IMPROVEMENTS IN SLEEPER CHAIRS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles de Bergue, of Dowgate Hill, in the City
of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SLEEPER
CHAIRS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles de Bergue at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
October 1861.
I, CHARLES DE BERGUE, of Dowgate Hill, in the City of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SLEEPER
CHAIRS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
My Invention comprises the casting or forming sleeper chairs with a dished
or curved and hollowed or flatly tapered base or bottom (to be used with the
convex or projecting side downwards), with cross ribs or webs, or with one or
more circular or other ring-like ribs or webs, or with a rib or ribs in addition
to such ring-like rib or ribs within the upper or concave side of such bed
plate.
Also my Invention comprises the casting or forming sleeper chairs as above
set forth, with parts of the ribs or webs fashioned for forming a seat for the

page_text: rail on which the rail may be firmly bedded, and so that rail and sleeper
chair may be secured together by one fastening only.
Also my Invention comprises the casting or forming sleeper chairs as above
set forth, with ribs or webs or projections from the convex or lower side of
such sleepers, so as to admit of the adaptation and fastening of a tie bar to the
under side of the sleeper, and securing it thereto by means of the same bolt or
fastening which secures the rail above.
The particular form or forms above set forth may be carried out and
embodied in sleeper chairs, having a general shape in plan similar to others at
present in use, such as square, or round, or oblong, or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles de Bergue in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DE BERGUE, of No. 9, Dowgate Hill, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles de Bergue, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
de Bergue, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles de Bergue, my executors, administrators, 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 Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SLEEPER CHAIRS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles de Bergue,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles de Bergue, 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 :—
}
The object of the present improvements is to obviate certain objections to
the hitherto systems of iron permanent way, which generally may be stated
when in cast-iron to be too heavy, and consequently too rigid, and to make
too great a mass at the points of support, thus acting objectionably as an anvil
under the rails or otherwise; if cast of less weight have been too liable to
fracture or otherwise, the rails, have been inefficiently secured. Now, in my
improvements, as herein-after more precisely defined and explained, I adopt a
special mode or system of form or shape for sleeper chairs in cast iron, and a
mode of connection with the rail, such that the strains the sleeper chairs have
to endure shall be exerted or produced in a more advantageous manner than
heretofore, as forces of compression tending to crush the metal; and since
cast iron is well calculated to resist compression, I am enabled by my dis;
position of the metal to reduce the weight, and also the inconvenience of the
anvil-like mass under the rail, and by the form also permitting a more solid
connection with the rail I reduce or prevent jarring and consequent friction
between them. Moreover this system of form or shape or the particular
example given in the Drawing as illustrating the precise construction which I
prefer, is also favorable to the production of a sound casting, being less liable
to fracture from inequalities in the contraction of the metal in cooling. Also
the form facilitates the beating up the way or the packing or ramming of the
ballast, upon which, nevertheless, it may be seated with more firmness than is
ordinarily the case, and so prevent much of the irregular settling or yielding
of the permanent way laterally and otherwise, which frequently occurs with
other systems, and more especially so in the curves.
In precise terms my Invention comprises the casting or forming sleeper
chairs with a dished or curved and hollowed or flatly tapered base or bottom
(to.be used with the convex or projecting side downwards) with cross ribs or
webs, or with one or more circular or other ring-like ribs or webs, or with a
rib or ribs in addition to such ring-like rib or ribs within the upper or concave
side of such bed plate (base or bottom).
Also my Invention comprises the casting or forming sleeper chairs as above
set forth with parts of the ribs or webs fashioned for forming a seat for the
rail on which the rail may be firmly bedded, and so that the rail and sleeper
chair may be secured together by one fastening only.

page_text: Also my Invention comprises the casting or forming sleeper chairs as above
set forth, with ribs or webs or projections from the convex or lower side of
such sleepers, so as to admit of the adaptation and fastening of the tie bar to
the under side of the sleeper, and securing it thereto by means of the same
bolt or fastening which secures the rail above.
The accompanying Drawing is furnished to illustrate by one example the
three several features of my Invention as above set forth.
Figure 1 is a plan view of improved sleeper chair, shewing also a rail a
fixed in its seating by means of a clip piece b and bolt c, the clip piece and
bolt forming the one fastening as above set forth; Figures 2 and 3 are corre-
sponding views in section and elevation, shewing also a tie or gauge bar d
(held to the sleeper by the same fastening); Figure 4 is a general plan
shewing the improved sleeper chairs as used in combination for a system of
permanent way; Figure 5 is an elevation of a plain bolt to be substituted for
the link bolt represented in Figures 2 and 3, in the positions where there is no
tie or gauge bar employed.
In Figure 4, m denotes the sleeper chair; in Figures 1, 2, 3, m denotes its
dished bed plate or base or bottom, and n a circular or ring-like rib or web
upon and within the upper or concave side of the bed plate; n+, n+, the parts
of the rib or web fashioned for forming rail seats; n³ is a seat for the clip b;
n is a projection on the under side for fitting into a corresponding seat or
recess in the tie bar d for preserving the gauge; and n, n', ribs or webs also
on the under side for obtaining a firm seating on the tie bar, so as to prevent
the sleeper chair from canting laterally. The clip 6 is similar or somewhat so
to the clips specified in pursuance of Letters Patent previously granted me.
It is submitted that the Drawing is sufficiently explanatory without further
description, but I would remark in satisfaction of the modifications suggested
by the definition of my Invention, that their object is rather to anticipate and
prevent piracy, as I consider that the example furnished represents the best
manner in which my Invention may be performed; thus, if it should be
considered desirable, two or more circular ribs or webs on the upper or
concave surface may be used instead of one, or radial ribs or webs or cross ribs
or webs may be substituted, or a straight rib or ribs may be used jointly with
a circular rib or ribs, and in any such modification the rail seats may be
formed upon such of the ribs as may be convenient for the purpose. Also, if
desired, the several form or forms herein above set forth may, if desired, be
carried out in sleeper chairs, which may have a general shape in plan similar
to others at present in use, such as elliptical or square, or oblong, instead of

page_text: circular, as represented in the Drawing, the several ribs and parts being
modified to suit the altered requirements.
The Figures 1, 2, 3, and 5, of the Drawing are represented on a scale of
one half, and the Figure 4 on a scale of one-twelfth of the actual linear
dimensions.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Bergue, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
C. DE. BERGUE. (L.S.)