US937116A - Splice-bar for rail-joints. - Google Patents

Description

W. P. &` S

SPLIO z TEO DN. R F011 R41 Jol Tsg..

FILED MAY lll,A 1907 E. BA

Patented 00u19; 1909.

l UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

WILLIAM P. THOMSON AND SAMUEL e. THOMSON,

F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

ASSIG'NORS TOTHOMSON-THOMSON COMPANYLOF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

A FARTNERSHIP.

U sonY and SAMUEL G. THOMSON, of Philadelwhich phia, Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Splice-Bar for Rail-Joints, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had -to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, are sectional views illustrating-different forms of splice bars embodying our invention.

Our invention has relation to splice bars for railway rail joints, having downwardly and outwardly inclined upper members, and is designed to provide a splice bar having certain novel features of construction which, together with the advantages arising therefrom are hereinafter fully explained, the essential feature of our invention consisting in strengthening the uppervmember by adding metal on the inside of the bar below the top of the bolt holes and on the outsideV by providing a substantially vertical bolting face on the bar itself as rolled without the intervention of a bevel washer; this improvement of merging the bevel washers, hitherto required, into the bar itself` and thus provide a substantially vertical bolting face on the bar, derives great importance as an improvement from the fact that the elemination of the upward slipping tendency of the metal providing` metal formerly constituted a washer), makes it possible in this improved construction to secure a more eliicient coact-ion of the truss-member, lying between the head and foot of the rail, with the short foot-member. which is inclined downwardly and outwardly from this upper truss-member. The importance of this increased ellicicncy is proven in practice and by exhaustive tests because it has been conclusively shown `that the weakest point of all types of bars, having an upper truss-member and an outwardly extending loot-i'ncmbcr has been at the junctme of these two members. Under our former patent, we reinforced the bar by moving this junctlu'e-point outwardly toward the edgel ot' the rail base,

' which necessitated a downwardly and outwardly inclined upper truss-member; but our present `nnprovei'nent has .so greatly strengthened the upper chord `of the upper Specilcation of Letters Patent.

a vertical. bolting face' sPLIcE-BAR Eon ,EAIL-JoINTs.

Patented Oct. 19, 1909.

. Application led Mayill, 1907. Serial No. 373,062.

truss-member that still greater efficiency in the coaction of the upper truss-member and the outwardly extending foot-member is required` and this increased eliiciency we secure by joining the substantially vertical bolting face with the upper surface of thc outwardly extending foot-member by means of a fillet which acts as a brace against any decrease in the degree of angularity between these two faces as originally rolled on the bar. lt is essential that this fillet shall not be. rentrant, but shall, on the contrary, lie entirely within the angle of closest'. proximity of these two faces. 'Ihe extent of the reinforcing metal added to form this fillet depends upon how greatly the upper chord of the upper truss-member of the. splice bar has Abeen reinforced, and also upon whetl'ler the splice bar is provided with a reinforcing flange extending below the rail base from the outer edge of the aforementioned short foot-member, as it will be readily apparent yto any one familial' with the art, that the greater the carrying capacity of the bar, by reason of increased efficiency of the upper chord of they upper truss-member and a balancing efficiency due to the use of a. lower truss-member in the form of a freely extending flange below the rail base` the greater in extent the reinforcing fillet will have to be.

Referring to the drawings, the nmneral 2 wherever seen designates the upper member of the bar, 3 the foot portion which tits the upper surface of the rail base, and Ll the lower or depending member. ln all the forms shown, the upper member 2 has ils bolting face in a, substantially vertical position. In the form shown in Fig. 3, the depending member el is omitted. lu the form of the invention shown in Fig. 4, the bar 2 has no depending member extending below the base of the rail, but terminates above the bottom face of the rail. The form of the bar is otherwise, in general, similar to that shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 also illustrates the use of an inner coacting bar 5, fitting between the head and base portions of the bar 2 and the head and base of This member 5 may be either metallic or of insulating character. In the figure, it is shown as composed of metah Splice bars embodying our invention although shown as applied to the ordinary T- rail, may be applied to any type of rail.-

the rail.

or other bearing members are interposed between portions of the bars and the adjacent bearing surfaces of the rail. It will be further understood that the variousA forms shown are illustrative only, and that various other modifications in the form and sectional shape ofthe bars may be made, provided the essential feature of our invention is retained, viz., the provision of a vertical bolting 'face on a downwardly and outwardly inclined upper member. The fundamental principle of this reinforcement of a downwardly and outwardly inclinedupper member residesv in the fact that the upper portion of the outer face of the bar as rolled lies vertically above the lower portion of said outer face, thus securing a much lighter and stiffer member than can be attained in any other way. This method of reinforcement increases the bulk of the metal near the top where it is most eliieient and at the same time it retains the merit of the downwardly and outwardly inclined upper member in eliminating the buckling of the foot member; this combination of increased elticiency can not .otherwise be obtained without a great waste of metal adjacent to the horizontal neutral axis of the bar. Our new invention consists then of this comparatively light and rigid upper member alfording an approximately vertical bolting face, which at the same time joins the member itting'on top of the rail base at a point far enough out to prevent the latter from buckling. This latter feature is particularly impor* tant in the case of bars having depending point, and the full benefit of upper and lowerstiffening members of even moderate bulk have not been attained, In our preferred form, having a free flange extending below the rail base, our upper member of increased bulk enables us to construct a bar having comparatively light and rigidupper and lower members which are joined together'by a short foot member and at the same time afford a vertical bolting face without the intervention of a bevel washer. This vertical bolting face on the bar as rolled and the joining of the upper and foot -members adjacent to the outer edge of the railbase have hitherto been partly attained by adding an excessive amount of metal adjacent to the horizontal neutral axis of the bar, while the latter feature alone has been attained by the use of light slanting members necessitating the use of bevel washers; but no light and practicable bar has be fore been made which embodies both of these features together. This is alone accomplished by forming a substantially vertical outer face on the upper member, as shown in our drawings.

