Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Making Railway Sleepers with Chairs.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Sept., 1886.
Complete Left, 19th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 25th Mar., 1887.
Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Making Railway
Sleepers with Chairs.
I, JAMES RILEY, General Manager to The Steel Company of Scotland, Limited, of
150 Hope Street, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, do hereby declare
the nature of this Invention to be as follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the making of railway sleepers with chairs in
an improved manner and by means of improved machinery or apparatus, the chairs
being formed in the same piece with the sleeper, and the combined sleeper and chairs
being of or resembling the kind described in the Specification of my Patent No. 11,
of 1885.
In carrying out my present Invention according to one modification I subject a flat
plate of steel or wrought iron to a series of shaping processes in two machines. In
the first machine the plate is placed on a frame bed down upon which it is held by a
shaping block completely covering it, and moved and held by means of hydraulic
cylinders. Under the frame bed there are two hydraulic cylinders the rams of which
work upwards, and act on shaping dies which press the metal of the sleeper up into.
recesses formed in the underside of the cover block. For each chair there are two
jaw shaping dies, but before these act, a middle die is first raised to press up a part of
the metal at about the middle of each chair, and this middle part is pressed up against
one part of a block which is fitted in the cover block so as to be movable transversely.
This preliminary pressing up of the middle part is done to facilitate the subsequent
operation of pressing up parts of the metal to form the jaws; and after it is done
the under die is withdrawn and the movable block above is shifted across by an
hydraulic cylinder to bring into action a part of it shaped to fill the space between the
jaws. The jaw-shaping dies are then moved up by the hydraulic cylinders, after
which they are withdrawn and the cover block lifted; and the partly shaped sleeper is
transferred to the second machine.
In the second machine the sleeper is placed on a frame bed and blocks shaped as
counterparts of the intended finished shape of the space between the jaws, are moved
transversely into position on it, and then longitudinally moving blocks are made to

page_text: operate on the outer sides of each jaw, so as to press the jaws inwards to fit upon
the transversely moving blocks, and so as to give the desired external forms to the
jaws. The blocks acting on the outsides of the outer jaws of the two chairs are moved
by the rams of inclined cylinders, whilst those acting on the outsides of the inner jaws
are moved by toggle levers jointed to the ram of an inverted vertical hydraulic
cylinder. When the jaws have been shaped by the outer blocks the inner blocks
between the jaws are removed transversely; and a cover block moved by hydraulic
cylinders is brought down so that its sides which are suitably shaped for the purpose
may give the required form, like that of an inverted trough, to the sleeper, the bed
being shaped to correspond to the intended form of the underside of the sleeper. If
preferred the plates may be rolled of a trough-like or channel section, the frame beds
and other parts of the machines being modified to correspond, and the finished shape
being given to the sleeper in the second machine.
In another modification the operations are substantially the same as those herein-
before described as effected by the two machines, but the parts for effecting them are
all combined in a single machine. The chair jaws are shaped partly by means of dies
forced up from below, their shaping being finished by the subsequent action of blocks
acting on their outer sides, such blocks and the hydraulic cylinders for moving them
being carried by the cover block. The preliminary pressing or bulging of part of the
metal to facilitate the forming of the jaws may be effected either upwards or down-
wards; and when effected downwards the blocks used for it are subsequently removed
from recesses in the cover block and replaced by the blocks for shaping the spaces
between the jaws.
The machinery or apparatus has been described as for making a sleeper with two
chairs but it may obviously be made with one half of the parts for making a sleeper
with a single chair.
The operations of the machinery or apparatus may be effected on the metal when
cold if it is of suitable quality; and whilst the metal may be in a heated state during
the earlier stages of the shaping process the shaping is by preference completed with
the metal cold or only locally heated. If desired the metal at and near the chair parts
may be thickened and strengthened by applying pressure endways to the sleeper by
means of hydraulic cylinders fixed to the bed frame the metal to be thus thickened
being locally heated when about to be operated on.
Dated this Twenty-seventh day of September 1886.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent,
Per pro David Ferguson.

page_text: I, JAMES RILEY, General Manager to The Steel Company of Scotland, Limited, of
150 Hope Street, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, 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, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the making of railway sleepers with chairs in
an improved manner and by means of improved machinery or apparatus, the chairs
being formed in the same piece with the sleeper, and the combined sleeper and chairs
being of or resembling the kind described in the Specification of my Patent No. 11
of 1885.
