US1678552A - Method of laying tramway lines - Google Patents

Description

July 24, 1928. 1,678,552

A. BOUILLON METHOD' 0F LAYING TRAMWAY LINES Filed Sept. 21, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 24, 19.28. 1,618,552 A. BOUILLON METHOD OF LAYING TRAMWAY LINES Fileasept. 21,- 1925 s sneeis-sneet 2 ai" l lli/4 A July 24, 192s. 1,678,552 A. BOUILLON METHOD OF LAYING TRAMWAY LINES Filed Sept. 21, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July v24, 1928.

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ALEXANDRE BoiJILLonoF Linen, BELeiUM.

METHOD OFIIAYING TRAIIWY LINES.

f Application iled SeptemberI 21, 1925, `Serial No. 57,694, andin yBelgium September 26, 1924.

In the construction' of tramway lines, there are two essential points which must bek considered,. .naniely :z l.-..-The line proper which comprises the rails and thesupports. 2.-'Ihe covering of the road.

The primitive. system of establishing a line consistedin laying'xthe rails on wooden ,blocks commonly. called' sleepers.`

This system is analogous to for the working of the largey railway lines .where itfgives complete` satisfactioiias it has become generalinv the whole vof the world.r Its applicationy to tramways, however, isnot" as successful'l 'lTlie railways are usuallylaid onspecial. chairsand thesleepers are placed i. on a thick layer of ballast the rails, the

sleepers and alll the accessories remain. uncovered andare always Visible; thedrain ageoflthe water-is always assured. On the contrary tramway lines are nearly always laid in 'paved' roads of highways used by ordinary vehiclesand'inust undergo all kinds of destructive effects caused by the latter; the laying down of sleepersjis 'not effected very carefully; the rails, their supports and all the line accessories are covered by a covy ering layer which makes them invisible and inaccessible without previous demolition;v

and they are, as a rule, lif notl always, laid on a lay-er of ballast of insufficient thickness; theyy are. sometimes laid Asimply on the ground.`

After a` littlewhile'the foundation or the y sleepers sinks intogthe ground and the cover-k ing of the roaydis broken up; from this re-A` sults a, defective traiiic circulation. and very considerable maintenance expenses.

,When aline laid on sleepers is carefully considered it is found that the paving stonesv of the road rest alternativelyv on the'ksleepers andr on the ground in the *intervals between the former;L thepavin-g rst'onesj'which 'rest onl the .sleepers could i'iot sink down but those wl'iicli are ,onfthe intermedizitek spaces be-y tween the-sleepers rest ony a soil. capableof w f; being compressed and being deformed and,

whichjfayours their sinking in. By reason of this keircumstance there are formedlvery frequently, if vnot always', inside the lines undulatifons in t'hevpavement which are very prejudiciall to k,the traliic of ordinary',vehi-` cles and which make frequent repairs neces? sary;

in; traer to 'i da 'away with' this Y inconveniencethe rails have been placed eitherV f oneast iron chairs or on wooden blocks 'fixed' that in useV l ulciently satisfactory, the, lesslso, as this `system entailed inconveniences which did noti. appertain lto the simple line.

The running ofthe cars on rails resting on concrete sleepers is hard and sonoi'ous.` rl`he lwant of elasticity. ofwthese sleepers produces a very considerable undulatory wear ofthe riding surface of the rails. When there is an undulatory wear the ruiming is very,disagreeable and produces a grinding sound..` y K "hisundulatory wear can onlybe made-io disappea" by machining yor grinding the., rails. This is `an expensive work which, moreover.Y has as a result a more rapid wear of the rails. l y

The undulatory igeaif has a repercussive effect vupon the tires of Vthefwheels of the Vcars which, after aV vcertain timeA ,mustV he trued onthe lathe. l

From.r the foregoing it may vbe concluded that a tramway .line must possess the following characteristics f l. lilasticity.y` In Vorder that it may possess this featurethe rails must rest on supports placed aty certain distances apart;y these supports must themselves, show a certain elasticity; iron, stone, lconcrete and' any similar material cannot be used for this pur-l pose.V Wood is most suitable forthepurose. l v

2. As little noise as possible. For this construction materials of the least resonaucy must be used, and, if possible, every device must be adopted` which reduc-es this resonancy. 3.' Stability.`-F`or this purpose it. must be laid on arigidfoundation whichr cannot be deformed. 4f.4 The covering of the road must be constructed of hard materials which offer a great' resistance'to wear. 5. This covering mustbe firm, that is to say, it inust be laid on a rigid foundation which cannotbe deformed and which forms one body with the foundation of theline.

Theobject ofthe present inventionis to provide a method of laying atramway line Vwhich possesses the qualities above` reof Figure 1 on a smaller scale, in the direction of the axis of the rail. i

Figure 3 represents a plan view4 Figure l.

Figure 4 represents a cross section of a Figure 8 represents a plan view of' Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings, the rails, such as 1, are laid on'wooden blocks 2 resting on a concrete foundation 3, which may be yreinforced concrete or otherwise, with the interposition of a suitable layer of material or of a` resilient plate 4.V

The wooden blocks 2 are thus enclosed in the concrete foundation 3 with the exception of o-ne side, where they are engaged by aV wedge 5, the length of which is such that if for any reason it should become necessary to plane down, remove or renew the block 2, the wedge 5 could be removed and the block 2 could be shifted by a sufficient amount to be itself removed without destroying the concrete of the foundation.

The foundation 3 is to be of such a thickness as to correspo-nd to the resistance of the ground; if necessary, it can be reinforced;

as indicated, for instance, by Figures 4 and -by iron inserts such as 6.