The reinforcement of splice bars beneath the base of the rail has received too much attention in comparison with the equal necessity for strength in the upper member. This improvement, then, is most eticient in distributing the metal at the greatest distance from the horizontal neutral axis of the bar, in providing` a vertical bolting face on the bar itself as rolled, and in general, in causing the various members of the bar to act with increased capacity a-nd without any tendency to buckle or kiek partly out of contact with the top face of the rail base, all of which advantages enable us to make a comparatively light practicable bar, easy to roll, and which, as a constituent part of the structure comprising a rail joint, makes it possible to construct a rail joint equaling any unbroken rail in vertical and lateral stiffness, and retaining at the same time a sufficient degree of reslliency to prevent the battering of the rail ends. T his has hitherto been attempted in many ways but never before accomplished by the use of a suiiciently reasonable amount of metal to be practicable. Our improvement, however, disposes metal se advantageously 'that our attainment of said result is practicable both from the com mereial and the manufacturing standpoint.

fe claim:

l. In a rail joint, a splice bar having a head member whose greatest horizontal thickness is adjacent to the horizontal plane of the tops of' the nuts of the joint bolts, a foot member fitting the base of the rail, and a web member joining the foot member adjacent to the middle point of the latter in a substantially narrow neck portion, said web member having a substantially vertical outer face, which extends from the point of greatest thickness of the head member down to and joining the upper face of the foot member, and an inner face inclined upwardly and inwardly from the foot member to the point of greatest thickness of the head member, substantially as described.

- 2. In a rail joint, a splice bar havingr a head member whose greatest horizontal' thickness is adjacent to the horizontal plane ot' the tops of the nuts of tht` joint bolts, a toot meluber fitting the base of the rail, and a web member oining the foot member adjacent to the middle point of the latter in a substantially narrow neck portion, said web member having a substantially vertical outer face, which extends from the point ot' great` est' thickness oitl the head member down to and joining the upper face of the foot member. and an inner face inclined upwardly and inwardly from the foot member to the point of greatest thickness ot' the head member, the thickness of the web member where it joins the foot member being substantially equal to the thickness of thev rail web, substantially as described.

3. In a rail joint, a splice bar having a head member whose greatest horizontal thickness is adjacent to the horizontal plane .of tbe tops of the nuts of the joint bolts, and

having a substantially vertical inner face adjacent to but standing tree from the rail web, ya toot member fitting the base of the rail, and a web member joining Athe foot member adjacent to the middle point ot the latter in a substantially narrow neck portion, said web member having a substantially vertical outer face, which extends from the point of greatest thickness of the head member down to and joiningv the upper face o't the foot member, and an inner face inclined upwardly antllinwardly from the foot member to the point of greatest thickness of the head member, substantially as described.

4. In a rail joint, a splicebar having a head member whosev greatest horizontal thickness is adjacent to the horizontal plane of the top's of the nuts of the joint bolts, a toot member fitting the base ot the rail, and a web member 'oining the toot member adjacent to the middle point of the latter in a substantially narrow neck portion, said web member having a substantially vertical outer tace, which extends from the point ot greatest thickness of the head member down to and joining the upper t'ace of the 'foot memf ber, an inner tace inclined upwardly and ini l i l l l l l wardly from the foot member to the point of greatest thickness ot: the head member, and another coacting splice bar atl the same side of the rails, substantially as described.

' 5. In a rail joint, a splice bar having a head member whose greatest horizontal thickness is adjacent to the horizontal lane of the tops of the nuts of the joint bolts, a foot member litting the base of the rail, and a web member joining the foot member adjacent to the middle pointof the latter in a substantially narrow neck portion, said web member having a substantially. vertical outer tace, which extends from the point ot' greatest'thickness of 'the head member down to and joining the upper face of the foot member, and an inner face inclined upwardly and inwardly from the foot member to the point otgreatest thickness of the head member, the foot member having a' ptition extending below the rail base; substantially as described.

(l. In a rail joint, a splice bar having a head member whose greatest horizontal thickness is adjacent to the horizontal plane of the tops ofthe nuts ot the joint bolts, a foot member fitting the base of the rail, and a web member joining the foot member adjacent to the middle point of the latter in a substantially narrow nec-k portion, said web member having a substantially vertical outer tace, which extends from the point of greatest thickness of the head member down to and joining the upper face of the fool' member, and an inner face inclined upwardly and inwardly from a point below the bolt holes to the point ot greatest thickness of the head member, substantially as described.`

ln testimonywhereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

WILLTAM l. lllUMSON SAMUEL (l. 'lllOMSON lVitnesses as to Wm. I). 'lhomsonz H. ll. lA'rruusoN, Molucon 'l`1ro,\|soN.

Witnesses as to S. (l. 'l`homsou:

(l. l). PORTER, lVl. A. (lRAnssuu.

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