IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE SUPPORTS OR CHAIRS OF RAILWAY RAILS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer & Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE SUPPORTS OR CHAIRS OF RAILWAY RAILS."-A communication
from abroad by Messrs. Auguste Desgoffe & Leon Jucqueau, of Paris,
Civil Engineers.
Sealed the 8th June 1860, and dated the 17th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
December 1859.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer & Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SUPPORTS OR CHAIRS OF RAILWAY RAILS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of improved arrangements of chairs or bearings for the
rails of railways, which improvements are equally applicable to joint or ordinary
chairs, for which they may be substituted with advantage. They may be used
without the intervention of holding wedges or bolts, and avoid injury to the
ends of the rails by piercing or otherwise, also all drawing of the dowels, and
consequently produce a saving in the wear of the sleepers. In these improved
arrangements of bearings the weight of a train is utilized to produce the lateral

page_text: binding of the rail. For tliis purpose one side of the chair or support forms a
fixed wedge or bearing for the rail during the passage of a train.
The annexed Drawing represents various arrangements of these improved
chairs.
Figs. 1 & 2 show a central-vertical section and plan of a chair to be used
instead of the ordinary ones; Figs. 3 & 4 show a central vertical section and
plan of this improved chair substituted for the joint chairs; Figs. 5 & 6, similar
views of a chair arranged according to this Invention, for a fish joint or double
locking pieces. The same letters of reference indicate like parts in all
the Figures.
a, chair; b, movable piece forming the binding or pinching part, and
effecting the locking or fixing of the rail when it is deflected by the passage of
a train; c, chair for receiving the rail, and serving as a support for the locking
piece b; d, holes for the dowels; e (Fig. 5), bolt for a fish joint for the two
locking or pinching pieces b, b.
It will be readily understood that on the passing of a train the rail a is
deflected, and the sides or cheeks of the pieces 6 effect the locking action by
bearing laterally on the rail, which is thus maintained in its position.
These improvements are applicable to other forms of rails.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Clark, 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 "IM-

page_text: PROVEMENTS IN THE SUPPORTS OR CHAIRS OF RAILWAY RAILS," a communication
from abroad by Messrs. Auguste Desgoffe and Léon Jucqueau, of Paris,
Civil Engineers, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Clark, 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 William Clark, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention consists of improved arrangements of chairs or bearings for
the support of rails of railways, which improvements are equally applicable to
joint or ordinary chairs, for which they may be substituted with advantage.
They may be used without the intervention of fixed holding wedges or bolts,
avoiding injury to the ends of the rails by piercing or otherwise, as also all
drawing of the dowels, and consequently produces a saving in the wear of the
sleepers. In these improved arrangements of bearings the weight of a train
is utilized to produce the lateral binding of the rail. For this purpose one
side of the chair or support forms a fixed wedge or bearing for the rail during
the passage of a train.
The annexed Drawing represents various arrangements of these improved
chairs.
Figs. 1 & 2 show a central vertical section & plan of a chair to be used
instead of the ordinary ones; Figs. 3 & 4 show a central vertical section and
plan of this improved chair substituted for the joint chairs; and Figs. 5 & 6,
similar views of a fish chair arranged according to this Invention, for a double
fish or wedge piece, or double locking chair. The same letters of reference
indicate like parts in all the Figures.
a, chair; b, movable piece forming the binding or pinching part, and
effecting the locking or fixing of the rail when it is deflected by the passage of
a train; c, chair for receiving the rail, and serving as a support for the locking
piece b; d, holes for the dowels; e (Fig. 5), bolt of a double fish piece or
wedge chair to hold the two locking or pinching pieces b, b.
It will be readily understood that on the passage of a train the rail a is
deflected, and the sides or cheeks of the pieces b effect the locking action by

page_text: bearing laterally on the rail, which is thus maintained in its position. These
improvements are applicable to all forms of rails. Figs. 7 & 8 represent
the application of this locking chair to Vignoles' rail.
The particulars in detail forming these improvements consists, 1st, in placing
(see Figs. 9 & 10) the bearing surface a, b, of the iron fish piece or wedge on
an inclined plane a', ', of the cast-iron chair, so as to obtain a constant
tightness by the same pressure (notwithstanding the defects inherent in the
manufacture), even after the wearing of the parts, besides the great facility for
fixing the rails. In this case the fish piece or wedge is retained in the chair
by the heel piece h cast on the chair. 2ndly, in placing at each side of the
chair a fixed iron stop c or movable one d, to prevent the fish piece slipping
horizontally in its support. 3rdly, to add on the jaw of the joint chairs an
extra thickness f, g, to prevent any horizontal movement of the rails in their
supports.
Further, in certain applications (see Figs. 11 & 12), I utilize more especially
the inclined plane for the tightening of the rail in the chair a, b, c, d, by means
of the fish or wedge piece f, g, or as in Fig. 13, to make use of the fish or
wedge picce a, b, c, having its abutting point at c and its bearing surfaces on
the rail at a, b, as a stay for holding the rail on the cast-iron jaw f, g.
Lastly, the special application of this self-acting mode of tightening to turn-
tables, crossings, and other parts, employing screws or bolts as may be
necessary for the solidity or simplicity in the union of the parts.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the arrangement of chairs for rails of railways with a lateral movable
part which forms a self-acting wedge or binding piece, and which is acted on
by the flexure of the rail when the train passes.
Secondly, the application of this self-acting mode of tightening or fixing to
all kinds of rails..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM CLARK. (L.S.)