US1026376A - Shim for railway-ties. - Google Patents

Description

W. W. WILLARD.

SHIM FOB; RAILWAY TIES.

APPLICATION 211.1211 AUG. 1, 1911.

1, 2 ,37 Patented May 14, 1912.

' WIT SSES: INVENTOR Wm QTfiwuLAnl WILL W. WILLARD, OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN.

SHIIVI FOR RAILWAY-TIES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August7, 1911.

Patented May 14., 1912. Serial No. 642,661.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILL WV. WILLARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shims for Railway-Ties; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention pertains to railway ties and relates more particularly to an im-' proved means for shimming up a rail to take up the clearance between the top of the tie (or the top of the tie plate, if a tie plate is used) and the bottom of the rail flange.

The improvement relates more particularly to such a shim adapted to be taken out in the summer time when the ties are usually tamped up to their original position.

In practice it has been found that continued vibration of the rail and weather conditions, as for instance frost in the winter time, causes the tie to heave, forming a clearance between the bottom of the rail flange and the top of the tie or the tie plate, frequently resulting in fracture of the rail. It is necessary in .such cases to insert av temporary removable shim between the flange and the tie plate to take up this clearance until such time as the track can be retamped. The common practice heretofore has been to insert, lengthwise of the rail and between the rail flange and tie plate, a shim made of a narrow board, the width of the shim being less than the width of the rail flange, depending upon the frictional contact between t-he rail, the shim, and the tie, to hold the shim in place. It has been found in practice, however, that such a shim cannot be depended upon to remain in place, especially if it is inserted, as is usually the case, at a time when the rail and tie are frosty. The frost lubricates the shim, and rail vibration works it out lengthwise of the rail, so that constant attention is required to keep the shims in place during cold weather. Another defect of the shims above described arises from the fact that they must, of necessity, be narrower than the rail flange, else they could not be inserted between the spikes at the sides of the flange. The use of shims narrower than the rail flange resulted in supporting the rail unevenly, there by imparting to the rail a dangerous tendency to rock or tip.

It is the purpose of my present invention to provide a shim that is capable of being quickly inserted between the rail and the tie plate .and easily removed therefrom, and having means whereby it can be held in place by the ordinary rail spikes to prevent the shim creeping or working out from between the rail and tie plate. The fastening device, while extremely simple, admits of the shim being used under rails of various widths without cutting or making any changes in the shim.

A further object of my invention is to provide a shim that will always afford a bearing the full width of the rail flange, thereby preventing any tendency of the rail to tip or rock.

With these and certain other objects in view which will appear later in the specification, my invention consists in the devices and the equivalents thereof, to be described and claimed.

In the drawings forming a part of the specification, Figure 1 represents parts of two ties with a rail thereon and the shim in position; Fig. 2 shows the same parts with the shim about to be inserted between the rail flange and the tie plate; Fig. 3 is an end view of the shim; Fig. 4 isa crosssectional view of a log from which the shim may be cut in the form of veneer; and Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the shim.

As is clearly shown in the drawings, the device consists in a shim 1 comprising a substantially rectangular board and provided with two notches 2 and 3 along one of its edges. One of the notches, as 2, is preferably deeper than the other. The purpose of making one of the notches deeper than the other is to enable the shim to be used on rails of different sizes and of different width of flange, as for instance, on an 80 pound rail and on a 100 pound rail.

In practice the inner spike is first removed, after which the shim is inserted in the clearance space'between the bottom of the rail flange and the top of the tie plate, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and is pushed through until the end of the shim brings up against the shank of the opposite spike, or against the opposite shoulder of the tie plate, as the case may be; the tie plate and rail are then spiked in place, the spike passing through one of the notches, as 2.

The purpose of the notches in the shim is to prevent the shim from working outeither lengthwise the rail, or transversely thereof. 7

My improved shim affords a bearing the full width of the rail flange. The shims are made" of different thicknesses to suit differ ent amounts of clearance between the rail flange and the tie plate.

It is to be noted that the essential function of my improved shim is not that of rep-airing or filling in a worn or depressed spot in the top of a worn tie as a repair to the tie, but is for the purpose of temp0- rarily taking up the clearance between the rail and the tie plate and for preventing the shim from working out of its place.

While I have shown and described the device as used in connection with a tie plate, it is obvious that it is equally applicable to ties having no tie plate, providing the top of the tie is smooth and has not been worn by the rail so as to form a depres- 51011.

If it happens that the' top of the tie has been worn or depressed, the shim'can be used in the same manner as with the flat tie after the top of the tie has been adzed down on the inside of the rail to form a flat surface to receive the shim in the same j manner as a new flat topped tie would receive 1t.

In practice I prefer to form the shim of veneer, as indicated at 4 in Fig. 4, the shim being formed by cutting from the log circumferentially. The purpose of this method of manufacturing the shim is to provide a shim that will have the smallest possible tendency to check or crack. In practice I prefer to insert the shim in such a direction that its grain will run at right angles to the length of the rail, thus reducing to the minimum the possibility of splitting. By forming the shim of veneer, as above indicated, and thereby reducing the tendency to split, it is found that the shim has sufficient strength to resist all tendency to split at the notches 2 or 3 and that it will remain in position indefinitely, being held by the railway spike against all tendency to work out.

By the means above described I have produced an extremely simple shim that can be manufactured at very small cost, that will not readily check or break, and that will remain under all ordinary conditions firmly locked by means of the spike between the rail and the tie or the tie plate, as the case may be.

. Having claim and ent, is

1. As an article of manufacture, a shim for filling the clearance space between a railway tie and rail, comprising a substantially rectangular wooden body portion of a thickness to substantially fill the space be tween the top of the tie and the rail flange, said shim having one of its edges provided with a spike-receiving notch, the width of said notch being of substantially the width of a spike, the distance from. the end of said notch to the opposite edge of the shim being substantially equal to thewidth of the rail flange.

2. As an article of man ufacture, a shim for filling the clearance space between a railway tie and rail, comprising a substantially rectangular wooden body portion. of a thick ness to substantially fill. the space between the top of the tie and the rail flange and provided with a plurality of spikemeceiving notches along one of its edges, said notches being of unequal length and of a width substantially equal to the width of a spike, each notch extending inwardly from said edge, the distance from the end of each notch to the opposite edge of the shim being substantially equal to the width of a corresponding rail flange.

3. As an article of manufacture, a shim for filling the clearance between a railway tie and rail, comprising a wooden body portion, the grain of which extends transversely thereof, said body portion being of a thickness to substantially fill the space between the top of the tie and the rail flange and of a width greater than the width of the rail flange, to form a spiking portion at one side of said flange, said spiking portion being provided with a plurality of spike-receiving notches of unequal length, each of said notches being of substantially the width of a spike extending inwardly from one end of the body portion of the shim, the distance from the end of each notch to the opposite end of the shim being substantially equal to'the width of a corresponding rail flange.

4. As an article of manufacture, a shim for filling the clearance between a railway tie and rail, comprising a body portion formed of Veneer, the grain of which extends transversely thereof, said body portion being of a thickness to substantially fill the space between the top of the tie and the rail flange and of a width greater than the width of the rail flange, said spiking portion being provided with a plurality of spike-receiving notches of unequal length In testimony whereof, I aflix my signaan(% of substantially Cthe width of a spiki ture in presence of two witnesses.

an extendin inwar 1y from the sides 0 the body portion of the shim, the distance WILL WILLARD H from the end of each notch to the opposite Witnesses:

edge of the shim being substantially equal CHRISTINE A. BRAIDEL,

to the Width of a corresponding rail flange. G120. W. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. O.

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