US277766A - Railway-rail - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

A. MGKENNEY.

RAILWAY RAIL. No. 277,766. Patented May 15,1883.

L/fmdb Y ag h# y MW m1 y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALMERON MGKENNEY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-RAIL. l

SPECIFICATION forming part-of Letters Patent No. 277,766, dated May 15, 1883.

Application filed March 1l, 1881. Renewed October 9, 1882. (No modela i .To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALMERON MGKENNEY,

a citizen of the United States, residing' at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllivnois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Rails; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure lis a perspective view ofa streetrail waymail constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a transverse section of such those sought in my former invention in this same direction, for which Letters Patent Vof the United States, No. 116,975, were granted to me July 1l, 1871, and reissued March 4, 1873,. My said former invention comprised two arches, an upper and a lower one, the upper .one fitting closely over the lower, and sitting within grooves formed in the T-iianges thereof, the parts being secured together by bolts. My present object is not necessarily to make a better rail than the aforesaid doublearch rail would be it' perfectly rolled and put together, but rather to simplify, cheapen, and facilitate the manufacture and to adapt it to purposes not contemplated in my said former invention, i'orthe archedbase is not only a diticult piece to roll, but itis also a difficult matter to keep it straight and to get all the bearing-surfaces to tit evenly together. A further object of my present invention is to cause the wheels, when passing any joint, always to bear upon both the adjacent sections at the same time.

Io the above ends. my invention consists, first, in forming the lowerpart of the rail with lianges projecting upward, (instead of with the arch described in my said former Letters Patent,) and with a groove along the outside ot' the base of either or both of the said Bauges,

and the upper part or head in the form of an arch adapted to fit over the iianges and enter the groove or grooves in the base, the parts being secured together by means of bolts; secondly,in fitting together the sections of either or both parts of the above rail by means of diagonaljoints; and, furthermore,in the specific construction which I prefer for street-railways, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings, A B represent a streetrailway rail, the part A having two lianges, o, projecting upward from its upper surface, and the part B lying upon the part A, and being arched, as shown at u, to tit over the flanges o. Each part is provided with an inward lateral extension, t, the two being adapted to coincide with each other, and forming the tram for wagons, usual in street car rails. The arch u is provided with longitudinal grooves s along its interior surface to receive the tops of the flanges o, which should be curved at their tops, and the part A with a similar groove, s', justbeyoud the-outer flange, to receive the outer lower edge of the arch. rllhe parts are secured together and to the Stringer by means of bolts g, passing through the lateral exten.` sions t, and also by bolts or screws q', passing vertically through the arch. If preferred, however, the latter may pass laterally through the arch and tlanges,as iu Figs. 3 and 4. 'Io make the rail continuous l have the upper and lower parts overlap each other in half-lengths, so that one part supports the other at the points where the ends meet, there being at every half.- length a half-joint, alternately above and below.' Instead, however, of having the parts cutstraight across at the ends, forming a transversejoint, I much prefer to cut them beveled, whereby a diagonal `ioint is formed, as shown at r in Fig. 1 and at i" in Fig. 5. By this means the transition of' the vehicle or car wheel from onesection to another is rendered gradual instead of abrupt, thus not only atl fording more than ordinary smoothness to the track, but also, as a natural incident to such smoothness, enhancing its durability. This diagonal Ijoint is more important in the upper than in the lower part of the rail; but if made in both I prefer to have them formed in con-V trary directions with respect to each other.

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, the arch, as shown.

lateral bolts q2.

The base above described-viz., with flanges l defects ot' thisy construction are, among others,

instead of with an arch-is an easy piece to roll, being easily kept straight, and requiring a smaller number of passes through the rolls than the arched base requires, since it may be completed without turning over.

The modification shown iu Fig. 2 is in all respects like the device already described, except that the inward lateral extension, t, is omitted from the arch and made of double thickness upon the under part or base, with a groove, s2, to receive the inner lower edge ot' To strengthen the weak point necessarily produced by the groove s2, I provide the base along its lower surface, immediately beneath the said groove, with a longitudinal wedge-shaped flange, p, to receive which the stringer must be correspondingly recessed.

Figs. 3 and 4 show the adaptation ot my invention to rails for general railways. In each of these a T-base, A', is'provided with fianges fv, in all respects like those above described, and similarlysurmounted by an arch, a, sitting in grooves and secured together by The only material difference between the devices represented in these two figures is that in the one the fianges t sit within grooves formed along the inner surface ot' the arch, whereas in the other they do not do f so, and fall short of the top of the arch.

It is highly essential to the successful operation of my rail that the sides ofthe upper part be made slightly spreading, as shown,in order to form abrace against the lateral thrust of' the train.

By the foregoing construction two-part tubular rails are formed possessing every possible requirement-viz., practicability in the matter of 'manufacturing together with symmetry,lightness,strength, and durability; and by no other construction than the one comprehen ded in all thefi gures shownof an upper part arched over fianges projecting upward from the baseand sitting within grooves in the said basecould all these results be attained.

Iam aware that heretofore a rail has been.

that the very points which should be strongest and least subject to wear are necessarily weak. This is notably the case where the head projects laterally beyond the base-flanges, and is grooved to receive them, rendering weak and thin the'part which receives the immediate impact of the wheels, and which is most subject to fiange-wear. Moreover, the head stands upon a base narrower than itself, producing a tendency to weakness and instability. For the above reasons, in order to render this rail sufficiently strong and secure to be at all practicable, the utmost nicety in the matter of fitting is required,thus making it difficult and expensive to roll.l All these difficulties are overcome by my construction l above described.

one lying upon the other, and secured together by bolts or screws, the under part being provided with flanges projecting upward, and with va groove along the base ot' one or both ot' said iianges, outside the same, and the upper part being a'rchedover the said fian ges and fitting into said groove or grooves, substantially as described. l

2. A railway-rail consisting of two parts secured together one above the other by means of bolts or screws, and each formed in sections, the sections ot' the` upper part overlapping those of the lower to form a break-joint, and the under part being-provided with anges projecting upward, and with a groove along the base of one or both of said flanges, outside the same, and the upper part being arched over the said fianges and fitting into said groove or grooves, andthe ends ofthe sections of' either or both the said parts being beveled,

whereby diagonal joints are f'orrned, substanl ALMERON MCKENNEY. In presence ot'- P. G. DYRENFORTH, WM. H. DYRENFORTH.

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