| RE23 | 1840-08-26 | RE000023.pdf | J. STIMPSON. ‘
Street Railway.
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Reissued Aug. 26, 1840.
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UNITED STATES
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“.1
PATENT OFFICE. .
JAMES: STIMPSON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
TMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF FORMING AND USING CAST OR WROUGHT IRON PLATES OR RAILS FOR
RAILROAD-CARRIAGE WHEELS TO RUN UPON. '
Speci?cation forming part of Letters Patent dated August 23, 1831; Reissned September 26, 1835; ~ ~
_ Reissue No. 23. dated August 27, 1840.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that.I, JAMES STIMPSON, of
the city of Baltimore, in the State of Mary-
land, have invented a new and useful ini-
- provcment in the mode of forming and using
cast or wrought ir_on plates or rails for rail-
road-carriage wheels to run upon, more espe-
cially for those to be used on the streets of cit-
ies, onwharves, and elsewhere; and I do here-
by declare that the following is a. full and ex-
act description of my said inventions or im-
provements.
For the purpose of carrying railroads
through the streets of towns or cities, and in
other situations where circumstances may ren-
der it desirable that the wheels of ordinary
carriages should not be subjected to injury or
obstruction, I so construct or form the rails
that the ?anges of the wheels of railroad cars
or carriages may be received and run within
narrow grooves or channels formed i11 or by
said rails, said grooves not being sufficiently
wide to admit the rims of the wheels of gigs
or other ordinary carriages having wheels of
the narrowest kind. These plates or rails may
be varied in form, according to circumstances.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1
represents a railroad-track supposed to be
formed in a street, a part of it being shown
as straight and apart as curved.
The other ?gures give sectional views of
various forms in which I make my railway
bars or plates, which are usually of cast-iron,
a11d are laid and secured down upon rails of
Wood. - ' . .
Fig. 2 is a section of the form of cast-iron
rail plate which I most commonly use where
the track is slightly curved; and Fig. 3, a
plate nearly the same with Fig. 2, which I use
where the track is nearly or quite straight.
In these plates I make a groove or channel, as
at a, which is to receive the ?ange of the
wheel. This channel should be about an inch
and a half wide at top and about an inch and
a quarter at bottom. It is sufficiently deep
to admit the ?ange of the wheel to run in it
without touching its bottom. The lower cor-
ners of the interior of this channel I make
rounding or curved, in order that any dirt or
other foreign matter collected therein may be
the more readily forced out by the action of
the ?anges. The check or jamb I), which is
on the inside of the channel, should be about
three-fourths of an inch wide at top, and as
high, or nearly so, as the face 0 of the plate
upon which the tread of the wheel is to run.
These plates I cast hollow at d to saveweight.
They should be about two inches and a quar-
tcr deep, six inches and ahalf wide at the bot-
tom, and about six inches and a quarter. at the
top, the taper at their sides when thus formed
aiding in con?ning them in place by the Wedg-
ing of the stones and earth of the pavement
against them. They may be cast three or four
feet in length. Their ends should be bev-
eled—say at an angle of forty-?ve degrees; or
they may be formed with a tenon and mor-
tise. They have spike-holes through them.
in order to fasten them down to the rails of
wood or of stone upon which they are placed.
Fig. 3 is the same with Fig. 2, excepting
that it has a slight chamfer or rounding off of
the angle of the face, as shown at c, to admit
the cone or curve on the tread of the wheel
where it joins the ?angeto run free so that
the general tread of the wheel may bear on
the face 0 of the plate, which face I prefer. to
make a little crowning. \Vhere the road is
perfectly straight, as at A, on the track, this
chamfered-edge plate is to be preferred; but
where it is slightly curved, as at B, on the
track, I on the outside of the curve use the
rails shown in Fig. 2, which are not chain-
fered, as the conical orlarger part of the tread
of the wheel close to the ?ange will then bear
upon the edge e’, and this being larger than
the treadvwill cause the wheels to roll round
such curved parts of the road with little or no
slipping. ’ ’
VVhere it is necessary to turn a curve of
shorter radius than that which- could be read-
ily effected by the aid of the conical part of
the wheel, as at O, on the track, I then resort
to the plan secured to me by Letters Patent
for “turning short curves on railroads,” which
Letters Patent bear the same date, having
been granted on the same day with the Let-
ters Patent of which "this instrument makes
a part, for railroad-plates to be used on the
streets of cities, &e.——that is to say, I apply
“the ?anges of the wheels on one side‘ of rail-
road-carriages, and the treads of the wheels V
e
' ?ange, so that the ?ange alone bears on the
‘nut of this lateral vibration; but by the de-
- on the other side, to turn curves on railways.” ]
In this case . a railroad-plate may be made
like that shown in Fig. 4 to form the channel
for the wheel on the larger or outer curve.
In this case the groove or channel is not to be
equal in depth to the rise or projection of the
rail on this outer side, and takes the whole
weight of the load, thus freeing the tread of
the wheel on. that side from the face of the
plate for the distance necessary to turn the
curve, for a full exempli?cation of which plan
Irefer to said Letters Patent for “turning short
curves.” Such curves, however, will rarely,
if ever, occur, excepting in the turning of the
corners of streets, and to this particular mode
I make no claim in the present patent. \Vhen
the wheels arrive at the straight part of a
track after having run upon a curved part,
the rails shown in Fig. 3 are used, or. others
of a like nature.
