IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS."-A communication.
Sealed the 11th August 1857, and dated the 16th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
February 1857.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS," to be as follows:-
These railway chairs are first produced while red hot in the form of a bar of
wrought iron, in which the space to receive the rail forms a groove throughout
its length. This bar is cut transversely at suitable distances apart to form a
number of chairs. The chairs are somewhat of the ordinary form of cast-iron
chairs, but lighter, the cut parts forming the sides of the chairs:
In this manufacture a series of rolls are employed in a manner similar to
the ordinary manufacture of bar iron, but with the form of grooves in the rolls
adapted for the purpose required. The first pair of grooves in the rolls
produce the bar of iron of a truncated wedge form in its cross section,
the lower and broadest side forming afterwards the base of the chair. Tho

page_text: several grooves in the rolls, to which it is then submitted in succession,
gradually form two raised ribs on one side throughout the length of the
bar, which ribs subsequently form the cheeks or sides, of the chairs. Having
submitted the bar to nine or ten different forms of grooves in the rolls,
and brought it somewhat near the form of the chairs required, the bar
is then submitted to the finishing rolls, which compress and complete the
bar by the aid of a mandril, which mandril perfects the interior form of the
groove in the bar, which groove forms the inner space for the reception of the
rail. The mandril is fixed and held between these last rolls while the bar of
iron passes through them; it is tapered towards the end to prevent the bar
adhering to it, the bar being drawn over it in the act of rolling. The bar so
produced is afterwards cut transversely into a number of pieces, each piece
forming,a railway chair. The bar is cut while red hot by means of a circular
saw.
- SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, 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 THE MANU-
FACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS," a communication, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Clark, 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 Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to

page_text: 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 William Clark, do hereby declare the.
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures respectively marked thereon (that is to say) :-
These railway chairs are first made in the form of a bar of wrought iron, in
which the space to receive the rail forms a groove throughout its length. This
bar is cut transversely at suitable distances apart to form a number of chairs
(the cut parts forming the sides of the chairs). These chairs are somewhat
of the ordinary form of cast-iron chairs but lighter.
.
.
In this manufacture a series of rolls are employed in a manner similar to
the ordinary manufacture of bar iron, but with the form of grooves adapted for
the purpose required. The first pair of grooves in the rolls produce the bar.of
iron of a truncated wedge form in its cross section, the lower and broadest sido
forming afterwards the base of the chair. The several grooves in the rolls, to
which it is then submitted in succession, gradually form two raised ribs on one
side throughout the length of the bar, which ribs subsequently form the cheeks
of the chairs. Having submitted the bar to nine or ten different forms in the
rolls, and brought it somewhat near the form of the chairs required, the bar is
then submitted to the finishing rolls, which compress and complete the bar by
the aid of a mandril, which mandril perfects the interior form of the groove in
the bar, which groove forms the inner space for the reception of the rail. The
mandril is fixed and held between these last rolls while the bar of iron passes
through them; it is tapered towards the ends to prevent the bar adhering to it,
the bar being drawn over it in the act of rolling. The bar so produced-is
afterwards cut transversely into a number of pieces; each piece forming a
railway chair. The bar is cut while red hot by means of a saw.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
This Invention consists in rolling iron of a suitable shape to form railway
chairs. For this purpose we employ three kinds of rolling mills analogous to

page_text: in plan at Figure 4. It has four grooves. The sections of the bar produced
by the whole of the nine grooves in the two sets through which the chair bar
passes successively are represented by the red outlines in Figure 7.
Thirdly, a set of matrix rolls, represented in elevation at Figure 5, and in
plan at Figure 6. It differs from the two first in the use of a mandril D,
which gives the interior shape to the chair. This combination of rolls with
their mandril D becomes a matrix, leaving a space which exactly represents
the section of the chair desired to be obtained. The red sectioned part in
Figure 7 shows a section of the bar and the shape of the rail chair as it
.leaves the matrix roll, Figure 5, through which it is passed after it has passed
into the fourth groove of the finishing rolls. The rail and its locking wedge
are also seen in the same Figure.
It will be understood that this matrix rolling mill forms a principal feature
of the Invention, and I will therefore describe it more minutely:-It is
composed, first, of two rolls, each having a groove of the exact form of one-
half of the exterior contour of the rail chair to be manufactured; secondly,
of a mandril D; on which the groove in the bar, forming the hollow sent in
the chair, traverses. This mandril is fixed by bolts to the sides of the cast-iron
guide boxes F, placed before and behind the rolls, as seen on an enlarged scale
in plan at Figure 8, and in elevation at Figure 9. These boxes do not differ
from each other excepting in the part K, in which the chair bar should fit
therein somewhat nearly both before and after its passage through the groove
of the rolls. The mandril which traverses the groove, and which is fixed to
the guide boxes, has the exact shape of the interior of the chair for about
half of an inch in length in the plane of the axis of the combined rolls, it then
diminishes gradually towards the ends in order to avoid sticking or locking
with the bar, which consequently facilitates its entry and exit.
It will be understood that the rolling and shaping is effected by contact with
the mandril, produced by the pressure and action of the rolls.
The rail chair bars obtained by this process are then sawn across while hot
at any suitable distances to form chairs, and pierced with holes while hot for
the réception of the fixing dowels or pins.
It will also be understood that this arrangement can be adopted not only
for the manufacture of rails of the shape represented by the section of the chair
shown in the Drawing, but also all rails which have internal form.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in which the
same is performed, I declare that what I claim as the Invention intended to be
secured by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―

page_text: First, the manufacture of rail chairs of rolled iron by means, first, of ordinary
rolling mills, giving them the required exterior shape; and, secondly, of matrix
rolls, which by means of a mandril give the required shape to the interior.
Secondly, the manufacture of rails or bars generally which are applicable as
railway chairs, & have interior shapes by means of the matrix rolls, with
mandril as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM CLARK. (L.S.)
Witness,
W. G. E. SwINNOCK.