provodioopers and Chairs for Kauways.
Year: 1884

page_text: provodioopers and Chairs for Kauways.
We, JAMES CLARK BUNTEN, of The Anderston Foundry, Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Ironfounder, and ANGUS MURRAY, of the same place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of our said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SLEEPERS AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS" to be as follows, that is to say :-
Our said Invention has for its object to improve the construction of sleepers and
chairs for railways and it relates to the system of permanent way in which the
sleepers are transverse and consist of inverted trough-like plates of steel or iron,
whilst the chairs consist of portions cut from steel or iron plates rolled so as to be
of suitable section. The improvements or some of them are also applicable to or
in connection with bowl sleepers or sleepers of other forms.
In carrying out the Invention the sleepers are specially adapted to the chairs
and the chairs are specially adapted to the sleepers and to the kind of rail
employed in each case. The sleeper is formed with a depression for each chair.
The chair plate for a flat-bottomed or Vignoles rail is rolled with its bottom
a counterpart of the shape of the depression or seat in the sleeper and with lateral
extensions for fixing by rivets, screws, keys or other devices. The upper side of
the plate is rolled with flanges which at first are at right angles to the bottom but
which are subsequently bended inwards for retaining the bottom of the rail, the
space between the flanges being wider than the bottom of the rail to allow of the
entrance of the rail into its place, and to receive a key or wedge for tightening
the rail when entered. The key can be placed at the outer or inner side of the
rail according to the requirements of the gauge, and a further adjustment for the
gauge is obtainable by if necessary reversing the position of the chair in its seat,
the space between the flanges being made slightly to one side of the middle
position for that purpose. Additional provision is made for adjusting the gauge
between the rails by forming one or more corrugations completely across the middle
part of the sleeper such corrugations being flattened for increasing the gauge and
deepened for diminishing it.
For fixing the chair to the sleeper the lateral extensions or wings may be
divided each into three parts by two slits, and the middle part may be bended

page_text: down to enter a slot formed in the sleeper, the part passing through the slot being
fixed by clinching it on the under side. Or the part entering the slot may be
formed with a projection which engages with the edge of the slot by springing out
when the part has been forced down through the slot. When the chairs are made
for double-headed or I-rails the plate is rolled with lateral parts to form the jaws,
flat or continuous or nearly so with the bottom and with flanges projecting from
the bottom. The lateral parts are subsequently bended up to form the jaws, and
the flanges are bended into horizontal positions to form the lateral extensions by
which the chair is fixed to the sleeper.

page_text: We, JAMES CLARK BUNTEN, of The Anderston Foundry, Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Ironfounder, and ANGUS MURRAY, of the same place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of our said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SLEEPERS AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS," 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:-
Our said Invention has for its object to improve the construction of sleepers and
chairs for railways and it relates to the system of permanent way in which the
sleepers are transverse and consist of inverted trough-like plates of steel or iron,
whilst the chairs consist of portions cut from steel or iron plates rolled so as to be
of suitable section. The improvements or some of them are also applicable to or
in connection with bowl sleepers or sleepers of other forms.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood we hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings
which shows examples of the improved sleepers and chairs. In these drawings
the same reference letters are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they
are repeated.
Figures, 1, and 2, on the accompanying drawings are a plan and a vertical
section showing part of a transverse sleeper, a chair, and part of a rail. The
sleeper, S, is of the kind formed by stamping or otherwise suitably shaping a flat
plate of steel or wrought iron, and it is formed with a depression, D, for each
chair, C. Figure, 3, is a plan view of a chair plate as freshly cut from a long
rolled plate of the section shown in figure, 4. The chair plate, C, for a flat-bottomed
or Vignoles rail, R, is rolled with its bottom a counterpart of the depression or
seat, D, in the sleeper and with lateral extensions or wings, W, for fixing by rivets,
screws, keys, or other devices. The upper side of the plate is rolled with flanges, J,
which at first are at right angles to the bottom, but which are subsequently bended
inwards to the forms shown in figure, 2, for retaining the bottom flange of the
rail, B. The space between the flanges, J, is made wider than the bottom of the
rail to allow of the entrance of the rail into its place, and to receive a key or
wedge, K, for securing and tightening the rail, R, when entered. The key, K, is
shaped and the space between the jaw flanges, J, of the chair is correspondingly
formed in such a way that the key not only bears upon the top of the bottom
flange of the rail but also enters down between the edge of that flange and the
bottom of the inside of the jaws, J, and exerts its wedging action horizontally as
well as downwards so that the entire strain on it does not act upwards on the jaws
but is partly directed horizontally on the lower and stronger parts of the jaws.
The same improved configuration or arrangement of the key also admits of a very
simple adjustment for fixing the gauge between the rails, as the key can be placed
at either the outer or inner side of the rail as may happen to be required.
A further smaller adjustment for gauge is also provided for in some cases by
making the thickness of the chair plate, C, at the corners, E, different at the two
sides so that the seat for the rail will be in a slightly different position relatively

page_text: to the sleeper, S, accordingly as the chair plate, C, is placed with its thicker
corner towards the outer or inner side. In addition to the described provisions for
adjusting the gauge the sleeper, S, is also by preference made with shallow
undulations, U, across the middle part of it, such undulations being capable of
elongation by compression or flattening for lengthening the gauge, and of being
deepened for diminishing it.
For fixing the chair, C, to the sleeper, S, the lateral extensions or wings, W,
may be divided as shown in figure, 1, each into three parts by two slits and the
middle part, M, may be bended down to enter a slot formed in the sleeper, the part
passing through the slot being fixed by clinching it on the under side. Or the
part, M, entering the slot in the sleeper may be made with a projection or
thickened part which after entering down through the slot either springs out or
is bended outwards, so as to become locked.
Instead of fastening the chair, C, to the sleeper, S, in either of the modes
hereinbefore described it may be fastened by bolts, B, as shown in figure, 6, or by
rivets or other convenient devices.
Figures, 7, and 8, are a plan and a vertical section showing the application of
a portion of our improvements to and in connection with bowl sleepers, the chair, C,
used in this application being of the kind herein before described with reference to
figures, 1, to 4.
Figure, 9, is a vertical section showing the application of a similar chair, for
an I or double-headed rail, R. In this modification the plate for the chair may
be rolled with the flanges for forming the jaws, J, projecting up from the upper
Burface (as in figures, 3, and 4,) we however prefer to have the plate rolled of the
section shown in figure, 10, in which the parts, J, for the jaws are rolled as curved
lateral extensions of the bottom, whilst lighter flanges, W, for the wings are rolled
as projections from the underside of the plate.
The various operations hereinbefore indicated for cutting and shaping the various
parts out of plates rolled with flanges can be effected by hydraulic machinery
acting in a well known manner, the dies or shaping parts of such machinery being
of course adapted to produce the prescribed forms. When necessary the steel or
wrought iron may be heated to facilitate the shaping operations.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
1. The combination of a steel or wrought-iron sleeper having depressions
formed in it for the chairs, with chairs also of steel or wrought iron made and
secured to the sleeper in any of the modes hereinbefore described.
2. The combination of the key formed and placed as hereinbefore described
with chairs substantially such as are herein before described.
3. The devices or provisions for obtaining adjustment of gauge applied or
combined as hereinbefore described.
4. The making of the chairs out of pieces cut transversely from long plates
rolled of the section shown in figure, 4, substantially as hereinbefore described.
5. The making of the chairs out of pieces cut transversely from long plates
rolled of the section shown in figure, 10, substantially as herein before described.
ג7
1
100-
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicants' Agent.