IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS, RAILWAY AND OTHER PINS OR BOLTS, AND IN WOOD FASTENINGS AND TREEKAILS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
RANSOME and CHARLES MAY, of Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, Machine
Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifteenth day of February, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said James
Ransome and Charles May, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said James Ransome and Charles May, our exors,
adñiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Ransome and
Charles May, our exors, adiñors, 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, our Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS, RAILWAY AND
OTHER PINS OR BOLTS, AND IN WOOD FASTENINGS AND TREEKAILS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that we, the said James Ransome
and Charles May, or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in Her said 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, we, the said
James Ransome and Charles May, do hereby declare that the nature of
our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Our Invention relates, first, to a mode of casting railway chairs; secondly,
to a mode of making railway and other pins or bolts and wood fastenings
and treenails; by forcing them into moulds, so-formed as to retain them
under compression for any required length of time, and by subjecting them
to heat when under compression in moulds. :
.
And in order to give the best information in our power, that our Invention
may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed
.to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
$
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a section of a mould for casting railway chairs.
Figure. 2 shews one of the patterns separately for forming the mould...These
patterns we prefer to be of cast iron, cast hollow and as light as possible, and
the external surfaces made as smooth and equal as conveniently can be.
Figure 3 shows two side plates or metal surfaces which form the sides of each
of the moulds, between' which the core or plug is held when casting, such
metal surfaces forming important parts of each mould, as on their use depends
in a great measure the accuracy of castings produced: Figure 4 shows, a
railway chair; but we would remark, that the mode of casting railway chairs
is: not confined to the shape shown at Figure 4, as the shape of the chair
may be varied by varying the moulds employed, by using suitable patterns and
proper side plates and cores, according to our Invention. Figure 5 shows &
core or plug which is of metal, and we prefer to. use cast iron for the side
plates and also for the cores, though sand cores may be used, but not with
that facility, nor do we find they will generally produce such accuracy. a is
the flask or frame in which the sand mould (for casting two railway_chairs)
is made. b is the mould board; and we prefer to have projections formed
thereon.to produce gutters or channels in the sand, mould for the flow of the
metal, in place of forming such gutters or channels by hand.. c, c, are two
patterns of railway chairs placed within. the flask. or frame a; the sides of
these patterns are true so as to receive the side plates d, e, one on each side
.thereof. These side plates fit: close to the..pattern,, so that no sand. will
pass between them and the sides of the pattern; hence; when the patterns
are drawn from the mould, the two metal plates d, e, will constitute a portion

page_text: of the sides of the mould against which melted metal will come. .in casting
a chair, and part of the sides of such chair will be formed by such metal side
plates, and owing to a core being received between each two metal side plates,
such core will be held most truly, as will readily be understood on examining..
the Drawing, aided by the description thereof given in this our Specification.,
In the face of the metal side plate d is formed. a recess d' which receives a.
projection formed at one end of the core or plug f, which core should be,
made very accurately at both ends, so that when placed between the two,
metal side plates of a mould..the core will be sustained accurately. And,
in order to prevent the sides plates d from being forced into the mould, there
are formed projections at the back of the side plate d which enters a notch g
formed in the flask or frame a, as is clearly shown in the Drawing. The
workman in forming a mould commences by placing the patterns c, c, on to a
mould board' b; then he places the side plates & and e one on each side of.
each-pattern c, c; he then places the flask or frame into its. place on the
mould board, and the notches or recesses formed on either side of the flask.or
frame a pass on to the projection formed on each metal, side plate d.. The
workman then makes up his mould as usual by ramming in sand;, and having:
filled the flask or frame a, he places thereon a perforated plate of cast iron or-
a."turnover board;" he then turns the mould over, and he carefully draws
the patterns c, c, leaving the side plates d, e, in their places at the sides of the-
moulds; a core. or plug f is then inserted or placed between each two metal
side plates d, e, taking care that the projection f¹ of the core correctly enters.
the groove or recess formed in the side plate d; the mould is then completed
by placing and securing thereon a top part made by ramming sand upon what
is technically called an odd side, as is well understood; such top part we prefer
to produce from a pattern surface of cast iron, or the top part may be of cast
iron. The mould being thus complete, the melted metal is to be poured.
through suitable gates or holes made through the top part, so as to cause the
melted metal to enter into the gutters or channels formed by the projections.
applied to the mould board b, as above mentioned. The castings of the two
chairs being thus made, as soon as the metal has become well set the castings are.
to be removed from the moulds, and the cores or plugs immediately driven out,
which we usually do by means of a hammer, placing each chair on a block of
iron formed to the proper figure for supporting a chair, so that the core may
be struck through whilst the chair is sustained in such manner that it may
not be put out of form or broken by the force requisite for driving out the
core or plug f. It is desirable that the workman should (as nearly as he can
judge by careful observation) strike out the core of each chair at the same

