Year: 1895

page_text: I FRANK EDWARD BUXTON, Manufacturer, 30 Edward Street, Worcester,
Massachusetts, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
drawings
11
Figure 1 represents part of an electric rail-road-rail with my improved bond
applied thereto.
Fig. 2 represents, upon an enlarged scale, one of my said improved rail-bonds
ready to be applied to the rail.
L
Fig. 3 represents one and of the rail-bond partially applied to section of the
rail, and
Fig. 4 shows a similar view with the rail-bond completed.
The object of my invention is to produce an electric rail-bond, which shall be
simple in construction, easily applied, and whereby a perfect electric contact may
be obtained between the connecting wire or rod of the bond and the rail-sections,
and consists in making and placing two loose collars upon the bond, connecting
wire or rod, whose outer sides are substantially parallel, and whose inner sides are
funnel-shaped and converging inward toward each other when on said connecting
wire or rod; then upsetting the two ends of the connecting wire or rod to form
enlarged cone-shaped heads converging toward each other, and of corresponding
size and shape to the inner sides of the aforesaid collars, with the exception of
being preferably a trifle larger in cross-diameter; then bending the connecting
wire or rod and inserting the ends through the openings in the rail-flange with the
loose collars fitted in said openings, and finally driving the cone-shaped heads into
said collars by hammering upon their outer ends. The collars may be composed
of a plurality of members, one fitting within another, but in practice, I prefer to
use a single inember as shown in the drawing.
In order that others may better understand the nature and purpose of my said
invention, I will now proceed to describe it more in detail.
In the drawings A 'A' represent two short sections of an electric rail-road rail
with the ends butted together, as is indicated by the joint-line B.
C is the connecting wire or rod, D D the collars thereon, and E E the upset,
cone-shaped heads on the ends of said wire or rod.
The bonding-device is made as usual, from a piece of copper or other suitable
wire or rod, of the proper size and length, and over this are first placed the two
collars D D, as is shown in Fig. 2. Said collars are of the proper exterior,
transverse diameter to fit the openings in the rails, and preferably about equal in
length to the thickness of the rail-flanges A, in which they fit, as is shown in

page_text: Figs. 3 and 4. The outer sides of the collars are made substantially parallel,
while their inner sides are funnel-shaped, as previously stated, and they are place!
on the wire or rod C, in reversed positions, with their openings converging toward
each other, as is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.
After placing the collars on the connecting wire or rod, the ends of said wire or
rod are upset, with the collars on it, to form the enlarged, cone-shaped heads E E,
in any well-known manner. Said cone-shaped heads are made converging inward
toward the wire or rod C, or larger at their outer ends, and are designed in
practice to be just a trifle larger than the longitudinal funnel-shaped openings in
the collars 1 D, so that when driven therein, the latter will be expanded slightly,
or to such an extent as to completely fill the intervening joints between the rail,
collars and heads, us hereinafter specified.
The collars D D, having been inade and fitted over the wire or rod, C, and the
ends of said wire or rod upset as aforesaid, completes the bond-device ready to be
applied to the rails, and this is the condition in which it is shipped for use. lu
applying the same, the wire or rod C is first bent into the proper shape, about as
shown in Fig. 1, and the ends passed through the transverse openings in the rail-
sections, at each side of the joint B. The collars D D are then fitted in said rail
openings, and the heads E E drawn into the same, and finally said heads are driven
tight into the collars by hammering upon the ends E' E thereof, until they are
driven in as far as they will go, as is shown in Fig. 4 which operation, as will at
once be apparent, causes the parts to be compressed into practically a homogeneous
Diss, with the joints scarcely perceptible. A perfect contact and bond is there-
fore produced between une rail section and another, and the operation of applying
the same, as will be seen from the above, is very simple and expeditiously
performed. After the heads have been driven in as far as they will go, as
aforesaid, their outer ends may be riveted over the outer ends of the collars, as is
shown at a, in Fig. 4, to more securely fasten the parts in position.
I am aware that an electric rail-bond has been made by driving a collar into the
rail opening around the end of a connecting wire or rod of equal diameter throughout
its length, and which is fastened by riveting the outer end of the collar which
projects outside of the rail-flange, by means of a separate tool used for driving in
said collar, and by also riveting the outer end of the wire or rod, but I am not
aware that the method I have adopted for driving an upset, cone-shaped head,
formed on the end of the wire or rod, into a collar, previously fitted into the rail,
has been patented or in use prior to my invention.
The advantages of my method over the old will be obvious to those skilled in
the art to which my invention appertains, or to any one who has attempted to
drive a collar made of soft metal endwise into a compressed or tight-fitting position.
It may be driven readily at first, but as soon as it begins to bind from friction, it
is liable to buckle" or "squash out" laterally, and cannot be driven thoroughly
into place, especially if said collar is thin in cross-section. This objection is wholly
removed by my method of driving the central, solid heads E into the collars D, as
previously described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. An electric rail-bond comprising a boud wire or rod having substantially
cone-shaped heads upset at either end and two loose collars having conical bores of
slightly smaller diameter than the diameter of said heads.
2. In an electric rail-bond, the combination with supporting rails having suitable
apertures formed therein, of conically bored collars fitted in said apertures,
substantially cone-shaped heads driven into said collars and a wire or rod connecting
said heads.
3. In an electric rail-bond, the combination with supporting rails provided with
suitable apertures, of collars having parallel outer sides and conical bores littel in

page_text: said apertures and a connecting rod or wire having conically shaped heads upset at
either end which enter said conically bored collars, said heads having a slightly
larger diameter than the bore of said collars.
4. An electric rail-bond consisting of a bond-wire provided with heads at either
end, conforming in shape to the frustum of a cone, and collars composed of one or
more members each, conforming in shape on their inner sides to the heads on the
bond-wire, and with their outer sides adapted to fit apertures in the rail, whereby a
firm union may be effected between the bond-wire and the rail.
JACU
THIS TOCH any of
For the Applicant,
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5 John Dalton Street, Manchester, Chartered Patent Agents.