NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FILING OR SMOOTHING THE ENDS OF FISH PLATES, RAILS, WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE BY SAWING BARS TRANSVERSELY
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Brown, of Ebbw Vale, in the County of
Monmouth, Iron Manufacturer, and David Brown, of Cwmbran, in the
County of Monmouth, Manager of Works, for the Invention of "NEW OR
IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FILING OR SMOOTHING THE ENDS OF FISH PLATES,
RAILS, WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE BY SAWING
BARS TRANSVERSELY."
Sealed the 2nd August 1858, and dated the 7th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Brown and David
Brown at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 7th May 1858.
We, THOMAS BROWN, of Ebbw Vale, in the County of Monmouth, Iron
Manufacturer, and DAVID BROWN, of Cwmbran, in the County of Monmouth,
Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FILING OR SMOOTHING THE ENDS OF FISH
PLATES, RAILS, WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE BY
SAWING BARS TRANSVERSELY," to be as follows:-
Our said Invention has for its object the removal of the fringe or burr which
is left on the ends of fish plates, rails, and other articles by the action of the
saw employed for cutting the said articles from the bars from which they are
cut. The said fringe or burr is greatest when the bars are sawn while hot.

page_text: Our said Invention consists of rolls turned of such a figure that when two
of the said rolls are presented to each other in their working position, the
space between them has in the plane in which the axes of the rolls are situated
the same figure as the cross section of the article to be operated upon, that is
to say, the said rolls have the same figure as the rolls by which the bars were
made from which the fish plate or other article has been cut. We make our
rolls of steel or of iron steeled, or of any other sufficiently hard metal or
material.. After the rolls have been turned we cut deep lines across the
grooves in the said rolls, so as to convert the surfaces of the said grooves into
cutting surfaces, similar to those of a file. Rapid rotation is given to the said
rolls, and the fish plate or other article is pushed from a stage in front of the
rolls, so that one end is brought under the operation of the said rolls. The
said rolls cut or file off the fringe or burr which has been left by sawing, but do
not otherwise act upon the article.
When one end of the fish plate or other article has been operated upon, it is
withdrawn, and the other end is afterwards subjected to the action of the rolls.
Where it is only necessary to remove a fringe or burr from one side of the fish
plate or other article, one roll only may be employed, but we do not limit
ourselves to the number of rolls employed in our new or improved machinery.
Instead of a continuous we sometimes use a reciprocating rotatory motion, and
instead of making the face of the grooves in the rolls similar to the face of a
file, we sometimes place cutters in the said rolls, in which case we give a
slower motion to the said rolls. We prefer the method herein first described
of carrying our Invention into effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Brown and David Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
BROWN, of Ebbw Vale, in the County of Monmouth, Iron Manufacturer,
and DAVID BROWN, of Cwmbran, in the County of Monmouth, Manager
of Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign; did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Thomas Brown and David Brown, Her special licence that we,

page_text: the said Thomas Brown and David Brown, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Brown and David
Brown, our 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 "NEW OR IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR FILING OR SMOOTHING THE ENDS OF FISH PLATES, RAILS,
WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY CHAIRS, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE BY SAWING BARS
TRANSVERSELY," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas
Brown and David Brown, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, 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 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 David Brown, on behalf of myself and
the said Thomas Brown, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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:
Our said Invention has for its object the removal of the fringe or burr which
is left on the ends of fish plates, rails, and other articles made by sawing
bars transversely, the said fringe or burr-being produced by the action of the
saw employed for cutting the said articles from the bars from which they
are made.
The said fringe or burr is greatest when the bars are sawn
while hot.
We have represented in the accompanying Drawings two modifications of
our Invention, one modification being adapted to operate simultaneously upon
the opposite edges or sides of one end of a fish plate, rail, or other article, and
the other modification being adapted to operate only on one edge or side of
one end of a fish plate, rail, or other article. As the burr or fringe produced
by sawing is principally and sometimes altogether confined to one edge or side
of the end of the fish plate, rail, or other article, we will first describe that
modification of our machinery adapted for operating upon one edge or side only
of a fish plate, rail, or other article. For convenience of description we will
describe our machinery as constructed for operating upon the fish plates used
for securing the rails of railways.

