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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
WILLIE B. SNODGRASS, OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS.
TRACK-RAIL BRACE.Specification of Letters Patent.
Patented June 15, 1909.
Application filed January 16, 1909. Serial No. 472,747.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, WILLIE B. SNODGRASS,
a citizen of the United States, residing at
Corpus Christi, in the county of Nueces and
5 State of Texas, have invented certain new
and useful Improvements in Track-Rail
Braces, of which the following is a specifica-
tion, reference being had to the accompany-
ing drawings.
10 This invention relates to improvements in
devices for connecting together and bracing
the rails of a track to prevent spreading of
the rails.
The object of the invention is to provide a
15 simple and practical connecting member or
brace of this character which may be readily
applied to the track between two ordinary
cross ties without removing the latter or the
rails, or which may be readily substituted
20 for an ordinary cross tie.
With the above and other objects in view,
the invention consists of the novel features
of construction and the combination and
arrangement of parts hereinafter fully de-
25 scribed and claimed, and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings, in which-
Figure 1 is a plan view of a railway track
showing two of the improved braces or con-
necting bars applied to the track rails; Figs.
30 2 and 3 are vertical cross sections taken, re-
spectively, on the planes indicated by the
lines 2-2 and 3-3 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a
detail perspective of one of the track rail
bracing blocks.
35 In the drawings I denotes a track rail se-
cured to ordinary wooden cross ties 2 and 3
denotes my improved braces or connecting
bars which may be used either between two
cross ties as they are ordinarily placed and
40 without removing them or otherwise disturb-
ing the track rails, as shown to the right in
Fig. 1; or which may be substituted for one
of the cross ties as shown to the left in said
Fig. 1. Each of the braces 3 consists of a
45 rectangular metal bar to extend beneath and
across the track rails and formed in its upper
face at suitable points from its ends with
transverse recesses or seats 4 for the base
flanges of the rails. On the upper face of
5o the brace bar 3 at its ends are formed inte-
gral lugs or projections 5, the inner trans-
verse faces of which are undercut, as shown
at 6, to receive the angular or beveled outer
ends 7 of blocks s which serve to brace and
55 support the track rails.The inner ends of the blocks 8 are shaped
to fit against the webs of the rails, the upper
faces of the outer base flanges of the same
and the bottom faces of the heads of the
rails, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, so that they 60
will effectively support and brace the rails to
prevent them from spreading. The blocks 8
are retained upon the cross bar 3 by bolts 9
passed vertically through alining openings in
said blocks and bar. While the blocks 8 also 65
serve to retain the track rails in their seats 4
in the cross bar, the latter is also accom-
plished by bolts 10 which pass vertically
through openings in the cross bar 3 and have
flat angularly bent heads 11 which rest upon 70
the upper faces of the inner base flanges of
the track rails, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the
invention provides an exceedingly simple
and practical connecting member or brace 75
which may be used for uniting two track
rails to prevent them from spreading and
which is especially adapted for temporary
use at points where the track has become
weakened, since it may be applied to the 80
rails between ordinary cross ties without re-
moving the latter and without loosening the
rails. The invention may also be used in
place of the ordinary cross ties and may be
substituted for one of them when it becomes 85
rotten or damaged and must be replaced.
Having thus described the invention what
is claimed is:
The hereindescribed connecting brace for
track rails comprising a rectangular body 90
formed in its flat upper face with transverse
grooves to receive the base flanges of the
track rails, with vertical openings adjacent
the inner sides of said seats, with vertical
openings arranged between the ends of the 95
body and the outer edges of said seats, and
with upwardly projecting integral lugs at its
ends, said lugs having their inner faces bev-
eled downwardly and inwardly, rail bracing
blocks having their inner ends shaped to en- 100
gage the web and base flanges of the track
rails and their outer ends tapered down-
wardly and outwardly and beveled to engage
the beveled or undercut inner faces of said
lugs, said blocks being formed with vertical 105
openings to register with the last mentioned
vertical openings in the body, bolts passed
through said registering vertical openings to
secure the blocks to the body, and bolts
passed through the other vertical openings 110No. 925,049.
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Snodgrass, Willie B. Track-Rail Brace, patent, June 15, 1909; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth514725/m1/2/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.