IMPROVEMENTS IN CUSHIONS AND CUSHIONING MATERIALS FOR PERMANENT WAY MORE ESPECIALLY FOR USE BETWEEN THE CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS OR RAIL FLANGE AND SLEEPERS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Phillips Thompson of the Liverpool and London
Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the county
of Lancaster Civil Engineer for an Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN CUSHIONS
AND CUSHIONING MATERIALS FOR PERMANENT WAY MORE ESPECIALLY FOR
USE BETWEEN THE CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS OR RAIL FLANGE AND SLEEPERS
13
A communication to him from Monsieur Jean Louis Bopp du Pont of Paris in
the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Phillips Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st December 1882.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON of the Liverpool and London Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the County of Lancaster,
Civil Engineer, IMPROVEMENTS IN CUSHIONS AND CUSHIONING MATERIALS FOR
PERMANT WAY MORE ESPECIALLY FOR USE BETWEEN THE CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS
OR RAIL FLANGE AND SLEEPERS "A communication to me from Monsieur Jean
Louis Bopp du Pont of Paris in the Republic of France.
(The following being a translation of the description as communicated to me
in French by my foreign correspondent, the pronoun "I" of course referring to
Mr. Du Pont).
"Hitherto several substances have been applied with the principal object of
preventing the concussion which is produced at the time of the passage of the trains
over the permanent way of railways. No one of these substances taken separately,
and interposed between the rail and the sleeper has permitted the proposed end to
be attained in a manner as satisfactory and complete as the importance of the
problem to be solved requires.
By combining and applying certain of these substances under special con-
ditions, I have been able, with my system of 'coussin-protecteur' (protecting
cushion), to completely protect the sleepers from the direct deteriorating action
produced by the concussion in question at the moment of the passage of the trains..
By the application of my invention to permanent ways, I give them qualities of
resistance, elasticity, durability, and regularity, which it has not been possible to
attain by any of the methods hitherto proposed. Further, and as a consequence of
the above advantages, my system permits of realizing considerable economy in the

page_text: maintenance of the road and rolling stock, since the causes of deterioration are for
the most part removed by the application of my system of 'coussin-protecteur."
"This system of 'coussin-protecteur,' the application and preparation of which
form the object of the present application for, Letters Patent, consists in the com-
bination, First, of a sheet of cork which has been subjected to a preparation
designed to keep it from decay, preferably melted tar. Second, of a sheet of ordinary
tarred felt, subjected to an analogous preparation for the same purpose. The sheet
of tarred felt rests directly upon the sleeper, covering the part known as the
seating which is always more or less rough, as this work is generally done by hand
and in a rough manner. The sheet of prepared felt renders this surface uniform
and so under the best conditions, remedies the imperfection of the manual work.
The sheet of tarred cork is then placed on the sheet of felt likewise tarred, and so
completes the 'coussin-protecteur' for permanent ways.
"As we have before seen, the sheet of felt in my system has for its object and
advantage to make the seating of the sleeper perfectly level and smooth; but as
the felt if interposed alone between the metallic surface of the rail and the wood of
the sleeper is not a sufficiently resisting and durable material, it has occurred to me
to apply between it and the rail flange or bottom of the chair, a sheet of cork
tarred by the process hereafter indicated. The cork from its peculiar qualities,
offers a great resistance to the compression of the rail. In fact it is resisting, rigid,
clastic and durable. Further, the resistance of my 'coussin-protecteur' is increased
yet more by the layer of air interposed between the two sheets of cork and felt.
"To effect the destruction of decay-producing germs which might develop in the
interior of the cork and shorten the life of my sheets (the thickness of which
however might vary in. practice according to circumstances and different cases), I
submit these sheets to the action of a preparation having a tarry base. For this
purpose, the sheets are steeped for about an hour in a bath of boiling water into
which is poured, in the proportion approximately of one part of tar to ten of water,
vegetable tar previously melted by the action of heat and by the addition of
crystals of carbonate of soda. This addition is in fact useful to ensure a perfect
liquefaction of the tar; the most suitable proportion of crystals will be about two
and a half parts of crystals to ten of tar. I could substitute for the crystals of
carbonate of soda any other salt or simple or compound body, which has the same
properties as regards the liquefaction of the tar, this being the result I wish to
obtain. When the sheets are taken out of the bath they are dried in any suitable
manner, and are ready to be applied to permanent ways, in conjunction or not
with the sheets of tarred felt.
