Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Nov., 1886
Complete Left, 10th Aug., 1887
Complete Accepted, 11th Oct., 1887
I WILLIAM ARMITAGE BROWN of 6 Stratheden Villas East Dulwich Road London
Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
It relates to sleepers of iron or steel used for the Permanent Way of Railways in
which lugs or ears are formed by cutting portions of the sleeper and bending them
upwards so as to give means of attaching the rails to the sleeper by wedges or keys.
My improvements consist of making the sleeper with one or more ridges either
solid or hollow running along its upper face in line with the lugs or ears and forming
part of them so as to give them additional strength when bent upwards as above
described i and of flattening down by means of pressure suitably applied such
portions of the ridge or ridges as come under the rail and would otherwise prevent
its having a fair and even seat on the sleeper. The improvements can be applied
in a similar way with sleepers when chairs are used to carry the rails and the
chairs are attached to the sleepers.

page_text: I, WILLIAM ARMITAGE BROWN of 6 Stratheden Villas, East Dulwich Road London,
Civil Engineer, 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 :-
My invention relates to sleepers of iron or steel used for the Permanent Way of
Railways in which lugs or ears are formed by cutting portions of the sleeper and
bending them upwards so as to give means of attaching the rails to the sleeper by
wedges or keys.
My improvements consist of making the sleeper with one or more ridges, either
solid or hollow, running along its upper face in line with the lugs or ears and forming
part of them so as to give them additional strength when bent upwards as above
described, and of flattening down by means of pressure suitably applied such portions
of the ridge or ridges as come under the rail and would otherwise prevent its having
a fair and even seat on the sleeper. The improvements can be applied in a similar
way with sleepers when chairs are used to carry the rails and the chairs are attached
to the sleepers.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing shews a part side view of a trough-shaped
metal sleeper adapted for having the flanged rail a fixed directly thereon by a wedge
or key c and lugs or ears a a formed by cutting and bending upwards portions of
the top plate of the sleeper. Fig. 2 shews the same construction adapted for carrying
a chair for double headed rails e.
According to my invention I form along the top plate of the sleeper one or more
ridges b so that when the parts a a are slit and bent up for forming the lugs the ridge b
extends up the backs of the lugs as shewn, thus greatly increasing their strength.
The part of the ridge situated between the lugs is flattened down as shewn at fin
the cross section at that point at Fig. 3, so as to form a flat seat for the rail or chair.
The rib or ribs b may either be hollow as shewn at the sections on line A B at
Figs. 4 and 5, or solid as shewn at Fig. 6.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:-
1. An improved manufacture of metal sleepers having lugs or ears formed by
slitting and bending up parts of the top plate, wherein one or more ribs is or are
formed along the upper face of the sleeper, extending up the backs of the lugs
substantially as herein described.
2. The method of manufacturing metal sleepers by forming one or more ribs along
the upper face thereof and slitting and bending up portions of such upper face with
such rib or ribs thereon for forming the lugs, the portion or portions of the ribs or
ribs between the lugs being flattened down to form the seat for the rail or chair,
substantially as herein described.