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BOOTH'S PATENT
S TEE  TREAD,
DUPLEX  STEEL  AND  IRON  RAILS
FOR RAIILWAYS.
THEIR MANUFACTURE
EXPLAINED, AND MERITS DISCUSSED.
NEW EDITION.
J. L. BOOTH,
Patentee and Manufacturer,
ROCHESTER, N.Y.
ROCHESTER, N. Y.
BENTON AND ANDREWS, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS.
1868.








STEEL TREAD,
DUPLEX STEEL AND IRON RAILS,
FOR RAILWAYS.
The above cut represents a transverse section of the Steel
Capped Rail, now manufactured by the Patentee for the
New York Central Rail-Road Company, and others. The
form has been carefully studied, and is believed to be the
best attainable, being four inches wide at flange, four inches
high, and a good width of cap-two and one-half inches.




4
The weight of the rail, as now manufactured, is 59 pounds
to the yard-in the proportion of 15 pounds steel and 44
pounds iron. These proportions may be varied to any extent, at the pleasure of the purchaser, the price differing
accordingly. We are now prepared to furnish this rail in
any quantity ordered.  The steel cap will never become
loose, and the rail will be equal in wear to solid steel, and in
other respects, far preferable.
Description of the Rail.
It will be seen at a glance, that the rail consists of an iron
base with a steel cap, united to the base, not by bolts, screws
or rivets, but simply by clamping. The iron bar is rolled at
the required form and weight, after which the steel cap, having been rolled of the proper form and length, is properly
tempered and placed upon the cold iron base. The two are
then passed through the Compressing machine, which presses
the cap down upon the base and clenches in its side. A good
fit and a fast hold are thus obtained, with a powerful shrinkage.
To remove the steel cap for refitting or other purposes, the
iron base is firmly secured, and by a hook on each side of the
cap a separation is formed at one end, and followed through
by rolls the entire length of the rail.
New Features of the Invention.
Patents have been obtained upon this rail in the United
States, Great Britain, France and Belgium. By the original patents there is secured to the inventor the sole and
exclusive right to manufacture, use and sell rails, composed
of the iron body and steel cap, when the latter is rolled and
shrunk on the body in such a manner as to unite the parts
closely as a unit or whole, but still allow them to be easily
separated and replaced. More recent patents secure the use
of the combination of the cap and base, with depressions or
indentations in the base, as found desirable.




5
This feature of clamping the cap around the head of the
iron base, is thus recognized by the Patent Office as a new
and original feature. Other compound rails have been made
of iron and steel, but in all cases the steel and iron have been
united by rivets, bolts or welding. These have all proved
defective. Besides other causes of displacement, the variation in climate of 125 degrees annually, expanding and contracting the iron and steel differently, has been found sufficient
to cut off the rivets and tear asunder the welding. Booth's
arrangement obviates this difficulty entirely, by allowing the
cap to slide sufficiently on the rail without displacement or
injury to either material.
Utility of the Invention.
In this form of rail, are combined, it is believed, all the
advantages of both iron and steel rails, with others that would
alone render it superior to  either.  Notwithstanding the
prevailing tendency to extol the merits of the steel rail, there
is no doubt that the iron rail possesses some obvious advantages over its rival, and further experience of steel may show
that it has others. Its obvious advantages are:
1. Cheapness in first cost.
2. Greater elasticity under travel.
3. Capability of being made over.
To offset these, there is claimed for steel rails so much
greater durability as alone to render them more ecohomical
on the whole; but whether this will prove to be the fact in
view of their special disadvantages, can only be determined
by experience. These disadvantages are:
1. Greater first cost.
2. Greater rigidity under work.
3. Liability to break.
4. Incapability of being made over.
The 1st and 4th of these disadvantages are of obvious
weight in the consideration of economy.  The extent of
bearing of the 2d. and 3d cannot at present be accurately




