IMPROVEMENTS IN THẺ PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Hill Macnair, of No. 2, Prince Consort
Place, Leith, Scotland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THẺ
PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
Scaled the 5th July 1870, and dated the 6th May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Hill Macnair
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th May 1870.
I, ALEXANDER HILL MACNAIR, of No. 2, Prince Consort Place,
Leith, Scotland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the permanent way
of railways. I employ rails of a flat bottomed form, and I connect
these rails together at intervals transversely of the way by means of
tie bars. These ties I prefer to be of a section resembling an ordinary
angle iron, and the horizontal flange of the tie is rivetted to the flat.
bottoms of the rail. In between the rails this flange may be omitted
or cut' away to lighten the tie bars. Between the tie bars and under-

page_text: neath the rails in order to support the road upon the ballast, thin plates
of iron bent to a curved or arched form are employed. These plates
are of a width to give the requisite support, and this will vary some-
what according to the nature of the ballast and the weight of the
traffic. The ends of the plates enter recesses formed to receive them
in the edges of the tie bars just beneath the rails, and they are curved
downwards so as to form as it were a series of inverted arches under-
neath the rails. The plates thus placed are very stiff in proportion
to their weight, and they give an effectual and elastic support to the
rails.
In place of using flat bottomed rails, double-headed rails or rails of
other section may be employed, and in this case I rivet to the rails
side pieces or feet of sheet iron bent to the requisite form, and to these
the tie bars are rivetted. In place of rivets bolts may be employed, but
I prefer to employ rivets throughout.
In place of arranging the inverted arched plates to abut upon the ties
at their edges, I in some cases make them with flanges at their edges.
which I cause to overlap and rivet directly to the rails or to the side
pieces or feet fixed thereto; I employ tie bars at suitable distances apart
and secure them by the same rivets. Sometimes to give additional stiffness
to the arched plates I corrugate them longitudinally; the corrugations.
may be made to die out in approaching the edges of the plates, so as
not to interfere with their abuttment on the ties or attachment to the
rails.
I connect flat bottomed maile end to end by means of couplings of
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Hill Macnair in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
HILL MAONAIR, of No. 2, Prince Consort Place, Leith, Scotland, send
greeting.

page_text: .
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Hill Macnair, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Hill Macnair, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Hill
Macnair, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Hill Macnair,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Hill Macnair, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in the permanent way
of railways. I employ rails of a flat bottomed form, and I connect these
rails together at intervals transversely of the way by means of tie bars.
These ties I prefer to be of a section resembling an ordinary angle iron,
and the horizontal flange of the tie is rivetted to the flat bottom of the
rail; between the rails this flange may be omitted or cut away to lighten
the tie bars. Between the tie bars and underneath the rails in order to
support the road upon the ballast thin plates of iron bent to a curved
or arched form are employed. These plates are of a width to give the
requisite support, and this will vary somewhat according to the nature of
the ballast and the weight of the traffic. The ends of the plates enter
recesses formed to receive them in the edges of the tie bars, just beneath
the rails, and they are curved downwards so as to form as it were a series
of inverted arches underneath the rails. These plates thus placed are
very stiff in proportion to their weight, and they give an effectual and
clastic support to the rails.

page_text: bending the additional length at each end to the proper form. The
tie bars in this case are plain angle iron, and are only employed at
intervals, such as may be necessary to keep the road in gauge.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 show an arrangement similar to that shewn in
Figures 1, 2, and 3, but with bearing plates of uniform length through-
out, the junction of the rails being formed by means of a strong joint
plate rivetted to them beneath their bottom flanges. Figure 8 is a side
view; Figure 9 a portion of a plan; and Figure 7 a section taken
through the joint-plate, which is marked d. The joint plates d may
also be applied to the arrangement shown in Figures 4, 5, and 6, the
bearing plates being in that case all of the same length. If desired the
rails may be canted in place of being set vertically. Figure 10 is a
section of a line of road in which the rail is canted by bending the
end of the tie bar; the road in other respects is similar to that
represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3. Figure 11 is a similar view in which
the cant is obtained by the insertion of a wedge-formed piece beneath
the foot of the rail. In Figure 12 the rail is rolled with the desired
inclination upon it. Figures 13, 14, and 15 shew similar ways of
inclining the rail applied to the arrangement of road represented in
Figures 4, 5, and 6.
The form of rail shewn in Figures 12 and 15 is not adapted to receive
fish plates of the ordinary shape.
In the case of a light rail with a narrow base in which there is not
space to insert the rivets in the ordinary way a plate may be introduced
between the rail and the tie bar, such plate having lugs on either side of
the foot of the rail, and each rivet hole is formed partly in the foot of
the rail and partly in the lug of the plate. This arrangement is shewn
in Figure 14 applied to the wedge-formed piece used to cant the rail,
the same piece being made to serve both purposes.
In some cases I employ double-headed rails in place of flat bottomed
rails. Such an arrangement is shewn in section at Figure 16, in side
view at Figure 17, and in plan at Figure 18. e, e, are the feet which
aro rivetted to the rails, and these in turn are rivetted to the tie bars in
place of rivetting the rail and tie bar directly one to the other, as in the
arrangements previously shown.
As already mentioned in place of rivets bolts may be employed, but I
prefer to employ rivets throughout.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim
as my improvements in the permanent way of railways the application
of the curved or arched bearing plates c to support the rails, substantially
as described.
Also the construction of a line of railway, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Hill Macnair, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
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