IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY RAILS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Denison Chauncey Pierce, of New York, United
States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
RAILS."
Sealed the 18th July 1865, and dated the 15th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Denison Chauncey Pierce
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1865.
I, DENISON CHAUNCEY PIERCE, of New York, United States of America,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY RAILS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway rails. In order
to deaden the jars produced by the blows of the wheels of the railway carriages
and trucks on the rails, I form a groove along the table of the rail from end
to end, and into this groove I fit a strip of wood, by preference oak, and over
it a bar or ribbon of steel. The groove and the steel bar or ribbon inserted
into it are both dovetailed, so that the said bar or ribbon cannot escape from
the groove; it is driven into the groove longitudinally before the rail is laid.
In this arrangement the blows from the wheels of the passing trains are
received by the bar or ribbon of steel, and this does not oppose a rigid
resistance to them, but yields to the extent which the compression of the wood
beneath will admit; thus the wear both of the rails and rolling stock is much
reduced, whilst at the same time travelling on the line is rendered more

page_text: pleasant. The bar or ribbon need not necessarily be of steel; it is preferred
however that it should be of this material; when it becomes worn it may be
removed and replaced with a new one. In place of the wooden strip beneath
the bar or ribbon of steel or metal, a strip of other suitable and slightly
compressible material may be employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Denison Chauncey Pierce in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DENISON
CHAUNCEY PIERCE, of New York, United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Denison Chauncey Pierce, Her special licence that I, the
said Denison Chauncey Pierce, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Denison Chauncey Pierce, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 RAILWAY RAILS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Denison Chauncey Pierce, 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 Denison Chauncey Pierce, 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 railway rails. In order
to deaden the jars produced by the blows of the wheels of the railway carriages
and trucks on the rails I form a groove along the table of the rail from end

page_text: to end, and into this groove I fit a strip of wood, by preference oak, and over
it a bar or ribbon of steel. The groove and the steel bar or ribbon inserted
into it are both dovetailed, so that the said bar or ribbon cannot escape from
the groove; it is driven into the groove longitudinally before the rail is laid.
In this arrangement the blows from the wheels of the passing trains are
received by the bar or ribbon of steel, and this does not oppose a rigid
resistance to them, but yields to the extent which the compression of the wood
beneath will admit; thus the wear both of the rails and rolling stock is much
reduced, whilst at the same time travelling on the line is rendered more
pleasant. The bar or ribbon need not necessarily be of steel; it is preferred
however that it should be of this material; when it becomes worn it may be
removed and replaced with a new one. In place of the wooden strip beneath
the bar or ribbon of steel or metal, a strip of other suitable and slightly
compressible material may be employed.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings bereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
These Drawings at Figure 1 show in section a double-headed rail with my
improvements applied thereto in the manner I consider most simple. The
rail, as will be seen, has a dovetailed groove rolled in it from end to end of the
table; into this the oak strip a is fitted accurately; it is by preference
thoroughly creosoted or otherwise prepared to prevent decay; b is a bar or
ribbon of steel or metal slidden into the groove over the strip of wood, and.
projecting about an eighth of an inch above the table of the rail to receive
the tread of the wheels; Figure 2 shows a similar arrangement, but the form
of the groove in the rail and of the bar or ribbon b is varied; Figure 3 shows
a rail like that in Figure 2, with the wood strip a, and the bar or ribbon of
steel or metal b, the parts being shown detached the one from the other;
Figure 4 shows such a rail mounted in a chair; c and d is a wedge of wood
driven into the chair under the rail; and e, e, are cushions of wood let into the
chair on either side; Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of the rail and parts
connected therewith, showing a joint between two rails, where the ends of the
rails are scarfed the one to the other, and the ends of the parts a and b made
to break joint with the rails. Figure 6 shows a method of securing the bar or
ribbon 6 from sliding longitudinally in the rail; it will be seen that. a recess
is formed at the end of the groove in the rail, and that the bar or ribbon b is
formed with an enlargement b' at the end to fit this recess. Figure 7 shows
a modification of this arrangement, where the groove is formed in the bar b.

page_text: in place of in the rail; Figure 8 shows the same parts separately. Figure 9.is
very similar to Figure 7, but differing from it in that additional strips of wood,
ff, are used to support the under side of the bar b. Figure 10 shows
separately the parts employed in Figure 7; Figures 11, 12, and 13, show
slight modifications of form only. Figure 14 shows a cast-iron rail made
hollow to receive two longitudinal wooden wedges 9, 9, running from end to
end of the rail, and which can be driven up as required to support the wooden
strip a; in other respects the arrangement is very similar to that shown in
Figure 7. Figure 15 shows the parts represented in Figure 14, separated the
one from the other; Figure 16 shows the same rail in its chair. Figure 17
shows a rail of a slightly modified form made on the same principle.
In the Drawings annexed to this Specification similar parts are marked in
each case with the same letters of reference.
What I claim is, the combination with railway rails of the parts a and b,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Denison Chauncey Pierce, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
D. C. PIERCE. (L.S.)