page_text: temperature, otherwise there will be a liability to difference of effects in the
shrinking of the different chairs in cooling.
We will now proceed to describe the second part of our Invention, which,
is above stated, relates to the manufacture of railway and other pins or bolts,
and wood fastenings and treenails, by forcing them into moulds and thus
retaining them under pressure, and by submitting them to heat when under
compression in moulds. Figure 6 shews a wooden pin or bolt for fastening
railway chairs to sleepers. Figure 7 shews the wood before compression.
Figure 8 shews a section of a mould and apparatus for compressing the wood.
h is a mould in which the wood is compressed. i is the rammer worked by a
suitable press. We prefer to use the hydraulic press, and to have a plate j
fixed on the upper end of the ram or plunger of the press, such plate j having
twelve rammers i fixed thereon, though the-number may be varied. is a
plate having a series of tubes 1, one to each rammer. This plate is capable of
being raised or lowered by a screw or other convenient means, in order to
facilitate the placing the wood pins m into the tubes; and having filled the
tubes, and placed a mould over each tube (there being a recess in the plate k
to receive the end of each mould), the plate k is raised so that the upper ends
of the moulds h may come against the upper surface of the press n. The
plate is then raised, forcing the wood pins or bolts m into the moulds h, and
when completely in, the plate ; is to be lowered, and also the plate and the
moulds removed, each containing a wood pin or bolt; and in order to set the
compression obtained the wood is to be left in the moulds, by which the
natural elasticity will be overcome, but we usually submit them to the action
of heat whilst under pressure as it quickens the process; and we prefer for
this purpose a steam bath into which we place the moulds h for about fifteen
minutes, and we use steam of about 4lbs. pressure on the square inch in the
boiler. The moulds are then removed from the heat, and allowed to cool, and
when cold the wood pins or bolts are forced out of the moulds; and it will be
found that such application of heat to wood pins or bolts when under com-
pression in moulds will be most advantageous in the manufacture thereof, and
such pins or bolts will be found far superior to those made by simple compres-
sion, in which the force cannot be continued. It should be remarked that, in
order to facilitate the forcing of wood into the moulds, we use soft soap to rub
the inner surfaces of the moulds, and when larger fastenings of wood are
required we find it desirable to mix a small quantity of black lead with
the soft soap. It should be stated that there is a small groove at the
upper end of each mould, in order to allow the air in the moulds to pass away
as the wood is forced in. Figure 9 shews a wood fastening for retaining or

page_text: wedging a rail in a railway chair. This wood fastening is made slightly
wedged shaped, as is shewn, and is produced from a parallelogram of wood,
such as is shewn at Figure 10; and Figure 11 shews the section of a mould
suitable for compressing the same. And the operation of compressing, and also
the applying heat, are to be performed as before described; but, owing to the
size of these fastenings, they should remain under the operation of the steam
bath for about thirty minutes, and the fastenings are to be forced out of the
moulds when cold. In making treenails they will generally either be true
cylinders or have a less cone than those of the railway pins or bolts; they will,
however, be compressed in similarly formed moulds. We would remark, that
we do not claim the compressing of railway and other pins or bolts and other
wood fastenings and treenails, the process of compressing such fastenings
having been before practised; this part of our Invention simply relating to
the forcing them into moulds, in which they can be retained under compression
for any length of time, and also the subjecting such wood fastenings to heat
when under compression in moulds; and, although we prefer the use of a
steam bath for such purpose, we do not confine ourselves thereto; and,
although we at all times prefer the use of the side plates in casting railway
chairs, yet we do not confine ourselves thereto, provided a metal core be used.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the precise details as explained, provided the general character of
either part of our Invention-be retained. But what we claim is,―
First, the mode of casting railway chairs, by means of metal side surfaces in
sand moulds, with metal or other cores, as above described.
Secondly, we claim the mode of casting railway chairs by applying metal
cores, as herein described.
Thirdly, we claim the mode of manufacturing railway and other pins or
bolts and wood fastenings and treenails, by forcing them into moulds so
formed as to retain them under compression till the elasticity of the wood is
sufficiently overcome.
And fourthly, we claim the mode of manufacturing railway and other pins
or bolts and wood fastenings and treenails, by subjecting them to heat when
under compression in moulds, as above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Ransome and Charles May,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twelfth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
JAMES (L.S.) RANSOME.
CHARLES (L.S.) MAY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of August, in
the year of our Lord '1841, the aforesaid James Ransome and Charles May
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 forni above written. And also the Specification. aforesaid: was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statufe made for that purpose i
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-one