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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
CARL K. BUTTS, OF CELINA, TEXAS.
RAILROAD-SPIKE.
Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 14, 1909.
Application filed January 9, 1908. Serial No. 410,035.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, CARL K. Burrs, a citi-
zen of the United States,-residing at Celina,
in the county of Cohln and State of Texas,
5 have invented certain new and useful Im-
provements in Railroad-Spikes, of which the
following is a specification.
This invention relates to railroads and.
more particularly to rail fastening means,
10 and has for its object to provide a'fastening
means of this character including a spike
having a main shank and a supplemental
shank so arranged that the supplemental
shank will be' brought into engagement'with
15 a portion'of the. main shank when driven
into material, thus anchoring the, spike and
preventing its disengagement.
In the drawings forming a portion of this
specification, and in which like characters of
20 reference indicate similar parts in the sev-
eral. views, Figure 1 is a side elevational
view of the present spike, Fig. 2 is a view-
similar to Fig. 1 showing the application
of the spike to the rail.
25 Referring now more. particularly to the.
drawings, there is shown a spike 5, compris-
ing a main shank 6 headed at its upper
end as shown at 7, and this headed portion
of the shank is provided with a rearwardly
30 extending portion 8. The lower end of the
rear face of the shank 6 is beveled forwarlf
as shown at 9. The portion 8 of the hea
is provided with 'a supplemental shank :10
shorter than the shank 6 arranged initially
35 in parallel relation to the shank 6, and this
shank by reason of the portion 8 is spaced
from tl e shank 6, as shown. The lower end
of the supplemental shank 10 is beveled in
one direction as shown at 11, and.this beveled
40 face 'of. the shank is arranged to lie in-a com-
mon line with the beveled end 9' of the
shank 6.
The spike is used in connection with a rail
flange C, having an aperture X therein adja-
cent to its outer edge, the shank 6 is engaged
through the aperture X, and the shank 10,
extends downwardly over the outer edge of
the 'flange.
. When the spike is driven home, the en-
gagement.of the bevel face 9 with the mate- 50
rial of. the tie will cause the shank 6 to bend
laterally in the direction of the rail, and the
face 11 of the supplemental shank 10, com-
ing into engagement with the material of the
tie, will cause this shank 10 to bend in the e5
same direction. By reason of the fact 'that
the shank '10 is thinner than the shank 6, as
shown in the drawings, the bending of the
shank 10 is more abrupt than that of the
shank 65 and consequently the lower end' of. 60
the shank 10 is brought into engagement
with the rearward face of the shank 6, 'the
spike. being thus securely locked.in the tie.
What is claimed is:
In a rail' fastening mechanism,'the com- 65
bination with a plate having a flat under
surface and having an. aperture -forme(
therethrougb. adjacent to its rearward edge
of a spike having a shank engaged through
the aperture and having a head extending 76
forwardly over the plate, said head having
a rearward extension projecting over the
portion ,of the plate between its aperture
and its rearward edge, a supplemental shank
carried by'the rearwardly extending.'portion 75
of the head of the spike, both of said shanks
being beveled at the lower ends of their
rearward faces to deflect. the shanks in the
same direction when driven into a tie, said
supplemental shank being of less thickness 80
than the first named shank to promote ins.
creased bending of the supplemental shank
to bring it into engagement with the first
named shank. .
In testimony whereof I affix my signature, 35
in presence of two witnesses
Witeses: .CAReL K. BUTTS&
.Witnesses :
M. BrrroN,
'S. E. BAmts.A
933,743, -
