US614885A

US614885A - Rail-joint

Info

Publication number: US614885A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1898-11-29
Anticipated expiration: 1915-11-29

Description

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. OWEN, OF CANAL \VINOHESTER, OHIO.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,885, dated November 29, 1898. Application filed June 17, 1898. Serial No. 683,784. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. OWEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canal \Vinchester, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented a new and v permit of sufficient movement to accommo-.

date themselves to the laws of contraction and expansion.

The objects and advantages of my invention will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the drawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through a rail-joint constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the rail-chair. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3 3, Fig. 2, showing a rail therein.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates an ordinary railway-track rail having the tread and flange cut away at the end thereof, as shown, and the web formed into a tongue or tenon 2, which is adapted to fit within a socket or mortise 8, formed in the adjacent end of the rail 4, as in Fig. 1, or in a rail-chair 5, as in Fig. 2.

The tongue 2 is in the form of a hook having the end or nose 6 arranged in a plane below that of the recurved lower edge 7, and the socket 3 is oppositely formed, having the plane of the inner pocket 8 below that of the upper face 0 of the seat 10.

lVhen the rails are placed in position, they are inclined somewhat, so as to pass the end of the tongue over the raised seat 10, and are then straightened out, thereby seating the hooked nose 6 of the tongue in the pocket 8 and beyond the raised seat 10, and by reason of the lower edge 7 of the tongue resting upon the face 9 of the seat 10 and the upper straight edge 11 of' the tongue engaging the under straight face 12 of the socket the rails are connected together and positively locked against accidental displacement. The hooked end of the tongue forms a transverse head which cannot pass through the contracted opening between the seat 10 and the upper inner face 11 of the socket except as above described.

The pocket 8 of the socket is preferably formed somewhat larger than the hooked end of the tongue, and the tread and flange of the rail-sections or of the rail-chair are spaced apart or do not meet, as shown, whereby the rails are free to move for a limited space in order to compensate for contraction and expansion.

It will be observed that the seat 10 does not extend out to the mouth of the socket, but i only a portion of the distance, thereby permitting the lower portion 13 of the tongue to fit within the socket and rest upon the tie, whereby a firm support is obtained for the tongue end of the rail. The rail-chair 5 is provided with the usual spike holes or notches 14 in the flange thereof, whereby it may be secured upon the tie in the ordinary manner.

Bymeans of the tongue 2 being entirely inclosed within the socket 3 it is effectively protected from the action of the car-wheels, which travel upon the the tread of the rail and do not at any time contact or engage with the tongue and wear the same loose in its socket. This construction and arrangement does away with bolts and nuts and fish-plates and provides a strong and useful jointwhich when once placed in position does not need the care and attention necessary with the ordinary joints to replace broken fish-plates and to tighten the loose nuts.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope or sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention, and therefore I do not wish to be understood as limiting my-.

'inclosed within the socket,with its head seated beyond the contracted mouth thereof, whereby the interlocking tongue is protected from the action of the car-wheels, substantially as shown and described.

2. A raiLjoint, comprising abutting railsections, one of the sections having a tongue provided with a transverse head, and the other section having a socket provided with a contracted mouth the lower wall thereof being cut away in front and the upper and side Walls extending beyond the cut-away lower Wall, whereby the tongue maybe inserted into the recess at an inclination thereto to pass the transverse head through the contracted mouth, substantially as shown and described. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE F. OWEN. Witnesses:

W'. 1-1. LANE, E. V. BUSCH,