IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING AND CONTROLLING RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Easterbrook, of Kilburn, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING AND CONTROLLING RAILWAY POINTS AND
SIGNALS."
Sealed the 13th September 1867, and dated the 29th March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Easterbrook at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
29th March 1867.
I, WALTER EASTERBROOK, of Kilburn, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING AND CONTROLLING RAILWAY
POINTS AND SIGNALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction and.
arrangement of apparatus for the purpose of actuating railway points and
signals in such manner that the main line points and signals or the crossings.
and their respective signals shall always be in unison, it being impossible to
set the points and signals antagonistic to each other. I am well aware
that apparatus for these purposes has already been used, but heretofore the
locking of the respective levers which actuate the rocking shafts has been
effected by locking the rocking shafts themselves, thus allowing the entire

page_text: length of the levers to act upon such locks, so. that in many cases the locking
action gives way and permits of the points and signals being wrongly set.
Now according to my Invention I propose to increase the length of the
spring hand levers placed behind the main levers and to carry them down to
a distance requisite to come underneath catches set on the rocking levers,
whereby when the main levers are brought into position, and the spring hand
levers are lowered into their notches, and the signals and points set, the
respective rocking levers bring over and on to the horizontal or T terminations
of the spring levers the respective hooks or catches. Now it is evident by
these arrangements that it will be impossible to move any of the main levers
when their spring levers are thus held down, because the leverage only
extends from the hand levers to the notches into which the spring levers are
lowered, instead of as heretofore from the handles to the rocking shafts.
The catches are set on the rocking shafts by sliding them on and by an
adjusting or set screw, whereby they can be placed at a suitable angle to come
over the horizontal or T terminations on the spring hand levers; they can
also be easily shifted sideways for repair, and any number of them may be
placed on the shaft, so that in case of need it is easy to substitute one for
another without taking out or removing the rocking shafts. In order further
to secure the strength of the catches, which of course are only subject to a
vertical strain, and also to strengthen the rocking shafts themselves, especially
when they are of extreme length and carrying a great number of levers, I
apply to the main levers projections or stops at such positions as when the
spring levers and catches are in position; the upper surfaces of the catches
shall just come underneath the projections; it will therefore follow that any
endeavour to raise the spring levers from their notches against the power of
the rocking shafts and their catches will be counteracted by the stops on the
main levers themselves, and thus the rocking shaft cannot be bent or strained
from its true horizontal position. Unless the spring levers are thoroughly
brought over and into their notches the signals will not be given, so that no
accident will occur. In the other apparatus this is not always so, as it is
quite possible, for signals to be given even when the points are not properly
set. It is not necessary to particularize the various actions of the apparatus
in order to effect the variety of signals and points capable of being given, for
of course such actions are well known; the apparatus will work double crossings
or indeed any complications of points and signals, all depending upon the
number of parts composing the apparatus; several series of horizontal bars
Day
be applied to the same spring levers above and below, and the proper

page_text: connection between the rocking shafts may be effected by connecting rods
and rocking motions.
I do not limit myself to any particular form of catch or slide bar so long as
the principle of my Invention is adhered to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Walter Easterbrook in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
EASTERBROOK, of Kilburn, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Walter Easterbrook, Her special licence that I, the said Walter
Easterbrook, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Walter Easterbrook, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed; should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING AND CONTROLLING
RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Walter Easterbrook, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the dato
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Walter Easterbrook, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction and
arrangement of apparatus for the purpose of actuating railway points and

page_text: signals in such manner that the main line points and signals or the crossings
and their respective signals shall always be in unison, it being impossible to
set the points and signals antagonistic to each other. I am well aware that
apparatus for these purposes has already been used, but heretofore the.
locking of the respective levers which actuate the rocking shafts has been
effected by locking the rocking shafts and levers themselves, thus allowing
the entire length of the levers to act upon such locks, so that in many cases
the locking action gives way and permits of the points and signals being
wrongly set.
Now according to my Invention I propose to increase the length of the
spring hand levers or catch rods placed behind the main levers and to carry
them down to a distance requisite to come underneath catches set on the
rocking levers, whereby when the main levers are brought into position and
the spring hand levers are lowered into their notches, and the signals and
points set, the respective rocking levers bring over and on to the horizontal
or terminations of the spring levers the respective books or catches. Now
it is evident by these arrangements that it will be impossible to move any of
the main levers when their spring levers are thus held down, because the
leverage of the main levers only extends from the hand levers to the notches
into which the spring levers are lowered, instead of as heretofore from the
handles to the rocking shafts. The catches are set on the rocking shafts by
sliding them on and by an adjusting or set screw, whereby they can be
placed at a suitable angle to come over the horizontal or T terminations on
the spring band levers; they can also be easily shifted sideways for repair,
and any number of them may be placed on the shaft, so that in case of need
it is easy to substitute one for another without taking out or removing the
rocking shafts.
In order further to secure the strength of the catches, which
of course are only subject to a vertical strain, and also to strengthen the
rocking shafts themselves, especially when they are of extreme length and
carrying a great number of levers, I apply to the main levers projections or
stops at such positions as when the spring levers and catches are in position
the upper surfaces of the catches shall just come underneath the projections;
it will therefore follow that any endeavour to raise the spring levers from
their notches against the power of the rocking shafts and their catches will be
counteracted by the stops on the main levers themselves, and thus the rocking
shaft cannot be bent or strained from its true horizontal position. Unless
the spring levers are thoroughly brought over and into their notches the
signals will not be given, so that no accident will occur.
In the ordinary