:
"The advantage of my system of 'coussin-protecteur' applied as has just been
described above, in principle, is, that when it receives a heavy pressure such as that
produced on the passage of the trains, it concentrates itself and thus increases its
resistance instead of boing flattened out and crushed as are the different materials
hitherto employed for the same purpose.
"The cutting up of cork into sheets of dimensions determined by the methods of
laying of the different systems of permanent way necessarily causes waste fragments
which I reunite by cementing, glueing, nailing or by any other suitable means so
as to form sheets economically.. However I prefer to form sheets out of fragments
by cementing their different parts or pieces by means of sulphur and in tho well
kuown manner.
GE
The sheets forming the coussin-protecteur' are pierced with holes corresponding
in number dimensions and position to the fastening bolts of the rails to their
sleepers.
66
It is to be understood that the sheets of cork of my system of 'coussin-
protecteur,' could be replaced by any composition having a cork base and offering
the same guarantees of resistance and elasticity.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Phillips Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st June 1883.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON of the Liverpool and London Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the county of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUSHIONS AND CUSHIONING MATERIALS FOR
PERMANENT WAY, MORE ESPECIALLY FOR USE BETWEEN THE CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS,
OR RAIL FLANGE AND SLEEPERS a communication to me from Monsieur Jean
Louis Bopp du Pont, of Paris in the republic of France.
ม
(The following being a translation of the description as communicated to me in
French by my foreign correspondent, the pronoun "I" of course referring to
Mr. Jean Louis Bopp Du Pont).
"Hitherto several substances have been applied with the principal object of
preventing the concussion which is produced at the time of the passage of the
trains over the permanent way of railways. No one of these substances taken
separately, and interposed between the rail and the sleeper, has permitted the
proposed end to be attained in a manner as satisfactory and complete as the
importance of the problem to be solved requires.
"
By combining and applying certain of these substances under special conditions,
I have been able, with my system of 'coussin-protecteur' (protecting cushion)" to
completely protect the sleepers from the direct deteriorating action produced by
the concussion in question, at the moment of the passage of the trains. By the
application of my invention to permanent ways I give them qualities of resistance,
elasticity, durability, and regularity which it has not been possible to attain by
any of the methods hitherto proposed. Further and as a consequence of the above
advantages, my system permits of realizing considerable economy in the
maintenance of the road and rolling stock, since the causes of deterioration are for
the most part removed by the application of my system of 'coussin-protecteur."
"This system of 'coussin-protecteur,' the application and preparation of which
form the subject of the present invention, is constituted by the combination: first,
of a sheet of cork, which has been subjected to a preparation designed to keep it
from decay, preferably liquefied tar or pitch ('goudron '); second, of a sheet of
ordinary tarred felt, subjected to an analogous preparation for the same purpose:
The sheet of tarred felt rests directly upon the sleeper covering the part known as
the seating (*partie sabotée') which is always more or less rough, this work being
generally done by hand and in a rough manner. The sheet of prepared. felt renders
this surface uniform, and so remedies under the best conditions the imperfection of
the manual work. The sheet of tarred cork is then placed on the sheet of felt
likewise tarred, and thus completes the 'coussin-protecteur' for permanent ways.
"As we have before seen the sheet of felt in my system has for its object and
advantage to make the seating of the sleeper perfectly level and smooth; but as
the felt, if interposed alone between the metallic surface of the rail, and the wood
of the sleeper, is not a sufficiently resisting and durable material it occurred to me
to apply between it and the flange of the rail, or bottom of the chair, a sheet of
cork tarred by the process hereafter indicated. The cork from its peculiar
qualities offers a great resistance to the compression of the rail; in fact, it is
resisting, rigid, elastic, and durable. Further what increases yet more the
resistance of my coussin protecteur' is the layer of air interposed between the
two sheets of cork and felt.
