A NEW SYSTEM OF RAILROAD SUPPORTED ON IRON SOLES, WITH OR WITHOUT WOOD BEING USED
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leon Barroux, of No. 10, Rue Mogador, Paris, in
the Empire of France, for the Invention of "A NEW SYSTEM OF RAILROAD
SUPPORTED ON IRON SOLES, WITH OR WITHOUT WOOD BEING USED."
Sealed the 9th December, 1859 and dated the 16th June 1859.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents with his Petition and Declaration
on the 16th June 1859, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEON
BARROUX, of No. 10, Rue Mogador, Paris, in the Empire of France, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW SYSTEM OF
RAILROAD SUPPORTED ON IRON SOLES, WITH OR WITHOUT WOOD BEING USED," and
have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
declaration that I am the first and true Inventor thereof:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Leon Barroux, do hereby declare
the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal fully describes
and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the

page_text: same is to be performed, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say :-
The large quantities of wood used in the construction and maintenance of
railways is the cause of several attempts having been made either to reduce
the employment of wood or to suppress it altogether. For some time it was
thought that Barlow's system seemed to offer a practical solution of the
difficulty, this hope has not been realized, and its failure it seems ought to be
attributed to the difficulties that the manufacture of the rail presents. Without
awaiting the realization of a sufficient perfection in this special manufacture,
it appears possible to obtain the advantages of this system, at the same time
employing nothing but the materials at present manufactured. This is
obtained by using the rail either of Vignole or Brunel, that is to say, by
raising on supports, making it rest on a flat iron sole about ten inches wide,
and of a sufficient thickness for it not to bend longitudinally round the foot of
the rail. This principle admitted; it only remains to find a convenient means
of fastening presenting the necessary solidity and facilities for taking to pieces,
indispensable, to insure the independence of the parts composing the railway.
The following are the means I adopt :-The connexion of the rail with the
sole is obtained: on the inside of the rails by an iron clasp e rivetted on the
sole, on the outside by a key h grooved as it were into another clasp or hook g,
also rivetted on the sole, and which supports the action of pressure. A small
piece of sheet iron m, the end of which bent down on the head of the key,
prevents any loosening caused by the vibration of the railway. The rails are
joined in the centre of the length of the sole, at this point the inside clasp
unites the two extremities, and is from 8 to 10 inches in length, on the outside
a key or bolt at each extremity seems better for, the security of the several
parts of the railway. This method of connection seems to exclude all
possibility of shifting, and consequently attains the same result as the splints,
but in a much surer manner. This objection may be made, that if the keys
are not susceptible of loosening they will rust, and in consequence would weld
themselves with the rail and the sole, thus causing a serious inconvenience.
It is to do away with this objection that the keys h are of cast iron, they must
be well coated with oil to prevent oxidization, and the results obtained by this
proceeding in certain mines will not allow a doubt as to its efficacy. In short,
if it is remarked that the keys have only to resist an effort of compression, it
is seen that there will be certain utility in using zinc to obtain a galvanic
action, if experience should show the necessity of having recourse to this means
of prevention from rust. To supply the eventual insufficience of the lateral

page_text: resistance of the ballast, pieces of sheet iron n forming a shoulder are rivetted
under the soles to assure the horizontal stability of the railway.
There then remains but to preserve the separation of the two lines of rails
which form the railway, in this there are two methods of proceeding. The
first and most simple consists in placing (Fig. 1st, and following) in the middle
and at the extremity of each length of rail or sole a wooden sleeper, of which
the cube is about half that of an ordinary sleeper, and to fix to it the soles
and the rail by means of iron pins, according to Drawings. The slope of the
rail is then regulated by means of notches in the wood, the same as is done
for railways on bearings. This solution is the most simple and economical,
taking into consideration the actual state of the price of wood and iron, but it
olliges periodical replacements necessitated by the spoiling of the wood.
The second proceeding causes exclusively the employment of iron, it consists
(Fig. 1 bis. and following) in the substitution of angle irons for the sleepers
above specified, with sufficient dimensions to have the necessary transverse
resistance. The extremities of these cross pieces are in such a manner as to
give the rail the necessary inclination. The cross piece A, Fig. 4 bis, placed
in the centre of a sole is fastened to it by means of a system of fastening the
same as that which is already employed for the rails. The cross piece B,
Fig. 4 ter, placed at the junction of two soles, carries a plate of sheet iron P, P,
upon which repose the extremities of each sole to prevent their penetrating
into the ballast, it is fastened directly to the rail. by means of a running
fastening, the same as the soles; the whole of the plate P, P, and the rail forms
a kind of splint to the junctions of the soles, and thus re-establishes the
homogeneity of the railway. At the junction of the rails, Fig. 5, the transverse
resistance is re-established by the means of the shoulder rivetted, underneath;
and which opposes itself at the same time to any bending at these points.
}
With the dimensions indicated on the Drawing, and in employing ordinary
rails of the weight of 60 lbs. to 70 lbs. per yard, it is certain that the charge
of a driving wheel will divide itself as it does at present upon a length of
35 inches or 40 inches, and consequently a surface of 350.or.400 square
inches, from which it follows that the charge upon the ballast will be at the
maximum 30 lbs. to 35 lbs. to the square inch of support. This charge
T
:
imposes upon the iron of the sole a labor of 3.8 to the square, inch for a
flange of 3.20 inches on that side of the foot of the rail, this labor is below
that to which the iron is at present subjected.
The quantity of material employed exclusively for the supports may be
reckoned as follows:-

page_text: 12 keys for fastening (cast iron)
Total
497
Which will be per yard, 47 = 75.3 lbs.
6'6
To find the total expense per yard in using wooden sleepers, add the price
of the labor to the value of the iron, and 0.75 cubic inches of wood in using
cross pieces of iron, the total weight of two divided per yard run, gives 22 lbs.,
the value of which is to be added to the 75 30 lbs. above.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood, that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein described,
as such may be varied or modified without departing from the principle
thereof; but I claim as of my Invention, the arrangement of road as above
described and shown in the accompanying Drawings, whereby are obtained
the following advantages:-
Complete homogeneity of the railway, and equal resistance on all the parts
of the working surface.
Reduction in the employment of wood of about the quantity necessary
at the present day, or complete suppression by augmenting slightly the
expense.
· Duration infinitely longer of the supports of the railway, especially in
tropical countries, and consequently an important reduction in the expense of
'maintenance and renewing, and with these advantages a great reduction in the
expense of the first establishment.
In witness whereof, I, the said L. Barroux, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
LEON BARROUX. (L.S.)