IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORMATION OF RAILS OR RODS FOR MAKING RAILWAYS, AND IN THE METHOD OF FIXING OB JOINING THEM
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RUTHVEN, of Edinburgh, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of October, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Ruthven, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Ruthven, my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Ruthven, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORMATION OF
RAILS OR RODS FOR MAKING RAILWAYS, AND IN THE METHOD OF FIXING OB
JOINING THEM;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said John Ruthven, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Ruthven, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists,―
First, in the form or construction of cast-iron rails or rods for the formation
of railroads or ways; and
Secondly, in the construction of hollow edge rails for railways from welded
iron tubes. And in order that my Invention may be fully described and
ascertained, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 represents a section of a rail constructed according to the first
particular of my Invention. The rails consist of two hollow tubes a, b, cast
into a rail, having a suitable surface at the upper part for the wheels of
railway carriages. The particular feature of novelty consists of the formation
of the lower part c by so placing the core in the process of casting that the
inner circle or bore shall be excentric to the outer edge, the metal at the lower
surface being considerably thicker-than-the-other parts, and gradually
decreasing till the upper portion of the circle or circumference, where the
shape or form for the edge rail is to be constructed, or is to be raised on a
second tube, as shown. It will be evident, that by arranging the thickness of
metal so as gradually to increase from the lower to the upper surface very
considerable strength may be obtained with lightness of metal.
Figure 2 shows a perspective view of rails supported in their chairs d,
which are formed to receive the rails, and are merely capable of sliding on to
the rails sufficient to receive the ends of two rails within them, that the rails
may butt against each other, and form a joint, the chairs being only used
where the joints or parts of the railway bars come together, there being
diagonal seats or surfaces e cast on the lower surfaces of the rails, which serve
as chairs or bearings at those parts of the rails.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 shows three sections of wrought-iron rails constructed
according to the second part of the Invention. These rails consist of hollow
bars or rails formed from wrought iron tubing or pipes. The figures of the rails
may be varied according to circumstances, but those shewn at Figures 3, 4,
and 5 I believe to be the best for the purpose; f, f, in each of the Figures
being the edge or surface of the rails adapted to the wheels of railway s
Carriages.
And the second part of my Invention consists in constructing hollow
wrought-iron rails with suitable surfaces f, f, for the carriage wheels to run on.
And in order to give the best information for constructing or forming such

page_text: hollow wrought-iron rails with suitable edges or surfaces f for the wheels of
carriages, I will describe a means of making the same.
I take a long plate of iron and turn the same over in such manner that the
edges will meet or nearly so, and place the same in a suitable furnace till it is
raised to a welding heat, when I pass the turned up plate seam upwards
through grooved rollers similar to those used in making bar iron, by which the
edges will be welded. Having produced a weld, I again heat the pipe or tube,
and pass it through other grooves of the figure of the intended rail; the
object of making such rails hollow being to obtain great strength with a
given quantity of metal.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would remark that I am aware that hollow rails have
been before proposed for making railways, I do not therefore claim the same
when not constructed according to my Invention. Neither do I claim the
mode of making welded iron tubes as above described, the process being
similar to that pursued in making wrought-iron gas and other tubing. But
what I do claim is,-
First, the constructing cast-iron tubular rails and connecting them with
joint chairs as explained, and shown as the first part of my Invention; and,
Secondly, I claim the constructing of wrought-iron hollow rails from welded
iron tubes with suitable surfaces of formed thereon for the wheels of railway
carriages as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ruthven, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.