6
estimated. There can be little doubt, however, that the
greater rigidity of the rail (which is apparent, even to the
traveler over it, by the harsh and disagreeable grating sensation it produces) depreciates the rolling stock more rapidly.
The granite ties or stone work upon which railways were first
laid, are, for this cause, now universally discontinued. With
regard to the breakage of steel rails, we have some evidence
furnished in a late report of the President of the Michigan
Central Rail-Road Company, James F. Joy. He says (see
Report, 1868, page 7):
"Three miles of steel rails have been laid, and thus far
they have hardly borne the test, having been found more
liable to break than iron."
These rails are of the best English made Bessemer steel.
Also, in the report for 1868, of the President of the Chicago
B. & Q. R. R. He says:
"We have laid about three miles of steel rails where they
will be subject to the greatest wear, in order to test their
quality and durability, as compared with iron. The result
thus far has not been such as to encourage the Board in an
extended use of it in the ordinary track of the road."
Thus it appears that the only certain advantage that the
steel rail possesses over the iron, is its greater durability.
Our next inquiry will be to compare the Booth Rail with
both the others, in respect to the qualities above considered:
Ist, CosT.-The first Cost of the Booth rail is much less
than that of steel, though of course, greater than iron. But
it has been suggested that in case steel should be hereafter
made as cheap as iron, that this advantage would be lost.
We contend, however, that even in such an improbable
event, the Booth rail could still be made cheaper thanl the
steel, inasmuch as vast quantities of old iron rail, from which
it could be made, would then be inevitably on the market, at
prices much below their usual standard of value. This can
be worked over into the iron base of the Booth rail, and
the whole rail thus be made at a less cost than steel rails
from new material.




7
2d, DURABILrTY.-Supposing the cap to remain firmly in
its place (a point which we shall consider hereafter), it is
evident that it will wear as well and as long as any other
steel surface. The thickness of the cap being about one-half
an inch (and more if desired), it will only wear out by the
same abrasion of surface as would render a solid steel rail
useless, especially as this abrasion would not be uniform but
irregular. The first wear of this rail, therefore, will be equal
to that of the steel rail. What that wear would be, may
perhaps be pretty nearly estimated.  English experience
establishes the fact that a steel rail will outwear seventeen
iron rails in the same service. It is also stated that it takes
eleven million wheels to reduce a steel head seven pounds to
the yard-there being no lamination, but a uniform wearing
away, as by friction. If these reports are true, it would take
forty years to reduce seven pounds to the yard, upon the
straight portion of any principal railway in the United States.
The Booth rail, as now made, has fifteen pounds steel to
the yard, and after a uniform reduction of seven pounds to
the yard, it would still be serviceable.
In point of exemption from liability to breakage, it is evident that its advantagesaree at least equal to that of the iron
and therefore, as we shall prove hereafter, superior (in all
probability) to steel.  We are now  considering economy
merely in the light of the durability (or life) of the rail. But
this exemption from liability to breakage has a more important bearing on the question of economy, by its result in
freedom from accident. And we shall, therefore, examine
the subject further, when we come to consider the special
advantages of the Booth rail, with reference to safety.
3d, CAPABILITY OF BEING WORKED OVER.-In this respect the
Booth rail enjoys a great superiority. The steel rail once
discarded, is useless; and even the iron rail must be taken
to a distant rolling mill, and re-rolled at great expense. But
the Booth rail can, by machinery that will not cost over
$15,000, and which every Rail Road Company can afford to
own, be at once re-capped, at a comparatively small expense.




8
4th, ELASTICIrY UNDER TRAVEL. —-The base of the Booth
rail being of iron, exhibits the same advantage in this respect
as an iron rail. The extent of this advantage in its effect
upon the wear of rolling stock, as well as upon the comfort
of the traveling public, we have before suggested, can only
be fully ascertained by experience. When it is remembered
that the steel rails in use are three times as stiff between
ties as iron, it will be apparent that the effect of this increased rigidity may be considerable, and the advantage of
an iron base is, therefore, well worthy of consideration.
OTHER SPECIAL ADVANTAGES-SAFETY. -It thus appears
that the Booth rail possesses the combined advantages of both
the simple rails, and that in the important quality of economy, it is far superior to either. It is also superior to either
in the no less important quality of safety, for being a duplex
rail it cannot break unless flaws in both parts should come
together, which is to the last degree improbable. Hence
either part may break, without danger of immediate accident,
giving an opportunity to substitute a sound for the broken
rail. The numerous accidents, some frightful and all expensive, that have occurred during the last few years, from
broken rails, will attract to this advantage of the Booth rail,
a serious attention.
It would seem, that the steel rails are more liable to breakage than iron. Much skill is required in their manufacture,
and there is thus more danger of flaws, or burning, or imperfect temper. Many have, in fact, broken from being made
too hard, and it is certain that in casting the ingot of Bessemer steel, many crack transversely. These flaws, in many
cases, even if extending half through a piece of steel (sixty
pounds to the yard), would hardly be discovered, even by a
sledge-hammer test. Yet with a forty ton engine, on a cold
night, there would too probably be a different result. Flaws
might also occur, and undoubtedly do, in the Booth steel
cap, but as this weighs only fifteen or sixteen pounds to the
yard, the test of the hammer, which is always applied before
its application to the rail, and the further test secured by the




