Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left. 21st June, 1893-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways.
I, GEORGE EDWARD MOORE, of Lorette, St. Servan, Ille-et-Vilaine, France,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the permanent way of railways, and has for its object to
impart to the rail and its bearing a certain amount of elasticity in the vertical
direction and thereby to obtain the consequential advantages of greater durability
of the permanent way and rolling stock and increased smoothness of travelling.
This object may be attained by modifying the form of the rail, or of the
sleeper, or of intermediate supports, or of all or any of them, in such a way as to
leave a hollow or corrugation directly beneath the rail of such form and so applied
as to enable the elasticity of the metal to come into play by admitting of a certain
amount of flexure under a load.
The invention as applied to the rail consists in slightly hollowing the underside
of the foot of a steel rail of the Vignoles or foot rail type, so that it is somewhat
arched in transverse section (instead of being flat as usual) in order that it may
rest upon its supports only towards the edges of the flanges which are inclined
downwards from the web. The flanges thus act as springs, by virtue of the
elasticity inherent to the metal, whereby the percussive effect of the wheels trans-
mitted through the web of the rail is partly absorbed and partly distributed to the
supports upon which the flanges rest.
Or instead of, or in addition to, thus hollowing the rail, the support on which it
rests, if a cast-iron chair or sleeper, may be hollowed directly beneath and in the
longitudinal direction of the rail so that the foot of the latter, whether flat or arched,
will take a bearing only towards the sides of its flanges, so as to permit the elasticity
of the metal to come into play as before.
In the case of wooden sleepers, a steel bearing having clips formed in one
therewith, to embrace the foot of the rail, would be interposed between the rail and
the sleeper and spiked to the latter, this bearing plate being slightly corrugated
either in the direction of, or transversely to, the rail, so that the elasticity of this
bearing plate will supplement that of the rail foot, if the latter be hollowed as first
described, or will impart a certain amount of elasticity, if the latter be flat.
The corrugation, if parallel to the direction of the rail, would be reversely curved
to the hollowing of the rail foot, so that the latter will bear thereon towards its
edges.
In the case of wrought-iron or steel sleepers a flat bearing plate may be rivetted
or bolted thereto, the corrugations being made in the part of the sleeper itself upon
which such bearing plate rests.
Dated this 21st dat of September 1899.
MOODL
Septe
G. E. MOORE,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Permanent Way of Railways.
I, GEORGE EDWARD MOORE of Lorette, St. Servan, Ille-et-Vilaine, France,
Civil 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 :-
My invention relates to the permanent way of railways and has for its object to

page_text: permit to the rail a certain amount of elastic flexure in the vertical direction
and thereby to obtain the consequential advantages of greater durability of the
permanent way and rolling stock and increased smoothness of travelling. This
object may be attained by modifying the form of the rail, or of the sleeper, or of
intermediate supports, or of all or any of them, in such a way as to leave a hollow
or corrugation directly beneath the rail of such form and so applied as to enable
the elasticity of the metal of the foot of the rail, or of the intermediate support,
or both, to come into play by admitting of a certain amount of flexure under a load.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, wherein
Figure 1 is a cross-section of a rail constructed according to my invention.
Figure 2 is a cross-section of a rail and intermediate support, with the invention
applied thereto.
Figure 3 is a cross-section shewing the invention applied both to the rail and its
intermediate support, when fixed on a wooden sleeper.
Figure 4 is a cross-section shewing the invention applied both to the rail and to
the sleeper when the latter is. of metal.
Figure 5 is a similar view shewing the holding down clips separate from the
intermediate plate.
The same letters of reference denote like parts in all the figures.
The invention as applied to the rail A consists in slightly hollowing the underside
of the foot of a steel rail of the Vignoles or foot rail type as atb Figures 1, 3, and 4,
so that it is somewhat arched in transverse section (instead of being flat as usual)
in order that it may rest upon its supports only towards the edges of the flanges a a
of the rail foot which are inclined somewhat upwards towards the web at the upper
side so as to preserve the necessary thickness of metal. The flanges a thus act as
springs by virtue of the elasticity inherent to the metal of which the flanges are
formed whereby the percussive effect of the wheels transmitted through the web
of the rail is partly absorbed and partly distributed to the sleeper or other support
upon which the flanges rest. Or instead of, or in addition to, thus hollowing the
rail the support on which its rests, if a cast-iron chair or sleeper, may be hollowed
directly beneath and in the longitudinal direction of the rail, as shewn at c
Figure 2, so that the foot of the rail whether of the ordinary flat form shewn in
Figure 2 or arched as shewn in Figure 1, will take a bearing only towards the
sides of its flanges a so as to permit the elasticity of the metal forming the flanges
to come into play as before.
In the case of wooden sleepers a steel bearing plate D having holding down
clips d formed in one therewith to embrace the foot of the rail would be interposed
between the rail and the sleeper E and spiked to the latter, this bearing plate D
being slightly corrugated as at f either in the direction of, or transversely to, the
rail A so that the elasticity of this bearing plate D will supplement that of the
rail foot if the latter be bollowed as at b as first described, or will impart a certain
amount of elasticity if the latter be flat as in Figure 2. The corrugation fif
parallel to the direction of the rail would be reversely curved to the hollowing of
the rail foot as shewn in Figure 3 so that the flanges a will bear thereon only
towards their edges.
In the case of wrought-iron or steel sleepers a flat bearing plate G may be
rivetted or bolted to the sleeper H, holding down clips g formed in one with said
plate as shewn in Figure 4 or separate therefrom as shewn in Figure 5 embracing
the foot of the rail, a key k being interposed when the plate G is rivetted to the
sleeper. A depression is made in the part of the sleeper beneath the bearing
plate, as shewn and the rail foot may be flat or hollowed at the underside as before.
When separate holding down clips are used as shewn in Figure 5 they would be
placed on top of the plate G and secured by bolts i passing through the sleeper, the
plate G, and the clip. Each clip would be double-ended and the bolt-hole not
at the middle of its length so that by turning the clips end for end the necessary
adjustment of the gauge of the rails may be made at curves.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is-
1. The herein described means of supporting a railway rail of the type described
so as to permit of elastic flexure of the foot of the rail, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
2. Forming a railway rail of the type described with a central longitudinal
channel beneath the foot so as to throw the pressure of the load towards the sides
of the foot and bring the elasticity of the metal into play, substantially as and for
the purpose specified.
3. Forming the support of a railway rail of the type described with a groove
or corrugation extending centrally and longitudinally beneath the rail foot, so
as to throw the pressure of the load towards the sides of the foot and bring the
elasticity of the metal into play, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Tune 1802
G. E. MOORE,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.