In carrying out my Invention I subject a flat plate or a channel-section plate of
steel or wrought iron to a series of shaping processes in which, without cutting
through the plate, parts are embossed and pressed so as to project from the top surface
of the sleeper in the forms of partially hollow jaws to serve as the chair jaws for
holding the rails. The successive shaping processes may be effected in two or more
machines, but in the accompanying explanatory drawings of which six sheets are
hereunto appended, there is shown a single machine in which all the processes are
effected, and in which a plate can be completely shaped with one heating and without
transferring from one machine to another.
Figure, 1, on sheet, 1, of the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal vertical
section of the machine; and figure, 2, on sheet, 2, is a corresponding transverse
vertical section as taken through one of the chair jaws but with some parts in different
positions from those in which they are represented in figure, 1. Figure, 3, on
sheet, 3, is a transverse vertical section like figure, 2, but with some parts simplified
and modified. Figure, 4, on sheet, 4, is a longitudinal vertical section of one half of
the machine with parts shown in positions assumed at a later stage of the operations
than those corresponding to the positions in which the parts are shown in figures, 1,
and 2. Figures, 5, and 6, on sheet, 5, are a plan and side elevation of a pieco of
accessory apparatus for securing the proper manipulation of the valves of the hydraulic
apparatus; and figures, 7, to 16, on sheet, 6, are plans and sections corresponding to
the particular form of embossed-chair sleeper which the machine is arranged for
making as shown in the drawings. In these drawings the same reference letters and
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.

page_text: The embossed-chair sleeper shown on sheet, 6, of the drawings (and partly on
sheets 1, 2, and 3,) is merely one example of the various forms of sleeper for making
which the machine is suitable or can be adapted. Parts of the machine can be
adjusted or shifted so as to form the chairs in positions to suit various gauges, and
other parts can be exchanged for parts shaped to give other forms to the body of the
sleeper.
The working parts of the machine are carried by a massive structure or frame
comprising a bottom frame, F, with columns, C, at the four corners, supporting an
entablature or top horizontal frame, E, these parts being of a box-like or cellular
construction with openings in the top and bottom frames, E, F, to receive hydraulic
cylinders and other parts. On the bottom frame, F, there rests a bed block, B, the
upper surface of which is shaped to correspond to the under or inner side of the
intended sleeper, S, but which has openings formed through it at the chair parts.
The proper position of the bed block, B, is accurately secured by a projecting part, 20,
formed at the middle of its underside and which fits into a recess made for it in the
bottom frame, F. The sleeper plate, S, is pressed down and held upon the bed
block, B, by an upper die plate, D, which is shaped on its under side so as in concert
with the bed block, B, to give the desired form to the body of the sleeper plate, S.
The end parts of the die plate, D, beyond the chair parts are shaped so as not to grip
the sleeper plate tightly, but leave it free to creep during the embossing action. The
upper die plate, D, is held in a massive frame, M, which is vertically movable between
guides on the columns, C, and which is fixed to the rams, R, of hydraulic cylinders, H,
fixed to the top frame or entablature, E, and the frame, M, itself carries oblique
hydraulic cylinders, J, at its ends, and a vertical hydraulic cylinder, K, at its middle,
whilst it is made with guides, 21, in which two other vertical hydraulic cylinders, L,
are retained, these several hydraulic cylinders being used as hereinafter explained.
Besides the hydraulic cylinders mentioned there are two, N, held in the bottom
frame, F, and two small ones, P, are fixed between the columns, C, at one end of the
machine. The several hydraulic cylinders are connected by pipes which are not
shown but which may be arranged in any convenient way to valve apparatus which is
shown on sheet, 4, of the drawings and hereinafter explained.
The rams of the two vertical cylinders, L, held in the guides, 21, of the movable
frame, M, have die blocks, Q, fixed on their lower ends for effecting part of the
shaping operation; and the cylinders, L, themselves are connected by toggle liuks, T,
to blocks, 22, fixed to the entablature, E. When a sleeper plate, S, which may be
either a flat plate or a channel-section plate such as is shown in plan in figure, 7, and
in cross section in figure, 13 has been placed upon the bed block, B, and the movable
frame, M, with the upper die plato, D, has been brought down upon it into the position
in which it is shown in figure, 1, then the toggle links, T, are forced into their
straightened positions (shown in figure, 1,) so as to hold the cylinders, L, rigidly in
their lowost positions, the toggle links, T, being acted on by bars, 23, connected to
their middle joints, and to a crosshead, 24, fixed to the rams of the two small hydraulic
cylinders, P. Below the sleeper plate, S, die blocks, U, shaped to act in concert with
the upper die blocks, Q, are fixed to the rams of the bottom hydraulic cylinders, N,
and when these lower die blocks, U, are in their lowest positions their highest points
just touch the under side of the sleeper plate, S.
