Improvements in Rail Bonds for Electric Railways.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Sept., 1899-Accepted, 28th Oct., 1899
Improvements in Rail Bonds for Electric Railways.
I, THOMAS JOSEPH MCTIGHE, of Bath Beach, New York, State of New York, United
States of America, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of this invention is to produce a rail-bond for electric railways, of a
generally flat form with laterally projecting solid terminals for attachment to the
rails, to adapt the device for use behind the fish plates or splices and at the same
time provide flexibility in all directions to accommodate the various motions to which
railway rails are subject in use. A further object of my invention is to construct such
a rail bond of a single piece of wrought metal. A further object is to form the
terminals in such a way as to facilitate their application to the drill holes in the rails
and effect a tight and permanent contact therewith. To these and other ends my
invention consists in the construction and mode of application as hereinafter fully
described and claimed.
In the drawings which form part of this Specification Fig. 1, illustrates one way of
heading the blank. Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively a face view and transverse section
of a rail bond made after my invention, before the body has been made flexible;
Figs. 4 and 5 are similar views of the same bond after the slitting of the middle
portion of the body or strap; Figs. 6 and 7 are face views of the finished bond with
the strips bent laterally to allow for contraction and expansion of the rails; Fig. 8
is an edge view showing the strap with transverse crimping for the same purpose and
Fig. 9 shows the rail and one terminal in section and the adjacent faces of the com-
pressing tool ready for the operation of upsetting said terminal in the hole drilled for
it in the rail.
Fig. 2 illustrates the form I prefer, with the solid massive terminals A for attachment
to the rails, with flanges or shoulders a wholly surrounding the said terminals, and
the flat connecting body or strap B, the terminals A being designed to pass a little
more than through the rail to allow for upsetting therein. Such a rail bond may be
made in various ways, but I prefer to make it of a single piece of wire or rod by
upsetting as shown by Fig. 1, and then shaping and flattening to form as in Fig. 2,
thus producing a rail bond all the parts of which are absolutely integral and in which
the terminals are massive and solid. The bond is as yet practically unyielding to
vertical and longitudinal movement of the rails. I therefore subdivide the strap B
into a number of parallel strips c in any suitable manner, such, for example, as by
slitting. The slits do not extend to the terminal, as it is desirable to leave an
unbroken flange or shoulder a all around the head of the solid terminal. This slitting

page_text: may be done with saws or by other means. The rail bond thus formed (Figs. 4 and 5)
is quite flexible and will yield to all lateral and vertical movements of the rails, and
if applied diagonally, to the rails it allows for contraction and expansion. But I
propose to bend the strap, or its row of strips, as in Fig. 6 or to spread and bend its
two halves into oppositely curved positions as in Fig. 7 or crimp the strap transversely
as in Fig. 8. In any of these forms the bond yields to vibration, contraction and
expansion of the rails, can be applied under the fish plates and has the advantage of
being in a single piece of metal throughout. The electric carrying capacity of such
a bond may be made very great. If required the terminals may be made an inch or
more in diameter of solid metal and the strap proportion.
Rail bonds of this general class are usually attached to the rails by being upset
therein by a powerful compressor either screw or hydraulic. To facilitate such
operation, to minimise the weight of metal required for a given conducting and
contact capacity, and to insure a lateral flow of the metal of the terminals radially
outward against the walls of the holes in the rails, I proceed as follows:-In forming
the solid terminals A, I form the conical counter-sinks 8, in the centre of the outside
or head of the terminal. The screw or ram is fitted with an end piece having a
conical pin p projecting axially, as in Fig. 9 and fitting the counter sink. After the
pin p is pressed home in the counter-sink 8 of the terminal in the operation of
forcing the latter into its hole in the rail, the continued application of the pressure
causes the other side of the press to act upon the further or inner end of the terminal,
and compels the metal from that side to flow down the conical face of the pin and
spread out and completely fill all irregularities in the walls of the hole.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
First: A-rail-bond made of wrought-metal in one-integral-piece-comprising
shouldered-solid--rail-attaching terminals-and-an-edge-wise-yielding flat connecting
strap.
Secondly: A-rail-bond-made of wrought-metal-in-one-integral-piece, comprising
a--Hat--conducting strap, flexible-edgewise-with--solid--terminals--located--wholly
outside the flexible section of the strap and connected-therewith-by-rigid-portions
forming shoulders-for the terminals.
Thirdly: A-rail-bond-made-of-wrought metal in one-integral-piece; comprising
solid terminals--with-shoulders surrounding-their--bases and a flat edge-wise
Hexible conducting-strap-connecting said-shoulders.
Fourthly: A rail-bond-made-of wrought-metal-in-one-integral-piece,-comprising
a-flat, edge-wise-flexible,-conducting strap having upset-solid-terminals.
Fifthly A-rail--bond-made of wrought-metal in-one integral piece,--comprising
a fut, longitudinally-slitted conducting strap with upset-solid-shouldered terminals
formed-at-right angles-to-the-plane of the strap.
Sixthly A one piece rail bond of wrought-metal-consisting of the solid-rail-
attaching termimals A--with-heads--or--shoulders-a--surrounding the same and
connected between the shoulders-by-a-Hattened body-or-strap integral-therewith-and
slitted-lengthwise-between-the-suid shoulders, substantially-as-described.
Seventhly: A-rail-bond-made-of metal-in-one--integral-piece,--consisting of
solid-rail--attaching terminals and a connecting body of--metal, such terminals-being
evlindrical and having heads or shoulders surrounding-their-onter-ends,-and-counter-
sinks in the said onter-ends-substantially-us-described.
First. Eighty-The method of manufacturing rail bonds from wire or rod
consisting in upsetting the blank end-wise to form end enlargements substantially
.spherical in form, pressing such enlargements transversely to form the rivets and
flanges and flattening the intermediate portion of the blank into corrugated form,
substantially as described,

page_text: Secondly. Ninth The method of manufacturing rail bonds from wire or rod
consisting in upsetting the ends of the blank into enlargements, pressing such
enlargements transversely into flanged rivets and flattening and widening the
intermediate portion of the blank, substantially as described,
Dated this 25th day of September 1899
..
THOMAS JOSEPH MCTIGHE,
By Henry Skerrett,
24, Temple Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.