_ It is to be understood that the object had
in view in varying the form of the rails by
chamfering, as in Fig. 3, or by omitting the
chamfer, as in Fig. 2, is to attain the same
end-——namely,‘ the running with little friction
or dragging around curves in streets———which
is attained on the ordinary railroad-tracks out
of cities by allowing the cars to vibrate from
side to side, so that the varying diameter on
the conical parts of the treads of the wheels
may cause them to adapt themselves to curva-
tures. on the road. The narrow channels used
by me, and so essential in cities, do not ad-
vices above described a similar result is at-
tained.
In most cases for passing along streets, and
more especiallywwu the iron rails.are em-
bedded in rails 01- sills of stone, I prefer so to
construct the said iron rails as that the wheels
shall run altogether on their ?anges. In this
case I use iron plates such as are represented
in Fig. 4. These plates may be made two
inches and three-quarters wide at top and
three inches at the bottom. The channel or
groove may be about ?ve-eighths of an inch in
depth, an inch and a quarter wide at the top,
and an inch at the bottom, the corners at the
bottom of the groove being curved,’ as in Figs.
2 and 3. The thickness below the bottom of
the groove or channel may be three-fourths
of an inch. The plates would then be one
inch and ‘three-eighths in depth. These shal-
low-channeled plates present several advan-
tages,.among'which-are that they will offer
less resistance than others to the motion of
the cars; they are much lighter than others;
they will not require any cleaning out, the
?anges effecting this perfectly, which may
not always be the case in deeper channels.
These shallow channels may be made narrower
than the deeper ones, the ?anges being much
thinner at their outer edges than they are near
to the treads of the wheels. The wheels will
undoubtedly be as safely guided in the shal-
low as in the deeper channels, and the rails
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will be equally durable with those of greater
weight. When rails of this description are
sunk into a channel in a rail of stone or of wood,
the base being wider than their upper sides,
the pressure of sand into the seams on each
side of the iron, caused by the running of com-
mon carriage-wheels over them,will effectually
con?ne the iron plates between the jambs of
the stone or wood. _
Fig. 6 shows a rail-plate resembling Fig. 4,
but having a channel the whole depth of the
?ange. _
Should it be preferred to use the ordinary
?at wrought—iron rails, they may belaid double
at such a distance apart as to form the proper
channel for the ?ange between them. _
f f, Fig. 5, are sections of two such iron
plates, and are shown as used at D on the
track. VVrought- iron plates may also be
formed in the manner represented in Fig. 7.
This plate is rolled so as to have a channel,
a, in it, which may be one inch and a quarter
wide at top, one inch at bottom, and ?ve-
eighths of an inch deep. The plate g g on
each side of the channel may be two inches
wide. The whole plate may be of uniform
thickness, and furnished with spike-holes al-
ternately on each side of the channel. These
are supposed to be used at E on the track.
VVhere it is necessary to cross a water-gut
ter in the street, I use a cast-iron plate or
plates to cover said gutter, the ?ange-chan-
nels being cast in such plate or plates. The
whole surface between the channels is cast
rough to prevent the slipping of the feet of
horses. The aforesaid cast-iron plate is best
cast in one piece, as it will be stronger than
if divided, although of the same thickness.
It must, of course, be of a width sufficient
for the particular gutter to which it is to be
applied, and it should be strengthened by
having ribs cast on its lower side. These
should be about an inch and a quarter deep,
exclusive of the thickness of the plate. In
some cases I cover the gutters the whole width
of the street with such cast-iron plates, and
extend them to some distance beyond the curb-
ings. I thus make a great improvement in
streets for the ordinary purposes of travel.
Such a plate is shown in Fig. 8, co co being the
grooved channels cast therein, and ‘h h the
upper face of the plate cast rough or check-
cred.
Having thus fully described the nature of
my improvements, and pointed out various
modes in which the same may be carried‘ into
effect, what I claim as constituting my ‘in-
vention, and desire to secure by Letters Pat-
ent, is——- *
1. The employment of plates or rails, either
of cast or of wrought iron, constructed and
operating upon the principle or in the man-
ner hcrein described, having narrow grooves
on each side of the track for the ?anges of
car-wheels to run in, by which they are
adapted to the unobstructed passing over them
of the various kinds of common carriages,
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and to the running of the wheels on slight
curves Without dragging. ’ '
2. In combination with such grooved rails
or tracks, the employment of plates of cast-
iron for the covering and crossing of gutters,
such plates being constructed as described,
and -having the necessary ?ange-channels cast
in them, and I do hereby declare that I do
not intend to con?ne myself to the precise
forms and dimensions herein given, these be-
ing designed merely-to exemplifyrin a. clear
manner the nature, object, and mode of carry-
ing into effect of my said invention.
J AMES‘ STIMPSON.
Witnesses:
I. M. STIMPSON,
S. E. Srmrson.
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