18( 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[JCNB, 



BAINES' RAILWAY CHAIRS AND SWITCHES. 



This Paper was read at the last mieling, but was not then discussed j the 

 inventor, Mr. Baines, of Norwich, attonded the present meeting to give fur- 

 ther information and particulars on the suhject. 



Mr. Baines exhibited and ex|il;iined specimens of the joint and interme- 

 diati' chairs. Tlie Joint Chair had one jaw on the outer side, fitting close 

 up to the head of the rails, and the rails were fixed by a horiznjiial dowil- 

 pin If inches wide and g-tbs inulj thick, which was passed through a notch in 

 the end of each rail, and a corresponding hole in the outer jaw of the chair, 

 and was drawn up hy a vertical cotter driven through the dowel-pin on the 

 other side of the chair. A wrouj?ht-iron plate 9 inches long was placed 

 under the head of the dowel-pin, fitting close up to the head of the rails on 

 the inner side, and this plaie was drawn up tight against the rails by driving 

 the vertical cotter, and formed a stiff scarfing piece across the joint of the 

 rails; this plate was a little cambered, and was sprung flat by driving the 

 cotter. The Intermediate Chair was intei led to hold the rail without the 

 use of a key; the two jaws were of the same form, both fitting up close to 

 the head of the rail, but they were placed obliquely instead of opposite to 

 each other; the chair was slipped endwise on to the rail and then twisted at 

 right angles to the rail, which made it grip the rail between the two oblique 

 jaws. The chair was forced tight against the rail, either by screwed spikes 

 with conical beads and eccentric countersink holes in the chair, which forced 

 the chair further round and increased the pressure of the jaws ou the rail 

 when the conical head of each screw was drawn home into the countersink; 

 or another plan for doing the same thing was by using square spikes tapered 

 to a greater breadth at the upper part when they passed through the chair, 

 so that by driving them down the chair was forced further round against the 

 rail. 



An estimate was presented of the comparative expense of laying a rail- 

 way on the above plan and on the ordinary plan, and the following were the 

 respective amounts stated in it, — the amount in each case being only the 

 cost of the chairs, keys, and spikes, as the rest would be the same in each 

 case: — 



The cost for a mile of single way, laid on the ordinary plan, with £ 



wood keys and iron spikes 3-4d 



The cost for a mile of single way, laid on the above plan, with 



square taper spikes .'^40 



The same, with screu'ed spil^es i^03 



but the square taper spikes were considered equally efficient, and they were 

 more convenient than the screwed spikes for drawing out in repairs, &c., as 

 well as less expensive. 



Mr. Baines in answer to questions from the President said, the only trial 

 tliat had yet been made of thera was a short length of line at the entiance 

 of Norwich Station, which had been at work with these ciiairs for eleven 

 luonths with complete success, and had not required any repair of the 

 chairs. It was situated where all the trains ran over in entering the 

 station. 



A trial of the joint and intermediate chairs would be made shortly on the 

 main line of the North StafTurdshire Railway at Danes Moss, near Burton, 

 in the trial already made of them at Norwich, there had not been any loose- 

 ness of the keys of the joint chairs, and they remained just the same as 

 when first put down. He had made a trial of the joint chair by removing 

 the whole of the ballast away from under the joint sleeper, and the joint 

 chair held the rail ends so firmly, that scarcely any deflection could be per- 

 ceived when an engine passed over. He thought these chairs would do 

 away with the canting of the joint sleepers, and would prevent a great deal 

 of the noise in passing over the joints. 



Mr. M'CoNNELL suggested tliat it would be preferable to make the 

 dowel-pin with rounded edges, and the notches in the rail ends similarly 

 rounded at the bottom, for the purpose of preventing any risk of the rails 

 splitting from the angles of the notch. 



Mr. Baines said, he did not see any objection to the proposal; but he 

 thought there was not any risk of the rails splitting from the notch, because 

 a clearance of J-inch was left between the dowel-pin and the top of the 

 notch, so as to prevent any pressure ever coming upon the dowel-pin. The 

 joint chair formed a coupling between the rail ends, and the rails supported 

 one another. 



The President observed, that if this joint chair stood the test of the 

 working on a main line, it would be the thing desired, but he feared there 

 were too many parts about it to stand well, lie considered the construction 

 of some secure fastening for railway chairs was of the last importance fur 

 railways, and thought the subject well deserving the attention of the mem- 

 bers ; it was desirable to have as few parts as possible, and those not very 

 costly. 



Mr. WooDHOusE asked how it was intended to replace a chair becom- 

 ing loose or breaking, — whether the rail would have to be taken out for the 

 purpose .' 



Mr. Baines said, he proposed having some chairs east wider in the jaws, 

 which would allow them to he slipped on the rail from the underside, tor 

 the purpose of replacing any broken chairs without taking out the rail, 

 (tut he fully expected there would be very little breakage of the chairs, 

 because there were no keys driven into them, and a great proportion of the 

 breakage of the ordinary chairs was caused by driving the keys ; also the 

 new chairs were made stronger than usual. He had tried one of the inter- 

 mediate chairs by suspending it from oue of the jaws, aud hanging a weight 



of 10| tons from the other jaw for several weeks, and there was no failure 

 in it. 



