CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OSBORNE
REYNOLDS, of Dedham, in the County of Essex, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Osborne Reynolds, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Osborne Reynolds,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Osborne Reynolds,
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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAYS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said Osborne Reynolds, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
inrolled in Her 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Osborne Reynolds, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Firstly, my Invention has for its object to diminish the risk of fracture of
the chairs on which the rails of railways are laid, by constructing them of a
compound of metals of greater strength and durability, and at the same time
of much less weight than those materials heretofore employed for the purpose.
My improved chairs are made of cast iron, with ribs or knuckles, or other
strengthening pieces of wrought iron, incorporated more or less therein in the
process of casting. The chair may be of any approved form, and the wrought-
iron pieces may also be of any forms most likely to accomplish the object
in view. Two several exemplifications of this system of construction are
given in Figure 1 and Figures 2 and 3 of the Drawings hereunto annexed. In
Figure 1 the dotted lines b, b, indicate the wrought-iron pieces, which are
in this case wholly imbedded in the mass of cast iron. In Figure 2 (a side
elevation) and Figure 3 (a plan), the parts b, b, are also wholly imbedded in the
cast iron, but a thin plate of wrought iron c, c, is also inserted, which is only
partly covered with cast iron, part- being left exposed to view. A chair of
this description is well adapted for the joints of rails, where great strength is
particularly desirable, and where the interposition of such thin plates between
the abutting ends of two rails is of no consequence. The pieces of wrought
iron ought to be thoroughly cleansed from rust, or tinned, or prepared with
borax or salammoniac, or other suitable material before the cast iron is
poured over them.
Secondly, my Invention consists of an improved mode of constructing the
keys or wedges used for fastening rails in the chairs, whereby their ordinary
tendency to become loose, after they have been for some time in use, is much,
if not altogether counteracted, and they are prevented from falling out under
any circumstances. Figure 4 is a side elevation of a key on this improved
plan; Figure 5, a longitudinal section of it through the centre; and Figure 6
an end view. A is the body of the key; D, D, the bearing parts which press
against the sides of the rail F; E, E, are ribs or bosses intended to give addi-
tional strength to the key, while at the same time they serve to reduce the
quantity of metal employed in its construction; H is a recess formed in the
outer face of the key; and a, a layer of vulcanized caoutchouc (or other
suitable elastic substance,) which is inserted at the back of the recess H;
B is a block, which fits loosely into the recess H, and bears against the

page_text: vulcanized caoutchouc a (to which it may for convenience sake bo cemented,
but so as not to interfere materially with the elastic action of the caout-
chouc); is a detent or catch, which is raised on the fore end of the block B.
The key is supposed to be driven in the direction indicated by the arrows.
When first inserted into the chair the pressure of the side of the chair C on
the projecting catch 6 of the block B, forces that block inwards upon the
vulcanized caoutchouc till the key is driven so far that the catch 6 passés
free of the side of the chair, when the elastic spring of the caoutchouc imme-
diately throws out the block B behind the back c of the chair, and thus not
only makes the key fast and tight, but effectually prevents its retroceding or
loosening under the severest jars or concussions. Instead of using one detent
or projecting piece only, several such detents or projecting pieces may be
employed, as represented in Figure 7, in combination with corresponding
projections on the face of the part against which the key is to be pressed
when in its place, that is to say, projections to take into the hollow spaces
between the detents. Keys of this sort will be found useful for other purposes
besides railways.
And thirdly, my Invention consists of an improved mode or modes of con-
structing splint pieces for strengthening the joints of rails, and adapting them
to their intended uses. Figure 8 represents the back of an iron splint of any
suitable length; A, A, is the main body of the splint, which is made of cast iron
and faced with vulcanized caoutchouc, felt, or some other suitable elastic sub-
stance; b, b, a strengthening piece, which is of wrought iron, and imbedded in
the cast iron, all but the outer edge, which protrudes a little beyond the outer
surface of the splint (or, instead of the strengthening piece of wrought iron,
a rib or fillet of cast iron, made in one piece with the rest of the splint, may be
substituted for it); c, c, are ridges (two, three, or more), which are made in the
back of the wrought iron piece or cast-iron rib or fillet, and are intended to
have the same effect as the catch 6 of the key, before described. Figure 9 is a
cross section of a chair and rail with a splint of the above description applied
to it. S is the splint; V, the elastic facing; W, an iron key of the improved
construction, before described, which serves at once to fasten the rails and the
splint. If a splint is used on each side of the rail, then only one of them need
have the ridges c, c.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements, which
I claim as constituting my said Invention, are as follows:-
First, I claim the constructing of the chairs used for supporting the rails of

page_text: railways, partly of cast iron, and partly of wrought iron, more or less incor-
porated or imbedded in the cast iron, as before exemplified and described.
Second, I claim the making of the keys for railway chairs with elastic
detents or catches, as before described.
And third, I claim the making of the splints, used for strengthening the
joints of rails, of a combination of vulcanized caoutchouc or other suitable
elastic material with cast or wrought iron, as before described; and also the
method of fastening rails and splints by means of one and the same chair.
In witness whereof, I, the said Osborne Reynolds, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
OSBORNE (L.S.) REYNOLDS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of Septmber,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Osborne Reynolds came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.