IMPROVEMENTS IN STREET TRAMWAYS, AND IN THE METHOD OF SECURING RAILS TO CHAIRS OR SLEEPERS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Walmsley, of Bolton le Moors, in the County of
Lancaster, Iron Manufacturer, and John Thompson, of the same Place, Manager,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STREET TRAMWAYS, AND IN THE
METHOD OF SECURING RAILS TO CHAIRS OR SLEEPERS."
Sealed the 25th March 1879, and dated the 24th January 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Walmsley and John
Thompson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th January
1879.
THOMAS WALMSLEY, of Bolton le Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Iron
Manufacturer, and JOHN THOMPSON, of the same Place, Manager. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STREET TRAMWAYS AND IN THE METHOD OF SECURING RAILS TO CHAIRS OR
SLEEPERS."
Our Invention relates principally to the permanent way of street-tramways, and
particularly to the means for securing the rails to the chairs or sleepers, and for
adjusting, regulating, or tightening the fastenings. To secure the rails to the chairs
or sleepers we employ tapering, wedge-shaped, or conical screw-bolts, or cottar-bolts,
which pass through the webs or tongues or flanches of the rails, and also through
the chairs or sleepers, and are tightened up by means of nuts or taper-cottars. In
order that access may be readily had to the fastenings we provide boxes or recesses
into which project the ends of the screw-bolts or cottar-bolts which are provided
with the said nuts or cottars, the said boxes or recesses being closed by means of
removable covers which are arranged to be flush with the surface of the roadway.
In one arrangement we use a rail formed with a downward projecting web or tongue
which enters grooves formed in longitudinal or transverse chairs or sleepers, which
chairs or sleepers may be of cast-iron, wrought-iron, or steel. Holes are formed at
intervals in the web or tongue of the rail and in suitable positions in the chairs or
sleepers, so that wedge-shaped bolts can be passed through both sleepers and rails.
The holes are so formed and arranged as that when the bolts are tightened up by
means of nuts or cottars the rail is forcibly drawn down and caused to bed upon
the sleepers. A box open at the top is cast or fixed on the side of the sleepers at
the point where each bolt passes through, and a cover is provided for the said box,

page_text: the said cover being by preference grooved, chequered, ribbed, or otherwise
roughened, and being formed to be removed with a key, or otherwise formed or
arranged to be removable when it is desirable-to inspect or tighten up the fastenings.
When the tramway has to be laid in a paved roadway we prefer to make the said
-boxes-to-correspond in width with and to take the place of one or more paving sets.
-We-may-close the said boxes with blocks of wood, and we may cast them separate
-from-the sleepers, or we may form both the said boxes and covers-of-cast-iron,
wrought-iron, or steel. When we use a rail formed of two or more webs or flanches
we may connect the tightening bolt and fastenings by means of a link with-a-bolt-
passed through holes in the said webs or flanches. In the formation of a sleeper
which we consider to be suitable we employ two bars of rolled iron or steel.
bar is formed with a bottom flanch, and is formed at its upper edge to support the
rail and to fit against the tongue or web or between the flanches of the rail, or is
formed with ribs to bed against the said tongue or web. Two bars to form a
complete sleeper are or may be bolted, riveted, or secured to a foundation plate or
bar, or may be spiked or secured to a timber foundation. Sleepers so formed may
be bent to suit curves in the line.
Each

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Walmsley and John Thompson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th July 1879.
THOMAS WALMSLEY, of Bolton le Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Iron
Manufacturer, and JOHN THOMPSON, of the same Place, Manager. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STREET TRAMWAYS AND IN THE METHOD OF SECURING RAILS TO CHAIRS OR
SLEEPERS."
Our Invention relates principally to the permanent way of street tramways, and
particularly to the means for securing the rails to the chairs or sleepers, and for
adjusting, regulating, or tightening the fastenings. To secure the rails to the chairs
or sleepers we employ tapering, wedge shaped, or conical screw bolts or cottar bolts,
which pass through the webs or tongues or flanches of the rails, and also through
the chairs or sleepers, and are tightened up by means of nuts or taper cottars. In
order that access may be readily had to the fastenings we provide boxes or recesses
into which project the ends of the screw bolts or cottar bolts which are provided
with the said nuts or cottars, the said boxes or recesses being closed by means of
removable covers which are arranged to be flush with the surface of the roadway.
