AN IMPROVED TRAMRAIL FOR STREET RAILWAYS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Burn, of Delahay Street, Westminster,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED TRAMRAIL FOR STREET
RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 22nd March 1861, and dated the 26th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Burn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
September 1860.
I, CHARLES BURN, of Delahay Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer, do
5 hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED TRAMBAIL
FOR STREET RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the construction of an iron rail or tram-
way in such a manner that it may serve either for vehicles with flanged
wheels, or as a tramway for ordinary vehicles; such construction combining
O the above purposes, and herein-after called a tramrail, may be laid down in
the streets of cities and towns, highways and thoroughfares, without offering
any obstruction or impediment to the ordinary traffic.
The form and construction of the said. tramrail is delineated in the
accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 being a plan, Fig. 2 a transverse section
5 through E, F; and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section through G, K, of the tram-
rail. In each of these Figures the same letters of reference indicate like parts.

page_text: D is the bearing surface for vehicles with flanged wheels, and L a groove
of suitable depth & width, in which the flanges enter; A, A, A, B, B, B, and
C, C, C, are grooves cut, rolled, cast, or otherwise made in the surface of the
rail, which thus form projections serving as a hold for horses' feet, and also a
tramway for ordinary vehicles. The groove and bearing surface for flanged
wheels may be placed at any other part of the rail instead of the position
shewn in the Drawing, as may be found convenient or desirable.
The grooves A, A, B, B, or C, C, may be made of any suitable depth or
width, and may be made transversely, longitudinally, obliquely, or any direc-
tion accordingly as may be required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Burn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BURN, of Delahay Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Burn, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Burn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Burn, my 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 "AN
IMPROVED TRAMRAIL FOR STREET RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Burn, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Burn, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement:-
My Invention of an "Improved Tramrail for Street Railways," consists in
the construction of an iron rail or tramway in such a manner that it may serve
as a railway for vehicles with flanged wheels, or as a tramway for vehicles
having ordinary wheels. Such construction combining the above purposes,
and herein-after called a tramrail, may be laid down in the streets of cities and
towns, highways, and thoroughfares, without offering any obstruction or impe-
diment to the ordinary traffic. For these purposes I form the tramrail of
cast or rolled iron, and in the manner as shewn in the accompanying designs.
The upper surface of the tramrail is cast or rolled with one or more longi-
tudinal grooves made in it in the direction parallel with the line of tramrail,
and other transverse grooves made in it at right angles or with the longitudinal
grooves, a portion of the surface of the tramrail being for the purpose of forming
a railway for vehicles having flanged wheels, and the other portion forming a
tramway for vehicles having ordinary wheels.
This iron tramrail is then laid upon a suitable foundation, the upper surface-
being on a level with the surface of the street or roadway in which it is
laid.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed more
fully to describe the same in reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1 shews a cross section of the tramrail; Fig. 2 shews a ground plau
of the same; Fig. 3 shews a longitudinal section of the above; three Figures
being drawn to a scale one half the real size; Fig. 4 shews a cross section
of two lines of tramrails in a paved street with an iron foundation; Fig. 5
shews a longitudinal section of the same; Fig. 6 shews a half plan of the
same; Fig. 7 shews a cross section of two lines of tramrails in a macadamized
street on a wooden foundation.
The above Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, are drawn to a scale of 1 inch to the
foot.
Fig 8 shews a cross section of a modification of the tranirail without a
groove for the flange of the wheels to run in, at a scale of half the real
size.
.
Fig. 9 shews a cross section of two lines of tramrails according to the above
modification.
The longitudinal groove G, and the portion of the tramrail S, is intended
to form a railway for vehicles having flanged wheels, the flange of the wheels
entering into the groove G, and by that means the tyre of the wheel is kept

page_text: on the bearing surface S, and the vehicle is by that means kept on the rails
when in motion; the other portion of the surface of the tramrail is intended
for the use of ordinary vehicles, the longitudinal grooves. C, C, C, C, and the
transverse grooves D, D, D, are intended to give hold to the feet of horses
treading in the tramrail.
The tramrail may have an iron foundation as shewn in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, or
a wooden foundation as shewn in Fig. 7.
When the tramrail has an iron foundation I prefer that such should be
made in the manner as shewn in Figures 4, 5, and 6. The tramrail is in
this instance cast or formed in suitable lengths and in one piece, and.in the form
shewn in cross section Fig. 4, each length being bolted to each other at the
joint J; the tramrail then rests on iron sleepers T-formed of T-iron about 3
feet apart, and is fastened to them by bolts and keys K.
When the tramrail has a wooden foundation the tramrail is laid and fastened
to longitudinal wooden sleepers which rests on transverse wooden sleepers in the
manner as shewn in Fig. 7.
Although I prefer that the foundation of the tramrail should be made, in
the manner above described and as shewn in the accompanying Drawings I do.
not bind myself to this precise mode of construction, but it may be varied to
suit local circumstances and requirements.
It is not absolutely necessary that the grooves G for the flange of the wheels
should be in the exact position shewn in the Drawings, nor is it necessary
that the grooves C, C, C, should be longitudinal or parallel with the line of
tramway nor the grooves D, D, at right angles to it, but they may be made
diagonally or in any other direction that may be required. It is also not
absolutely necessary that there should be a groove G, for the flanges of the
wheels to run in but a depression may be made in the rail instead, as shewn.
in the cross section Figs. 8 and 9. In this case the surface of the street will
be on a level with the upper surface of the tramrail and between the two
lines of tramrails the street will be on a level with the depression in the rail as
shewn in Fig. 9.
By these Drawings and description I show the general form of the tramrail
and the general mode of construction of the rail or tramway; but I do not
bind myself as to the precise details, neither as to the width of the tramrail or
depth of the grooves, nor as to the strength and dimensions of any other part
of the construction, as that will depend upon local circumstances and the amount
and weight of the traffic; nor do I bind myself as to the width of the tramway
between the tramrail, or the construction of the foundation upon which it

page_text: rests; but what I claim as my Invention is an iron rail or tramrail formed
in the manner as shewn in the accompanying Drawings, to be laid down in
the streets of cities and common roads for the purpose of street railways, and
adapted as a railway for vehicles having flanged wheels and as a tramway
for ordinary vehicles in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Burn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
RICHARD EATON, Draftsman,
to Messrs. Wilcock & Co.,
89, Chancery Lane, London.
(L.S.) CHARLES BURN.