The parts being as shown in figure, 1, and the sleeper plate, S, having received its
first shaping action and being of the form shown in longitudinal section in figure, 8,
in plan in figure, 9, and as sectioned across the middle in figure, 14, water under
pressure is admitted into the cylinders, L, so as to force down the upper die
blocks, Q, a short distance. The lower die blocks, U, being stationary at this time a
shaping effect is produced which is shown in figure, 10, and in transverse section in
figure, 15. This action is of practical importance, as, by giving the metal at the parts,
where the chair jaws are to be formed, a preliminary stretching, extension, or bulging, it
facilitates the subsequent shaping processes by as it were providing the material out of
which to form the projecting jaws. As soon as the operation just described has been

page_text: effected the rams of the cylinders, L, are allowed to rise again being stopped in their
ascent by the upper ends of the cylinders so as to hold the upper die blocks, Q, rigidly
in the positions in which they are shown in figure, 1. The lower die blocks, U, are at
the same time raised by means of the bottom cylinders, N, and cause the metal of the
sleeper plate, S, to be raised or embossed up against the upper die blocks, Q. One of
the lower die blocks, U, is shown in its raised position in figure, 2. This operation
produces the form shown in longitudinal section in figure, 11, and in transverse
section in figure, 16, the latter being as taken between a pair of jaws; and as soon as
this operation has been effected the cylinders, L, with the upper die blocks, Q, are
raised by means of the cylinders, P, acting through the crosshead, 24, and bars, 23,
on the toggle links, T.
The finishing operation, which produces the form shown in longitudinal section in
figure, 12, is effected by shaping blocks, V, W, arranged as shown in figure, 4, to act
on the outer sides of the chair jaws in combination with core blocks, X, shapod as
counterparts of the intended finished shape of the space between the jaws. The outer
jaw finishing blocks, V, W, move nearly horizontally in openings in the covering or
upper die plate, D, being guided by pins or projections fixed in them and moving in
guide grooves in the sides of the openings. The blocks, V, acting on the inner chair
jaws are moved by means of a pair of toggle links, Y, acted on by the ram of the
cylinder, K, fixed at the middle of the movable frame, M; and the blocks, W, acting
on the outer chair jaws are moved by means of links, Z, acted on by the rains of the
inclined cylinders, J, fixed at the ends of the movable frame, M. The core blocks, X,
are moved by the rams of hydraulic cylinders, 25, of which one is shown but only in
figure, 2, and each of which is carried by a bracket, 26, secured to the movable
frame, M. Guide passages are formed across the upper die plate, D, for the intro-
duction of the core blocks, X, into their places and they are so introduced before the.
outer finishing blocks, V, W, act on the jaws.
Instead of using core blocks, X, moved into and out of position by means of
hydraulic cylinders, 25, as shown in figure, 2, and hereiubefore described, the
hydraulic cylinders, 25, or any similar transversely moving apparatus may be
dispensed with, and the middle part of each upper die block, Q, may be made to
consist of a separate piece or block, X, shaped to serve as a core block for the finishing
operation on the chair jaws. In figure, 3, the section is supposed to be taken so as to
show one side of this modified core block, X, in elevation, and in figure, 4, the core
block, X, is shown as left in position between the chair jaws when the cylinders, L,
with the upper die blocks, Q, have been raised. Each core block, X, fits up into a
recess formed for it in the die block, Q, and its ends projecting beyond the sides of
the die block work in guide grooves formed for it in the inner sides of the opening of
the movable frame, M. Or the guides may be partly or wholly formed on pieces
projecting up from the bed block, B. After the outer jaw-finishing blocks, V, W, have
operated the core blocks, X, cannot be lifted up from between the chair jaws and
advantage is taken of this for raising the sleeper off the bed block, B, by means of
them. For this purpose bolts, 27, are provided for locking the core blocks, X, to the
inovable frame, M, so that when it rises that frame lifts them and the sleeper. These
bolts are guided in holes in the sides of the movable frame, M, and are moved by
levers, 28, on rocking shafts, A, carried on the frame, M, and having at their ends
levers like the levers, 28, but with pins fixed in them to be acted on by cam grooves
in plates, 29, fixed to the frame columns, C. When the movable frame, M, descends
the bolts, 27, are pushed inwards and their inner ends enter recesses provided for
them in the ends of the core blocks, X; and when the movable frame, M, reascends it
lifts up the sleeper, S, off the bed block, B, and on reaching its highest position,
draws out the bolts, 27, and sets free the sleeper, before which time of course
supporting bars will have been inserted under it. The core blocks, X, are removed
from the sleeper subsequently in any convenient way, other core blocks being used for
operating on the next sleeper plate.