In the formation of a sleeper which we consider to be suitable we employ two bars
of rolled iron or steel. Each bar is formed with a bottom flanch, and is formed at
its upper edge to support the rail, and to fit against the tongue or web, or between
the flanches of the rail, or is formed with ribs to bed against the said tongue or web.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood we have attached
hereunto a Sheet of Drawings marked with letters of reference. Referring to the
said Drawings, Fig. 1, drawn to a scale of about one inch to the foot, represents a
plan of a tramway rail as when secured in position to sleepers laid in a roadway',
Fig. 2 representing a cross section of the same; Fig. 3, drawn about the full size,
represents a vertical section of a sleeper joint, and Fig. 4 a side elevation of the
same. In Figs. 1 and 2 a is the rail; b, b, are roadway sets; c is a rail joint; d,d,
are sleeper joints, and e is an intermediate fastening. In Figs. 3 and 4, a is the rail
which in the example is formed with a central downward projecting web or tongue
d. The rail is sustained by sleepers which in the example are supposed to be
formed of rolled iron or steel. The improved sleeper is formed of two bars or
girders ff, which are bolted to a sole plate g. The bars f correspond in form and
are or may be made interchangable, that is to say, so that any particular bar
may be taken to constitute one side or the other of the sleeper, but to this
we do not confine ourselves. The said bars may be bent into any required form to
suit curves, crossings, and joints. In the example the said bars and the sole plate
are a little less in length than half the length of the rail, and are rolled with two
flanches on one side to sustain and keep in position the rail, and with a flanch on
the other side for attachment to the sole plate. Two bars f bolted to a sole plate
form one sleeper, which in the example would be nearly twelve feet in length, and
two such sleepers would therefore be required for each twenty four feet length of
rail. The rail is arranged to break joint with the sleepers, as indicated in Fig. 1,
wherein it will be seen that the rail joint is situated in about the centre of a sleeper.
There will therefore be a sleeper joint at a distance of about six feet on each side of
the rail joint. The rail is also fastened to the sleepers at an intermediate point at
about the centre of its length so that the rail is secured to the sleepers at intervals
of about six feet. The number of points of attachment of the said rail to the
sleepers may be varied and we may attach the rail to the sleepers at intervals of
three feet, or at any other suitable intervals. The method of securing the rail to
the sleepers is clearly indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, wherein h, h, are two taper wedge
bolts, which are passed through holes formed in the bars f, and in the tongue a' of
the rail. One of the said bolts is represented detached by Fig. 5. The bolt is

page_text: We
screwed at one end and is provided with a nut and also with a spring washer
-which-we-prefer to use, but which does not constitute any part of our Invention.
It will be seen that the bolt is rectangular in cross section, the holes in the sleeper
and rail being made to correspond, this being the form we prefer, but we do not
confine ourselves thereto, and may_use_taper bolts, triangular or semi circular in
cross section, or-of-any other suitable_c cross section, or we may use ordinary or
parallel-bolts and provide them with wedge pieces which would be forced-by-the-
nut into the hole-in-the-rail-or-sleeper, as indicated in Fig. 6, or a bolt may be made
of a wedge shape at one end and be provided at the other end with a wedge piece,
as indicated by Fig. 7. The said holes are made a suitable degree larger than the
bolts to admit of the expansion and contraction of the parts, or to provide for slight
variations in the distances between the holes. The said holes are so formed and
arranged as that when the bolt is tightened up it bears upwards against the tops of
of the holes in the sleeper and downwards against the bottom of the hole in the
tongue a'. The the rail is thus drawn down upon the sleeper when the nuts upon the
bolts are tightened. The rail is rolled with two ridges which project from the under-
side, as indicated at i in Fig. 3. The inner sides of the said ridges are beveled and
act upon beveled edges formed on the upper and outer edges of the bars f so that
when the bolts h are tightened up, the two sides of the sleeper are forced inwards,
are thereby caused to grip the rail or are prevented from spreading outwards.