page_text: apparatus this is not always so, as it is quite possible for signals to be given
even when the points are not properly set. The apparatus will work double
crossings, or indeed any complications of points and signals, all depending
upon the number of parts composing the apparatus. Several series of
horizontal bars may be applied to the same spring levers, above and below,
and the proper connection between the rocking shafts may be effected by
connecting rods and rocking motions.
In order that my said Invention may be completely understood I annex the
accompanying Drawings, of which the following is a description.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of the apparatus, shewing the top plate a
supported in the usual manner by the framework and foundation. In this
example I shew 9 levers, numbered 1 to 9, two of which are for actuating
the points and seven for actuating the signals. This arrangement is for a
system of levers suitable for a common junction, but by adding more levers
sidings, crossings, or any number of points and signals can be worked. The
letters T to T represent the catch rods in their usual position with regard to
the levers, terminating on the quadrant, as heretofore, but it will be observed
that by my Invention these catch rods are extended below the top plate, as
appears by the letter b, and are furnished with cross bars c, above which bars
the hooks or catches d (connected to the rocking shafts e) are made to pass
so as to hold down such catch rods or to be relieved therefrom in order to
permit the rods to be raised. The rocking shafts are actuated by the motion
of the levers, which have bearings, as shewn by the letter f, and operate the
horizontal connecting rods g, which move the fixed pendants h attached to the
rocking shafts c. i represents the quadrants, which have notches a, a, cut in
them, as shown in Fig. 3, into which the catch rods enter and are secured
down by the hooks. I prefer to form the catch rods in two parts, connected
or jointed below the top plate, as shewn by b', for the purpose of allowing the
catch rods to be taken out or removed for any alterations or repairs, so as to
obviate the necessity of disturbing the locking arrangements. The levers
numbered 5, 6, and 8 work the back locking action; those numbered 2, 3, 4,
7, and 9 work the front locking action. When all the levers, as shewn in
Fig. 1, are forward the line is blocked, because all the signals are against the
engine drivers. When Nos. 1 and 4 are pulled over the signals are put right
for main up; when Nos. 9 and 7 are pulled over the signals will be right for
main down; then Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 are locked; they being the branch
up and down points and signals; No. 1 is not locked because it acts for the
branch up as well as the main up distant signal; when Nos. 2 and 3 are

page_text: pulled over they unlock Nos. 5, 8, and 6; No. 2 is the branch up point;
No. 3, the branch down point; No. 5 is the signal for branch up, and when
pulled over to give the signal locks No. 2 point at the back; when Nos. 8
and 6 are pulled over, which are for branch down signals, No. 3 point will be
locked at the back, and Nos. 4, 9, and 7 main up and down will be locked
in the front, and cannot be unlocked until the signals are put against
the engine drivers. By these arrangements it will be impossible to give a
wrong signal or point antagonistic to each other. As an additional security
to the hooks and to prevent the possibility of their being strained, I fix on
the main levers stops c', between which and the cross bars c on the catch rods
the hooks & pass by means of the locking. Thus when stress is laid on the
catch rods to elevate them against the power of the hooks, so as to raise the
catch rods out of their notches in the quadrants, the upper part or surface of
the hooks will bear against the under surface of the fixed stops c¹ on the main
levers, whereby it will be impossible to strain the books or. rocking shafts.
So long as the catch rods are locked down in their notches the main levers
cannot be moved. By locking the catch rods in this way instead of the main
levers all strain on the apparatus is prevented, as the leverage only extends
from the main levers to the handles of the catch rods f¹, and the catch rods
when free are lifted out of their notches by pressing the spring handles close
against the main levers f¹. In Fig. 1, the front view, five rocking shafts are
shewn, namely, for the levers Nos. 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9; but in Fig. 2 the other
three rocking shafts, Nos. 5, 6, and 8, are shewn with their pendants h, as
before described, and also the hooks d.
As one example of the working of the apparatus I shew in Fig. 3 an end
view of Nos. 1, 2, and 5, Nos. 2 and 5 being for the branch up point and
signal; No. 5 is the branch up signal, and cannot be given until No. 2, the
branch up point, is given, which makes the road right; then No. 5, the signal,
can be given, and locks No. 2 point at the back, and cannot be released until
the signal is given against the engine driver. The Drawing shews the hook d
actuated by the lever No. 5 passing over the cross bar c of the catch rod No. 2
and under the stop attached to the lever, as before described. By similar
arrangements the whole series of levers shewn in Fig. 1 or any other number
required may be actuated, and must work in unison one with another,
rendering it impossible for a signalman or pointsman to make an error or
confusion in signals or points.
What I claim as my Invention and desire to be secured to me is, locking
the catch rods or spring hand levers instead of the main levers used in railway

page_text: signal apparatus, and in such manner that such catch rods shall be secured as
required in their respective notches, substantially as and for the purposes
herein specified and shewn by the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Easterbrook, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WALTER EASTERBROOK. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. C. H. SIEVIER,
Clerk to Messrs. Prince & Co.,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.