Improvements in and relating to the Permanent Way of Railways.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 30th June, 1896-Accepted, 1st Aug., 1896
[Communicated from abroad by ANDREW SAUBER, of the North West Corner of
Front and Race Streets, in the City of Cincinnati, in the County of Hamilton
and State of Ohio, United States of America, Grocer.]
Improvements in and relating to the Permanent Way of Railways.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to those railways whose tracks are supported upon metallic
cross-ties, and the improvement comprises a novel combination of chair, dovetail-
clamps, rail-head braces, and non-circular bolts for securing the rails immovably
to the ties, and without employing the customary complicated and expensive
system of fish-plates, bolts, nuts and spikes for this purpose, the details of
construction being hereinafter more fully described, and then pointed out in the
claims.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a perspective view of one end of the preferred form of cross-tie used
in my construction of railway-track.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of a chair and a pair of dovetail-clamps adapted
to be secured within said cross-tie.
Figures 3 and 3' are perspective views of a pair of rail-head braces, to be used in
connection with said chair and clamps.
Figure 4 is a plan showing a chair fitted within a tie.
Figure 5 is another plan; but showing a pair of rails supported upon the chair
and held in place by the clamps, a bolt being passed through the inner clamp,
the outer bolt and rail-head braces being omitted, and the vertical webs of the
rails sectioned.
Figure 6 is a side elevation of the complete arrangement of parts, the rail being
sectioned.
Figures 7 and 8 are vertical sections of the complete structure, said sections being
taken, respectively, at the lines Y-Y and Z-Z, of Figure 5.
Figure 9 is an enlarged end-elevation of the cross-tie and its attachments.
Figure 10 is a plan of the under side of a modified form of the chair.
The cross-tie, which is usually rolled to the desired shape, consists of a base-
plate A, of any suitable length, width and thickness, and has at its sides vertical
flanges B, B', whose upper edges are cut away at b, b' to afford a pair of rail-
seats; the extreme end of said base-plate being, preferably, bent down at a, to
form an anchor that prevents longitudinal shifting of said tie. Furthermore, each
side-flange has a pair of square, or other non-circular holes 6", for a purpose that
will presently appear.
bare horizontal flanges projecting outwardly from the vertical flanges B, B',
and extending from the rail-seats b, b, to the end of the tie.
The chair Cis a flat plate sufficiently long to fit snugly between the tie-flanges B, B,
and having a central rib c, that rests upon the base of said tie, the sides of said
chair being cut away, as more clearly seen in Figure 4, to afford a pair of dove-
tail mortises D, E, flanked by lugs d, de el having channels d, e" in them.
chair is just as wide as the rail-seats b, b, and its upper surface is flush with said
seats, but the lugs are carried up somewhat higher than said chair, so as to be on a
This
:

page_text: level with the tops of the side flanges B, B'. Again, the outer ends of the lugs e e¹
are flush with the ends of the chair, so as to hear directly against the inner sides of
these flanges B, B1, but the other lugs d, d', are shorter than said lugs e, el. Con-
sequently, passages F, F1, are formed between the outer ends of the lugs d, d', and
the inner sides of the tie-flanges B, B. (See Figures 4 and 5.)
Adapted to fit snugly within these passages are rail-head braces G, H, having
horizontal-ledges g h, notches g¹ h' and non-circular perforations g¹¹¹.
I, J, are dovetail-clamps capable of being engaged with the mortises D, E, and
having grooves i j, as more clearly seen in Figure 2.
K, K', are square or other non-circular bolts or pins, for the purpose of holding
the chair, rail-head braces and clamps securely within the cross-tie; one end of said
bolts being provided with customary heads, while their opposite ends are traversed
by keys or other convenient fasteners kk'.
L, L', are portions of two abutting-rails, and the dotted lines l, in Figure 5,
indicate notches in the bases of said rails, for the engagement of lugs i, j, projecting
from the under side of the clamps, as represented in Figure 8.
and are guiding lugs that confine these clamps to vertical paths, while being
inserted in their appropriate mortises.
M, in Figure 9, is a notch in the bottom of the clamp I, to admit the point of a
crow bar, when it is desired to pry said clamp out of the cross-tie.
In assembling the various parts of my track, the chair C is first placed within
the tie, in the manner seen in Figure 4, the lugs d d of said chair being in line
with the outer ends of the rail-seats b b', while the other lugs e, e', are in line with
the inner ends of said seats.
