IM- PROVEMENTS IN PERMANENT WAY RELATING TO IRON CHAIRS. AND SLEEPERS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edgar Lowe, of 2, Laurence Pountney
Hill, in the City of London, Middlesex, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PERMANENT WAY RELATING TO IRON CHAIRS. AND SLEEPERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edgar Lowe at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th August 1870.
I, JOHN EDGAR LOWE, of 2, Laurence Pountney Hill, in the City of
London, Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
TO IRON CHAIRS AND
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PERMANENT WAY RELATING
SLEEPERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the construction of an elastic sleeper
for railway or other purposes. It consists in the application of steel;
wrought iron, or other metallic plates or clips as the bearing or support
for the rails in combination with cast-iron chairs or sleepers.
This combination is accomplished as follows:-In the mould in which
the chairs or sleepers are made there is inserted one or more plates of

page_text: steel or wrought iron so that when the sleepers are cast these plates are
firmly secured in the cast-iron chair or sleeper, and form one piece with
the sleeper; the plates being gripped by their opposite sides only form
an elastic bridge on which the rails are supported. The chairs or
sleepers may be of the usual pot shape, trough, or any other convenient
form, and may be either open or closed under the said metallic plates or
under portions of them, and projections may be cast on the sleeper to
prevent lateral movement of the rail. The plates must be of thickness
and width sufficient to support the foot of the rail and to obtain the
necessary elasticity. To secure the requisite grip in the casting the
edges of the plates where they enter the casting may be made thicker,
or dovetails or holes may be made in the plates for the same purpose, or
the edges of the plates may be bent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Edgar Lowe in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th February 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDGAR LOWE, of 2, Laurence Pountney Hill, in the City of London,
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Edgar Lowe, Her special licence that I,
the said John Edgar Lowe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Edgar Lowe, my executors, adminis-
trators, and 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PERMANENT WAY RELATING
TO IRON CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Edgar Lowe, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be 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 John Edgar Lowe, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of elastic chairs and sleepers
for railways and tramways, and consists of a base of cast iron combined
with plates or clips of wrought iron or steel for the supporting or bearing
surfaces for the rails.
The junction between the metals is effected in the following manner :-
The plates or clips of wrought iron or steel are placed in the moulds in
which the cast-iron sleepers or chairs are made, so that when the metal
is run into the mould the wrought iron or steel is securely gripped at
one or more of its extremities by the cast iron, and forms an elastic
bridge on which the rail is supported. For obtaining extra grip or
holding power in the cast iron the said plates or clips may be roughened
or thickened on the sides where they enter the cast-iron sleeper, or they
may have dovetails or holes pierced in them near the extremities, or the
plates or clips may be slightly turned at the edges.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention I will now
proceed to describe more fully and particularly in what manner the same
is to be performed and carried into effect by reference to the accom-
panying Drawing in which are represented several different forms of
sleepers I propose to make under this Patent.
Figure 1 is a plan of an ordinary cast iron intermediate sleeper of
oval form in which the plate a is of wrought iron or steel and is cast
into the sleeper on its opposite sides only as shewn by Figure 2, which is
a transverse section through the centre of the sleeper. This plate a
acts as an elastic bridge for the support of a flat bottomed rail.
Figure 3 is an end view of the cast-iron sleeper and shews the rail
kept in its place by projections in the cast-iron sleeper and forming
part of the said sleeper. The rail can be fastened down to the wrought
iron or steel plate or plates by ordinary bolts and lock nuts, but any of
the usual methods may be used or adopted for the fastenings if
preferred.
:
;

page_text: Figure 4 is a side elevation of the sleeper Figure 1, and shews the
projection on sleeper into which the plate is cast. The plate is shewn
by dotted line marked a. Figure 5 is a plan of an ordinary pot sleeper
adapted for a double-headed rail, and Figure 6 is a transverse section
through the centre of the said sleeper and shews a curved plate cast into
the sleeper for the support of the rail.
•
Figure 7 is a plan of a sleeper with plates cast in at each end for the
support of a double-headed rail, the rail may be held in its place by a
chair on the sleeper as shewn, or by any other convenient method;
Figure 8 and Figure 9 are respectively an end elevation and longitudinal
elevation of this sleeper.
Figure 10 is a plan of a pot sleeper for hard ballast. In this sleeper
the cast iron is continued under the bridge plate, square holes being left
in the crown of the sleeper for the introduction of bolts or other fasten-
ings to secure the rail to the bridge plate. This is shewn by Figure 11
which is a transverse section through the centre of the sleeper, the
dotted lines represent the holes in the crown of the sleeper.
Figure 12 is a plan of a sleeper in which the wrought iron or steel
plate is gripped by the casting on all its sides; Figure 13 is an end
elevation of the same sleeper.
Figure 14 shews the adaptation of the same principle to ordinary cast-
iron chairs for railways. The rail is supported by a curved plate which
is gripped by the chair on its opposite sides. If preferred two or more
plates may be used or a spring composed of several plates may be cast
in. In the above mentioned Drawing the wrought iron or steel plates
are marked a both in plan, section, and elevation, the rails b, and the
cast iron c.
In Figures 15 to 20 are shewn several of the modes of forming the
wrought iron or steel plates so as to obtain extra grip- by the cast iron;
Figure 15 is a plan of a plate with dovetails at each extremity where it
enters the casting.
Figure 16 is a plan of a plate with round holes punched or drilled
for the same purpose, the cast iron fills up the holes and firmly secures
the plate.
Figure 17 is a plan, and Figure 18 is a section of a plate of steel

page_text: Fig. 19 is plan, and Fig. 20 is section of a plate turned down at the
ends where it enters the casting.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and how the same
may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not bind
myself to the precise details herein described and represented in the
Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the general
principles of my said Invention, but what I claim as my Invention is,
the construction of elastic chairs and sleepers for railways and tramways
consisting of a combination of wrought iron or steel plates or bearers
for holding or supporting the rails, with a base of cast iron, such com-
bination to be made by casting the wrought iron or steel plates or
bearers into the cast-iron base by the method heretofore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edgar Lowe, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
J. PROCTOR.
JOHN EDGAR LOWE. (L.S.)