AN IMPROVED RAIL FOR RAILWAY PURPOSES, TOGETHER WITH THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND FASTENING DOWN THE. SAME
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
EVANS, of the Dowlais Iron Works, in the County of Glamorgan, Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of March, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Evans, Her especial licence that I, the said Thomas Evans, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Evans, my exors, adñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of.
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED RAIL FOR RAILWAY
PURPOSES, TOGETHER WITH THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND FASTENING DOWN THE.
SAME;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the
said Thomas Evans, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the natur of my said Invention, and in.
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months.

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Evans, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist,
first, in a rail with a dovetail or other catch groove in its under side, whereby
it may be held firmly down, as herein-after explained; secondly, in rolling the
said rails in a series of peculiarly shaped grooves in rollers, whereby I am
enabled to form the said dovetail or catch groove by rolling; and, thirdly, in
certain plugs for fastening down the said rails, which fit into and may be slid
along the said groove, and keyed down to chairs placed at any distance from
each other along the line of the said rail. And in further compliance with the
said proviso, I, the said Thomas Evans, do hereby describe the manner in
which my said Invention may be performed, by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Evans, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist,
first, in a rail with a dovetail or other catch groove in its under side, whereby
it may be held firmly down, as herein-after explained; secondly, in rolling the
said rails in a series of peculiarly shaped grooves in rollers, whereby I am
enabled to form the said dovetail or catch groove by rolling; and, thirdly, in
certain plugs for fastening down the said rails, which fit into and may be slid
along the said groove, and keyed down to chairs placed at any distance from
each other along the line of the said rail. And in further compliance with the
said proviso, I, the said Thomas Evans, do hereby describe the manner in
which my said Invention may be performed, by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents one of my improved rails in perspective, showing the
dovetail or catch groove in its under side; Figure 2 represents a series of five
grooves in rollers, by which I contrive to obtain the said dovetail or catch
groove on the under side of the rail. A represents a rectangular bar of
iron, which should be of a length sufficient to make the rail; this bar being
passed through the rollers at groove No. 1, assumes the shape shewn at B;
when passed through the rollers at groove No. 2, the shape shown at C; when
passed through the rollers at groove No. 3, the shape shown at D; when
passed through the rollers at groove No. 4, the shape shewn at E; and
when passed through the rollers at groove No. 5, the shape shewn at F, on
leaving which it becomes a perfect rail, with a dovetail or catch groove in
its under side, as shewn by the cross section G.
Having thus described the rail, and the manner of manufacturing it by
rolling, I will now proceed to describe the manner of fastening down the same
for railway purposes.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of a chair, such as I propose to use for the
purpose. H is a plug, shewn separately at Figure 4, with a keyhole J through
it; this plug is dovetailed at its upper end, to fit easily in the groove in the
under side of the rail, while its lower end, with the keyhole in it, has straight
sides, and passes down through a mortice hole made in the chair, which is

page_text: fastened in the usual manner upon the sleeper or block that supports it. The
plug being placed in the mortice hole, the end of the rail K is slid on to the
plug halfway across the chair, and the key or wedge L driven up through
the keyhole in the plug, and the mortices cast in the chair to correspond there-
with. The next rail, if any, has its end of course brought on to the remaining
half of the plug before the key is driven, and keyed up in like manner, the
two rails being sufficiently far asunder to allow for expansion, which, as well
as contraction the rails have ample means of adjusting themselves to by sliding
on the dovetailed plugs. Figure 5 is a cross section, taken through the centre
of the chair; and as similar letters are used to denote similar parts in all
the Figures, no further description of this Figure or of the next (Figure 6),
which is a plan of the same, will be necessary. Now, whereas I have called
the groove in the under side of the rail a dovetail or catch groove, because it
is evident that a groove may be rolled, on the principle herein explained, in
the under side of the rail of a shape which will catch over or hold upon a
corresponding plug, even if the shape be not exactly that which is commonly
called dovetail.
And whereas I claim as my Invention, first, a rail for railway purposes,
with a groove in its under side made of any shape that may enable it to be
held down by a plug that will slide easily into the said groove at either end.
Secondly, my mode, herein-before described, of forming such a shape groove
by rolling.
And, thirdly, my mode of fastening down my said improved rail by means
of the plug, and keyhole, key, and morticed chair herein-before described. And
such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new
and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion of
Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the same and that I do verily believe this my said Speci-
fication doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with
the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained;
wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Evans, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
THIOS (L.S.) EVANS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord 1838, the aforesaid Thomas Evans came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.