Mr. Baines next explained the Switch, the principal improvement in it 



being the additional depth of the switch tongue, which was made about 

 an inch deeper than the main rail, and the bottom flanch of the switch 

 tongue worked under the main rail when the snitch was shut ; for the pur- 

 pose of driving under the main rail all the dirt that got between them in 

 the working of the switch, instead of driving the dirt against the main rail, 

 which was an evil in the ordinary switches where the rails were all of the 

 same depth, and caused the risk of accident by the switch being prevented 

 from closing properly. Another advantage obtained from this construction 

 was, that the bottom flanch of the switch was kept entire to the end, instead 

 of being planed off on one side, as in the ordinary switches, and that in- 

 creased the steadiness and strength of the switch tongue. 



The President remarked, that the switch tongue was chamfered equally 

 on both sides. 



Mr. Baines explained that the tongue was formed according to Mr. 

 Wild's plan, with the point dropping under the head of the main rail ; and 

 the tongue was shaped exactly the same on both sides, so that the switch 

 could be used either right or left handed. 



STEPHE.MSON'S EXPRESS ENGINE. 



A Paper was read, accompanied by drawings, "Descriptive of an Express 

 Engine," manufactured by Messrs. Robert Stephenson and Co, for the 

 York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway, in 18-18, and intended to run express 

 trains between Newcastle and York, a distance of 83 miles, as soon as the 

 relaying of the line is completed which is now in progress. It was intended 

 to have tried a series of experiments on the working of this engine, and to 

 have accompanied the present paper with the results of the experiments, 

 but these have been unavoidably postponed in consequence of the relaying 

 of the line; the engine is at present running between York and Darhngton, 

 and is working satisfactorily, with a small consumption of fuel. 



The engine has inside cylinders with a crank axle; and six wheels, inside 

 hearings for the crank axle, and outside bearings for the leading and trailing 

 axles. The cylinders are 16 inches diameter, aud 20 inches length of stroke. 

 The valves are vertical, and are placed on the outer side of each cylinder, 

 instead of the inner side ; the exhaust passages are carried under the cylin. 

 ders, and unite at the blast-pipe. The steam ports are 1} inches wide by 

 13 long, and the exhaust ports 2^ inches by 13 inches ; the traverse of the 

 slide-valves is 4^ inches. The eccentrics are fixed on the ends of the 

 crank-axle outside of the wheels, and the valves are worked by the expan- 

 sion link motion. The pumps are worked by the same ecccentrics, and are 

 fixed at the sides of the fire-box. The boiler is 3 ft. 10 in. diameter, and 

 II feet in length, containing 174 tubes of IJ inches outside diameter, and 

 11 ft 5 inches length. The inside fire-box is 3 ft. 9 in. lone, by 3 ft. 8 in. 

 wide, and 4 ft. 9 in. high from the top of the fire-bars to the underside of 

 the roof. 



The Heating surface in the Fire-Box is 82 square feet 

 Ditto ditto Tubes 964 „ 



Total Heating Surface 1046 „ 



The driving-wheels are 6 ft. 6 in. diameter, and the leading and trailing 

 wheels are 3 ft. 9 in. diameter. The outside and inside framing consists 

 each of a single flat wrought iron plate 1 inch thick and 8 inches deep ; the 

 inside frame is bolted to a flanch upon the cylinder and to a bracket on the 

 fire-box ; the outside frame is bolted to a flanch upon the steam-chest, which 

 is in one casting with the cylinder, and is attached to the boiler by three 

 wronght-iron brackets on each side. The weight of the engine in working 

 trim is about 22 tons. 



The President observed that this engine did not differ materially from 

 the ordinary express engines, except that the steam chests were brought out- 

 side and the eccentrics placed outside the driving-wheels. He might state 

 that he had seen the engine, and the consumption of coke including getting 

 up the steam was 18 lb, per mile with the express trains, which were gene- 

 rally very small, having only three or four carriages. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



May 1, and 8. — JosHnA Field, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



The discussion on Mr. Crampton's paper, "On the Cunslruction of Loco- 

 motive Engines" (given in last mo\\\.\\\ Journal), was continueil through both 

 these evenings. The same tone of argument was kept up, and numerous 

 instances were adduced supporting the views of both sides; but without ar- 

 riving at any definite result, other than that it was desirable in all engines 

 to lower the centre of gravity, in order to establish a greater angle of stability, 

 and to arrive at a ratio between the circumference of the driving-wheel and 

 the cubic content of the cylinders : such as whilst the greatest speed might 

 be maintained with an economical consumption of fuel, every facility should 

 be afforded for starting rapidly, which was a point of importance on lines 

 running frequent trains. On the one hand it was argued, that small driving 

 wheels were essential for quick starting; and on the other hand it was con- 

 tended, that with a given amount of evaporating surface in the boiler, the 

 tractive power would be the same under all circumstances at the periphery 