"To effect the destruction of decay producing germs, which might develop in
the interior of the cork and shorten the life of my sheets (the thickness of which

page_text: however might vary in practice according to circumstances and different cases) I
submit these sheets to the action of a preparation having a tarry base. For this
purpose, the sheets are steeped for about an hour in a bath of boiling water, into
which is poured in the proportion approximately of one part of tar to ten of water,
vegetable pitch (goudron végétal") previously melted by the action of heat and
'an addition of crystals of carbonate of soda. This addition is in fact useful to
ensure a perfect liquefaction of the pitch; the proper proportion of crystals will be
about two and a half parts of crystals to ten of pitch. I could substitute for the
crystals of carbonate of soda any other salt, or simple or compound body having
the same properties as regards the liquefaction of the pitch, which is the result
wish to obtain. When the sheets are taken out of the bath they are dried in any
suitable manner, and are ready to be applied to permanent ways, in conjunction
or not with the sheets of tarred felt..
"The advantage of my system of coussin-protecteur applied as has just been
described above, in principle, is, that when it receives a heavy pressure, such as
that produced on the passage of the trains, it concentrates itself, thus increasing its
resistance, instead of being flattened out and crushed, as are the different materials
hitherto employed for the same purpose.
"The cutting up of cork into sheets of dimensions determined by the methods
of laying of the. different systems of permanent way, necessarily causes waste
fragments, which I reunite by cementing, gluing, nailing, or by any other, suitable
means, so as to form sheets economically. I prefer however to form these sheets
from fragments by cementing their different parts or pieces, preferably with flowers
of sulphur melted and brought to the black state by heat, then applied by a brush
to the parts to be joined.
"The sheets forming the 'coussin-protecteur' are pierced with holes, corre-
sponding in number, dimensions, and position to the fastening bolts of the rails to
their sleepers..
"It is to be understood that the sheets of cork in my system of coussin-
protecteur,' could be replaced by any composition having a cork base, and offering
the same guarantees of resistance and elasticity.
"It will be seen that instead of employing two elastic tarred sheets, a greater or
less number might be used; the cushion will evidently be the more efficacious, the
greater the number of sheets which it may contain in its composition. It is not
then required to restrict its thickness except by reason of the limited space in
which it must be fixed, and at the same time on grounds of economy.
"I will further mention that in the case where the scating surface of the sleeper
has been formed by machinery, the sheet of tarred cork might be made to rest
directly upon the sleeper, which being perfectly even, will not break the cork as
would be the case with a hand-formed seating, as this always presents roughnesses
due to the unequal action of the.tool.
"I will now indicate some variations of my 'coussin-protecteur all giving
excellent results.
"1). With a machine made seating, the sheet of tarred cork may be placed on
the sleeper, and a sheet of tarred felt superposed to receive the rail or chair
"2) A cushion of tarred felt on the seating surface of the sleeper, above it a sheet
of tarred cork, and upon this latter another sheet of tarred felt to receive the rail
or chair. In this case there will be two clastic layers of air, and all direct contact
of a hard substance with the cork will be avoided The clasticity of the cushion
thus constituted will be increased, and at the same time it will present excellent
conditions in the point of view of its preservation in a good state.
"3) When the seating surfaces of the sleepers are made by machine, there will
be no inconvenience in placing the sheet of tarred cork on the seating surface, and
placing on this sheet a cushion of tarred felt on which is superposed a fresh sheet
of tarred cork.
"4) Lastly the 'coussin-protecteur' might be composed merely of sheets of
tarred cork, in greater or less number (two. at the least in all cases), but it will

page_text: always be preferable to cause a sheet of felt to enter into the composition of the
elastic cushion.
"If it is desired to unite the different elements of the cushion, in order to
prevent them from sliding one upon the other, they could be fastened together in
the middle or at the ends with galvanized iron wire, or by means of tarred strings
with rivets, eyelets or pins made of metal, galvanized or varnished in order to
render them unoxydizable"
The invention specially claimed under the Letters Patent is as follows,-"The
above described system of 'coussin-protecteur' (protecting cushion) for permanent
way, consisting of a greater or less number of sheets of tarred felt and cork, super-
posed and placed between the seating surface ('partie sabotée ') of the sleeper and
the rail or chair. The sheets of cork can be in a single piece or formed from waste
fragments of cork cemented together, as has been described above. The tarred
sheets, the superposition of which constitutes my protecting cushion, can be placed
Joose one upon another, or be solidly fastened together by any system of binding or
attachment, substantially as described."
In witness whereof I the said William Phillips Thompson have hereunto set my
hand and seal this twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty three.