Patent GB-190417362-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to the Working of Railway Points and Signals.
Inventor: DESCUBES ALBERT
Filed: 1904-08-09
Granted: 1905-08-09
Abstract: 17,362. Descubes, A. Sept. 1, A.D. 1903, [date applied for under Patents Act, A.D. 1901]. Semaphore &c. signals; indicators and repeaters, point or switch and signal; safety and locking bars, interlocking.-Relates to a system of working railway points and signals, the arrangements being applicable to any method of operating the points &c., such as electric, electro-pneumatic, pneumatic, hydraulic, or by liquid air. (1) Fig. 1 shows a yard in which the system is applied, and Fig. 2 a diagrammatic representation of the locking-frame for the same. If it is required to set the road for passing from, say, road I to road D, it is only necessary to first move the lever D and then the lever I in order to set all the necessary points in the required positions. To pass from the road D to the road I the levers are operated in the reverse order. When there is more than one possible way of getting from one road to the other, additional levers are required, as shown at D', E', F<1>, Fig. 2. (2) When the points have moved into the correct positions for the movement intended, an "indicating-circuit" is completed through contacts carried by the two operating- levers concerned and through contacts attached to the point tongues moved and the covering signals, as shown in Fig. 2. The "indication current" thus started operates a lock so as to permit the lever I to be moved farther, the covering signal on the road I being then lowered and all the points locked. As soon as the protected zone is entered, the signal covering the entering end of the section can be again placed at danger, and, after "indication," the levers and points can be brought back to their normal positions when the train has cleared the section. In a modification of this system of "indicating," the indication circuit is completed in the locking-frame itself and the positions of all the points in the particular route are indicated, as shown in Fig. 5. (3) The signalman may also be prevented from lowering any particular signal by means of a simple circuitbreaker or slide valve worked from another cabin, as shown at #, Fig. 2, for the road I to D. (4) Double clearance bars are arranged at the ends of the section so as to prevent the levers from being moved as long as a train in the protected zone Las not left it at one end or the other. Fig. 6 shows one arrangement of the double clearance bars. When a train passes over the clearance bars at either end of the section, the electromagnets Q-I, P-I are temporarily energized, the catch q being thus locked in a raised position, and the lever Z, which is connected to the point and signal operating levers, prevented from moving. The levers are kept in this locked position until the train passes out of the section over either set of clearance bars. In a modified arrangement, the electromagnet Q-I is always energized, the circuit being temporarily broken when the train passes over the corresponding clearance bar. This latter arrangement allows the indication magnet R<1>, Fig. 2, to be also used for doing the work of the electromagnet Q--I, which is then dispensed with.