Improvements in and connected with Railway Chairs.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 4th July, 1892-Accepted, 6th Aug., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Railway Chairs.
I, ALFRED SMITH, of The Grove, Dedham, in the County of Essex, Architect,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in the railway chairs for which Letters
Patent were granted to me dated the 12th November 1890 No. 18202 and in the
means for fixing such chairs to their sleepers.
According to my present improvements I advantageously form the removable
chair-wedges so that they completely fill the recesses comprised between the sides
of the webs and the top and bottom heads of the rails and, in some cases, I make
the inner wedge of less depth than the outer wedge in order to avoid the necessity
of cutting away so much of the lower portion of the chair, and to allow the said
portion to form a stop for the inner lower shoulder of the rail, thereby assisting
the wedges in holding the rails perfectly tight and upright in the chairs.
In some cases, however, I employ only one removable wedge for each chair, one
side of the chair in this case being made to fit the recess between the rail-beads,
and the vertical face adjacent to the web of the rail being slightly inclined outwards
in order to tilt the rail inwards and thereby cause it to assist the action of the
removable wedge, which is thereby caused to grip the rail more securely the more
the track is weighted or travelled over. The said face may also be made slightly
concave so as to more firmly press against the rail.
I may make some or all of the inner faces of the chairs and also the corresponding
faces of the wedges straight or curved. The wedge or wedges, or one of the wedges
may be divided vertically into two portions the meeting faces of which may be
straight or curved in the direction of the length of the rail.
At the centre of the underside of the base of the chair I provide a conical
projection adapted to fit a correspondingly shaped recess in the upper face of the
sleeper in order to strengthen the part of the said base located immediately beneath
the rail and to facilitate the accurate adjustment or placing of the chairs, wedges,
and rails. The loose pins passing through the chairs and wedges can, if required,
be dispensed with.
Instead of securing the chairs to the sleepers by means of the taper-necked bolts
described in the Specification of my said Patent I sometimes in the case of wooden
sleepers find it preferable, for this purpose, to make use of square bolts having
their lower ends slit and serrated so that when driven into the sleepers they will
divide and become, as it were, clinched therein. The upper ends of the bolts are
screw-threaded to receive a conical nut, adapted to receive a cap. The base of the
chair is formed with conical holes fitted with wooden bushes adapted to receive the
conical nut thereby keeping the latter from contact with the bolt holes and thus
preventing rust and friction.
Or the bolts may have undivided twisted stems and heads formed as above
described or ordinary heads.
When however securing the chairs to iron sleepers I may employ a similar
arrangement to that just described except that the bolt is formed with a flange
which bears upon the upper surface of the sleeper and a T head which is introduced
through an oblong hole so that, when the bolt is turned a quarter round, the said
head will bear against the inner side of the sleeper.
In place of the oblique grooves in the inner inclined faces of the chairs and
the corresponding projecting portions of the wedges referred to in the Specification
of my said Patent I may provide lugs on each side of the wedges with or without
extended sides; lugs may also be formed upon the chairs so as to confine the wedges.
The larger wedges used at the junction of the rails can be adapted to receive

page_text: the ends of two rails of different sections; and the extended sides can be cut
away when required to allow of the movement of shifting rails at points and
crossings.
When requiring to support two rails alongside each other I employ what I term
a twin chair adapted to receive the two rails and two sets of wedges. The two
middle wedges can. however if required-be made in one piece.
Dated the 3rd day of October 1891.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
'COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Railway Chairs.
1, ALFRED SMITH, of Sloe House, Halstead, (formerly of The Grove, Dedham)
in the County of Essex, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the unine is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to improvements connected with the railway chairs for
which Letters Patent were granted to me dated the 12th November 1890
No. 18202 and in the means for fixing such chairs to their sleepers.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which :-
Figures 1, 4, 7, 14 and 17 are plans of railway chairs embodying some of my
improvements.
."
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to improvements connected with the railway chairs for
which Letters Patent were granted to me dated the 12th November 1890
No. 18202 and in the means for fixing such chairs to their sleepers.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which :-
Figures 1, 4, 7, 14 and 17 are plans of railway chairs embodying some of my
movements
Figures 2, 5, 15 and 18 are side elevations of Figures' 1, 4, 14 and 17
respectively.
Figure 8 is a vertical section of Figure 7.
Figure 20 is a vertical section on line A B of Figure 17.
Figures 3, 6, 16 and 19 are end elevations of Figures 1, 4, 14 and 17
respectively.
Figure 9 is a vertical section of part of the base of a chair and of a wooden
sleeper shewing an improved fastening for the same.
Figures 94 and 9 are respectively a plan and an elevation of a conical nut, and
Figure 10 is a plan of the underside of a cap hereinafter described forming part
of the said fastening, and
Figure 11 is an elevation of a modified form of the screw-bolt forming part of
the said fastening.
Figure 12 is a vertical section of part of the base of a chair and of a metal
sleeper shewing the modification of my improved fastening necessary to adapt it
for-use with the said sleeper.
Figure 13 is a horizontal section on the line C D of Figure 12.
Figure 21 is an end elevation of what I term my twin chair for supporting two
rails alongside each other.
Similar letters in all the figures indicate similar or corresponding parts.
According to my present improvements I advantageously form the removable
chair-wedges a, a (as shewn in Figures 2, 5, 8, 15 and 18) so that they completely
fill the recesses comprised between the sides of the webs b and the top and bottom
heads c and d of the rails and, in some cases, I make the inner wedge a¹ of less
depth than the outer wedge a; as shewn in Figure 2, in order to avoid the
necessity of cutting away so much of the lower portion of the chair e, and to allow
the said portion marked to form a stop for the inner lower shoulder g of the rail,
thereby assisting the wedges a, a' in holding the rail perfectly tight and upright or
inclined in the chair e.
"In some cases, however, as shewn in Figures 4 and 5, I employ only one remov-
able wedge a for each chair e, one side of the chair in this case being made to fit
the recess between the rail-heads c, d; and the vertical faces of the chair e and
.

