IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILS FOR RAILROADS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BENJAMIN THORNEYCROFT, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Ironmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and in the
tenth of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said George Benjamin
Thorneycroft, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George Benjamin Thorney-
croft, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said George
Benjamin Thorneycroft, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and yend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILS
FOR RAILROADS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that I, the said. George Benjamin Thorneycroft, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Benjamin Thorneycroft, do hereby declare the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
Railway bars being hitherto manufactured from piled or fagotted iron, it is
found in use they are liable to split in the pile or laminate, which causes them
to wear away very fast; to prevent this, my improvement consists in making a
piece of iron to form the wearing part of the rail of one homogeneous
substance without piling or faggotting in any way, being free from joints.
To accomplish this I take pig or refined metal of the best quality, and puddle
it in the most perfect manner, as is well understood, and make one ball of
sufficient weight to form the slab or bloom I require for the wearing part of
the rail, or, if more convenient, I put two or more puddled balls together
while the iron is in a maiden state, and before any part of it has been operated
upon, to make it solid or nearly approaching to solidity, so that a perfect union
may take place. I accomplish this by a hammer, squeezer, compresser, or
other suitable machine. Having thus got the proper weight of iron in one
perfect mass, instead of working it down and piling and working it down
again in rolls, or by hammers, as heretofore practised, to make the iron
sufficiently ductile to stand rolling into a rail for a railway without cracking,
I avoid such process of rolling down and piling, and obtain the' requisite
degree of ductility for the purpose without having recourse thereto, and I have
found that the requisite ductility is obtained to the iron when it has been
compressed sufficiently to make its specific gravity about the same as when
piled and re-rolled down into what is called Number 2 or Number 3 bars,
which is what is generally used on the outer surface of the pile or faggott of
which railway bars are generally made. There are various modes of com-
pressing this iron in one body to obtain the ductility required, but I do not
confine myself to any particular mode of accomplishing this point, so that the
unpiled iron is obtained sufficiently ductile to stand rolling or drawing into
perfect railway bars.
Having described my method of making what I call antilaminating rails
from puddled iron, I now describe my method of accomplishing the same
object with charcoal iron, to make the wearing part of the rails of one homo-
geneous substance with charcoal iron. I take pig or refined inetal and inako

page_text: it malleable in the charcoal refinery, which is a process well understood,
bringing it out in one lump of sufficient weight to make the slab or bloom which
is to form the wearing part of the rail. If I wish to use scrap or other
malleable iron for this purpose, I melt it down into one mass in the charcoal
refinery, and compress it by hammering or otherwise until it is sufficiently
ductile to stand rolling or drawing into the rail perfectly. I use Number 1
or 2 iron for the back or under parts of the rails, and the following are, I
believe, the most simple means of making the rails according to my Invention,
but I do not confine myself to any particular mode, so that what I call the
antilaminating iron is placed upon the wearing part of the rails. A, A, A, in
each of the piles, Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, shown in the Drawing here-
unto annexed, is the slab of antilaminating iron, which must always be rolled in
making a railway bar, so as to be upon the wearing part of the rail. The back or
under part B, B, B, may be made of bars of Number 1, 2, or 3 iron-box piled
as at Figure 1, or rolled in the usual way as at Figure 2, or a slab of iron
made from scrap, as at Figure 3, or in any other way. Figuro 4 represents a
section of what is called a bridge rail, made on the old method; Figure 5
shows one made according to my Invention. If rails of other sections are
wanted to be double headed, so as to turn them and wear both sides or top and
bottom, then the antilaminating slab must be used on both sides, as shown at
A, A, in Figure 6, or only two slabs of sufficient weight to make the whole
rail. I prefer to use piled iron in combination with what I call antilaminating
iron, in all cases the antilaminating iron coming to the wearing surface. My
object is to keep the wearing part of the rail of crystalized iron and not
fibrous, as the latter wears much softer than the former, for which reason I
wish to get that part of the rail not liable to wear away by the passing of the
wheels as fibrous as possible, which is not so liable to break as crystalized
iron, and therefore, when the two kinds are combined, the one assists the
other. In preparing the puddled iron, small scraps may be mixed with the
new iron in the puddling process; which will assist in making the iron more
ductile; but when the quality of the iron is sufficiently good, this can be
dispensed with, and the iron is better without it, because the scraps being
fibrous are much softer than the new crystalized iron, and may cause the
surface of the rail to wear irregularly.
.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details, so long as the peculiar character
of my Invention be retained; but what I claim is, the making of railway bars

page_text: of homogeneous iron in the wearing parts of the rail, or altogether or in such
proportions as may be desirable for the greater durability of the rail.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Benjamin Thorneycroft, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.