Improved Sleeper-support for Rail Joints.
Year: 1898

page_text: ཀོ་
Date of Application, 23rd Sept., 1898-Accepted, 29th Oct., 1898 -
17
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Sleeper-support for Rail Joints.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of Birkbeck Bank Chambers, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of London, Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (as communicated to me
from abroad by Paul Kühne, of No. 48, Kantstrasse, Charlottenburg, near Berlin,
Germany, Chief Clerk) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improved sleeper-support for rail joints whereby the
disadvantages of the existing construction of rail supports by means of a
double or
multiple joint-sleeper are avoided; it consists in constituting such supports of trans-
verse sleepers which are for this purpose connected together by means of lateral
extensions or connecting pieces running in the direction of the rails, so as to
form a kind of continuous framework. The said connecting pieces thus constitute
parts of longitudinal sleepers, and according to the mode of fastening for the
rails employed, they support the rail joints either directly or as suspended
joints.
:
In consequence of the rigid integral interconnection of the two or more joint-
sleepers, all shifting thereof, and consequently all change of position of the connecting
parts that support the rail joints, is entirely prevented. The fish plates and bolts
are freed from all strain by the said connecting pieces, and the rail joint is protected
from injury and the movements of the connecting parts being reduced to a minimum,
a correspondingly quieter motion of the rolling stock will result. With such direct
support of the rail joints by connecting pieces or longitudinal sleepers which connect
the joint-sleepers rigidly together, any flattening of the abutting heads of the rails
by the concussive action of the passing wheels is prevented, and consequently no
material difference of height of the two abutting rails or rail ends can ensue.
The said improved construction of rail joint supports is shown on the accompanying
drawing in two modifications. In the form of construction represented respectively in
plan, cross section and longitudinal section in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the sleepers B are pro-
vided with lateral extensions B¹ B² the size of which is such that they can be fitted
upon or over each other. In the construction shown the branch pieces B² overlap
the pieces B¹, the two combined pieces constituting a connecting piece for the
sleepers running parallel to the rails. The connection of the branch pieces with
each other is here shown to be by way of example by screw bolts and nuts.
In the other form of construction shewn in plan and cross section at Figs. 4 and 5,
the lateral extensions BS of the sleeper B are all of equal size and there are special
connecting pieces A2 which fit upon or over the extensions B³ with which they may
be connected by screw-bolts and nuts or equivalent means.
The height of the parts B2 (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) or A2 (Figs. 4 and 5) is in the two
cases shown mainly the same as that of the sleepers B but the middle portion of
said parts may be raised so much above the level of the sleepers as corresponds to the
height of the supporting plates (not shown), so that although the rail ends do not rest
directly upon the transverse sleepers but upon the supporting plates, yet the abutting

page_text: ends of the rail joint rest directly upon- the parts B2 (Figs. 1 to 3) or A² (Figs. 4
and 5) which serve as longitudinal sleepers.
Consequently, on the one hand, there can be no sinking of the rail-ends under the
weight of the rolling stock, and on the other hand the pressure exerted by the rail
ends upon the part B2 or A2 is transmitted to both joint-sleepers, so that all change
of the respective heights is practically impossible..
:
As already mentioned in the preamble, more than two transverse sleepers can be
connected together in the described manner; if, by way of 'example, the improved
support for rail joints is composed of three transverse sleepers, the middle one will
have two such projections as B₁for B2 or B³ on each side, whereas the two other
sleepers will be provided with such projections on one side only as will be clear
without any further detailed description.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
'tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
"claim is :-
1. Supports for rail joints consisting of two or more transverse sleepers, connected
together by connecting pieres running parallel with the rails, like longitudinal
sleepers, by means of which the said sleepers are formed into a compound sleeper, of
which the connecting pieces support the rail joints, substantially as described.
2. A construction of the support for rail joints of the kind referred to in the first
claim, in which the connecting pieces are formed by two separate branch pieces
of the respective sleepers, laid one upon the other and secured fogether, substantially
as described.
Dated thin nou c
1000