Rail-Joint Page: 2 of 3
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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
JOHN A. McDONALD, OF ARANSAS PASS, TEXAS.
RAIL-JOINT.Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 26, 1920.
Application filed August 5, 1919. Serial No. 315,451.To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, JoHN A. MCDONALD,
a citizen of the United States, residing at
Aransas Pass, in the county of San Pa-
5 tricio, State of Texas, have invented cer-
tain new and useful Improvements in Rail-
Joints; and I do hereby declare the follow-
ing to be a full, clear, and exact description
of the invention, such as will enable others
10 skilled in the art to which it appertains to
make use of the same.
This invention relates to' joints ,.for the
meeting ends of rails, 'and- more especially.
to those of. that type known as scarf joints;
15 and the object of the same is to produce- a.
joint of this character so constructed that
as the wheel crosses the same the load 'on one
rail-end will be transferred to and sustained
by the other rail-end, first partially and then
20 entirely, with the result that the sagging of
parts at this point will be avoided and the'
rail caused to stand as firm at the joint as at
any other place throughout its length.
Another object is to prevent vertical or
25 lateral displacement or disengagement of
the rails from each other, even though the
connecting bolts should become loose or
broken or be entirely omitted.
With these ends in view the invention con-
30 sists broadly in removing half of each rail-
end so as to leave a projecting tongue, the
same being undercut' to produce two shoul-
ders adapted to coact with mating steps on
the other rail, and in forming certain of
35 these steps with tongues and grooves to pre-
vent lateral displacement while still permit-
ting expansion and contraction longitudi-
nally.
In the accompanying drawings:
40 Figure 1 is a plan view of this joint with
the rail-ends connected.
Fig. 2 is a similar plan with the rail-ends
slightly separated and .all bolts omitted.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation with the rails
45 separated.
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one rail-
end, and Figs. 5 and.6 are sectional views
through two rails.
The rail-ends are of exactly the same con-
50 struction, with the result that when they are
turned so as to meet they will engage each
other as shown in Fig. 1. For this reason
a description of one rail-end will suffice.
The body of the rail at the-left of Fig. 3 has
55 the usual ball B, web W, and base flanges F,
and it is held to' the ties by appropriatefastening means engaging said flanges. At
each end the rail 'is practically bisected to
produce a tongue 1, the line 'of bisection
starting' at the extremity 'of the .rail at. the 0
point 2, extending thence along the center
of the ball at 3 back to the point 4,theremak-
ing a right angle and carried to one side of
the bill at the point 5. Thus the near half
of the rail in Fig. 3 is cut away to form a 65
recess which is shaped to receive the tongue
of the companion rail. The inner -end of
this recess is composed of a wall '6 leading
vertically downward to the point 5, thence
the material is carried forward in a step 7 70
which is grooved at 8 as seen in dotted lines
in Fig. 3 and in full lines in Fig. 4, thence
the material is carried again downward at 9
and carried forward in a second step 10. and
finally the material is carried again down- 75
ward at 11 to the bottom of the base flange
F. the side 12 of this last step being pref-
erably flat and standing substantially in the
plane of the side of the other step as shown.
So much for the construction at the inner 80
end of the recess which is produced by cut-
ting away the material to form the tongue 1.
From the point 2 at the, outer end' of the
tongue the line to the point 15 indicates the.-
thickness of the end of the tongue, and is of 85
course half the width- of the 'ball B of the
rail. From this cross line the end of the
point extends downward in a wall 16. thence
horizontally inward in a shoulder 17 which
along its inner edge has a depending tongue 90
18, thence downward at 19, horizontally in-
ward in a second shoulder 20, and again
downward at 21, the outer side of the face
21 being shaped as at 22 to mate with the
side 12 described above. Finally the tongue 95
has an opening 27 above the step 7 and an
opening 28 above 'the shoulder 20.
Fig. 2 shows two rail-ends as thus con-
structed, slightly separated, and Fig. 1.
shows them engaged with each other. It will 100
be obvious that when the faces of the two
tongues are brought together and one rail
slid longitudinally toward the other, each
tongue 18 slides into a groove 8 at the time
that its shoulder 17 slides over the step 7 105
and at the time that the shoulder 20 slides
over the stop 10. At the time the faces 9 and
19 abut, the faces 11 and 21 will abut and
the openings 27, 28 in one rail will regis-
ter with the openings 28, 27 of the other 110
rail. These openings are shown round but
they may be elongated or may be made1,356,931.
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McDonald, John A. Rail-Joint, patent, October 26, 1920; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1258610/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.