The rails L, L' are then applied to the tie and chair, care being taken to
have the abutting ends of said rails meet at the centre of said chair, as represented
in Figure 5.
But no further care is required in laying the rails, because the length of the
seats b, b', and the clearance between the opposing lugs d, e, and d', e', is just
sufficient to admit the rail-bases.
Therefore, as soon as the rails are in position, the clamps I, J, are engaged
with the mortises D, E, of the chair, and the rail-head braces G, H, are inserted
within the respective passages F, F¹.
The channels du, dl, ell, ell, of the chair, together with the grooves i, j, of the
clamps and perforations gh, of the rail-bead braces are now in line with the
holes of the tie-flanges, and the bolts K, K', being driven through
these holes, grooves and channels, and the keys k, k', applied to said bolts, the act
of securing a rail in place is completed; but the smaller ends of said keys must
be bent laterally to prevent them working loose.
Again, it is advisable to have the bottom of the grooves i, j, slightly above the
lower edges of the holes 6, 61, 61, 61, in order that the forcible insertion of the
bolts may pull the clamps I, J, down in a very powerful manner, and thus cause
them to grasp the rail-bases so securely as to prevent any member of the attachment
getting out of place.
As the rail bases now bear against the horizontal flanges 6 6, it is evident
that the lower portions of the rails cannot shift toward the end of the tie, neither
can the heads of the rails incline outwardly, because said heads are supported by
the heavy braces G, H, and the latter bear directly upon the thick, vertical sides
of said tie. (See Figure 9.)
Therefore, it is impossible for the rails to "spread," or to work loose from the
tie, no matter how heavy the traffic may be on the road.
But if constant use should wear down any member of the attachment, the
bolts K, K', can be withdrawn to enable the insertion of filling-pieces at suitable
places, and then said bolts can be readily restored to their places.
The above is a description of the most complete form of my railway-track;
but it is evident the details of construction can be considerably varied, as for
example, by omitting the flanges a and b, Or, the lugs and notches

page_text: may
be omitted from all the attachments, except those employed near the abutting
ends of two rails.
Again, Figure 10, shows a modified form of chair adapted to the support of a
switch-rail, the chair having a lateral extension C', with a secondary vertical-
flange c. In this chair, the function of an inner mortise is performed by a dove-
tail slot E', located where the extension plate C', joins the chair proper C.
The drawings show the attachments for one end of a tie alone; but those at
the other end are duplicates of the above-described devices.
When tracks are to be laid around a curve, the ties may widen from their inner
to their outer ends, in which case the outer chairs would be correspondingly longer
than the inner ones.
Finally, Figure 9 shows that the base plate A, may be slotted at a', to admit a
lug N, projecting from the under side of clamp I, a rod n, being passed through
said lug, to hold said clamp in place. By this arrangement the lug co-acts with
the chair in preventing lateral shifting of said clamp.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The cross-tie A, having side-flanges B, B¹, provided with rail-seats b, b¹, and
a pair of non-circular holes 6, 6; a chair C fitting between said flanges B, B',
and having dovetail mortises D, E, and channels d, el; grooved clamps Ii Jj,
engaging with said mortises; and non-circular fasteners K, K', traversing said
holes, channels and grooves, in the manner described, and for the purpose stated.
2. The cross-tie A, having side-flanges B B', provided with rail seats b, b', and
a pair of non-circular holes 61 611, a chair C fitting between said flanges B B', and
having dovetail mortises D, E, and channels d", e"; grooved clamps I, J,
engaging with said mortises; rail-head braces G, H, having horizontal ledges g, h,
and perforations g, h, and non-circular fasteners K, K', all as described.
3. The metallic cross-tie A, having a pair of side flanges B, B', provided with
rail-seats b, b', and lateral flanges bu, bu as described.
4. As a new article of manufacture, the railway chair C, having at its sides
dovetail-mortises D, E, flanked by lugs d, d, e, el, which lugs project above said
chair and are traversed by channels du, d, e, el, as described.
5. The clamps I dovetailed into the lugs d, d', in the manner described, and
having a lug N, passed through a slot a¹ in the tie-base, and secured with a
fastener n, as set forth.
Dated this 30th day of June 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, Loudon, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.