IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOCKING AND PROTECTING THE POINTS OF RAILWAY SIDINGS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pinkerton, of Larne, in the County of Antrim,
Ireland, Locomotive Superintendent of the Ballymena and Larne Railway,
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOCKING AND
PROTECTING THE POINTS OF RAILWAY SIDINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pinkerton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th January 1881.
WILLIAM PINKERTON, of Larne, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, Locomotive
Superintendent of the Ballymena and Larne Railway. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR LOCKING AND PROTECTING THE POINTS OF RAILWAY SIDINGS."
This Invention has for its object the locking and protecting of the points of
railway sidings by simple and inexpensive apparatus, and is principally intended
to be applied upon railways on which the staff system is in use.
In carrying out the Invention the levers for moving the points of the railway
siding are enclosed in a box made of wood or iron or other suitable material, and
fitted with a door by which alone access can be had to the levers. The levers or
parts connected to them are by preference arranged so that the door cannot be
closed excepting when the points are in the positions for keeping the main line
clear. When the door of the point box is closed it cannot be opened without the
use of the staff which is constructed to act as a key. With the staff system, as is
well known, only one engine, which carries the staff, is allowed at one time
on one section of the railway; and when this staff is in use in the point box it is
obvious that no second engine can be either on the siding or on the section of the
main line to which the siding is connected.
The
The parts in connection with the point-box door with which the staff or key
has to operate are contrived so that when the door has been opened by means of
the key the latter cannot be withdrawn without first closing the door.
details may be arranged in various ways, but in one simple and convenient modi-
fication the door when closed is held by two pins formed on the ends of levers,
[Pin 1

page_text: fixed or formed on a rocking shaft, the pins entering holes in projections or plates
formed or fixed on the inside of the door. The rocking shaft with the holding
levers is conveniently arranged in the upper part of the box, and a third lever
extending in the opposite direction is the part acted on by the staff or key. The
staff has a projecting stub or key bit formed on one side of it, and there is fixed
in the box a suitably shaped pipe into which the staff is entered.
After being
entered the staff is turned so that its key bit depresses the lever on the rocking
shaft which raises the other levers and takes their end pins out of the door holes,
thereby releasing the door. One of the plates on the door is made large enough to
bear up the lever when full open so that the pins on the levers cannot drop into
their holes again until the door is closed. The lever acted on by the key bit of
the staff has a side plate, which, when the lever is depressed, covers the groove
or slot along which the key bit passes when being entered or withdrawn, so that
the staff cannot be withdrawn whilst the door is open. A spring may be applied
to the lever on the rocking shaft to tend to move the lever pins into their holes;
or the parts may be made or arranged so that they tend to enter the holes by
gravitation. At the outer opening of the pipe into which the staff has to be
entered there is fitted under a covering plate a movable shield for covering the
end of the pipe, and this shield has to be moved aside by means of the end of the
staff which is made with a square or other key-like end for acting on a projection
which is formed on the shield and projects into a keyhole in the covering plate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Pinkerton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th July 1881. .
WILLIAM PINKERTON, of Larne, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, Locomotive
Superintendent of the Ballymena and Larne Railway. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR LOCKING AND PROTECTING THE POINTS OF RAILWAY SIDINGS."
My said Invention has for its object the locking and protecting of the points of
railway sidings by simple and inexpensive apparatus, and is principally intended
to be applied upon railways on which the staff system is in use.
In carrying out my Invention the hand levers for moving the points of the
railway siding are enclosed in a box made of wood, or iron, or other. suitable
material, and fitted with a door by which alone access can be had to the levers.
The hand levers or parts connected to them are by preference arranged so that the
door cannot be closed excepting when the points are in the positions for keeping
the main line clear. When the door of the point box is closed it cannot be opened
without the use of the staff which is constructed to act as a key.
With the staff system, as is well known, only one engine, which carries the staff, is
allowed at one time on one section of the railway; and when this staff is in use in

