IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Winby and Alfred
Alexander Winby at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th
May 1879.
WILLIAM EDWARD WINBY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Civil
Engineer, and ALFRED ALEXANDER WINBY, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford,
Mechanical Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILS AND CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS."
Our improvements in rails for railways consist in rolling a lip or turned up rib
on each side of the lower edge of the rail. Those lips or ribs extend the whole
length of the rail and form grooves or troughs on cach side of the lower edge of the
rail. The lower edge of the rail bas a rib rolled on it, the said rib extending the
whole length of the rail and being situated under the middle of the rail. When
the rail is fixed, as herein-after explained, the centre rib under the rail embeds
itself in the ballast and prevents lateral movement of the rail, and also constitutes
a bearing against which the ballast is rammed.
Our improvements in chairs for railways to be used with rails of the kind before
described, consist in making the said chairs from rolled bars of iron or steel having
the sectional figure herein-after described, and being divided transversely into the
required lengths. The said bars are angle bars, that is, consist of two webs or
portions situated at right angles to one another. One of the said webs (that is,
the web which when the chair is fixed is situated vertically) is of a depth proper
to fit between the underside of the head of the rail and the trough on the side of
the lower edge of the rail. This web is of a strength equal or nearly equal to the
body of the rail and constitutes the cheek of the chair. The other or horizontal
web is much lighter in substance, but has a breadth about three times as great as
that of the vertical web, the said horizontal web constituting the base of the chair.
The said horizontal web does not join the vertical web or check at its lowest point
but joins it immediately above the part of the vertical web which fits in the trough
of the rail. Bars of the kind described are cut into lengths of by preference
about twelve inches, and two of the said pieces when connected with the rail, as
herein-after described, constitute the chair of the rail. Holes are punched through
the vertical sides or checks of the chair and through the rail, and by means of
screw bolts passed through the said holes, and fixed by screw nuts, the vertical
sides or cheeks of the chair and the body of the rail are firmly bound together.
The upper sides of the cheeks or vertical parts of the chair are not in close contact
Pmine 71

page_text: with the vertical sides of the rail, and the lower edges of the said cheeks do not
quite reach the bottoms of the troughs in the rail.
When the rail and the two half chairs are fixed together by bolts and screw nuts
as described, they not only constitute a chair with so broad a base as to render
sleepers unnecessary, but also effect the fish jointing of the rails, thereby rendering
the ordinary fish plates unnecessary.
Those portions of the chair which constitute the base, instead of being in a hori-
zontal plane, may slightly incline downwards, or may be inclined downwards near
the rail and be horizontal at the other extremities.
A small rib may be rolled on the upper side of the base of the chair at a distance
from the vertical parts or cheeks equal to the thickness of the head of the screw
bolt and the screw nut. Wedges driven under the screw head and screw nut are
kept in their places by the said ribs, and prevent the accidental turning of the
screw bolts and nuts.
Tie rods may be attached to the chairs of the pairs of rails to preserve the proper
distance of the chairs apart.
We make either the rail and chair, or both the rail and chair, of wrought iron or
of homogeneous metal, or of rolled or cast steel.
When it is thought desirable to use wooden sleepers under the chairs the central
rib on the underside of the rail may be dispensed with.
And where the said central rib is for other reasons dispensed with a similar
vertical rib may be made on the under side of one or both of the horizontal webs
of the chair near the vertical webs or cheeks of the chair. These ribs serve to rai
the ballast against.