
So although you might expect to find a railroad spike that's hand forged but in our opinion that'd be uncommon.Ĭonsider that by the time railroads were being built across the U.S. Railroad spikes may have been hand-forded in small quantity, but almost immediately the need for railway spike producing machines would have been evident. railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, chartered in 1827, didn't really begin operation until 1830 when the first fourteen miles of track were completed. The first actual charter for a railroad in the United States was granted to Stevens in 1815, but surveying and construction on the first U.S. was constructed in 1764 for military purposes at the Niagara portage in Lewiston, New York.

The earliest railroad of any form in the U.S. Early Railroad Spike Patent History: 1834 & Later

the transcontinental railroad was completed on when the last spike, "the golden spike", was driven into a tie at Promtory Summit, Utah. Photos above and below: traditional railroad spikes in-use - from However a patent for railroad spikes search finds slightly-later dates and inventors for citation, as we illustrate below. Stevens is also credited with invention of the T-shaped rail on which rail cars run. Invention of the railroad spike is credited to Robert Livingston Stevens, president of the Camden & Amboy Railroad, and first used in the U.S. The larger lip of the offset head on these large spikes, also called crampons, was used to secure the bottom edge of the rail to the steel plate upon which the rail rests.Īs the railroad spike is driven through the plate and onwards into the railroad tie or (sleeper), the combination of spike, tie-plate, and sleeper hold the rail in place in the stone-covered bed (ballast) of the railway. In our images above and also in Alyssa's railroad spike photos shown here you'll notice that the head of these large railroad spikes sport an offset head. Railroad Spikes: history, identification, age, usesġ832 - Present: Cut Spikes, Railroad Spikes & Offset Head Nails We also provide an ARTICLE INDEX for this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick way to find information you need.
#Large railroad spike art series#
This article series describes and illustrates antique & modern hardware: door knobs, latches, hinges, window latches, hardware, nails & screws can help determine a building's age by noting how those parts were fabricated: by hand, by machine, by later generations of machine. History & identification of railroad spikes: types, patents, photos, uses. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

I dug up a close matching piece of spring, cut it to length (cut disc), beveled both pieces top and bottom.tacked to double check alignment, then, ran a root on each side, checked alignment again, the, did multiple passes to fill.wire brushed (hand brush worked fine) after each pass.InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. It had broken off about 6" at some point. To date the thickest I've done with that little guy is a 1/4" thick by about 2 1/2" wide truck leaf spring rocker on an old porch chair. OK? I feel confident my 125 will do a great job, but we'll see! I'll use the "drop it in a concrete floor" test, then report the results. If I have a chance tomorrow, I'll go out, pick a rusty spike, touch the rust off in a spot, and tack on a piece of coat hanger, and then welding rod with my 125EZ.then we'll see if it works or not. Craig is talking about welding some wire (probably 1/8" or less) to spikes.not welding spikes together.
