IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY RATIO
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis William Webb, of Monks Coppenhall,
Crewe, in the County of Chester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY RATIO"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis William Webb
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th February 1864.
I, FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBB, of Monks Coppenhall, Crewe, in the County
of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY RAILS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of rail-
way rails. For this purpose I make a pile of old double-headed rails laid
head to head, and in layers one above the other; generally, but not invariably,
I make the pile with two rails in its width and three layers high, and the
heads of the rails in one layer come in the hollows or places intermediate of the
heads of the rails in the adjacent layer or layers. One of the rails in the
central layer is divided or broken in half longitudinally, and one half is placed!
at each side of the other rail in the layer. At the top and bottom of the pile-
a tolerably level surface is produced by laying puddle bars into the hollows or
spaces intermediate of the heads of the rails, and the pile is completed with
top and bottom slabs of Bessemer or other cast steel. These cast steel slabs
I roll with ridges or projections at intervals on their inner surfaces to project

page_text: and overlap the heads of the rails in the layer above or below the slab. I
employ these ridges in order to avoid a straight weld between the steel and
the body of the pile, also because these projections being thinner than the
slab are more easily heated to a welding temperature, so that by the use of
them a good weld is more easily made. Should it not be desired to produce
a double-headed rail from the pile one of the steel slabs is omitted, and in
place thereof another layer of rails is added to the pile; in this case there will
be a broken rail in two of the layers, and the layer next the steel slab may be
one containing a broken rail. When the rails are not sufficiently worn to
render it necessary to repile them, I heat the old rails in a suitable furnace
uniformly from end to end, and pass them between rollers so as to reduce
them somewhat in section, and thus obtain perfect rails of somewhat lighter
section than the old rails; or after heating the old rails, and before rolling
them, I upset them, so as to increase their size somewhat, and then roll them
into rails of the original size.
According to another method I put a steel top on to the old rail. I lay
a strip of steel serrated or roughened on the under side on the head of the
rail, the two are then put together into a furnace, and heated to a welding
heat, they are then passed through rolls, first edgeways to make a sound
weld, and then sideways to finish the rail.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis William Webb in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
WILLIAM WEBB, of Monks Coppenhall, Crewe, in the County of Chester,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Francis William Webb, Her special licence that I, the
said Francis William Webb, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Francis William Webb, my executors, adminis
trators, 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE. MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY
RAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis William
Webb, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 Francis William Webb, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
railway rails, and the nature of the same consists in certain combinations and
arrangements herein-after described for effecting such improvements. For
this purpose I make a pile of old double-headed rails laid head to head, and
in layers one above the other; generally, but not invariably, arranging the pile
with two rails in its width and three layers high, the heads of the rails in one
layer coming in the hollows or spaces intermediate of the heads of the rails
in the adjacent layer or layers. One of the rails in the central-layer is divided
or broken in half longitudinally, and one half is placed on each side of the
other rail in the layer. At the top and bottom of the pile a tolerably level'
surface is produced by laying puddle bars into the hollows or spaces- inter-
mediate of the heads of the rails, and the pile is completed with top and
bottom slabs of Bessemer or other cast steel; these cast steel slabs I roll with
ridges or projections at intervals on their inner surfaces to project and overlap
the heads of the rails in the layer above or below the slab. I employ these:
ridges in order to avoid a straight-weld between the steel and the body of the
pile, also because these projections, being thinner than the slab, are more
easily beated to a welding temperature, so that by the use of them a good weld
is more easily made.
Figure 1 is an end view of a pile so made; a, a, are old rails, and a¹, a', are
parts of similar rails produced by breaking the rails in half longitudinally,
which is readily done under a steam hammer ;b, b, are puddle bars, these bars
serve not only to give a tolerably even surface to receive the steel slab as
before mentioned, but they ensure a more perfect weld, as the semi-crystalline
puddle bar combines more freely with the steel than fibrous iron of the old
rail will; c. c, are the steel slabs (I employ Bessemer steel by preference),

page_text: rolled with ridges c', c', upon them. Should it not be desired to produce a
double-headed rail from the pile one of the steel slabs is omitted, and in place
thereof another layer of rails is added to the pile; in this case there will be a
broken rail in two of the layers, and the layer next the steel slab may be one
containing a broken rail. A pile of this description is shown at Figure 2.
A similar method of piling is also applicable in re-rolling rails of the form
known in England as the Contractors' Section, a form much used in America
and on the continent of Europe. Figure 2* shows such a pile. Piles
formed as above described, after being heated to a welding heat, and hammered,
rolled, or squeezed into a slab welded throughout, are afterwards further heated
and rolled to the form of rail required.
I would remark that whenever in the manufacture of railway rails it is
desired to pile a steel facing slab with bars of iron it is desirable to roll the
slab with ridges on its under side; for example, when piling puddle bars with
a facing slab, which is flat and smooth on its under side, it is difficult to get a
perfect weld, but this difficulty is much diminished by rolling the under side of
the slab with ridges upon it. The puddle bar of which the pile is made may
have grooves formed in it to correspond with and fit the ridges in the steel
facing slab; this is not, however, essential.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim as the
Invention for which the said Letters Patent are granted in the manufacture
of railway rails with steel faces is, the forming a pile by piling old rails in the
manner described, the interposing puddle bars between the steel facing slabs
of Bessemer or other cast steel, and the bars to be re-worked.
I also claim, in forming a pile for the manufacture of railway bars, the
employment of facing slabs of Bessemer or other [cast steel with ridges or
projections at intervals on their inner surfaces.
In witness whereof, I; the said Francis William Webb, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBB. (L.S.)