page_text: wedge a adjacent to the web 6 of the rail being slightly inclined in order to tilt
the head c of the rail towards the inside of the track thereby counteracting the
tendency of the rolling stock to force the rail outwards. The said' faces, although
not so-shewn, may also be made slightly concave, convex or of other suitable form
so as to more firmly press against the sides of the rail.
I. may make some or all of the inner faces of the chairs and also the corresponding
faces of the wedges curved as shewn for example in Figures 2, 5, 18, 20 & 21.
The wedge or wedges, or one of the wedges may, as shewn in Figures 7 and 8, be
divided vertically into two portions a, a and a', at the meeting faces of which may
be straight as indicated at h, or curved as ati in Figure 7, in the direction of the
length of the rail.
At the centre of the underside of the base ; of the chair e I may provide a
conical projection shewn at kin Figures 2 and 3 adapted to fit a correspondingly
shaped recess in the upper face of the sleeper m in order to strengthen the part
of the said base located immediately beneath the rail and to facilitate the accurate
adjustment or placing of the chairs, wedges, and rails.
The loose pins described in the Specification of my said Patent as passing
through the chairs and wedges are not shewn as they may be dispensed with.
Instead of securing the chairs e to the sleepers m by means of the taper-necked
bolts described in the Specification of my said Patent I may sometimes, (as
illustrated in Figure 9) in the case of wooden sleepers, find it preferable, for this
purpose, to make use of square bolts n having their lower ends slit and serrated as
at o, o so that when driven into the sleepers m they will divide as indicated in
the figure and become, as it were, clinched therein. The upper ends p of the
bolts are screw-threaded to receive a conical nut 2. the lower part of which
is circular and the upper part square as shewn in Figures 94 and 9" adapted
to receive a cap r, Figures 9 and 10. . The underside of this cap r is formed
with an undercut grooves to allow of it being slid over the nut qo̟ to operate.
the latter. The cap is also provided with a recess t, into which the end p
of the bolt n passes when it will prevent the cap from becoming displaced. The
cap also serves to prevent water and dirt from getting to the screw-bolt and
nut. The base of the chair is formed with conical holes each of which is
fitted with a wooden bush u adapted to receive the conical nutq thereby
keeping the latter from contact with the bolt holes and thus preventing rust and
friction.
Or, as shewn in Figure 11, the bolts n may have undivided twisted stems and
ordinary heads, or their upper ends may be formed as above described and shewn.
in Figure 9.
Or I may fix my chairs in the manner usually employed for fixing railway
chairs, that is to say, by means of tree nails, spikes, thimble pieces or ordinary bolts
When however securing the chairs e to iron sleepers m I may employ a similar
arrangement to that just described except that as illustrated in Figures 12 and 13,
the bolt n is formed with a flange or shoulder » (to prevent the bolt from sinking
in the sleeper while fixing the chairs) which bears upon the upper surface of the
sleeper m and a T head w which is introduced through an oblong hole a, in the
sleeper so that, when the bolt is turned a quarter round, the said head will bear
against the under side of the sleeper.
Instead of providing lugs on each side of the wedges they may be formed upon.
the chairs so as to confine the wedges.
The larger wedges used at the junction of the rails can as shewn in Figures 14,.
15 and 16 be retained in position in the chair e by providing each of them with
a lug y abutting against the chair. This arrangement allows of the wedges being
slid into position from the side of the chairs. The wedges can also be adapted
to receive the ends of two rails of different sections. They can also as shewn, be
formed with extended ends to receive bolts, similarly to fish plates; and the.
extended sides can be cut away when required to allow of the movement of
shifting rails at points and crossings.

page_text: In some cases, as shewn in Figures 17 to 20, I form the wedges a, a¹ with
projections or bosses 61 adapted to enter holes c¹ in the webs 6 of the rails in
order to prevent the rails from shifting longitudinally beyond the space allowed
for play.
When requiring to support, two rails alongside each other I employ what I term
a twin chair adapted to receive the two rails and two sets of wedges. This twin
chair is illustrated in Figure 21 in which a, a are the wedges on the outer sides
of the rails and a', a' those between the rails, the said wedges being of any of the
forms described which are suitable to the purpose. The two middle wedges a¹, a'
can obviously if required be made in one piece.
The same construction can obviously be employed for fixing more than two rails
alongside each other.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
The improvements in and connected with railway chairs hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 4th day of July 1892.