may dispense with these ridges as they form no essential part of our Invention and we
may employ secondary bolts to draw the two sides of the sleeper towards the
tongue a¹, or the bars f constituting the two sides of the sleeper may be fixed at
such a distance apart that as their upper ends will have to be sprung apart slightly
or to any desirable extent to admit the rail tongue either by the introduction of
the said rail tongue or by other means, so that when the rail is secured in position
the sleeper will tightly clip the said tongue. The nuts on the ends of the bolts h
project into a box k. In the example the said box is formed with three sides, the
side of the sleeper forming a fourth side when the box is in position. The said box
is by preference formed of wrought iron or steel by bending up the two ends of a
plate of suitable dimensions at right angles or by cutting up into lengths a bar
rolled of the required section, or may be cast or otherwise formed in any suitable
manner. In the example the lower open end of the box rests on the flanch of the
bar f, and the upper end is closed by means of a lid or cover l, which is kept in
position by means of projections on its underside, and is fluted or recessed on its
upper surface to afford suitable foothold to horses. The cover can be lifted out at
any time, and the fastenings be inspected and if necessary tightened without inter-
fering with the stone sets or "macadam." Fig. 8 represents a side view and Fig. 9 a
cross section of a joint plate which we apply to the sleeper-joint in the manner indi-
cated in Figs. 3 and 4. The said joint plate consists of a length of tee formed iron or
steel m, having-rectangular holes punched in the web. The said web is inserted in
the space between the sleepers, and taper keys n are driven through the holes-in-the-
web on each side of the rail, and bearing upon the bottom flanches of the sleepers
draw the head of the joint plate upwards against the soles of the sleepers, whereby
the upper surfaces of the ends of the sleepers are brought to the same level, and a
continuity of bearing upon the foundation is secured. This joint plate may be
dispensed with if not considered to be necessary, or any suitable arrangement for
effecting the same object may be employed. Fig. 10 illustrates the arrangement we
prefer to employ when adapting our Invention to rails which are formed with two
side webs. In this example the upper edges of the bars f' are formed to fit the
inner surface and underside of the rail, as clearly indicated in the Drawing. The
wedge bolt h¹ is modified to suit the change in the section of the rail, being formed
with two inclined surfaces, which act upon the two webs of the rail to draw down
the rail upon the sleeper. In lieu of this bolt, formed with two inclined surfaces,
we may use the bolt indicated in Fig. 6 or 7, or we may connect the bolt by means
of a link with a bolt or pin passed through holes in the side webs of the
rail. The described and indicated methods of securing the rail to the sleepers-by

page_text: means of taper or wedge bolts, which draw the rail downwards towards the sleeper,
may be employed in cases wherein the sleepers are not formed in accordance with
our Invention, as for example when the sleepers are made of cast-iron of an ordinary
or suitable form, and also in such cases the method of obtaining ready access to tho
bolts may be employed. If preferred the boxes may be made of cast metal, and
when the sleeper is also of cast metal may be cast thereon. We may bolt or fasten
the said boxes to the sides of the sleepers, but we do not now consider this to be
necessary. The lid or cover of the box may be suitably formed to be lifted out by
means of a special key or a suitable tool, and may be grooved, chequered, or other-
wise roughened in any suitable manner, and if considered to be advisable may be
hinged to the box or the sleeper. When the tramway is adapted for paved roadways
we may make the said boxes to correspond in width with and to take the place of
one or more paving sets. We may close the said boxes by means of blocks of wood
instead of by means of metal covers. The two bars or girders f, f, might be spiked
or secured to a continuous foundation of longitudinal timber sleepers, in which case
the sole plate g might be dispensed with. The wedge bolts may be tightened by
other means than by nuts, as for example by means of keys or cottars, as in the
case of the joint-plate m. We do not confine ourselves to the lengths of rail and
sleeper, nor to any other dimensions hereinbefore given, such being furnished only
by way of example and for convenience of description.
Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of our said Invention, and
methods of and means for carrying the same into practical effect, we would have it
to be understood in conclusion that we claim,―
First. The employment of taper or wedge shaped bolts, substantially as and for
the purpose set forth and indicated hereinbefore, and in and by the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly. Forming or applying spaces or boxes at the points of attachment of
the rails to the sleepers in order that access to the fastenings may be had by raising
or removing a lid, cover, or closing block or part, substantially as set forth and
indicated.
Thirdly. The metal sleepers in each case formed with or consisting of two rolled
steel or iron bars, substantially as set forth and indicated.
And, lastly. The combination of parts constituting a portion of a permanent
tramway, substantially as set forth and indicated.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Walmsley and John Thompson, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
Signed and sealed by the
said Thomas Walmsley
and John Thompson in
the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentees,
St. Ann's Churchyard,
Manchester.
THOMAS WALMSLEY.
JOHN THOMPSON.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)