9
process of rolling on the cap, are sure to discover the defect,
and even should these both fail, there is, as already observed,
an additional security in the strength of the iron base. It
is a well know fact that iron and steel united, cannot be
broken as easily as the same size piece of either separately.
In this connection we may add that the strength of this
rail has been practically tested in comparison with iron and
steel rails of the same weight, under a powerful press, and
shows a marked superiority over both. Attempts to break
it by repeatedly bending it in opposite directions, proved
unavailing.
Facility of Repair.
We have already shown that any Rail-Road Company can
take up and repair its own rails, at moderate expense, but
there is more to be said on this subject. In case a rail fails
to wear evenly, or become battered or defaced at the ends,
there is no need of losing it like an iron or steel rail, or even
of taking it up, but the defaced portion can be at once cut
out by means of a milling tool, and the rail re-capped in that
part without removal.
Economy.
In considering first cost, durability, capability of repair and
safety, we have already discussed the question of economy to
some extent, but a word or two further may be admissible.
For should the iron base of the Booth rail ever become so
worn as to be worthless, except for working over (which it
certainly will not do sooner than a solid steel rail would), it
will then be marketable, which the steel rail would not, at
least to the same extent.
It is doubtful whether old steel rails could be sold to-day
for $40 per ton, if at all, but old iron rails are always marketable, and the iron base of the Booth rail, delivered at the
capping mill, will be always worth (at present standard of
prices), say $65 to $70 per ton. Thus we show a rail intrinsically worth, all things considered, at least $50 per ton more




10
than a solid steel rail, and yet-,,urnished to the consumer at aS
much less price. With these suggestions we think it unnecessary to discuss the question of economy further.
Will the Cap remain Firm?
This obvious question of the first importance, requires to
be answered, and to it we will now give our attention. The
inventor's theory was, that the cap would become tighter
by use, owing to the expansion of the upper surface under
travel to a greater extent than the surface next the rail. The
process is that known by mechanics as "peaning," and may
be illustrated by the following cut.
The figure represents a straight bar of iron, which having
been laid upon a curved surface, will by a succession of light
blows upon the upper surface, be thrown into a curve form
represented by the dotted line. This is a well known effect,
and we venture to say there is no force or power employed in
or applicable to the springing of an iron bar more effective.
It is this." peaning" process that splits down the sides of the
T rails, and not the weight of machinery. The constant
action on the surface of the rail, expands it, tending to make
the head wider, but as it does not penetrate sufficiently to
spread the whole mass alike, the thin affected portion is
forced to crawl over the side of the rail head, and unless it
laminates, and thus obtains relief, it often splits the rail down
through the sides of the head. All this is visible to every




observer, and it will be found more frequently upon the
outer side of the rail, where there is no contact with the
wheels.
The expectations that the cap would grow tighter by this
process, has been abundantly justified by experience. Almost the first rails made were put down in March, 1867,
upon a branch of the Pennsylvania Central Rail Road, at
Johnstown, Pa. Upon'some of them (twenty-eight feet long)
the cap was purposely left loose, in order to test the above
theory. The steel caps not being quite closed in at the sides,
were so loose that they could be easily driven off endwise
with a hammer. The rails were placed where frequent and
heavy trains were passing over them. The result in every
case was the same. The cap would at first be moved upon
the rail at every passage of the train, in either direction,
until it struck the next rail. This continued for a few days,
but abated by degrees, until in three weeks, the movement
ceased, and the cap began to clinch the iron head, first at the
ends and then towards the centre, until in about ninety days
the entire rail became as firm, and apparently as solid, as if
made of a single piece. A hammer striking the head, would
rebound with the same reaction as from a solid mass. Other
rails were also laid with the cap originally tight, and the
result was equally satisfactory.
Since this first trial the same experiment has been so frequently and thoroughly tried, with the same result, teat it
has ceased to be a matter of doubt or discussion. It is settled
as conclusively as experience can demonstrate anything, that
the cap becomes not looser, but tighter by use. For additional
evidence upon this point, we refer to R.N. Brown, Superindent B. & E. R. R., and T. J. Tillinghast, Superintendent of
N. Y. Central, of Buffalo, N. Y., the Booth rail being down
upon both roads.
End Movement of Cap.
The apprehension has been expressed that the steel cap
would have a tendency to crawl upon the iron, especially




