERGUE, of 10, Strand, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
INSTRUMENTS FOR USE IN PACKING PERMANENT WAY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has reference to raising the rails or rails and sleepers or
permanent way of railways for the purpose of packing it up and adjusting it
to the desired level in a more convenient manner than by the ordinary single
lever bar which usually or frequently requires the combined efforts of four or
five men to attain sufficient power who have to retain it in position while the
packing is being effected.
And the Invention consists of mechanical contrivances involving the use of
two arms, forks, jaws, or plates, one of which is intended to take its bearing
upon the ballast or ground, and the other to separate or become forced up
away from the first by jacking or mechanical multiplying power or otherwise
and to lift with it the rail or rails and sleepers or permanent way to or
beneath which it is applied, and to remain so lifted or separated without the

page_text: aid or attention of any of the men employed; such lifting up may be effected
by wedge action or cam action, or screw action, or by a pair of bent levers
hinged together or fitting or to be used together in combination with screw
or other power for working the levers or by any other equivalent contrivance.
By these means the action or movement may be slow but may be effected by
one person, or if not so in certain cases still by fewer persons than are
required by the present system.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles de Bergue in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DE BERGUE, of 10, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles de Bergue, Her special licence that I, the said Charles de Bergue,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles de Bergue, 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
IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS FOR USE IN PACKING PERMANENT WAY," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles de Bergue, 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 Charles de Bergue, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
le performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention has reference to raising the rails or rails and sleepers or

page_text: permanent way of railways for the purpose of packing it up and adjusting it
to the desired level in a more convenient manner than by the ordinary single
lever bar which usually or frequently requires the combined efforts of four or
five men to attain sufficient power who have to retain it in position while the
packing is being effected.
And the Invention consists of mechanical contrivances involving the use of
two members, arms, forks, jaws, or plates, one of which is intended to take
its bearing upon the ballast or ground, and the other to separate or become
forced up away from the first by jacking or mechanical multiplying power or
otherwise, and to lift with it the rail or rails and sleepers or permanent way
to or beneath which it is applied, and to remain so lifted or separated without
the aid or attention of any of the men employed; such lifting up may be
effected by wedge action or cam action, or screw action, or by a pair of .bent
levers hinged together or fitting or to be used together in combination with
screw or other power for working the levers, or by any other equivalent
contrivance. By these means the action or movement may be slow but may
be effected by one person, or if not so in certain cases still by fewer persons
than are required by the present system.
The accompanying Drawing further illustrates the manner of performing
the Invention by representations of two kinds or modifications of the "improved
instruments."
One of these is delineated at the Figures 1, 2, 3, Figure 1 being a plan
view, Figure 2 a longitudinal section, and Figure 3 a transverse section
through the screw end of the instrument.
In these Figures a is an iron bed plate forming not only the lower member,
jaw, or arm of the instrument, but also a frame or support for the other
parts; b is the upper member formed of wrought iron, cast steel, or malleable
cast iron, and lying within the recessed or hollow form of the lower member
when in the position shewn, and hinged to same at the end marked c. The
opposite end d is tapped with screwed hole for receiving the lifting screw e
(not shewn in Figure 1), the lower end of which rests upon a properly formed
seating for it, cast in the member a; upon this end of the screw and upon
the hinge at c the weight of the jaw b and any load it may carry is supported.
The member a is cast with a curved lip or rim a* which serves as a protection
from the ballast falling into the recess and also as a stop against the rail; fis
an ordinary moveable key or spanner fitting on to upper end of the screw;
Figure 4 shews handle of same.
In using the instrument a portion of the ballast is if necessary to be
excavated between the sleepers, and the instrument so placed in or on the
3

page_text: ballast under the rail g as that the rail may rest on or be immediately over
the seats formed for it at a² on the upper surfaces of the sides of the
member a, and which seats may be fashioned differently according to the form
of rail. By turning the screw the end d of the member will be lifted, and
the weight of rail and sleepers and appendages being supported on the said
member will be raised from off the seats a³, great power being obtained by
the screw action and the leverage; moreover, it will remain so raised till
lowered by reverse movement of the screw, and meanwhile the packing of the
ballast may be effected without attention to the instrument itself. The
handles serve for placing, removing, and carrying the instrument, the
weight of which is not more than can be managed by one workman only if
desired.
At the following Figures is delineated the other of the two kinds or modifi-
cations of the "improved instruments" above referred to, Figure 5 being a
longitudinal section, and Figure 6, a plan view, not corresponding exactly to or
reading off from Figure 5, but developed or drawn as if in a generally
straight instead of the intended bent form. This instrument varies from that
firstly described, more particularly in the said bent form; and in arrange-
ment of the leverage the fulcrum or hinge by which the two principal
members, jaws, or arms are connected being situate between the weight to
be raised and the point of application of the screw power, and the said power
being exerted to draw towards each other instead of to separate the ends of
the members, and thereby to open or separate them at their opposite ends.
In the Figures referred to, m is an iron curved frame forming the lower
member, its end m* being intended to bed or rest in or upon the ballast; n is
the upper member (also bent) formed of wrought iron, cast steel, or malleable
cast iron, lying or partly lying within the recessed or hollow form of the
member m. The two members are hinged together by a pin at o; p is a
spring, tending to keep the members relatively in the position shewn in
Figure 5 with their ends m* and n* lying together, and in which position
the instrument is ready for use; n* is seat for rail formed on the member n,
the form of which (seat) may be varied according to the rail; q is a screwed
rod, one end of which is hinged to the end n of the member n, and the other
end of which is passed through a splayed hole in the end m² of the member m.
The part m is also formed with cup-shaped recess for the rounded or ball
faced nuts, (see Figure 5) which fits and works upon the screwed rod, the
nut being mounted on or formed in one with the lever s*; by turning this
the ends m, n, of the members will be brought towards each other, and their
ends m, n, separated, and consequently the rail with its appendages reşting

page_text: On a
on the seat n* will be elevated, as in the firstly described instrument.
reverse movement of the lever s* and nuts the spring p will ensure a return
of the two members into their first position.
The instrument is evidently susceptible of various other modifications, but
those represented are the most practicable and convenient that my present
experience has furnished. I would, however, remark that in certain cases the
screw power whether for forcing asunder or drawing together the ends of the
members may be replaced by cam motion, toothed wheel work, or by an
hydraulic arrangement or other mechanical equivalent. Or the screw power,
or cam motion, or toothed wheel work, or an hydraulic arrangement or other
mechanical equivalent, may be applied directly instead of lever fashion, or
indirectly as a means of separating the members.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Bergue, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-seven.
C. DE BERGUE. (L.S.)