US38274A - Improvement in railroads - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH ANTHONY, OF GREENBUSI-I, NEWV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROADS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.4 38,274, dated April 28, 1863.

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosEPH ANTHONY, of Greenbush, Rensselaer county, State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in the Construction of Railroads; and I declare the following specification, with the drawings accompanying and forming part of it, to be a full and perfect description of my nvention.

Figure 1 represents my device in plan Fig. 2, in cross-section; Fig. 3, a part of it in perspective.

Similar letters denote the same parts of the apparatus.

It is well known that there is great difficulty 1n maintaining the proper level and true line of railway-track as it is at present constructed, with the rails resting directly upon the sleepers or cross-ties and fastened to them by spikes. The heavypressure and ponderons jarrings of the cars soon bruise into the wood under the rail a groove, and the rail itself becomes crowning vby the elongation of its head, which causes it to arch upward, so that it can only rest upon the sleepers at its ends, either lifting the sleeper with it at the intermediate points, -or else tending to draw the spikes and rising itself from the sleeper. In either case the result is that this hammering process, repeated hundreds of times a day, driving the ends of the sleepers down with each blow, then springing back by its elasticity, forms cavities in the earth under them of serious depth, destroying the foundations of the road, eXposin g the rails to breakageas well as the cars to be thrown from the track by the irregularities of the surface of the road. The filling up of these cavities is a work of much care and labor and a source of enormous expense. To remedy these evils is the object of my invention, which consists in combining the materials used in the superstructure of railroads, so that each and every function of the same may be performed and provided for by independent and separate means so combined as to prevent to so great an extent destruction to any of its parts.

My road is constructed in the following manner: A A represents the usual T-rail, supported by the ordinary sleeper or cross-tie K, extending from rail to rail, or I propose to use the sleeper divided in the center of its length,

with each part placed so that the rail shall lie over its center, as at B B.

Instead of being in above form, the sleepers may be round or square, or of any shape having sufficient bearing surface to support the rail at each point b b. The rail is not to be fastened to the sleeper, but lies upon a wedge or block, O, interposed between it and the sleeper, for the purpose of adjusting it to the level of the track whenever that is disturbed, and for the further purpose of interposing a medium to receive the impression of the rails, if any be made by the jarrings of the cars, for it is cheaper to supply wedges than sleepers when injured.

To keep the rails laterally in place and preserve the gage of the track, I use at proper intervals gage-bars E, secured to the rails at each end and fastened at their center to anchorsills H, being pieces of timber or plank similar to the sleepers, which lie in the center between the tracks, secured to the cross-ties K, or where divided, as B B, the anchor-sill is to be embedded in the ground.

To mitigate the effect of the jarrings or hammerings of the cars I interpose between the wedge and rail an elastic cushion, of indiarubber or equivalent elastic material, J, formed and iitted, as shown at Fig. 3, being a square or oblong piece of the material, having low flanges formed on both sides, one set embracing the wedge and the other the rail, so as to keep the cushion in place when the wedge is driven up. f

The operation of my improvement is manifest. The rail comes in contact only with the wedge and cushion at its point of support, and thus the sleeper or tie is protected from the eifect of the jarring of the cars, which is received by the wedge or cushion, or both. Whatever spaces may be formed between the rails and sleepers by the crowning of the bars or any other cause can be promptly taken up by the wedge, which is secured to the sleeper bya spike tightly driven into the sleeper, or in any other convenient way, and thus the rail is protected from danger of breakage and the level of the road maintained. I

The rails being kept to lthe gage by the anchor-sleeper and gage-bar, there is no necessity for their being fas tened to the sleepers.

They can therefore be promptly taken up, 2. The elastic cushion, having double straightened, or repaired, or replaced with litalnges.

tle expense of time or trouble and with no in- 3. The combination of the anchor-sleeper, jury to the other parts of road. elastic cushion, the Wedge or block, the rail,

What I claim as my invention, and desire to the sleeper, and the gage-bar. secure by Letters Patent, are the following devices, as described and for the purposes set Witnesses: forth in the above specification:

1. The anchor-sleeper.

JOSEPH ANTHONY.

RIOHD. VARICK DEWITT, E. J. MILLER.

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