AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Martin Benson, late of Cincinnati, in the United
States of America, but now residing at Newcastle, Mechanical Engineer,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS."
-A communication.
Sealed the 19th April 1859, and dated the 11th November 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Martin Benson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th November 1858.
I, MARTIN BENSON, late of Cincinnati, in the United States of America, but
now residing at Newcastle, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF RAILS FOR
RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of hollow railway bars, the
sustaining power of which up to a given point will increase in proportion to
the weight it is required to carry. In manufacturing the improved rail a set
of three grooved rollers is employed; these are mounted one above the other,
in suitable framing, and geared together in a manner similar to the method of
working three rollers for other purposes. The rollers are furnished with a
series of progressive grooves suitable for bringing the bar to the required.
shape, and by the arrangement of three rollers the bar is passed through the
rolls in one direction and returned in the opposite direction with great

page_text: expedition, so that by one heating of the bar it is made available for the
greatest possible amount of rolling.
The improved rail is of the T form, but with a pear-shaped hollow in the
head; the walls or sides of the rail are concave on their outer surface, and their
inner faces are made parallel for a certain height and brought into contact,
thus when the rail is loaded, the walls of the rail will have a tendency to press
together and make the rail as strong as if they were welded together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Martin Benson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARTIN
BENSON, late of Cincinnati, in the United States of America, but now residing
at Newcastle, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Martin Benson, Her special license that I, the said Martin Benson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Martin Benson, 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 "AN IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF RAILS FOR RAILWAYS," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Martin Benson, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Martin Benson, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-

page_text: This Invention of "An Improved Manufacture of Rails for Railways" has
for its object to increase the sustaining power of such rails up to a certain
point in proportion to the weight they are made to carry.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 shews in side elevation a set of three
rollers mounted in suitable framework for rolling the improved rails; and
Fig. 2 is an end view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view
of a hollow T rail for railways constructed according to this Invention.
The first part of the Invention relates to the means employed for construct-
ing the improved rail, and consists in furnishing rollers with a combination of
grooves of certain proportions so that a rail made by a portion of them will
resemble a U rail in shape in its transverse section, and the rail thus made by
being passed through other grooves will be converted into the shape of a
hollow Trail, as represented in Fig. 3, and without the use of a mandril or
other means to form the hollow f in the rail, excepting the relative proportions
existing between the finishing grooves H and G and the drawing grooves
A, B, C, D, and E. Three rollers 4, 5, and 6 are used, which are mounted
in bearings in the framework, and are operated by gearing in a manner
similar to that employed for working three rollers for other purposes. The
rollers are furnished with a series of progressive grooves as represented in
Fig. 1, and when the grooves and tongues are taken together they form the
openings A, B, C, D, and E, between the rollers 4, 5, and 6. The bloom to
be rolled is first passed through the groove A and returned through the
groove B, put back through the groove C, and returned through the groove D,
and again put back through the groove E, which forms the bar into a shape
similar to a U rail, or in such a shape as represented by the space E between
the lower and middle rollers. When the rail has passed through the groove
E, it is turned up on its edge and passed through the finishing grooves G
and H, and will leave the groove H in the shape represented in Fig. 3, which
shews the hollow Trail in its cross section.
I do not wish it to be understood that the mere idea of using three rollers
is new, but I adopt the three rollers for lessening the labor required for
making the rail by working it both ways; the combination of the grooves as
represented can be made with two rollers, but will require more labor to
produce the rail.
The following portion of this Specification will have reference to the
improved rail, and to facilitate the describing of the parts of the rail I will
refer to them with letters of reference.
. . a. represents the top of the rail; B, B, its walls which are pressed or forced
together from C to C with a pair of rollers as before described, and the outside

page_text: of the walls of the rail from near the top to a short distance below. Where
they commence to meet, the walls are made concave as represented at d, d, for
the purpose of making them brace inwards when the rail is loaded, as is
denoted by the direction of the arrows marked on each wall B, which causes
the walls of the rail to press together, and makes the rail as strong as if they
were welded together. By constructing the rail as described with concave
walls having abutting or welded faces extending upwards about one and three
quarters inches more or less from the base of the rail, with the outside and
concaved portion of the walls of the rail extending a short distance below
where the walls are forced together, a stronger and more durable rail will be
produced with a given quantity of metal than has heretofore been made.
Should the walls B, B, be made straight and separated from each other as
represented by the dotted red ink lines in Fig. 3, and meet together only at a
point at the base of the rail, they would more readily give way where they
and the flanges or base of the rail are joined together, and particularly when
the straight wall rail is used on the curved portion of roads, for the weight
of the carriages then presses heavier on the side of the outside rail, thus
increasing the leverage and lateral force produced on the rail in the curved
portions of the road which would bend the straight walled rail over to one
side, but the like effect would not take place with the improved rail subjected
to the same force when the walls are welded, pressed, or forced together, and
made concave as represented, for one of the walls must yield to compression
and the other to tension before the rail is bent down to one side.
In making the rail the walls B, B, will sometimes be welded together from
C, C, while at other times they will only be partially welded, and in some
instances only pressed together, as the rail often gets too cold in the process
of making it before it is passed for the last time between the rollers, at which
time the walls of the rail are welded, if welded at all.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Manufacture of Rails for Railways," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that I claim under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, the combination of grooved rollers substantially as represented, with
which I first make the rail in its transverse or cross section similar in shape
to a U rail, and then into a T shape, and hollow as represented in Fig. 3 by
giving the drawing grooves the proper proportions to the finishing grooves, so
that there will be just sufficient metal left in all parts of the rail requisite for
making a tubular T rail as specified; I also claim constructing a tubular
Trail with concaved walls B, B, welded, forced, or pressed together from

page_text: C to C, or from the base of the rail upwards, as represented and before
described, or so near together that when a load is placed on the rail the
tendency will be to force the walls together and make them brace inwards.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martin Benson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
MARTIN BENSON. (L.S.)