IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAMWAYS OR STREET RAILWAYS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Timmis Smith, of Barrow-in-Furness, in the
County of Lancaster, Manager of Iron and Steel Works, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAMWAYS OR STREET RAILWAYS,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Timmis Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th June 1879.
CE
JOSIAH TIMMIS SMITH, of Barrow-in-Furness, in the County of Lancaster,
Manager of Iron and Steel Works. IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAMWAYS OR STREET
RAILWAYS."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein after described in constructing
the rails and bases or chairs of tramways or street railways, and in connecting the
said bases or chairs to the rails, whereby great efficiency in the action of the said
rails and chairs is secured combined with great economy in manufacture.
I make the rails of rolled iron or steel, and of any required section, and at
different points of the body of the rail I make by punching or otherwise one or
more holes, each of the said holes or series of holes being at a distance of two feet
from the next hole or series of holes, or at such other distance as may be determined
on for the distance between the chairs.
I make the bases or chairs in which the rails are supported of cast iron, and I
cast the said chairs upon the rail so that in the casting process the chair is both
formed and fixed to the rail. In casting the chairs I employ the ordinary method
of casting, excepting that I lay that part of the rail on which the chair is to be cast
in the mould, so that the molten cast iron in filling the mould not only forms the
chair but runs into and fills the hole or holes described in the body of the rail, thus
bolting the chair to the rail and the cheeks of the chair together.
I make the chair with a broad foot, which not only firmly supports the rail but
affords a foundation for the first or first and second rows of paving stones on either
side the rail. In laying a tramway with rails and chairs made according to my
Invention I prefer to fill up the space, if any, between the foot of one chair and that

page_text: of the next by plates of a width and thickness equal to the width and thickness of
the foot of the chair, so as to produce a continuous support for the first or first and
second layers of paving stones.
Instead of making holes in the rail for the cast metal torun into grooves or other
depressions or projections may be made on the body of the rail for the cast chair to
engage with. Rolled or hammered steel or iron bars may be introduced into the
holes in the rail before casting the chair upon the rail. A very strong connection
is thereby secured. Or steel or iron bars inay be introduced in any parts of the
chair it may be desired to strengthen.
The chairs may he made of cast steel instead of cast iron or of a mixture of cast
steel and iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Josiah Timmis Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
December 1879.
JOSIAH TIMMIS SMITH, of Barrow-in-Furness, in the County of Lancaster,
Manager of Iron and Steel Works. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAMWAYS OR STREET
RAILWAYS."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein after described in constructing
the rails and bases or chairs of tramways or street railways, and in connecting the
said bases or chairs to the rails, whereby great efficiency in the action of the said
rails and chairs is secured combined with great economy in manufacture.
I make the rails of rolled iron or steel, and of any required section, and at
different points of the body of the rail I make by punching or otherwise one or
more holes, each of the said holes or series of holes being at a distance of two feet
from the next hole or series of holes, or at such other distance as may be determined
on for the distance between the chairs.
I make the bases or chairs in which the rails are supported of cast iron, and I
cast the said chairs upon the rail, so that in the casting process the chair is both
formed and fixed to the rail. In casting the chairs I employ the ordinary method
of casting, excepting that I lay that part of the rail on which the chair is to be cast
in the mould, so that the molten cast iron in filling the mould not only forms the
chair but runs into and fills the hole or holes described in the body of the rail, thus
bolting the chair to the rail and the cheeks of the chair together.
I make the chair with a broad foot, which not only firmly supports the mail, but
affords a foundation for the first or first and second rows of paving stones on either
side the rail. In laying a tramway with rails and chairs according to my Invention
I prefer to fill up the space, if any, between the foot of one chair and that of the
next by plates of a width and thickness equal to the width and thickness of the
foot of the chair, so as to produce a continuous support for the first or first and
second layers of paving stones.

