US994453A - Railway-tie. - Google Patents

Description

t. wf FULLARD.

RAILWAY TIE. APPLICATION FILED n3. 1?-, 1,910.

Patented June 6 IIIIIII Il tain new and useful Improvements in Railwhich when originally assembled, will pos- UNiTED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

WILLIAM FULLARD, OF NORTH PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 0F O1\T1L'IIIIRDr l TO MICHAEL E. LYNCH AND ONE-THIRD TO MICHAEL HARRINGTON, 0F :BLOOM- FIELD, NEW JERSEY.

RAILWAY-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Y Patented June 6, 1911,

Application led March 17, 1910. Serial No. 549,833.

To all whom it may concern: I Be it known that I, WILLIAM FULLARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at North Plainfield, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented' cerway-Ties, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

My invention relates to railway ties and more particularly to a type of tie embodying therein a metal base.

The main object of the invention is to pro-' vide a railway tie wherein the portion thereof embedded in the ballast will be of metal so as to prolong the life of the tie by avoiding decay or destruction by worms or insectsand yet will present a relatively immovable wooden portion to'which the rails may be spiked thus preserving4 that resiliency in the support for the rail which is desirable in railway practice. y i

A further object is to provide a railway tie of the character above referred to wherein the wooden rail-supporting portion will be capable of adjustment independently of the metallic portion of the tie, while being incapable of displacement due to the weight of passing trains or the vibration resulting from such trains. j

A still further object is to provide a tie having a metallic i sheathing and wooden supporting blocks therein, which will be capable of being raised or lowered in its entirety by tamping the ballast thereunder or removing it therefrom, inthe usual manner, and wherein the wooden truck supportingblocks may be adjusted'without removing the tie from the road bed. j j

A still further object is to provide a metallic railway tie provided with cushioning blocks adapted to support the rail, the metallic portion of the tie being continuous and integral, and so constructed las to engage the foot of each rail and preventl the spreading Vof the rails.

A still further object is to provide a tie sess allu of thecliaracteristicsof an ordinary wooden tie, all of the parts thereof being capable of being locked together so as to prevent displacement both during transportation and after being laid. Y i

.A still further object to provide sa metallic tie provided with wooden rail supports having relatively lsmaller dimensions, whereby, after wear upon the wooden supports has made them unsuitable for use, they may Vbe replaced without disturbing the metallic portion of the tie and at small cost compared to the cost of the ordinary wooden tie as now almost universally used. And a still further object is toprovide a railway tie in combination with a fish ,plate which combination will serve to not only support the rail upon renewable wooden supports in a metallic base, butwill prevent the creeping of the rails and thus relieve the spikes attaching the rails to the cushioning wooden rail supports from the strains incidental to such creeping. K

My invention consists primarily in a railway t-ie comprising a base of channel metal extending transversely of the rails, and rail sup-ports consisting ofindependent wooden blocks adjacent to the opposite ends of said base and seated within said channel; and in such other novel features of construction and combination of parts as are hereinafter set forth and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

Referring to the drawings r-Figure l is a side view of a tie embodying my invention,

the channel base being broken yaway adjacent' to the ends,'this view showing a joint in one rail; Fig. 2 is a perspective viewpof one tie with only'one supporting block shown; Fig.

3 is an end view of adjacent ties kat a joint in shown in the drawings, a b indicates thek two rails of a track which are the ordinary type used in the'United States, having a foot c and a head d. l

At e 'e I have shown adjacent'tiesI which ties are identical in their construction so as to make it necessary to describe only one of them. This tie consists of a metallic base f of'a length greater than the gage of the track, and ismade of channel stock of sufficient' thickness to.,fwithstand the ordinary conditions of use, while insuring economy of production. Extending from the bottom of parts throughout A this channel, toward the middle and the ends thereof respectively, are a plurality of drain holes f', and the sides of the base are cut downwardly as shown at f2, at the point corresponding with the location of the rails, the width of this cut corresponding with the width of the foot c of the rails, which arrangement will cause the said rail foot to engage the sides of said openings and thus iX them at the proper gage as predetermined by the accurate production of the channel stock forming the tie base, an arrangement which will insure greater accuracy than can be secured by the method now ordinarily employed, and with greater rapidity. The base f thus serves to withstand the deteriorating influences of contact with the road bed and at the same time serves to accurately line up the track and prevent the spreading of the rails. A metallic tie, however, has many disadvantages, such as its subject to fracture under heavy load, its lack of resiliency, and its acoustic properties as well as the expense and inconvenience due to the great weight of the tie. A channel tie such as I have described, would have the further Vadvantage that if the side of the channel were relied uponV to sustain the weight of the train as well as the rails, they would rapidly break down and thus be impracticable. To obviate these diiicult-ies I provide adjacent to each pair of out away portions f2 a cushioning block upon which the rails are seated, and spiked. This cushion block projects above the bottom of the openings f2 thus permitting a considerable wear upon the cushion before it is necessary to raise the same. These cushioning rail supports being seated within the channel as described are incapable of displacement longitudinally of the track and are held against lateral displacement by the engagement of the foot c of the rail with the sides of the openings f2. To prevent a vertical movement of this support, I provide spike openings ]@3 in the side of the channel base f by mea-ns of which spikes may be driven into the said rail supports to secure said supports firmly in their position in said base.

