AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF STRENGTHENING OR INCREASING THE DURABILITY OF RAILS, POINTS, AND CROSSINGS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Gray, of Sheffield, in the County
of York, Steel Saw, File, Edge Tool, and Machine Knife
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD
OF STRENGTHENING OR INCREASING THE DURABILITY OF RAILS, POINTS, AND
CROSSINGS FOR RAILWAYS"
Scaled the 18th September 1868, and dated the 24th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th March 1868.
I, EDWARD GRAY, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Saw,
File, Edge Tool, and Machine Knife Manufacturer, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD
OF STRENGTHENING OR INCREASING THE DURABILITY OF RAILS, POINTS, AND
CROSSINGS FOR RAILWAYS."
This Invention relates to a peculiar and economical mode or method
of strengthening or rendering more durable the rails, points, and

page_text: crossings of railways, and consists essentially in applying to or com-
bining with the iron before it is completely shaped or manufactured
into the aforesaid articles an outer skin or covering of steel,, as herein-
before described, so as to cover those parts which are subjected to, the
greatest wear and tear. For this purpose the steel is applied to or
combined with the iron either by welding it on to the iron by the aid
of a forge hammer or rolls, or by casting it on to the iron by placing
the heated iron in a suitable mould and pouring the melted steel
over those parts to which it is to be applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th September 1868..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GRAY, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Saw, File, Edge
Tool, and Machine Knife Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Gray, Her
special license that I, the said Edward Gray, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Gray, my
executors, administrators, or 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 MODE OR METHOD OF INCREASING THE DURABILITY OF RAILS,
POINTS, AND CROSSINGS FOR RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Gray, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: 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 Edward Gray, 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar and economical mode or
method of strengthening or rendering more durable the rails, points,
and crossings of railways, and consists essentially in applying to or
combining with the iron before it is completely shaped or manufactured
into the aforesaid articles an outer skin or covering of steel as herein-
after described, so as to cover those parts which are subjected to the
greatest wear and tear. For this purpose the steel is applied to or
combined with the iron by casting it on to the iron by placing the
heated iron in a mould or moulds of any desired shape and number
of pieces, and pouring the melted steel over those parts of the
wrought iron to which it is to be applied."
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for
that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet
of Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding
parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a transverse section of a double
headed rail strengthened and rendered more durable according to my
Invention. Figure 2 is an elevation, and Figure 3 a plan of a combined
steel and wrought iron slab, steeled on both edges, from which the rail
shown in Figure 1 may be rolled. Figure 4 represents a cast-iron
box or ingot mould or moulds which I employ when casting the
steel on to the wrought iron.
Figure 5 is a transverse section of a single headed rail rolled from
a compound slab constructed according to my said Invention, and
Figures 6 and 7 are respectively an elevation and plan of the combined
steel and wrought iron slab steeled on one edge only, from which the
rail shown at Figure 5 may be rolled. The slab from which the rail

page_text: is to be subsequently rolled is made by first forging a bar or slab of
iron A of the required dimensions; this slab may be allowed to cool
or not to suit convenience. I should prefer letting it. cool and then
taking twenty or any number and putting them in a suitable heating
furnace to get hot by the time the steel in the crucible is ready for
pouring, as it could not be steeled from the forging without being
heated again; this wrought iron bar or slab is then to be introduced
whilst in a heated state into a metal mould or moulds B made to
open longitudinally or otherwise in one or more parts, by preference
along each side of the wrought iron bar or slab as shown in the
perspective view, Figure 4. The ends of the cavity in this mould or
moulds are by preference rounded as shown at b and e, so that when
the wrought slab A is introduced a semi-cylindrical space a, b, c, and
d, e, f, will be left on each side or edge of the slab, into which space
or spaces (according as one or both edges of the slab is or are to be
steeled) I pour melted steel from a crucible. This steel makes a
perfect weld with the iron of the slab, and when removed from the
mould the slab which will present the appearance shown at Figures 2,
3, or 6, 7, is ready for re-heating preparatory to being rolled into the
form of rails, the steel portions C, C, of the slab coinciding with and
forming the whole or a portion only of the head or heads of the rails
as shown at c, c, Figures 1 and 5, according to the greater or less
proportion of steel employed. It is obvious that similar combined
iron and steel slabs may also be employed for producing the wing
and point rails of crossings and the tongue rail of switches.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
First. The steeling of lumps or slabs of wrought iron intended to
be rolled into rails for railways by introducing such lumps or slabs
whilst in a heated state into a metal mould of any desired form and
composed of any number of pieces, and pouring melted steel into the
cavities left for that proposed between the wrought iron slab and the
interior of the mould, substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: word ncicon, as пегет
described to the
Tails for railways.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Gray, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
EDWARD GRAY. (L.S.)