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ties have shown do disadvantages during loading, unloading, laying, or 
battiug-up, and have required no more tamping than ordinary ties 
near them. 
There are six different types of these riveted ties, in all of which the 
rivets are 0.79 inch diameter. 
The joint may be 6 inches from the center of the tie, so as to allow of 
short pieces being used up. 
Another proposition for the use of waste material in the construction 
of steel ties is to cut old steel rails (Vignoles section) into lengths of 
7 feet 10 inches and rivet them to cast-iron chairs (those used with 
Vignoles rails), two lengths to each pair of chairs, thus forming a cheap, 
strong, and durable tie, which will be worth as much as new ties would 
be after both have served their turn, while at the same time using what 
is now a drug in the market. 
The newest proposition is, for the sake of cheapening iron ties, to 
employ soft cast-iron, avoiding the expense of rolling, or, rather, for 
the same price to give more material and more weight to the tie. 
Such ties are made at Halbergerhiitte, near Saarbriicken, Germany, 
and are capable of being deflected (slightly) without breaking, and 
are tough enough not to break on being dropped by the men handling 
them. They cost 81.60 per tie and weigh 220 pounds, instead of 110 
pounds, the weight of the Haarmann tie. 
To obviate the objection of danger from spreading of gauges, the 
writer proposes to combine with this cast-iron tie a wooden one, for 
the purpose simply of holding in place bolts or spikes and preventing 
the spreading. The wooden ties thus used are only one- third of the 
thickness of those now in use, allowing a saving of material. Longer 
bolts or spikes (by the thickness of the iron tie) are to be used. 
The additional cost of this construction, taking original wooden ties 
at 81.20 (now ^ = 40 cents) and ten ties for 100 feet of rail, gives 
ig. _ ,^280 x 40 cents = 87.04 increased cost (^ a mile). 
The Webbs metal superstructure, introduced on the London and 
Northwestern Eailroad, consists of steel ties (Vautherin profile), with 
six holes for chairs to be riveted to the tie. The chair consists of three 
parts, bottom plate bent to correspond to rail foot, and two side plates, 
the interior one adjusted to the rail profile below top flange, the outer 
allowing a space for the reception of a wooden wedge, which tightens 
the rail in the chair. The tie is 10 feet 7 inches (2.7 meters) and weighs 
with chair and bolts 175.6 pounds (78.9 kilograms). 
The newest system proposed and introduced on their roads by the 
Bureau du Materiel fixe de la Compagnie des Chemins de fer de PEst, 
in Paris, preserves as much as possible the rectangular cross-section of 
the wooden tie, especially the flat underside, which is important for a 
good underbatting ; it combines wood and iron as did the earlier system 
