US394679A - Thomas a - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

- T. A. DAVIES.

CUSHION PLATE FOR RAILROAD RAILS.

N 394,679. Patented Dec. 18, I888. lllllllllllmllllllllllllllln @lT/VESSBSW t g k 6:: Q L ATTORNEY NITED STATES THOMAS A.

PATENT OFFICE.

DAVIES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CUSHION-PLATE FOR RAI LROAD-RAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,679, dated December 18, 1888.

Application filed April 6, 1888. $eria1N0. 269,787. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. DAVIES, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Cushion-Plate for Railroad-Rails, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improved cushion-plate for railway-rails, and has for its object to provide a means whereby the wear of the fish-plates by the abutting ends of the railsections will be effectually avoided and the consequent loosening of the joints thereby prevented.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a section of rail having my improvement applied. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of Fig. 1 on the line as .90 thereof, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the cushion-plate detached.

It is a well-known fact where railways-rails are laid directly upon the wooden ties that by means of the yielding nature of the latter the rails atthe joints are depressed to a more or less degree by the passing rolling-stock, wherebyconsiderable friction is sustained by the fish-plates. This constant friction soon crushes and wears the upper edge of the fishplate away at the rail-joint, whereupon the said plate is rendered useless and must be removed.

Itis the prime object of the present invention to overcome this serious wear, and to that end a thin plate, A, made of a hard metalsuch as steel is placed upon the tie B and the rail C is laid upon said plate.

The cushion-plate A, which is of a length preferably equal to the width of the tie and of a width slightly greater than the rail at the base, is provided upon opposite sides with a recess, (1, adapted to receive the spike, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3. I prefer in practice, as illustrated in Fig. 1 to place a thin sheet, B, of soft metal'such as Babbitt metal, copper, or lead upon the upper face of the main plate, the said soft metal being simply laid upon the harder metal or secured thereto in any approved or well-known manner. The rails C having been laid upon the cushionplate, both are secured to the tie by the same spikes, the said spikes passing through the side recesses in the cushion.

The spike D employed is that secured to myself by Letters Patent dated August 23, 1887, and numbered 368,818, and on which spike an application for a patent for an improvement is filed of even date herewith, and it is provided with a diagonal head, a gradually-tapering body, and a peculiarly-formed point, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, whereby when driven the body of the spike takes a diagonal course in the tie. The fish-plates E are now secured in position and the joint is completed.

It will be observed that by reason of the interposed cushion-plate the abutting ends of the rails cannot be forced downward at the base into the tie, but are maintained at all times in their normal position. Thus a minimum degree of friction only is sustained by the fish-plates, permitting the latter to act simply in their proper capacity-that of a tic.

\Vhile Ihave illustrated the cushion as applied to a joint, I do not limit myself to that application, as, if found desirable, a cushionplate may also be used in connection with one or more ties intervening the joints of the rail.

The object of the soft-metal facing for the cushion-plate is to provide aperfectly-smooth upper face, in order that the movement of the rail upon the cushion will not produce wear, and the further object is to prevent any possible obstruction to the natural wave of the rail.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As an improved article of manufacture, a railway-rail cushion consisting of a hardmetal plate having one face covered with a soft metal, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a railway rail and tie, of a metal plate'intervening the rail and tie, and spikes having a diagonal head and tapering point uniting the rail and cushionplate to the tie, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with a railway rail and tie, of a cushion plate intervening the said rail and tie, consisting of a hardmetal plate having one surface covered with a soft metal, and spikes provided with a diagonal head and tapering point uniting the cushion-plate and rail to the ties, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. The combination, with the abutting ends IO of rail-sections, the tie, and a fish-plate uniting said rail-sections, of a metal cushion-plate intervening the said rails and ties, and spikes having a diagonal head and tapering point, retaining the rails and plate to the ties, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

TI-IOS. A. DAVIES.

\Vitnesses:

.I. F. ACKER, J 1. (J. SEDGWICK.

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