IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Richardson, of 26, Great George Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, and Jonathan Edwin Billups, of Llanelly,
South Wales, Railway Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 14th January 1857, and dated the 21st July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Richardson and
Jonathan Edwin Billups at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 21st July 1856.
We, ROBERT RICHARDSON, of 26, Great George Street, Westminster, Civil
Engineer, and JONATHAN EDWIN BILLUPS, of Llanelly, South Wales, Railway
Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the permanent way of
railways, and consists of applying left and right handed screws in combination
when fixing the ends of rails by fishing plates, also when fixing the parts of
chairs or supports together, also when fixing rails to chairs with or without
fishing plates, and also when fixing rails in chairs by wedges.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Richardson and Jonathan Edwin Billups in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 21st January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
RICHARDSON, of 26, Great George Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer, and
Jonathan Edwin Billups, of Llanelly, South Wales, Railway Contractor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Robert Richardson and Jonathan Edwin Billups, Her special licence that we,
the said Robert Richardson and Jonathan Edwin Billups, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Richardson
and Jonathan Edwin Billups, our 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Robert Richardson and Jonathan Edwin Billups,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Richardson, on behalf of myself
and the said Jonathan Edwin Billups, 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 permanent way of
railways, and consists of applying left and right handed screws in combination
when fixing the ends of rails by fishing plates, also when fixing the parts of
chairs or supports together, also when fixing rails to chairs with or without
fishing plates, and also when fixing rails in chairs by wedges.

page_text: annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 a transverse section, showing the ends
of two rails fixed together by fishing plates and right and left handed screws.
A, A, are the ends of the rails; B, B, the fishing plates; and C, C, are the
right and left handed screws, which are cut at the two ends of the bolts, as is
shewn in the Drawing. The fishing plates B, B, are tapped to correspond with
the threads of the screws C, C, which are turned to draw the fish plates
together by means of a key placed on either or both of the heads at their ends.
Figure 3 is a side view, and Figure 4 an end view, of an intermediate chair,
the parts of which are drawn together so as to hold the rail by right and left
banded screws. The two parts of this chair have square holes with bevilled
sides formed through them into which wrought-iron nuts fit; this is done
because it is difficult to cut a screw in the cast iron of which the chair is
formed. Figure 5 is a side view, and Figure 6 an end view, partly in section,
of a chair, the two parts of which are held together by a right and left handed
screw, as in Figures 3 and 4, but in this case the screw passes through the rail
as well as through the two parts of the chair. Figure 7 is a side view, and
Figure 8 an end view, partly in section, of a joint chair, very similar to the
intermediate chair shown at Figures 5 and 6, but made sufficiently long to be
supported by two sleepers, one under each of its ends. The bevilled holes into
which the wrought-iron nuts fit are made a little longer than the nuts, in order
to allow the rails to expand and contract, and to compensate for inequalities of
form in the two parts of the chair. The two end bolts are of the ordinary
description. Figure 9 is a side view, and Figure 10 an end view, of a similar
chair resting on a single sleeper; Figure 11 is a side view, and Figure 12 an
end view, of two chairs supporting the ends of two rails which are fished, as
before described. The chairs are each made in two parts, cast in connection
with the parts of a sleeper, which is made in two halves, each half carrying
one jaw of each chair; the parts of the chairs and sleepers are held together
by right and left handed screws, as will be seen by the Drawing, and the
chairs embrace the ends of the fish joint. Figure 13 is a side view, and
Figure 14 a section, of two chairs and a sleeper cast in two parts, as in
Figures 11 and 12; but in this case the chairs are arranged to take two rails,
so as to make a compound road. The two parts of the chairs are held together

page_text: by right and left handed screws passing through the rails and the jaws of the
chairs. Figure 15 is a side view, Figure 16 an end view, partly in section, and
Figure 17 is a plan, in section, of an intermediate chair with a rail fixed therein
by means of wedges drawn towards each other by a right and left handed
screw. A is the chair; B, the rail; C, C, the wedges; and D, the right and left
banded screw which draws them together when turned, which is done by a
key applied to the square part of the stem in between the screws.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Richardson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
ROBT RICHARDSON. (L.S.)