Patent GB-190704158-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Apparatus for Operating and Controlling Railway Points and Signals.
Inventor: MONARD ALFRED
Filed: 1907-02-19
Granted: 1908-01-23
Abstract: 4158. Monard, A. Feb. 19, 1906, [date applied for under Patents Act, 1901]. Points and switches.-Improvements on the apparatus described in Specifications No. 14,759, A.D. 1903, No. 23,222, A.D. 1905, and Nos. 1655, 2060, and 4690, A.D. 1906, [Abridgment Class Railway signals &c.], comprise means for actuating valves in the hand-lever frame for any desired transit, handlevers, and valves, means controlled from the signals for locking hand-levers, motors for both points and signals, valves at the points for controlling the passage of the operating-fluid when the points are operated, and arrangements to economize energy and to ensure rapidity of working by arranging valves to be operated by the changes of pressure due to waves produced by air escaping from a special outlet into the conduit, and by the use of liquid connecting - rods. Figs. 1, 2, and 7 show the hand-lever frame. The handles 1 move the road bars 2 up and down according to the direction of movement of the handle. The bars 2 carry tappets 17,18 engaging rollers 16 on the points bars 9, which are moved to and fro by the inclined faces on the tappets. The road bars control valves 5, 6, 7, 8 according to the direction of their movement. If the bar 2 is raised, the valves 5, 7 are opened, the valve 5 puts the pipe 22 into communication with the pressure pipe, and the valve 7 prepares the passage of the totalizer current to the. signals. The road bars, when moved by the tappets, open valves 11, 12 to the corresponding points to operate them in the required direction, and also open the valves 14, 15, for the control current, to the pipes 23 or 24 and to the totalizers 25, 26, 27, 28. Interlocking is effected by tappets 29 on the back of the road bars engaging and operating a number of sliding spring-controlled bolts 30 guided in horizontal lines and displaced to left and right by the tappets. With this arrangement, geographical interlocking at the lever board is sufficient. Fig. 7 shows locking-bars 58 moved on cranks 60 by pistons 57 actuated by pressure controlled from the signal by a valve 52 operated by a cam 51 on the signal spindle. When the signal is at ' danger,' the valve is in its lowest position, and the pipe 62 is open to exhaust at the port 54. When the signal is at clear,' the valve is raised, and the pipe 62 communicates with the pressure main and pushes forward the spring - controlled piston 57, thus moving the bar 58 into the path of the tappet 61 on the lever and preventing the return of the lever that has been turned. The lever can, however, be moved through a small angle to move the starting-valve and put the signal motor to ' danger,' and to exhaust the pipe 62. The bars may alternatively be arranged to be in locking position with the cylinders exhausted. A modification of this part of the invention is shown in Fig. 10. The pivot 65 of the hand-lever carries an insulating-disk with two contacts 68, on which brushes 76, 77, 78, 79 bear. The sector 66 on the spindle has two notches 70, which engage the counterweighted electro-magnet detent 71, the electro-magnet 75 being in circuit with the brushes 76 ... 79 and with contacts on the signal. The lever can be turned sufficiently to allow the operation of the starting-valve, but cannot be fully moved until the magnet is energized by the return of the signal to ' danger.' For the purpose of economizing energy and for ensuring quicker action of the apparatus, the apparatus shown in Figs. 11, 16, and 17 may be used. The pipes 82, 83 from the starting-valves pass to the distributors 86 and to the totalizers 91. The distributors are shown in detail in Fig. 16, and the balance' 98, 99 in Fig. 17. By the use of the ' balance' the operating-pipes may be left full after an operation, so that, if the points are to be again operated in the same direction, there is a saving of compressed air, but, if the points are to be reversed, the pipes are discharged. Air enters at a pipe 100 and passes to a pipe 93 to operate points and to a pipe 101 to lift the valve 99 to exhaust a pipe 94 through a pipe 102. The distributor consists of a number of double valves so arranged that air entering either at a pipe 108 or at one of pipes 109 closes all other pipes and passes out at a pipe 110. All pipes are normally open to exhaust. Special outlets with reeds 111 are provided at the points where air enters the pipes 93, 94 to produce nodes and anti-nodes in the pipes. The valves are arranged at the nodes or anti-nodes and are actuated in less time than is required for the passage of the fluid along the pipe. 'The length of the pipes is adjusted by making loops therein to allow the valves to be fixed at the most effective positions. For controlling the motor operating the points, the sliding valve shown in Fig. 23 is used. It is moved by the points just before they are fully home and serves to cut off pressure fluid in the conduit 131 from the motor conduit 132 and to connect the totalizer conduit 133 to the pressure main instead of to the exhaust 134 when the points are fully home. A system is also described in which a liquid is used in the operating and controlling pipes and serves to transmit pressures-from end to end. Special valves are described which may replace the starting-valves and relay valves of the prior Specifications. The relay valve is operated by pressure beneath a diaphragm 37, Fig. 4. A slider 34 is held against its seat by a spring 35. It serves to connect a pipe 41 to exhaust at a port 42 or to pressure at a port40. These valves may be used in starting-valves, relay valves, totalizers, and other parts of the apparatus. The starting-valve, Figs. 5 and 6, is a double valve, only one slider being actuated at time by a sector 43 mounted on the spindle of a hand-lever. The valve is locked in its extreme positions by a catch comprising balls 49<1> caused to enter slots by springs 49. A plug cock may be used to cut off any motor at points which may be in any way defective and to send return currents back to the control without actuating the points motor. It consists of a plug cock with four channels, and, when it is turned through an angle of ninety degrees, communication with the points motor is cut off, and operating and control pressures are put into communication. The signal-operating motor described is a single-acting cylinder with a ball-and-socket connexion between piston and piston-rod. The points-operating motor is a double-acting cylinder, Fig. 13, to'which pressure fluid is introduced through ports 119. The piston carries a plate having a groove 120, in which a stud 121 on the points bar 122 engages. The bar 122 has two pins 123, which keep the inlet valve open until the piston is near the end of its stroke. The valve is then closed, and the last portion of the stroke is produced by expansion of the air.