IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING THE PERMANENT WAYS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hugh Greaves, of New Palace Yard, Westminster,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING THE
PERMANENT WAYS OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 9th February 1858, and dated the 17th September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hugh Greaves at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
September 1857.
I, HUGH GREAVES, of New Palace Yard, Westminster, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONSTRUCTING THE PERMANENT WAYS OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a description of cast-iron sleepers, which may be
used with the present form of rails; likewise to a new mode of connecting the
ends of rails to each other, in order to obtain increased security and economy;
also to a method of securing the rails to the intermediate chairs or sleepers;
also to an improvement on a Patent granted to me in 1846, for a surface
packed iron railway sleeper, and to improvements in manufacturing the same.
According to the first part of this Invention I make the sleepers, when used for
the bridge or foot rail, flat upon the top, to form a seat for the rail, and in some
cases I allow the rail to rest upon the sleeper; but in others I interpose a
piece or pieces of wood between them. The part of the sleeper or bearing
plate that is not covered by the rail will curve outwards, the convex side

page_text: being uppermost, and it will be strengthened by ribs cast on the upper and
under side. In some cases, I form these cast-iron sleepers with corrugations or
semicircles at right angles to the line of rails. In securing flat-bottomed rails
to these sleepers on the inner side, I cast a fillet or long low jaw, under which
the flange of the rail rests, and on the outer side one or more jaws are cast,
between which jaw or jaws and a fish plate bearing against the rail, I insert
a piece of wood, which is secured to the sleeper by one or more bolts passing
through the sleeper, and keeping the fish plate tight up to the rail.
A plate,
similar in section to the fish plate, but not so long, is likewise used for the
intermediate sleepers. This piece of wood may, in some cases, both act as a
key and a wedge, and may extend from one sleeper to the other, so as to give
continuity to the line of rail, and prevent unequal depression in wet places; or
it may be continued throughout the length of the rails and sleepers, to give
the latter additional strength. When these sleepers are used with the double-
headed rail they are more depressed in the centre under the rail, and one or
more jaws are cast on the outside and on the inside between the rails, and
secured as above. In some cases I cast the sleepers in two halves, having
their junction beneath the rails, and being formed with vertical webs or ribs
which are secured to the rail by one or more bolts, and are connected together
underneath by bolts or other suitable means. These sleepers may also be
formed with corrugations at right angles to the rails. In securing the joints
of double-headed rails, I take two of the fishes, as at present used, and on the
outside I use a piece of metal, which is secured by the two centre bolts to the
fish plate, and the lower part of such piece of metal takes into a notch in the
chair or sleeper on which it rests to prevent the rail from travelling or moving
endwise. This piece of metal may have a flange at an angle to the vertical
piece to support the rail vertically. These fish plates and pieces of metal will
not be fastened to the chair or plate on which they rest, but will merely rest
thereon. When cast metal fish plates are employed, they are secured to the
rail by two or more bolts, and on the centre of each fish a bearing plate is
cast, strengthened by brackets; or the fish is thickened at the base to obtain
greater bearing surface. The bottom of these bearing plates is convex, taking
a seat on the chair which is concave. In this method the rail will not rest
on the chair, as the fish plates will project slightly below the rail to prevent
damage to the same.
The improvement on the Patent granted to me in 1846 consists in giving
greater security to the rail for both joint and intermediate sleepers, by casting'
two brackets or wings to the same, thereby shortening the distances between
the bearings and making an equally efficient road with lighter rails, and in

page_text: casting such brackets or wings by means of chills, which are left in the sand
when the pattern is withdrawn. In tying the above sleepers together to
preserve the guage and angle of the rails, I employ a tie bar, which in some
cases passes through a hole cast in the sleeper, or is bolted or otherwise
secured to a piece of metal cast to and projecting below the sleeper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said Hugh Greaves in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUGH
GREAVES, of New Palace Yard, Westminster, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Hugh Greaves, Her special licence that I, the said Hugh
Greaves, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I; the
said Hugh Greaves, 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 terni 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONSTRUCTING THE PERMANENT WAYS OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others), that I, the said Hugh Greaves, 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 Hugh Greaves, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This Invention relates to a description of cast-iron sleepers, which may be
used with the present form of rails; likewise to a new mode of connecting the
ends of rails to each other, in order to obtain increased security and economy;
also to a method of securing the rails to the intermediate chairs or sleepers ;