When the finishing pressing action last described has been completed, the core

page_text: blocks, X, and the outer finishing blocks, V, W, are withdrawn, the movable plate, M,
with the upper die plate, D, is raised, and the embossed-chair sleeper is removed, to
make way for a fresh plate.
The hydraulic valve apparatus which is represented externally on sheet, 4, of the
drawings may be internally of any suitable known construction the several valves
being arranged to close automatically by the pressure of the water on them or on
small pistons fixed or connected to them, when the levers, 30, by means of which they
are opened are let go. The valve boxes, 31, are fixed on one end of a framing, 32,
and are connected by branch pipes, 33, to a pipe, 34, which supplies the water under
pressure from an accumulator or directly from pumps. Other branch pipes, 35,
connect the valve boxes, 31, to an exhaust or return pipe, 36, whilst pipes, 37, lead
the water from the valve boxes to the several hydraulic cylinders of the machine.
The levers, 30, by means of which the hydraulic valves are opened are centered on a
horizontal shaft, 38, fixed on the framing, 32, and their long arms pass through guide
slots in a transverse frame bar, 39.--The framing, 32, also carries, in bearings,
a horizontal shaft, 40, which has fixed on it as many disks, 41, as there are valves to
be manipulated; and on the disks there are fixed cam pieces, 42, placed and shaped
so as to open the several valves at the proper times and keep them open for the proper
periods in the several cases. The disks, 41, are turned in the direction of the arrow
in figure, 6, by means of any suitable gearing applied to the shaft, 40, and worked by
manual or other power as may be convenient. The hydraulic cylinders of the machine
(excepting the cylinders, L,) are double-acting the ram of each being made with an
enlargement or piston presenting an annular area towards the front end of the
cylinder and the front end of each cylinder is by suitable branch pipes (not shown
in the drawings) kept always in communication with the pressure water supply so
that whenever the inner end of a cylinder is put in communication with the exhaust
or return pipe, 36, the pressure acting in the front end moves the ram inwards. In
figure, 5, small letters, h, p, n, j, and the numerals, 52, indicate the disks which
respectively correspond to the hydraulic cylinders, H, P, N, J, 25, of the machine;
and in figure, 6, the beginnings and endings of the respective cam pieces, 42, are
indicated by the same reference letters and numerals.
The machinery or apparatus has been hereinbefore described, as for making an
embossed-chair sleeper with two chairs; but it may obviously be made with one half
of the parts for making the two chairs on a transverse sleeper at separate times or for
making the chair on a single-chair sleeper.
The operations of the machinery or apparatus may be effected on the metal when
cold if it is of suitable quality; and whilst the metal may be in a heated state during
the earlier stages of the shaping process, the shaping is by preference completed with
the metal cold, or only locally heated. If desired the metal at and near the chair
parts may be thickened and strengthened by applying pressure endways to the sleeper
by means of hydraulic cylinder fixed to the bottom frame, the metal to be thus
thickened being locally heated when about to be operated on.
When using two machines the second machine may be provided with lower die
blocks like those, U, which have been described as used in the earlier part of the
operations, such die blocks in the second machine being however modified in shape to
correspond to the intended interior form of the lower parts of the chair jaws and being
designed to assist in securing accuracy in the finished form of the jaws.
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-The combination of parts constituting the improved machine or apparatus for
making embossed-chair railway sleepers substantially as hereinbefore described and
shown in figures, 1, 2, and 3, of the accompanying drawings.
2-The combination in machinery or apparatus for making embossed-chair railway
sleepers, of a bed block and upper die plate for shaping the body of the sleeper, and
upper and lower die blocks arranged to operate on the chair parts so as to first bulge

page_text: or stretch the metal and subsequently emboss or throw up parts to project from the
top of the sleeper and form chair jaws, the die plate and die blocks being arranged and
made to operate substantially as hereinbefore described.
3-In machinery or apparatus for making embossed-chair railway sleepers,
arranging die blocks and parts moving them so as to bulge or stretch the metal at
the chair parts of the sleeper before embossing or throwing up the parts to form jaws,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
4-In machinery or apparatus for making embossed-chair railway sleepers, the
combination of parts for finishing the chair jaws, and consisting of outer lie blocks
arranged to move horizontally or parallel to the top of the sleeper or nearly so and to
be pressed towards each other on the outer sides of the jaws of each chair, the inner
sides of the jaws being supported and shaped by a core block substantially as herein-
before described.
Dated this Dishiranth dre
Wah1007
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.