IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY BARS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sanderson, of Sharrow Vale, Sheffield, in the
County of York, Steel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY BARS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sanderson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
December 1865.
I, JOHN SANDERSON, of Sharrow Vale, Sheffield, in the County of York,
Steel Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY BARS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to produce a railway bar having a surface of
steel on that part of the rail which comes in contact with the wheels of the
engines and carriages. In order to effect this in the case of a double-headed
rail take a bloom of wrought iron of suitable size, which when heated to a
white heat I place in a cast-iron mould provided with a moveable or false side.
The cross sections of the bloom and mould have the form of a square or oblong
with the corners:cut off. In order to secure the bloom of iron in the mould
wedges are driven in between the false side and the side of the ingot mould.
Spaces are left in the mould between the bloom and those two sides of the mould
which are perpendicular to the plane of the false side, the other two sides
of the bloom being in close contact with one side of the ingot mould and the
false side. Into the spaces thus left I pour molten cast steel, which unites

page_text: perfectly with the heated surfaces of the two sides of the bloom; thus an
ingot compounded of iron and steel is formed, having more or less steel on
two of its sides according to the dimensions of the spaces left for casting. I
then hammer and roll the ingot into a railway bar in the usual manner. By
this means a rail is produced having a surface of steel on that part which
comes into contact with the wheel of the locomotive of considerable thickness,
the rest of the rail or bar being entirely composed of wrought iron. In the
same way a single-headed rail is produced by leaving only one space for
casting the steel, which will thus be only on the top side. Other forms of
rail may be formed in the same manner, the cross section of the bloom of iron
which forms the body of the rail being varied in form depending upon the
particular kind or section of rail it is intended to produce.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Sanderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SANDERSON, of Sharrow Vale, Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS "Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Sanderson, Her special licence that I, the said John Sanderson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Sanderson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY BARS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Sanderson, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Sanderson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
.
”
My Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture of Railway Bars'
consists in producing railway bars having a surface of steel on that part of the
rail which comes in contact with the wheels of the engines and carriages. If
it be intended to produce a double-headed rail I take a bloom of wrought iron
of suitable size and shape, as will be herein-after more particularly described.
This bloom is to be heated in any suitable furnace to a white heat, the surface
is then cleared of scale and the bloom is placed as quickly as possible in a
cast-iron mould, the inside of which has been previously well smoked in orden
to prevent the molten metal from adhering. This mould is provided with a
false or moveable side, and after the heated bloom is put into the mould
wedges are driven in between the false side and the side of the ingot mould.
Spaces are left in the mould between the bloom and those two sides of the
mould which are perpendicular to the plane of the false side, the other two
sides of the bloom being in contact with a side of the ingot mould and the
false side..
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing is a perspective view of the mould
with a bloom of iron placed therein ready for molten steel to be poured in.
a, a, a, are the sides of the mould, and 6 the false or moveable side; c is the
iron bloom, the section of which is of a polygonal form, as will be seen in the
end view, Fig. 2, which represents an iron bloom with steel faces for a double-
headed rail. The shape is that of a square with the corners cut off in order
that the steel may not only lie on the top of the head of the rail, but may also
bind round the edges of the head. The form of the iron bloom may however
be varied; it may, in fact, be made of any form that may be deemed advisable.
The moveable or false side 6 of the mould is merely a slab of the same
thickness as a side of the mould. When the bloom of iron is heated it
expands, and in this expanded state it is placed in the mould, and the
moveable side 6 (after the wedges are driven in) cause those surfaces of the
bloom which are to come in contact with the mould to fit tightly, otherwise if
the bloom were loose in the mould the molten steel would run into the inter-
stices and form a thin scale. d, d, are the spaces left for pouring in the
molten steel. The shape and size of the iron bloom c must of course be
calculated so as to leave these spaces for steel in the proper proportion.
Thus supposing a railway bar to be seven yards long, and each yard to weigh

page_text: eighty-four pounds, then each bar will weigh five hundred and eighty-eight
pounds, and allowing for waste and cutting the ends, we have a bloom of
about five hundred and fifty pounds, and we have to divide this into any
proportion of iron and steel that may be required. Now in order that these
rails may compete advantageously with others we must not have a much
greater proportion than one-fourth of steel. In the case of a single-headed
rail, the bloom for which is shewn in section at Fig. 3, one-sixth or one-eighth
of steel or less is all that is needed. The calculation of the size and shape of
the bloom can be readily accomplished for any proportion of iron and steel
that may be required. After the iron bloom is placed in the mould care
should be taken that it be fixed as near the centre of the mould as possible.
The wedges f,f, are to be driven in between the false side 6 and the side a of
the ingot mould. The bloom will then be firmly fixed in the mould. Another
set of hands should be ready with the crucibles of molten steel to pour it into
the spaces d, d. By this means a perfect union will be obtained between the
molten steel and the heated surface of the iron. The compound ingot is
afterwards to be hammered and rolled into the form and dimensions of a rail
in the usual way, or it may be found that roughing the ingot down through
notched rolls will suffice without hammering. A single-headed rail is produced
in exactly the same way, one space only being left in the mould for pouring
the steel, as will be understood on referring to Fig. 3.
I would remark that the rails now produced are, first,' those made from
iron which is faggotted together and rolled to a rail; second, those produced
by rolling ingots of metal produced by the Bessemer process.
There are also rails produced by welding a surface of steel on iron. Those
first mentioned are found to become rapidly destroyed by the action of the
steel-faced tyres now so universally used. The rails made from Bessemer
metal are sometimes found unequal in quality and liable to break like those
made entirely of cast steel.
The rails manufactured by my plan possess, firstly, an interior core of wrought
iron, thus imparting strength and toughness to the rail, whilst there is on the
surface of those parts which come in contact with the wheels of the locomotive
a coating of steel, which may be made harder or softer by using steel more or
less carbonized. The steel is also capable of being hardened and tempered if
required. Such a coating will effectually resist the wear and tear of the
wheels running on it. Second, the rail will not bend or be deflected out of a
straight line, the iron being prevented from bending by a backbone as it were
of rigid steel. Third, the steel being poured in a molten state and not welded,
all the disadvantages which arise from a weld are avoided. When two surfaces

page_text: are welded together it is impossible to remove the oxide or slag from between
the masses of iron when submitted to hammering or rolling in order to weld
such masses together. Now, although a great adhesion of the metallic
surfaces is obtained, yet portions of oxide or slag remain fixed between the
masses thus welded, which prevents the union being perfect. Fourth, the old
rails and crop ends will sell for a high price for re-manufacture.
In the manufacture from old rails the pile made of pieces of old rail sheared
to a proper length should be of such a capacity as to make two blooms of the
required size. The pile should be passed between notched rolls, so as to make
a good solid bloom. This should be cut into two pieces by a circular saw
(which would give a square end to each, so that they would stand well in the
mould. The same should be done in piling new iron, unless it were made
from a large puddled bloom (if so large a bloom could be made), in which
case it should be shingled under a steam hammer, and the upsetting would
give a square end. The bloom after being cut with the saw should be thrown
back into a reheating furnace with the damper down, and allowed to stay
there until the steel is ready, and they should be then carried by overhead
railway and dropped into the mould as speedily as possible. In places where
crucible steel is too costly steel manufactured by Parry's process, or even a
high-tempered Bessemer steel (if such an article can be produced uniformly),
may be used.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in the manufacture
of railway bars, and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid the mode herein set forth of producing compound railway bars
composed partly of steel and partly of iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sanderson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOHN SANDERSON. (L.S.)