page_text: also to an improvement on a Patent, granted to me in 1846, for a surface
packed iron railway sleeper, and to improvements in manufacturing the same.
According to the first part of this Invention I make the sleepers, when used
for the bridge or foot rail, flat upon the top to form a seat for the rail, and in
some cases I allow the rail to rest upon the sleeper, but in others I interpose
a piece or pieces of wood between them. The part of the sleeper or bearing
plate that is not covered by the rail will curve outwards, the convex side being
uppermost, and it will be strengthened by ribs cast on the upper and under
side. In some cases I form these cast-iron sleepers with corrugations, or
semicircles at right angles to the line of rails. In securing flat-bottomed rails
to these sleepers on the inner side, I cast a fillet or long low jaw, under which
the flange of the rail rests, and on the outer side one or more jaws are cast,
between which jaw or jaws and a fish plate bearing against the rail, I insert
a piece of wood, which is secured to the sleeper by one or more bolts passing
through the sleeper and keeping the fish plate tight up to the rail. A plate,
similar in section to the fish plate, but not so long, is likewise used for the
intermediate sleepers. This piece of wood may, in some cases, both act as a key
and a wedge, and may extend from one sleeper to the other, so as to give con-
tinuity to the line of rail, and prevent unequal depression it wet places; or it
may be continued throghout the length of the rails and sleepers, to give the
latter additional strength. When these sleepers are used with the double-
headed rail, they are more depressed in the centre under the rail, and one or
more jaws are cast on the outside, and on the inside between the rails, and
secured as above. In some cases I cast the sleepers in two halves, having their
junction beneath the rails, and being formed with vertical webs or ribs, which
are secured to the rail by one or more bolts, and are connected together under-
neath by bolts or other suitable means. These sleepers may also be formed
with corrugations at right angles to the rails. In securing the joints of double-
headed rails, I take two of the fishes, as at present used, and on the outside I
use a piece of metal, which is secured by the two centre bolts to the fish plate,
and the lower part of such piece of metal takes into a notch in the chair or
sleeper, on which it rests, to prevent the rail from travelling or moving endwise.
This piece of metal may have a flange at an angle to the vertical piece to
support the rail vertically. These fish plates and pieces of metal will not be
fastened to the chair or plate on which they rest, but will merely rest thereon.
When cast metal fish plates are employed, they are secured to the rail by
two or more bolts, and on the centre of each fish a bearing plate is cast,
strengthened by brackets, or the fishes thickened at the base to obtain greater
bearing surface. The bottom of these bearing plates is convex, taking a seat

page_text: on the chair, which is concave.
In this method the rail will not rest on the
chair, as the fish plates will project slightly below the rail to prevent damage
to the same.
The improvement on the Patent, granted to me in 1846, consists in giving
greater security to the rail for both joint and intermediate sleepers, by casting
two brackets or wings to the same, thereby shortening the distances between
the bearings, and making an equally efficient road with lighter rails; and in
casting such brackets or wings, by means of chills, which are left in the sand
when the pattern is withdrawn. In tying the above sleepers together to
preserve the gauge and angle of the rails, I employ a tie bar, which in some
cases passes through a hole cast in the sleeper, or is bolted or otherwise
secured to a piece of metal cast to and projecting below the sleeper.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is an end, and Fig. 2 a corresponding side elevation of my improved
sleeper and method of securing the ends of two adjoining rails. The rails a
rest upon ribs g, cast upon and serving to strengthen the curved sleeper d,
which is also farther strengthened by internal and external ribs h. The rails a
are secured in their position by bolts f, acting on the angular welge or key c,
fitting between the jaws i (cast upon the sleeper), and the fish plate e, which
rests and presses upon the rails, and may either be cast in one piece the whole
length of the sleeper, or in three pieces, as thought most desirable; one or
more of the bolts f being let half its diameter into the plates to prevent their
movement endwise. The fillet j, by which the inner edge of the rail is con-
fined, may either be cast the whole length of the sleeper, or at intervals, as
found most desirable. k represents a tie bar (secured by the bolt 1 to a
portion of the sleeper projecting below the base), for the purpose of connecting
two opposite sleepers, in order to preserve the gauge and angle of the rails.
On an inspection of the Figures, it will at once be obvious, that the effect of
tightening down the wedge c by means of the bolts f will be to secure the
rails firmly to the sleeper. These sleepers, in addition to being curved, as
described, may be formed with corrugations running at right angles to the line
of rails, as before mentioned; and in some cases the wedge or key c may be
continued to the two sleepers on each side of the joint sleeper, and made
available for securing the rails to them, in the manner represented at
Figs. 1 and 2.
:
Fig. 3 is an end elevation, and Fig. 4, a side elevation of another modi-
fication of my improved railway sleeper. In this case the sleeper b is cast in
two halves, which are strengthened by ribs or brackets d. The jaws c, formed

page_text: upon the respective halves, are secured to each other and to the rail by means
of the bolt passing through them; the under portions of the sleeper being
connected together by gibs and cotters 9, passing through the tie bar h.
Figs. 5 and 6, represent an improved mode of securing the ends of two adjoin-
ing rails. The fish plates b, formed of cast iron, and having their lower edges
widened to afford increased base, are attached to the rails a by means of the
bolts c, and rest or bear upon the chair d. The bases of the fish plates 6 are
made convex in form, and fit into corresponding concavities in the chair. The
result of this arrangement is, that when the rail is deflected the fishes are at
liberty to move slightly upon the chair, and thereby to avoid imparting that
rocking or side movement to the sleeper, which is now found so prejudicial.
It is farther to be observed, that this mode of fishing supports the rail with its
under head clear of the chair, and consequently keeps it uninjured.
Fig. 7 is a side elevation of two surface-packed sleepers, having brackets a
cast thereon (according to the improvement upon the Patent granted to me in
1846), in order to give greater bearing to the rails, and consequently to enable
lighter rails to be employed; and Fig. 8 is a plan of one of the sleepers. The
ends of two rails b, connected by fishes c, and bolts d, and secured by keys g,
in the ordinary manner, are shewn resting upon the brackets a, cast upon the
sleepers e, and formed with overhanging parts f, cast against chills (as well
understood), which are left in the sand when the pattern is withdrawn.
Fig. 9 shews a mode of securing rails to chairs, whether intended to be
used with wood or iron sleepers, and consists in casting the overhanging piece
b detached from the chair, so as more easily to remove and replace a rail. On
the piece is cast a fillet c, which prevents it from rising when the key is
driven home, another fillet taking into a suitable recess in the chair, being pro-
vided to prevent it from moving endwise. When the key is removed the piece
b is at liberty to fall out, and the rail may be lifted away without being
threaded through the chair. The brackets a, described with reference to
Figs. 7 and 8, may also be employed in connection with flat-bottomed rails.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hugh Greaves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
HUGH (L.S.) GREAVES.