US387068A

US387068A - Railway-spike

Info

Publication number: US387068A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1888-07-31
Anticipated expiration: 1905-07-31

Description

(No Model.) 7

H. GREER.

RAILWAY SPIKE.

No. 387,068. Patented July 31, 1888.

' 20- 1 y y g FIB-3.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR,

W $4M A in wg g 514 M Mm hogmphcr. wamiumm u. 04

UNITED STATES PATENT GEEicE.

HOWARD GREER, OF LAKE VIEYV, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, AND MORRIS SELLERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAI LWAY-SPI KE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,068, dated July 31, 1888.

Application filed April .2, 1888. Serial No. 209,347. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern/.-

Beit known that I, HOWARD GREER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lake View, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented or discovered a certain new and useful Improvement in Railroad- Spikes, of which improvement the following is a specification.

Figure l is a view in side elevation of a railway-spike illustrating my present improvement. Figs. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views thereof in the plane of the lines w x y 3 respectivel y.

In an application already filed, Serial No. 264,457, I described and laid claim to a railway-spike having a double head and certain other features of novelty; but inthe drawings showed such features only as applied to a T- shanked and a rectangular-shanked spike. I believe it to be practical and advantageous to apply some if not all of said features to a spike the shank of which has in crosssection what may for convenience be termed an L shape, and to this my present invention relates. Such a spike is shown in the drawings, where the shank 20 has a vertical back rib, 21, but which, instead of extending up and down the middle of the back face of the shank, is made on one edge ofsuch back face, so that a cross-section through its deepest part gives an L-shaped fig ure, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The lip or hook of the spike, which laps onto the rail-flange, is represented at 4. Above this is the head 5, which has along its opposite edges two ribs or beads,7 and Sone,7, being on the edge or side next the rail, (when driven,) and the other, 8, being on the opposite side or edge. Then it will be seen that a claw-bar can be applied to draw the spike, with the rail-flange as abearing or fulcrum, and with the handle of the claw-bar working in or nearly in a vertical plane parallel with the line of the track; but this feature in its general application to railway-spikes constitutes a part of the subjectmatter of said application, Serial N 0. 264,457, and hence, in this regard, the present case is limited to an L-shanked spike having the beads or ribs referred to. In this connection Ihave also shown tapering enlargement 9 along the inner upper face of the spike-shank, which, however, being broadly claimed in the application above referred to, is herein claimed only as an element in an Lshapedspike; also, in said application I provided for a swell or enlargement, 6, 011 the back of the lower head, 3, so that when, in drawing the spike, a new bite was required, one prong of the claw-bar could be inserted under the lip 4 and the other under the swell 6, the use of the rail-flange as a fulcrum still being retained. The utility of this construction is more obvious with the L form of shank shown than with the T, for the reason that, on working from oneside, the vertical back rib of the shank is more out of the way; and, still further, I provided for a third grip or bite by means of the taper 9 and a taper, 10, on the back face of the vertical rib; but all these elements are claimed generally in the ease above referred to, and in the present case are claimed only as constituent elements of a spike having a shank L-shaped as distinguished from T-shaped or rectangular in cross-section.

I claim herein as my invention-- 1. A railwayspike having an L-shaped 7 shank, upper head with beads 7 and 8, and a lower head with hook 4, substantially as set forth.

2. A railwayspike having an L- shaped shank, an upper head with beads 7 and 8, and a lower head with hook 4 and swell (3, sub stantially as set forth.

3. A railway -spike having an L-shapcd shank, an upper head with beads 7 and 8, a lower head with hook 4, and an incline, 9, be neath the hook, substantially as set forth.

4. A railway spike having an L-shaped shank, an upper head with beads 7 and 8, a lower head with hook 4-, and inclines 9 and 10, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

- HOWARD GREER.

Witnesses:

CHARLES F. LOESOH, FRANK J. LOESOH.