IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAR PLATES FOR RAILROAD TIES
Year: 1884

page_text: I ARTHUR WILLIAM LOVELL REDDIE of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
my Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAR PLATES FOR RAILROAD TIES, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This Invention has for its object the provision of a wear plate for the cross ties
of railroads, of such construction that it may be cheaply made, readily applied
without injury to the wooden cross tie, and effectually operate as an elastic or
cushioning support for the rail, whereby a comparatively inexpensive provision is
made against the shearing action of the metal rails upon the cross ties, and the
destructive effect of the vertical play of the rails, caused by the movement of the
rolling stock over them, is wholly overcome.
To these ends the improvements consist in a wear plate composed of a flat or
comparatively flat body portion provided at its opposite sides with depending edge
Banges that are adapted to enter the wooden body of the cross tie without injuring
the same, which flanges are relatively parallel and lie in planes approximately at
right angles to that of the said body portion.
A practical embodiment of the Invention is illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, wherein, Figure 1 represents by a perspective view, a portion of a
railroad track supplied with my improvements; Figure 2 represents the same by a
sectional elevation taken on the line x of Figure 1, and Figure 3, by a sectional
elevation taken on the line z of Figure 1; while Figure 4, by a perspective view;
represents the wear plate detached and inverted, Figure 5, by a similar view, a
wear plate provided with spike holes; and Figure 6, by a similar view, a wear plate
provided with a tapered end.
The railroad track is shown as composed of cross ties B, properly bedded, upon
which the longitudinal metal rails A are supported, said rails being secured to
the ties by spikes driven into the ties so that their heads overlap the Hange of the
rail.
Beneath the rails at the points where they overlie the cross ties, wear plates C
are secured to form rail seats, as is well shown in Figure 1.

page_text: These wear plates C, each consist of a body E having approximately right
angular edge flanges D projecting ät opposite sides, (see Figures 4; 5 and 6) said
flanges preferably having sharpened edges provided by bevelling one or both sides
of their edges, through said flanges may be of tapered form.
The wear plates may be of any convenient width to afford a good bearing for the
rail, and will be made long enough to project some di-tance at opposite sides of the
rail beyond its bottom farge, and their depending flanges D may be of a size, to
extend more or less into the tie, made necessary or desirable by the quality or
character of the wood composing the tie.
In their practical use these wear plates are applied to the tie at the proper points
near each of its ends to afford seats for the rails, their flanges D being sunk
longitudinally into the wooden tie or so as to be parallel with the grain or fibre of
the wood, as best shown in Figure 2. When thus attached to the tie the body E
of each wear plate will lie paralel with the horizontal top surface of the tie and
the flanges 1 entered into the body of the tie will be impinged upon by the parted
fibres of the wood in such manner as to be elastically held in place.
As the rails move and apply pressure to the top surface of the wear plates, each
plate will by reason of its flanges being firmly emtraced or clasped by the fibres of
the wooden tie move very slightly and act as an elastic seat or cushion to receive
the sudden or percussive pressure exerted by the heavy and rapidly moving rolling
stock passing over the rails.
As the flanges D are integral with the body E of the wear plate, are extended
longitudinally in their seats in the tie, and are embraced on both sides by the
fibres of the wood, the bearing force exerted upon the said plate will not only
be distributed throughout a larger surface than when the rails rest directly
upon the top surface of the tie B but the wear plates will gently move as they
Feceive and are released from the said pressure, the elastic cushion thus provided
and its great extent operating to prevent any shearing action of the plate, which
latter being interposed between the rail and the tie and acting to transfer the
pressure of the rail upon the tie from a transverse direction to a longitudinal one:
prevents the possibility of the rail shearing or cutting the tie.
By locating the depending flanges D directly at the edge of the body E, no
projection beyond the sides of the wear plate exists, the pressure of which would
act as a lever causing the wear plate to tilt, as it receives pressure from the onward
moving rolling stock, and thus operate not only to loosen it from its seat but to
injure the tie.
The structure of these wear plates is such that they may be cheaply produced, as
their simplicity enables them to be made by the ordinary rolling process or from the
metal plates of commerce by the common swaging operation, that process only
being necessary to the formation of their side flanges D.
A perfect preservation of railroad ties for a long period of time is accomplished
by the use of these wear plates, and these improvements also enable the use of
railroad ties composed of cheap timber.
Where it is desired to apply these improvements to a railroad already laid, it is
practicable to insert the wear plates into the ties without detaching the rails by
providing the plates with a bevelled end as in Figure 6, which form enables them
to be readily driven under the rail and into the tie, though this may be done by
the exercise of slight skill with the other form shown.
The preferable form of the plate is the narrow structure, in the use of which the
rail is independently secured to the tie by spikes driven at a point clear from the 5
wear plate, which is the form principally shown in the Drawing, but, if desired, a
wide wear plate constructed with spike holes, as in Figure 5, may be used, in which
case the spikes fastening the rail to the tie may be passed through the wear plate,
as is shown in connection with two of the ties in Figure 1, and at the left hand end
of the tie shown in Figure 3.
5

page_text: This wear plate is especially useful for supporting movable rails, as in switches,
for the reason that it is not liable to be bent or become loosened by the movements
of the rails.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is-
1. A wear plate for railroad ties consisting of a body having projecting flanges
at its side edges, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.
2. The combination with a railroad rail and supporting cross tie, of a wear plate
consisting of a body having projecting side flanges, the said plate being interposed
between the rail and tie with its flanges entered into the tie longitudinally or
parallel with the grain or fibres of the tie substantially as described.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.