page_text: the point box, it is obvious that no second engine can be either on the siding or on
the section of the main line to which the siding is connected.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
to be hereinafter referred to and representing a simple and convenient modifi-
cation of my improved apparatus.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a side elevation, and
Figures 2 and 3 are vertical and horizontal sections of the box and details for
locking and protecting the points of a railway siding; Figure 4 shows the
arrangement of a shield which has to be moved before the staff can be entered
for opening the box; Figure 5 is a plan of the staff, and Figure 6 represents a
detail which is partly hidden in Figure 2. In these Drawings the same reference.
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
In the Drawings the box 7 is represented as it may be made of cast iron,
and of a rectangular form as seen in horizontal section. The door 8 hinged
in any convenient manner to the box is at the left-hand side of each of the
Figures 1; 2, 3, and its open position is indicated by dotted lines 9 in Figures 2
and 3. When the door 8 is closed it is held by two pins (one of which 10 is
best seen in Figure 6) formed on the ends of levers 11 fixed or formed on a
horizontal rocking shaft 21, the pins entering holes in projections or plates 13
formed or fixed on the inside of the door 8 at its upper part. For further
security one of the levers 11 has jointed to it a rod 14, which when the door is
closed enters a hole in a projection 15 fixed or formed on the door at about the
middle of its outer edge. The rocking shaft 12 with the holding levers 11 is
conveniently arranged in a small box or compartment 16 fixed in the upper part of
the main box 7, and a third lever 17 on the same shaft and extending in the
opposite direction to the two levers 11 is the part acted on by the staff or key 18.
The staff 18 has a projecting stub or key bit 19 formed on one side of it, and there
is fixed in the box 16 a suitably shaped pipe 20 into which the staff is entered.
through a hole in the side of the main box 7. After being entered the staff 18
is turned so that its key bit 19 engaging in a fork formed at the end of the
lever 17 depresses that lever, and thereby makes the rocking shaft 12 turn up its
other levers 11, so as to take their pins 10 and the rod 14 out of the holes of the
door pieces 13, 15. The door.8 can then be opened by means of its handle. One
of the plates 13 on the door, namely, the one near the hinges, is made large enough
to bear up the lever 11 when the door is more or less open, so that the levers
cannot resume their former positions until the door is quite closed again. The
pipe 20 has a slot formed along its side for the passage of the key bit 19 of, the
staff 18, this slot guiding the staff into the proper position for operating and
terminating at a suitable point for preventing the staff from being thrust too far
in. At the inner end of the slot of the pipe 20 a notch is formed at the lower side
to allow of the movement of the key bit 19 when acting on the lever 17, and when
this lever 17 is depressed and then held down in consequence of the door 8 being
open, the upper part of the fork at the end of the lever 17 (or it might be of a
separate plate fixed to or moved by the lever) prevents the key bit 19 from being
turned back into a position enabling it to pass outwards along the slot of the
pipe 20. A spring may be applied to the rocking shaft 12, or to one of the levers
on it, to tend to move the lever pins 10 and rod 14 into their holes, or the parts
may be made or arranged so that they tend to enter the holes by gravitation. At
the outer opening of the pipe 20, into which the staff 18 has to be entered, there
is fitted under a covering plate 21 (Figures 1, 3) a movable shield 22 (Figure 4)
for covering the end of the pipe 20, and this shield 22, which is slightly held or
steadied by the pressure of a spring on it, has to be moved aside by means of the
end of the staff 18, which is made with a square or other key-like end for acting
on a projection or spindle 23, on which the shield 22 is fixed and which projects
into a keyhole in the covering plate 21.
The hand lever 24, shown as within the box 7 in Figure 2, is merely delineated

page_text: to illustrate the operation of my Invention. Various arrangements of hand levers
for shifting railway points may be used, and the box 7 and other parts may be
easily adapted to the kind used in each case. The hand lever 24 is shown as
working in connection with a common arrangement of guide and catch plate 25,
and it has to be drawn over towards the door opening into the position indicated
by dotted lines when setting the points open for the siding. The rod 25, jointed
to the lever 24 and transmitting the movements to the points, passes out through
an opening in the side of the box 7 opposite to the door, and it is also made with
a part 26 extending in the opposite direction and of such a length that its end is
just inside of the doorway when the parts are in the position they have when the
points are closed to the siding and clear for the main line. In any other position
the part 26 of the rod projects and prevents the proper closing of the door 8.
When the hand lever 24 is in the position indicated by dotted lines, the points
being then open for the siding, the upper end of it projects so as to prevent the
closing of the door.
It has been proposed to use a kind of disc in the same manner in which the staff
is ordinarily used, and other forms might also be substituted for the staff. In such
cases the details of my apparatus must be modified to the extent that may be
necessary to adapt them to the form of the piece that may be substituted for the
staff.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The system or mode of locking and protecting the points of a railway siding
where the staff system is in use by enclosing the hand lever in a box constructed or
arranged to be opened only by means of the staff or equivalent piece, and so that
such staff or piece cannot be withdrawn when the door is open, substantially as
herein before described.
2. The arranging of the hand lever or other part within the box so that the
door cannot be closed excepting when the points are clear for the main line,
substantially as herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pinkerton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.
WILLIAM PINKERTON. (L.S.)