IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Pickering, of Chatham Place, Blackfriars,
in the County of Middlesex, Railway Contractor, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Pickering at tho
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
January 1856.
I, EDWARD PICKERING, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS, to be as follows:-
I construct a hollow compound rail and longitudinal bearer or sleeper of
triangular form, and having a rail head or surface for travelling upon at each
of the three angles or edges. This compound rail and bearer is bedded in the
ballast, with one of its angles uppermost, on which the wheels of the carriages
travel. When one of the edges or rail beads is worn out, the compound
sleeper rail is turned, so as to bring another of the angles uppermost, and
when this is worn out it is again turned to bring the other edge uppermost.
Great durability is thus obtained, and great strength is obtained from the form
and construction of the compound sleeper rail. The mode of constructing the
rail may be varied. Thus, it may consist of three flat, or curved, or angular
plates, with a rail head rolled on one edge of each plate, and the three plates

page_text: connected together by rivets or bolts and nuts, and arranged so that their ends
may break joint with each other, or with flush ends connected by plates, and
bolts and nuts, or otherwise; or the three plates may be connected by rolling
or welding them together; or the rail heads or wearing surfaces may be made
separate from the plates, and fixed between them or upon them; or the three
rail heads may be attached to a central box or tube of wrought or cast iron.
Holes may be made in the box to allow of drainage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Pickering in the Great Scal Patent Office on the
18th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
PICKERING, of Chatham Place, Blackfriars, in the County of Middlesex,
Railway Contractor, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
mc, the said Edward Pickering, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Pickering, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Pickering, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
THE PERMANENT WAY OF RAILWAYS,"-upon-the-condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward Pickering, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Edward Pickering, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-

page_text: I construct a hollow compound rail and longitudinal bearer or sleeper of
triangular form, and having a rail head or surface for travelling upon at each
of the three angles or edges. This compound rail and bearer is bedded in the
ballast, with one of its angles uppermost, on which the wheels of the carriages
travel. When one of the edges or rail heads is worn out, the compound
sleeper rail is turned, so as to bring another of the angles uppermost, and
when this is worn out it is again turned to bring the other edge uppermost.
Great durability is thus obtained, and great strength is obtained from the form
and construction of the compound sleeper rail. The mode of constructing tho
rail may be varied. Thus, it may consist of three flat, or curved, or angular
plates, with a rail head rolled on one edge of each plate, and the three
plates connected together by rivets, or bolts and nuts, and arranged so that
their ends may break joint with each other, or with flush ends connected by
plates, and bolts and nuts, or otherwise; or the three plates may be connected
by rolling or welding them together; or the rail heads or wearing surfaces
may be made separate from the plates, and fixed between them or upon them.
Figure 1, Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, is a side view, and
Figure 2 is a transverse section, representing a portion of permanent way con-
structed according to my Invention; Figure 3 is a section of one of the
compound sleeper rails, drawn to a larger scale. The same letters refer to
similar parts in each Figure.
The rail consists of three equal and similar picces or portions A, B, and C.
Each of these pieces is rolled separately to the form shewn in the Drawing,
having a rail head at one of its edges. The three pieces are connected toge-
ther by bolts and nuts, or rivets a, b, c, passing through lioles punched or
drilled for that purpose. The three picces A, B, C, are placed together, so as to
break joint with each other, as indicated in Figure 1; or they may be rivetted
together with their ends flush with each other, and they may be connecteil by
joint plates, and bolts and nuts, or screws, or otherwise. The mode of con-
structing the rail admits of considerable variation. Some of these variations
are shewn in the Drawings. Thus, Figure 4, Sheet I., shows the section of a
compound sleeper rail, constructed of three plates A, B, C, and three rails or
rail heads D, E, F, connected to them by the rivets a, b, c.
Figure 7, Sheet III., is a section of another compound sleeper rail, of a
form very similar to that shewn in Figure 3, Sheet I.
Figure 5, Sheet II., is a section of another compound sleeper rail, the heads
or wearing surfaces of which are of a form somewhat resembling that of the
ordinary bridge rail. The three pieces A, B, C, are connected by rivets a, b, c,
which are countersunk at one or both ends.

page_text: Figure 6, Sheet II., is a section of a compound sleeper rail, formed of three
bridge rails A, B, C, united by rivets a, b, c.
Figure 8, Sheet III., is a section of another compound sleeper rail, con-
structed of three plates A, B, C, and three rail heads D, E, F. The heads
D, E, F, are rolled of the sectional form, shewn in Figure 9, and they are
placed in a heated state upon the edges of the plates A, B, C, and then com-
pressed upon them by hammering, or by passing them between a pair of over-
hanging rolls, as shewn on a smaller scale in Figure 10. G and H are the
rolls, mounted in the frames I, J, and connected by toothed wheels K, L, in
the ordinary manner. By heating the rail heads and plates to a welding heat
and passing them through the rolls, they may be welded together so as to form
one piece.
Figure 11, Sheet III., is a section of another, compound rail, formed of
three plates A, B, C, and three rail heads D, E, F, connected together by bolts
and nuts, or rivets a, b, c. Cross ties are introduced at intervals to maintain
the proper distance between the rails. The cross tie may be a round rod,
screwed at each end, and furnished with two nuts at each end, as shewn at T,
in Figure 2, Sheet I. This rod is substituted for one of the rivets or bolts in
each rail, and is secured by the nuts, as shewn in Figure 2; or a flat bar bent
nt the ends may be employed,, and secured by screws to the side of the sleeper
rail, as shewn by dotted lines in Figure 5, Sheet II. Holes may be made
through the plates at intervals to allow of drainage.
These hollow compound sleeper rails possess great strength. The upper rail
head acts like the upper flange of a girder, and the two lower rail heads act
like the lower flange of a girder. The weight of the carriages passing over
them is thus distributed. The form and depth of the sleeper rails enable them
to be firmly bedded in the ballast. They admit of being turned when the first
head is worn by the traffic, and of being again turned when the second head is
The-heads which are not in-use-are not injured like those of ordinary
double-headed rails are injured by hammering or beating on the chairs. The
ordinary chairs and sleepers are dispensed with. The various pieces employed
to form these hollow compound sleeper rails admit of being manufactured by
the ordinary process of rolling.
worn.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is,―
First, the constructing a hollow compound sleeper rail, adapted for being
bedded in or on the ballast, and having three rail heads or wearing surfaces,
capable of being successively brought into use, as herein-before described.
Second, the constructing the permanent way of railways with the aforesaid

page_text: hollow compound sleeper rails, so connected that the parts composing them
may break joint with each other, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Pickering, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
EDWARD PICKERING. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOHN GURNEY, Solicitor,
2, Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street.