This foundation extends for the .length of the road occupied by the track.

The rails 1 are kept at the normal distance from each other by iron rods 7; they Y have applied on both sides either bricks 8 or concrete, so as to establishk a substantial and regular abutment'for the paving stones 9; they are fixed to the blocks 2 by means of wood screws with flat heads.

The line rests on wooden blocks 2 which serve the saine purpose as the sleepers, in the line on sleepers; as a. mat-ter of fact, the sleeper, which serves as support for the two rails becomes, in the event of a sinking of one of its ends a lever, which causes the rais ing up of the other end; from this results an upsetting of the line, which breaks u the covering material all over t-he length; the sleeper, therefore. makes the two rails as if they formed one piece one with the other, whilst the block-s 2 make the rails absolutely independent one from the other and, even assuming that one blockmight sink, the one opposite it will not be affected thereby in any way and the deterioration of the line is localized to the neighbourhood of the block which has given way.

Y tion.

this is done in order to secure for the rails a greaterrigidity and thus to diminish, as far as possible, the deteriorations which occur by reason of their susceptibility of mo rlhe line on blocks is elastic; this velasticity is largely increased .by placing under the blocks 2, the resilient plate or layer 4.

It will not be very noisy because, apart from the wooden blocks 2, the resilient plate or layer 4V on which they 'rest reduces the resonance considerably,

Two blocks represent a cubic measure of wood equivalent approximately to one third of that of a sleeper, from kwhich results a very substantial saving in the first cost.

The wedge 5 may consist either of new soft wood orl ofV wood already previously used '(old' sleepers, for instance) pavement waste, or bricks.

The concrete foundation-3 will give to the line a perfect stability; its thickness will, of course, be proportionate to the resistance of the soil, so that no sinking whatever can occur.

f The foundation concrete may consist, for instance, of fresh granulated slag from blast furnaces or of other suitable material, to which is added at least one-tenth of cement;

Vthe cement may be substituted by two-tenths of freshly slaked lime.

The concrete thus prepared sets rather rapidly and becomes exceedingly Vhard and resisting; it has, moreover, the enormous advantageof a very low cost..

If necessary the` concrete may consist of unwashed ashes from zinc Works, to which are added cement and lime, asin the case of fresh granulated slag from blast furf naces.` y f The road covering .(see Figures 1 and 4) will consist of paving stones, such as 9,"of sandstone, porphyry, quartzite or other similar materials. This covering will not be subject to deformation andl will be very firm, as it rests on a foundation 3 of solid and rigid concrete which alsoA is not sub-ject to deformation, with an intermediate uniform elastic and non-compressiblelayer 10 of gravel sand of Vfrom 4to 5 cm.thickness.`

This elastic layer of sand will, moreover, have the effect of enabling the paving stones to resist perfectly the shocks of wheeled traffic and prevent their destruction.

With this ysystem it is possible, or even necessary, to make use of low paving stones, that is to. say, such as of 13cm. yheight in tead of paving stones of 15 cm. height, because, when using pavingstonesof 15 cm., those placed against the vrails would rest partly on the rail toot and partly on the layer ot' sand and there would then exist a tendency .s for them to be turned over or to break; in

small dimensions, the system represented inV Figures 6, 7 andV S is to be employed.r

1n this arrangement the foundations 3 in concrete are continued under rails 1 in the shape of longitudinal sleepers 13: they coinprise the grooves necessary itorv the placing of an elastic layer a and o1 the block 2 and an empty space 14; under the rails 1 which is indispensable for-their free bending and their elasticity. The foundations are con-` nected by a layer of concrete 1 2 having parallel to the rails 1V suitable intervals tor` placing the brick-s 8, adjacent to the web of the rails, and the paving stones such as 9 the purpose of which is to separate the layer of asphalt 11 from the rails 1 and to allow of easy access to the devices Stor fixing the rails 1 to the blocks 2. n i It is'to be understood that `the `drawing serve only as showing an example ot construction and that other details may be given for instance to the concrete `foundation and tothe elastic layer, without the essential partl olf the invention being departed from.

The first cost is not very high and is approximately equivalent to thatot the line placed on longitudinal ballast sleepers The maintenance of the lineand of the road covering` is practically nil or at least reduced to the strictest minimum.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,

and inv what manner the same is to be peryformed, l declare that what I claim is:

1.` A tramway road-bed comprising a concretefoundation member having a rectangular recess formed in its top, said recess having side and end walls of unbroken area and a bottom of unbroken area and having its topV open for substantially its full area and being of different depths, having a deep lportion and a shallow portion, in combination with an elastic cushioning layer arranged in the deep portion, a wooden block located in the deep portion entirely and resting on said cushioning layer and supporting a tramway rail, and a 'vi/'edging member eX- tending in saidshallow portion and bearing against said wooden block and an opposed face ot'one of the walls of said recess, whereby removal of said block and wedge in any direction other than vertically upward is prevented. l

2. A tramway road-bed comprising a concrete foundation member having an oblong recess having its top open for substantially its full area and being delined by an unbroken, in a horizontal plane, wall of con- Y crete, incombination with a Wooden block vof less length than said recess snugly fitting therein. and wedging means bearing against an end of said block and the opposedend wall of saidrecess to hold said block against substantial movementin said recess, said block and wedge being introduced into said recess through the open top thereof and in assembled relation therein lying between vertical planes defining the vertical profile ot the said recess.

ln testimony whereof,l I have signed my name to this specification at Antwerp, Belgium, this 9 day of September, 1925.

ALEXANDRE f BOUILLON. n'

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