page_text: Instead of making the foot or flange of the chair and the body or cheeks of cast
iron, the foot or flange may be made of wrought iron or steel, as herein after
particularly explained.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in cross section a rail and base or chair of a tramway or
street railway made according to my Invention. In the said Figure 1 a, b, is the
base or chair of the rail made of cast iron, and c is the steel or wrought iron head
of the rail, having the sectional figure represented, or other sectional figure. In the
shank or body c₁ of the head c of the rail two or more holes c³ at a short distance
apart, and preferably on the same level, are punched or otherwise made. In making
the base or chair a, b, of the rail, and connecting it to head c, I form a mould having
a figure the counterpart of the figure of the chair or base to be cast, and I lay the
shank or body 3 of the rail head in the said mould, and pour molten cast iron in
the said mould in the usual way. As the mould is filled with the cast iron it runs
into and fills up the holes c³ in the rail c. The chair or base of the rail is thus
made, and at the same time connected or bolted to the rail by the casting process.
The broad cast foot or flange b may be of any required length, the foot or flange
affording a foundation for the first or first and second rows of paving stones on
either side the rail. The space between the broad foot b of each chair and the next
one may be filled by a plate of wrought iron of a width and thickness equal to the
width and thickness of the foot of the chair, so as to produce a continuous support
for the first or first and second layers of paving stones.
Instead of making the foot or flange b of cast iron, and in one piece with the
body or cheeks a, a, of the chair, the foot or flange b may be made of rolled iron or
steel, and connected to the rail head by casting the cheeks or body of the chair
between the said rolled or steel foot or flange and the rail head. Figure 2 repre-
sents in cross section, Figure 3 in side elevation, and Figure 4 in horizontal section,
taken on the line A, B, Figure 3, a rail and chair or base of a tramway or street
railway made according to the modification last described.
In the said Figures 2, 3, and 4, d is the steel or wrought iron flange or foot of
the chair, having the sectional figure represented, and having by preference a length
equal to the length of the head of the wrought iron or steel rail c; e, e, are the
cheeks of the cast iron chair or connecting pieces between the head c and the
wrought iron or steel foot or flange d of the chair.
In connecting the head c to the foot or flange d I punch or otherwise make holes
c, c, in the shank c² of the head c, as before described, and I also punch or other-
wise make holes d³, d³, in the shank or central web d² of the foot or flange d, and
I also punch or otherwise make holes d', d, in the flange or foot itself. I place the
head c and flange or foot d in a mould, and cast molten cast iron in the said mould.
The cast metal in filling the mould runs through and fills up the holes c³, d³, in the
head c and flange d, and also fills up the holes d', d, in the said flange d. The
cheeks e, e, of the chair are thus made, and at the same time connected to the head c
and flange d, as will be understood by an examination of Figure 2.
The body of the cast chair may have the sectional figure represented in Figure 5,
that is, it may be hollow, and the steel or wrought iron head of the rail and upper
side of the steel or wrought iron flange or foot may each have two punched or
perforated shanks for the cast metal to run in and fill up.
Instead of making holes in the rail or rail and flange for the cast metal to run
into, grooves or other depressions or projections may be made on the body of the
rail and flange or foot of the chair for the cast metal to engage in. Rolled or
hammered steel or iron bars may be introduced into the holes in the rail or rail and
flange before casting the chair or cheeks of the chair upon the rail or rail and flange.
A very strong connection is thereby secured. Or steel or iron bars may be intro-
duced in any parts of the chair it may be desired to strengthen.
The chairs or cheeks of the chairs may be made of cast steel instead of cast iron
or of a mixture of cast steel and iron.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to
the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention.
But I claim as my Invention the improvements in tramways or street railways
herein before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing; that is to
say, making the rails of tramways or street railways of a head of rolled iron or steel
of any required section, and casting upon the body or shank or shanks of the said
head a series of chairs or bases at the required distances apart, the said chairs or
bases having broad flanges or feet for the purpose described, and being connected to
the body or shank or shanks of the head of the rail by the cast metal of which the
chairs or bases are made running into and filling holes formed in the body or shank
or shanks of the head, or engaging with grooves, depressions, or projections in or on
the said body or shank or shanks, substantially as described and illustrated; also
the modification described and illustrated in which the flange or foot of the chain is
made of wrought iron or steel, and is connected to the body or cheeks of the chair
by the casting process which connects the chair or cheeks of the chair with the
head of the rail.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Timmis Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
Witness,
Wч. B. PEAT,
3, Lothbury,
London, E.C.,
Accountant.
JOSIAH TIMMIS SMITH. (L.S.)