page_text: Figure 1 represents one modification of our machinery in end elevation, and
Figure 2 represents the same in side elevation. The same letters indicate the
same parts in the several Figures. a is a roll or cutter mounted upon the
axis b. The said roll or cutter a has the figure represented in Figure 2, that
is to say, its acting surface is turned of such a form that in a section taken
through a plane in which the axis of the roll or cutter is situated, the said
acting surface of the roll or cutter has a figure the exact counterpart of the
surface of the fish plate to be operated upon, that is to say, the roll or cutter a
has the same figure as that of the roll by which the sides of the fish plate to be
operated upon were produced. The roll or cutter a may be made of steel or
iron steeled, or of any other metal or material sufficiently hard to permit its
surface being made into a cutting surface as herein-after explained. In
practice we have found ordinary cast iron to answer very well.
After the roll or cutter a has been turned, we cut deep lines across the
depression or groove in the said roll or cutter a, so as to convert the surfaces
of the said grooves into cutting surfaces similar to those of a file. Rapid
rotation is given to the roll or cutter a by means of a pulley c, which connects
the axis 6 with the driving power. The roll or cutter a is covered with a
case d, which prevents the flying about of the sparks which are produced
during the working of the machinery. The workman places the fish plate to
be operated upon on the platform e, and pushing it through a hole in the
case d, brings it against the stop f, situated over the highest point of the roll
or cutter a. The workman depresses the end of the fish plate upon the roll or
cutter by lifting the end he holds, the top of the hole in the case d through
which he passes the fish plate acting as a fulcrum against which he can cause
the end of the fish plate to bear upon the roll or cutter. After it has been
sufficiently operated upon, the fish plate is withdrawn and passed over the top
of the case d to a workman on the other side, who placing the other end of the
fish plate upon the platform g, pushes it through a hole in the case dimme-
diately above the platform g. The fish plate is arrested by the stop h, and is
made to bear against the cutter a by depressing the end of the fish plate
external to the case 'd.
By the operation of the roll or cutter a, the fringe or burr which has been
left by sawing is removed. We prefer to make the machinery, Figures 1 and 2,
double, that is to say, to place a roll or cutter similar to the roll or cutter a,
at that end of the axis b, opposite to that at which the roll or cutter a is
situated. The said roll or cutter, and its appendages are represented in
Figure 2, and as the second roll or cutter and its appendages exactly
resemble the roll or cutter a and its appendages, we do not think it necessary

page_text: to describe the same. i is a
fly wheel. on the axis 6, and k is a loose pulley,
which with the fixed pulley c facilitates the throwing of the machinery into
and out of gear with the driving power employed.
Figure 3 represents in side elevation, and Figure 4 in end elevation, our
machinery for operating simultaneously on both sides or edges of the end of a
fish plate.
It consists of a series of rolls or cutters l, m, and.n.; the rolls or
cutters and m forming one pair, and the rolls or cutters m and n forming
another pair. Instead of the three rolls l, m, and n being employed, and
forming two pairs, the rolls or cutters l, m, alone may be used as a pair; or
the rolls or cutters m and n may be used as a pair without the roll l. The roll
or cutter m is turned of a figure, which in cross section has the form which
one side of a fish plate has, and the rolls or cutters and n are turned of a
figure, which in cross section have the figure which the other side of a fish
plate has, and when the rolls or cutters l, m, and n, are made to work together
in the manner represented in the Drawing, they are suited to operate upon the
two sides or edges of the end of the fish plate simultaneously, and also to
operate upon two of the said fish plates at the same time; one of the fish
plates being operated upon between the rolls or cutters l, m, and the other
between the rolls or cutters m, n. The surfaces of the rolls or cutters l, m,
and n, are made into filing surfaces, as herein-before described with reference
to the rolls or cutters, Figures 1 and 2; 0, p, are the platforms from which
the fish plates are fed, and q, r, are the stops against which the fish plates
are arrested while undergoing the treatment of the machinery. Instead of a
continuous rotatory motion in the rolls or cutters, Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, a
reciprocating rotatory motion may be employed, but we prefer a continuous
rotatory motion. Instead of making the faces of the grooves in the rolls or
cutters similar to the face of a file, that is to say, by incising or impressing
the surface of the grooves themselves, we sometimes leave the said grooves
uncut, and place cutters in the grooves in the said rolls or cutters, in which
case we give a slow motion to the rolls or cutters instead of the rapid motion
which we give when the grooves in the rolls or cutters have cutting surfaces
similar to that of a file. We prefer, however, making the surfaces of the
grooves into a cutting or file surface instead of inserting cutters therein.
When our new or improved machinery is employed for filing or smoothing the
ends of bars or plates other than fish plates, we make the grooves in the rolls
or cutters of a form suitable to act upon the bars or plates, the ends of which
are to be filed or made smooth.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit

page_text: ourselves to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of our said Invention; but
we claim as our Invention, the new or improved machinery for filing or
smoothing the ends of fish plates, rails, wrought-iron railway chairs, and other
articles made by sawing bars transversely, that is to say, machinery consisting
essentially of a rotating roll or cutter, or rotating rolls or cutters, having
grooves of a form suitable to act upon the bar or plate to be filed or smoothed,
the said grooves being cut similar to the way in which files are cut, or provided
with cutters inserted therein, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
CHARLES DAVIES.
DAVID BROWN. (L.S.)