12
upon double track roads, where all trains are passing in one
direction. No such movement has ever been discovered in
practice, nor can we believe that there is the least reason to
expect it. But to render even the fear of it impossible, the
iron base of the rail is so rolled, that the iron head on both
sides is compressed just below its widest part 1-32 of an inch
once in three feet, or at every revolution of the rolls. These
deviations or depressions are not abrupt, but commence and
end in every three feet, and form, when the steel cap has
been firmly secured in its place, an effectual preventive of
all possibility of end movement, yet constitute no obstacle to
the slight change caused by difference of metallic expansion
and contraction.
Practical Results of Eighteen Months' Experience.
This duplex rail has not, as yet, been extensively used. As
before stated, a few tons were made in the spring of 1867, at
the iron works of the Cambria Iron Company, situated at
Johnstown, Penn. They were made with but limited facilities of power and machinery. The only object of their construction was to secure a small number to test the correctness of the inventor's theory, that the loose cap would become
tighter by increasing use. The result of the experiment has
already been detailed.
One of these rails was laid in the spring of 1867, in the
yard of the Buffalo and Erie Rail Road, at Buffalo, under
the direction of Mr. R. N. Brown, the Superintendent of the
Company. Seventy-five engines, with trains attached, have
passed over it daily, in all 40,000 engines and 400,000 cars,
and it is to-day as good and firm as when first laid. The
iron rails adjoining have been, since the laying of this rail,
six times replaced. We have Mr. Brown's letter, stating
these facts, and also other letters testifying in the strongest
terms to the merits of this rail. We forbear to print them,
because of the general impression that it is very easy to procure letters or certificates commendatory of a new th]ing, yet




13
cannot but comment upon the almost universal reluctance of
Superintendents and other officers of Rail Road Companies,
to recommend a new rail or any improvement of equal importance.
Two of the rails were also laid on the Neyv York Central
Rail Road, at Rochester, N. Y., June 7th, 1867. On one
the cap was loose and even rattling; on the other it was
firm. They were laid continuously, and with the old style
of chairs. They were placed where seventy engines and
trains daily passed over them on the main line, and where
the track was used constantly for switching and making up
of trains. The rate of speed over them varies. The through
freight trains are frequently joined at this point, three or
four in one, to ascend an up grade. They pass over these
rails often at the rate of twenty-five or thirty miles an hour.
The loose cap rail became tight in a very short time, and
both are now in perfect order. Four sets of iron rails have
been completely worn out, and new sets replaced on the opposite side of the track, during the period of time these
duplex rails have been down.
The practical results of these eighteen months of severe
use, including periods of the most extreme cold and the most
intense heat to which our climate is liable, apparently settle
the question that our method of fastening steel to an iron
rail, secures all the elements of safety, durability and economy, and that we have a rail which' is, and must continue to
be, invaluable.
Oct. 10, 1868. More than a mile of the New York Central Rail Road track, on the main line, just east of Rochester,
has been laid with this rail, which point is pronounced by
the employees, the hardest mile of main track on the Roadfour sets of entire new iron rails have been worn out there in
twelve years, in addition to the occasional removal of scattering rails. The grade is here descending eastward, and
trains run at full speed. This track is worthy of inspection,
and it is claimed that it corroborates all that has so far been
promised for this rail.




14
Smaller quantities have been laid on the same Road, near
Albany; also on the New York and New Haven Road; on
the Cleveland, C. & C. Road, and Chicago & Rock Island
Road.
This rail is made for the fish joint, and the tread surface
remaining unimpaired, secures substantially a continuous
rail.
Thus far no attempt has been made to deviate from the
long established form or plan of a rail. We have ventured
upon no experiment beyond that necessary to attain perfect
security, and in this we believe success has been reached.
Should experience determine it to be more advantageous to
use a heavier base piece of iron, or a thicker cap of steel, or
should these changes, for any special reason, be at any time
desired, the requisite alteration can easily -be made.
J. L. Booth & Co., have, at Rochester, N. Y., a manufactory established for rolling the steel upon the iron, and
furnishing the rail for use. Theyare now filling an order
for the New York Central Road, and will cheerfully show
and explain their operations to any person who is interested
to call.
October 21st, 1868.        J. L. BOOTH,
Inventor and Patentee,
ROCHESTER, N. Y.