IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Russell Aitken, of Bombay, Engineer.
Sealed the 23rd March 1869, and dated the 26th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th September 1868.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," a
communication to me from abroad by Russell Aitken, of Bombay,
Engineer, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a method of securing the ordinary
double-headed rails in chairs whereby the usual wooden key is dispensed
with and the bottom of the rail is protected from injury. The mode
in which this is accomplished is by driving an iron or steel wedge (which
may be bent) underneath and at right angles to the rail, thereby forcing
the rail upwards and consequently jamming it tightly against a filling

page_text: piece, which is inserted between the side of the rail and the chair. This
filling piece may be of cast iron and is so constructed that part of it
projects downwards on either side of the wedge before referred to, and is
thereby prevented from. being shaken out of place. The wedge need not
bear upon the chair directly underneath the rail, but it is preferred that
it shall be supported at a certain distance from the bottom of the rail, as
thereby a certain amount of elasticity is secured. The wedge is pre-
vented from shaking out by the parts of the chair upon which it rests
being roughened, or by the thin end being slightly bent over or otherwise
secured in place.
The second part of this Invention relates to a mode of constructing
an iron permanent way which shall be as nearly as possible uniformly
elastic. The chairs which may be somewhat of the usual shape or as
before described, do not rest directly on or form part of the cast-iron
boul sleeper or other sleeper, but they are carried by cross girders to
which such chairs are secured, and these cross girders rest at their ends
on cast-iron bowl sleepers, or sleepers of any other shape or material, or..
upon wrought-iron buckled plates. The object of this construction is
that the cross girders at the points where they carry the rails yield as
the wheels of the locomotive engine or carriage pass over them, and the
required amount of elasticity is secured by proportioning the strength of
the cross girder into the distance between the point where the rail is
secured to it, and where it rests on the bowl or other sleeper before
referred to. The cross girders may have the chairs secured to them by
rivetting or otherwise, and may be secured to the sleepers by rivetting
or by projecting lugs or otherwise. This mode of construction may be
varied to suit the different sections of rails, but the essential feature
of this part the said Invention is the construction of an elastic iron
road by placing the rails on yielding cross girders and not directly on
the sleeper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
5 give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special
license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time, and at all times thereafter during the
O 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," a communication from abroad by
Russell Aitken, of Bombay, Engineer, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or adminis-
trators 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
The said Invention relates, firstly, to a method of securing the ordinary
double-headed rails in chairs whereby the usual wooden key is dispensed
with and the bottom of the rail is protected from injury.
Secondly. To a mode of constructing an iron permanent way which
shall be as nearly as possible uniformly elastic.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings;
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
corresponding Figures.
Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings represent respectively in end elevation

page_text: and longitudinal vertical section the mode of securing ordinary double-
headed rails, which constitutes the first part of the said Invention.
A is the rail and B the chair, which may be secured in any convenient
manner on to a wooden or other sleeper; C is an iron or steel wedge,
which may be curved or bent, as shewn, driven underneath and at
right angles or transversely to the rail, suitable openings being made in
the lower part of the jaws a, b, of the chair for that purpose; by this
means the rail is forced upwards, and consequently jammed tightly
against a filling piece c, which is inserted between one side of the
rail and the jaw b of the chair. As the inner faces of the two jaws a, b,
are inclined inwards slightly towards the top, and as the back of the
filling piece c is also inclined to correspond to the inclination of the
jaw b, it follows that on driving in the metal wedge or key C the rail
will be tightened in the chair. The filling piece c may be of cast iron,
having slightly projecting holding surfaces at its upper and lower edges
on the side next the rail so as to nip the rail close to its top and bottom
heads, as shewn clearly in Figure 2. A groove or notch may also be
formed across the filling piece for the passage of the key or wedge C,
a part of the filling piece being thus made to project downwards on
either side of the key or wedge, by which arrangement the filling piece
is prevented from being shaken out of its place. The wedge or key C
need not bear upon the chair directly underneath the rail, but it is
preferred that it shall be supported at a certain distance on each side of
the rail, as shewn in Figure 2, as thereby a certain amount of elasticity
is secured. The liability of the wedge or key to shake out of its place
or become loosened is obviated more or less by making those parts of the
chair upon which it rests serrated or rough, as shewn in Figure 2, or if
preferred the thin end of the wedge may be slightly bent over or
otherwise secured in place.
Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the mode of constructing an iron permanent
way according to the second part of the said Invention. A, A, are the
rails and B, B, the chairs, which may hold the rails either in the ordinary
manner, as shewn in Figure 3, or they may be shaped and made to hold
the rails in the manner herein-before described and illustrated by
Figures 1 and 2, but whatever may be their construction and mode of
gripping or holding the rail they are to be so situate as not to rest
directly upon or over or form part of the cast-iron bowl or other
sleeper D, but are carried by and secured to cross girders E by bolts, rivets,
or otherwise. The cross girders E rest at their ends on the cast-iron bowl

page_text: sleepers D, or upon sleepers of any other material or shape, or upon wrought-
iron buckled plates. They may be secured to such sleepers by rivetting or
by projecting lugs or otherwise. In the sectional view, Figure 4, I have
represented the girder as being secured to the sleeper by a transverse
curved wedge or key C driven underneath the girder and tightening it
in its place in a similar manner to the rail, as herein-before described in
reference to Figures 1 and 2. The object of this construction of per-
manent way is the attainment of any desired amount of elasticity, since
the cross girders E at the points where they carry the rails yield as the
wheels of the engine or carriages pass over them, and the required
amount of elasticity is secured by proportioning the strength of the
cross girder to the distance between the point where the rail is secured
to it and the part of the girder which rests upon the sleeper. This mode
of construction of the permanent way of railways may obviously be
modified so as to suit different sections of rails, forms of chairs, and
modes of fastening.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may
be used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
First. The peculiar mode of securing the rails of the permanent way
of railways in their chairs, as herein-before described and illustrated by
Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings.
Second. The construction of an elastic iron permanent way by placing
the rails on yielding cross girders, and not directly on or over the sleeper,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification, set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of
March One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
J. HENRI JOHNSON. (L.S.)