Improvements in Sleepers for the Permanent Way of Railways.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 13th July, 1887
Complete Left, 27th Mar., 1888
Complete Accepted, 27th Apr., 1888
Improvements in Sleepers for the Permanent Way of Railways.
We STANLEY ANDREW CROFT of 9 Charles Street Eccles in the County of
Lancaster Engineer and GEORGE TRENBATH of Springfield Patricroft in the said
County Accountant do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN SLEEPERS FOR THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS to be as
follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in sleepers for the permanent way of rail-
ways and the chief object of our improvements is to construct metal sleepers which
will form a solid and firm foundation for the rails and which will admit of the chairs
being removed and replaced when required without necessitating any displacement
or disturbance of the sleepers.
In constructing a sleeper according to our Invention we by preference cast the
sleeper of steel or iron with a plate or base and two sides or webs forming an open
trough or channel the plate resting on the ground and the sides extending upward.
In this trough we also cast two bridge pieces or blocks on the upper surface of which
we form two undercut or dovetail grooves to receive the two chairs each of which
slides into one of the grooves and is secured in position by "dogs" pins or
otherwise.
We propose to ballast the improved sleepers when in position on the line by filling
up the vacant spaces in the trough or channel with cinders stones or any suitable
material and as each sleeper rests on a flat plate as a base we obtain a very durable
and firm foundation whereby smooth running is insured.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in Sleepers for the Permanent Way of Railways.
We, STANLEY ANDREW CROFT of 9 Charles Street Eccles in the County of
Lancaster Engineer and GEORGE TRENBATH of Springfield Patricroft in the said
County Accountant, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to improvements in sleepers for the permanent way of
railways and the chief object of our improvements is to construct metal sleepers
which will form a solid and firm foundation for the rails and which will admit of the
chairs being removed and replaced when required without necessitating any
displacement or disturbance of the sleepers.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will describe the accompanying sheet of Drawings reference being had to
the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section of an improved railway sleeper made
according to our Invention.
Fig. 2 is a plan and Fig. 3 a side view of Fig. 1.
The body of the sleeper is by preference cast in steel or iron with a flat plate or
base a and two sides or webs a¹ forming an open trough or channel the plate or
base a resting on the ground and the sides a¹ extending upward. In this trough we
also cast two bridge pieces or blocks a² on the upper surface of which we form two
undercut or dovetail grooves a³ to receive the two chairs 6 only one of which is
shown. Each chair 6 slides into one of the grooves a² and is secured in position by
two bolts c and two ordinary trenails c¹ or the chairs may be secured by "dogs" pins
or otherwise. There are also in front of each chair two spikes c² which are driven
into holes cast in the bridge pieces a³ and further assist in keeping the chairs in
position. Below each chair b to prevent jarring we prefer to place in a recess cast in
each block a² for that purpose a piece of timber d or other packing through which
pass the bolts c and trenails c¹ and we secure the rails e in the chairs 6 by keys for
other means.
We propose to ballast the improved metal sleepers when in position on the line by
filling up the vacant spaces in the trough or channel with cinders stones or any
suitable material and as each sleeper rests on its flat base plate a it can be easily lifted
and rammed underneath so that we obtain a very durable and firm foundation
whereby smooth running is insured. We prefer to make openings a* in the base
plate a so as to prevent water lodging in the trough and also to save metal.
We are aware that metal sleepers for railways have been used prior to the date of
our Invention and we would have it clearly understood that we lay no broad claim to
sleepers made of metal but only to the novel construction above specified and
hereinafter pointed out in the claims.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A metal railway sleeper having a flat plate or base and two vertical sides
forming an open trough or channel with which are also formed two bridge pieces or
blocks with undercut or dovetail grooves on their upper surfaces for the reception of
the chairs substantially as herein described.
2. The improved metal railway sleeper constructed with a flat base plate a pro-
vided with openings at the vertical sides a¹ and the bridge pieces or blocks a³ formed
with undercut or dovetail grooves a³ all substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and as illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester,
Agent for Applicants.