‎"RICHARDSON, ROBERT & WILLIAM BRIDGE ADAMS.‎
‎Railways, Engines, Carriages, &c. &c. Patent for an Invention of ""CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS, AND OF ENGINES AND CARRIAGES USED THEREON."" [British Patent] No. 11715..‎

‎[London, Eyre and Spottiswoode], 1847. Royal8vo. Bound in contemporary blue cardboard. With title label pasted on to spine. Bound with patents: 11701-25. 22 pp. + large folded plate.‎

Reference : 48629

‎Scarce original printed patent for the first fishplate, (often also referred to as a splice bar or joint bar) a metal bar that is bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a track. It was put into use as early as 1844 but not patented until 1847.Dissatisfied with the scarf joints then in use for joining iron track, he invented the firstrailway fishplate, in the form of an unbolted wedge between adjoining chairs, in collaboration with Robert Richardson, a junior engineer under Peter Bruff on the Eastern Counties Railway.‎