The Tie-Bar

A 2-inch-wide by 3/8 to 1/2-inch thick piece of steel, the tie-bar was slotted to any gauge desired near each end to receive the webs of the head and flange sections of the rail. The tie-bar locked the rails together, "perfectly and permanently gauging the track."

Click image for larger view of tie-bar and wedge. (741K) (From Gibbon Catalogue)

Letter from Thomas H. Gibbon to The Committee on Science and the Arts of The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Acknowledging receipt of certified copy of the sub-committee report on improvement in street railway construction. Asking for reconsideration of 10th claim for superiority, 1/28/1892 (907K)