IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Allan, of Adelphi Terrace, in the City of
Westininster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 14th April 1857, and dated the 27th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Allan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
October, 1856.
I, THOMAS ALLAN, of Adelphi Terrace, in the City of Westminster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing each line of rails in two parts, bolted
together, and united in such manner that the lengths of each half of the rail
break joint with the lengths forming the corresponding half, that is, the end of
one length and the end of that next to it meet, and are united at or about the
centre of the length of the corresponding half of the rail. Each separate length
is rolled or cast with two flanges in the form of girders, one to rest upon or lie
level with the ballast and form the sleeper, and the other to descend vertically
into it. At the junction of the lengths of half rails the small ends of the
girders both laterally and vertically are bolted to the corresponding half (to
complete the rail) at the broadest and strongest part thereof in both directions.
Lines of rails thus constructed present a firm and continuous bearing throughout,
and form of themselves perfect "fish joints." It will be necessary at intervals
to bolt the two lines together by means of tie bars to ensure their parallelism.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Allan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ALLAN, of Adelphi Terrace, in the City of Westminster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant to me, tho said
Thomas Allan, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Allan, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Allan, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT
WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Allan, 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 Thomas Allan, 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 thereof, reference, being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
My Invention consists in constructing each line of rails in two parts, bolted
together, and united in such manner that the lengths of each half of the rail
break joint with the lengths forming the corresponding half, that is, the end of
one length and the end of that next to it meet, and are united at or about the
centre of the length of the corresponding half of the rail. Each separate length
is rolled or cast with two flanges in the form of girders, one to rest upon or lie
level with the ballast and form the sleeper, and the other to descend vertically
into it. At the junction of the lengths of half rails the small ends of the
girders, both laterally and vertically, are bolted to the corresponding half (to

page_text: complete the rail) at the broadest and strongest part thereof in both directions.
Lines of rails thus constructed present a firm and continuous bearing throughout,
and form of themselves perfect "fish joints." It will be necessary at intervals
to bolt the two lines together by means of tie bars to ensure their parallelism.
The Drawings hereunto annexed represent the manner in which I carry my
Invention into effect.
Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of a line of rail constructed according
thereto, and Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is a cross section through
the lines a, b, of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is is a cross section through the
lines c, d, of Figures 1 and 2; and Figure 5 is a cross section through the lines
e, f, of the same Figures. Figures 3, 4, and 5 are all on a larger scale than
Figures 1 and 2, and the sections are represented as they would be seen by a
person looking in the directions of the arrows, shown in Figures 1 and 2. Tho
two portions are connected together by means of the bolts A and the nuts B,
placed as shewn in Figures 3, 4, and 5; but these may, if desirable, be placed
above the flanges of the rail, as represented in dotted lines C, D, in Figure 3.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the construction of
rails for the permanent way of railways, in which each line is composed of a
number of exactly similar half rails, each formed with a vertical rib and a
horizontal flange, both increasing in breadth from the ends towards the middle;
these half lengths being combined in such manner that the butts of two of
them are opposite the middle of the adjacent one, as herein-before described,
and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Allan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
THOMAS ALLAN. (L.S.)