AN IMPROVEMENT IN HAMMER RAILS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Henry Cary, of St. James's Factory, of the
City of Norwich, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN HAMMER
RAILS."
Sealed the 19th February 1861, and dated the 8th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Henry Cary
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th December 1860.
I, JOSEPH HENRY CARY, of St. James's Factory, of the City of Norwich, do
bereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
HAMMER RAILS," to be as follows:-
That whereas hammer rails have hitherto been most commonly so con-
structed that the wire which forms the centre on which the butts partially
revolve has been held or grasped between forks, consisting either of two plates
of metal (usually of brass), or the forks have been made with the under half
of wood and the upper half of metal; these two methods of construction being
well known & recognised by the distinctive terms of double brass or single
brass hammer rails. Now, my Invention consists in dispensing altogether with
the metal plates and in substituting wood in the place thereof both for the
upper & under half of the forks, the said wood being applied & secured in a
manner similar to the plan usually adopted when metal plates are used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Henry Cary in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HENRY CARY, of St. James's Factory, of the City and County of Norwich, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eigth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Henry Cary, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Henry
Cary, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Henry Cary, 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 "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN HAMMER RAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Joseph Henry Cary, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
-ment-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 Joseph Henry Cary, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
That whereas hammer rails have hitherto most commonly been so con-
structed that the wire which forms the centre on which the butts partially
revolve has been held or grasped between forks, consisting either of two plates
of brass or other metal, or the forks have been made with the under portion of
wood overlaid with a plate of metal; these two methods of construction being
well known and recognised by the distinctive terms of double brass or single
brass hammer rails. My improvement consists in altogether dispensing with
the brasses or other metal plates, and substituting wood in the place thereof,
both for the upper and under plate, the said wood being applied & secured in
a manner similar to the plan usually pursued when metal plates are used.

page_text: But inasmuch as wood forks for holding the butts have before been used,
generally so constructed that instead of the forks opening in two halves to
receive the centre wire in a groove, a hole has been drilled through the solid
forks and the centre wire inserted in short pieces, each butt having a separate
pair of forks secured to the rail by a separate screw, the centre wire in such
case being in a separate piece for every butt, so that any one butt with its pair of
forks might be detatched from the rail by removing its own single screw. This
method of construction being expensive and otherwise objectionable, I now
claim as my Invention the effecting a saving in the expense of construction by
making the forks of wood, so that they open in two halves to receive the centre
wire in a groove, which forks are cut in strips of wood in lengths sufficient for
the rail, to which they are secured by screws, thus being made and fastened to
the rail in the same manner as the usual metal plates, and similarly admitting
of several butts being put on each length of wire, according to the hitherto
approved plan in using metal plates.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Henry Cary, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOS. H. CARY.
(L.S.)