IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st December 1874.-A communication from abroad by Léon
Jacqueau, of Paris, France.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of, the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the permanent way of
railways, and consists in the employment of rolled iron sleepers of a
form in cross section in combination with metallic keys of the kind
herein-after described.
The distinctive feature of these improved rolled iron sleepers, which
may vary in shape according to the kind of rail to be laid, consists in
their having a base of a ŉ shape, which may be directly imbedded in the
ballast.
I am aware that iron sleepers have before been made of n section, but
the present Inventions relates to the combinations of special forms of

page_text: these sleepers with the method of securing the rails thereto by means of
metallic keys or wedges.
Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the accompanying Drawings show transverse
sections of several forms of these improved iron sleepers, which as will
be seen are all formed from a bar of T iron, either with a single rib a as 5
in Figures 2 and 3, or with two ribs a, a, as in Figure 4, according to the
form of rail to be fixed, and the base is of an inverted U shape, for the
purpose before mentioned. The ribs a, which are forged or fixed on the
sleeper, are cut across and otherwise adapted to receive the rail c, so that
it may rest directly on the base of the sleeper as in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, 1
in the case of double headed rails, or a sole piece d may be interposed
in the case of a Vignole rail, as in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13.
In the first arrangement the bed is so formed as to give the usual
inward cant to the rail, while in the latter arrangement this cant is
given by the sole piece d, which is also provided with a jaw e for holding 1
the foot of the rail on the one side, the edge of the sole piece a being
inclined as shown to receive the locking wedge h. The sleepers may
also be rolled without a rib, as seen in Figure 1, the rib being attached by
means of bolts, keys, or rivets, the rib or ribs in this case being rolled
separately of the form shown at f, Figure 5, with a flat base, from which 2
chairs are formed suited for attaching rails of all forms.
.
Figures 14 and 15 show an example of this latter mode of fixing a
double headed rail, while Figures 16 and 17 (and 16 bis and 17 bis on
a larger scale) show the same as adapted for a Vignole rail. These rail
chairs or supports are fixed on the table of the sleeper, Figure 1, by
means of screw bolts g. The chairs may also be made of cast iron or
cast steel, and fixed in the same manner. The locking of the rails in
the sleepers or chairs is effected by the aid of a metallic wedge h, which
either takes a bearing on the one side against the rail, as in Figures 6, 7, 8,
ȧnd 9, or against the edge of sole plate d, as in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13,
while its opposite side abuts against the incline of the recess made in the
rib or ribs a. The tightening of this wedge is effected by the aid of the
special arrangement of screw bolt i, seen separately in Figure 18, and
whose head g takes under the top of the sleeper, the wedge
tightened by screwing up the bolt.
being
The bolt, as will be seen in the Drawing, varies in form to suit a
single or double ribbed sleeper, while in the case of slcepors for the joints

page_text: of double headed rails I make it of the special form shown in Figures 8
and 9, the ordinary fish plates j, j, being retained, and the wedge bearing
against the rail at point / beneath the fish plate on the outside of the
rail.
Figures 19 and 20 show an elevation and plan of two modes of locking
nuts which may be adapted to the bolts of wedges h, as well as to those
of the chairs and fish plates.
In the one arrangement is a horizontal split key, which may also be
employed to tighten the bolt without a nut, while in the other case m is
a vertical key fitting in a slot in the nut.
I may also prevent the loosening of the nut by employing a steel washer
of dished form shown at n, Figure 21. In this case the nut o bears against
the washer, which by its clasticity prevents the nut becoming loose.