The foot of the rail rests upon the cushioning rail supports, and `thus presents in the tie all of the advantages of the ordinary Wooden tie as to resiliency, diminution of sound'and the attachment of the rail. The employment of the spikes t' passing through the'side opening f3 permits the use of rail supporting blocks of about a foot in length, thus reducing the volume of wood entering into the tie, and thus permitting the use of timber for the manufacture of tlietie, which heretofore has been impossible. The said "blocks may be of any desired suitable kind of wood, and may be treated in any desired manner to prevent their destruction by climatic conditions or insects, the size of the cushion supporting blocks reducing the cost per tie of such treatment.

In laying a rail it is not always possible to accurately level up the road bed or the ties, or to preserve this level; and to meet this condition, I make each rail supporting block independently adjustable as to height, by constructing it of two cooperating wedge-shaped members g g, the coperating faces of said sections extending laterally of the rail, and both sections being confined at the sides, by the sides of the channel base f, the aggregate height of both of said blocks being necessarily less than the height of the sides of said base to permit the projection of the foot c of the rails through the angular cut away portions f2 of the sides of said base. The side openings f3 are at least two in number, one being provided for each portion g g of the cushioning rail support, thus permitting the locking of both of said sections to the base.

It will be Vobserved that the cushioning rail supports form practically a portion of a structure having all of the characteristics of an integral tie, and in addition thereto the anti-rail-spreading features and the adjustability independent-ly of the road bed, thus permitting the take up of any wear which may occur upon the rail supporting cushions, or theleveling of the track by the ordinary method of tamping or the operation of the wedge sections g g without the necessity for taking up the tie, thus preserving all of the desirable characteristics of the tie necessary for the convenience of the section gang.

At each end of the sides of the channel base f I provide openings f4 in which picks or other implements may be inserted for the purpose of adjusting the tie laterally.

The rails may be attached to the blocks g g in the ordinary manner and this attachment irrespective of the accuracy in' creeping, I Aprovide a special form of fishV plate having especial adaptability with my tie and having no adaptability in other connections, said fish plate being composed of the ordinary angle side webs k and feet 71X, adapted to project into adjacent ties and engage the sides thereof, being attached to the adjoining ends of the rails by bolts in the usual manner and the rail supporting blocks in adjacent ties by spikes. It will thus be observed that the ties themselves take up all the longitudinal strains resulting in a tendency of therails to creep. The web v, between the feet 7i spans the space between adjacent ties. If desired, a groove h2 may be formed in the inner face of the flanges 7L, for the purpose of forming a channel for the electrical bond wires.

The operation of my tie is substantially as follows :-In laying the ties, the road bed is prepared in the usual manner and the ties trued up as the rail is placed, the foot c of the rails being seated within the openings f2 of succeeding ties, thus insuring absolute alinement of the rails and frequent reinforcement preventing the spreading thereof. The rails and the ties in first laying, are leveled up by tamping, the cushion supporting blocks g g being in new ties of uniform predetermined heights and secured in place by means of spikes c' passing through t-he side openings f3. The blocks g g support the rails so as to hold the bottom of the foot c thereof free of the metallic base f. When the rails have been properly trued and leveled up they are spiked in place in the usual manner, the spikes entering both portions g g and supplementing the action of the spikes z' in preventing a loss of level through the relative movement of the wedge-shaped portions g g. rlhe iish plates are attached l at the rail joints in the usual manner, it being necessary to exactly space the adjacent rails with which the feet h of said plates cooperate.

If it becomes necessary for a section gang to level up any particular tie this may be done by tamping in the usual manner or if wear has occurred upon the upper rail supporting block g the rail spikes indicated at j and the spikes 71 may be removed and said portions g g driven toward each other so as to raise said block only, the various spikes being replaced when the rail has been properly leveled. It will be observed that this readjustment of the supporting block may be accomplished without displacing the base j', the parts being readily accessible to a section gang by merely removing a portion of the ballast adjacent to each or either end of the tie, thus minimizing the labor required of a section gang in effecting repairs.

A tie of this character may be used with any character of ballast, is practically as noiseless as the ordinary wooden tie and possesses all of the characteristics of resiliency inherent to a wooden tie, while having greater durability and requiring less cost of transportation when it is necessary to renew the rail supporting cushion. Furthermore, these cushions will possess greater durability than the ordinary ties. 'Ihe lower portion thereof g1, is protected from the action of the ground by the sheathing afforded by the metallic channel base f, and when the other section g becomes so worn across the portion thereof on each side of the middle, to an extent to preclude a further use of this portion as'a rail seat, the position of the portions g g may be reversed thus giving to each portion two or three times the life of the ordinary tie by reason of this reversibility and the presence of the protecting sheathing.

It is not my intention to limit the invention to the precise details of construction shown in the accompanying drawings, it being apparent that such showing is merely a matter of design and may be varied to meet. the special requirements of any particular condition of use.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to have protected by Letters Patent, is

A railway tie comprising a base of channel metal adapted to extend transversely of the track, a cushioning rail support consisting of independent wooden blocks adjacent to the opposite ends of said base and seated within said channel, each said block consisting of a plurality of superposed copcrating wedges, and removable means locking each of said blocks in position relative to said base and each other, the sides of said channel base adjacent to each of said blocks being cut away vertically at the top for a depth sufficient to cause the rail to rest solely upon said block and to engage the sides of said cut away portion.

In witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature, this 9th day of March, 1910, in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM FULLARD.

Witnesses:

MICHAEL E. LYNCH, P. FRANK SONNEK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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