IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL CONTRIVANCES AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING AND FOR ACTUATING OR SETTING IN MOTION THE LOCKING AND INTER- LOOKING GEAR USED OR INTENDED TO BE USED FOR REGULATING OR GOVERNING THE ACTION AND MOVEMENT OF RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Saxby at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th March
1867.
I, JOHN SAXBY, of the Firm of Saxby and Farmer, of Kilburn, W., Railway
Signal Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL CONTRIVANCES AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR
LOCKING AND FOR ACTUATING OR SETTING IN MOTION THE LOCKING AND INTER-
LOOKING GEAR USED OR INTENDED TO BE USED FOR REGULATING OR GOVERNING THE
ACTION AND MOVEMENT OF RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS IN RELATION TO EACH
OTHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in applying to the vertically sliding bolt or stop
asually fitted at the front or back of the hand lever or lever handle used or
employed for acting upon or moving railway points or the signal apparatus of
railways an addition whereby or through which the lever handle or hand lever
is secured or held in any pre-arranged position, whilst the locking or inter-
locking gear is at the same time and by the same means acted upon either
directly or indirectly through the intervention of other mechanical means; or
such additions or apparatus (so added to the sliding bolt of the hand lever) are
secured and held in a given position by the action thereon or thereupon of
the locking apparatus, which may take into, hold, or retain it; or it may be

page_text: employed in the double capacity of acting upon or being acted upon in turn
by the locking apparatus through the movement of the hand of the operator
or signalman upon the sliding bolt.
For the purpose of applying our Invention to most of the well-known
arrangements of railway point and signal apparatus heretofore in use, I prefer
to lengthen the sliding bolt so as to continue it sufficiently low down upon the
hand lever as to command the locking apparatus or some point below the
quadrant which will permit most readily of the attachment or addition thereto
of the actuating piece or portion of the apparatus, as hereafter described, and
in certain cases for some purposes such additional parts or pieces may be added
to the sliding bolt upon the hand lever above the quadrant or notched rail into
which the sliding bolt is intended to take or fasten.
For the purpose of actuating the sliding or vibrating bars of locking apparatus,
I attach to the sliding bolt a wedge-shaped plate which may work on a fixed stud
attached to the framing of the apparatus, the movement being vertical instead
of horizontal; or instead of the wedge-shaped plate I attach one arm of a
bell crank carried by the hand lever, the other arm being attached to (or
acting upon) a horizontal sliding bar by means of a long stud, which permits
of the travel of the hand lever, and thus gives motion to a bar when the sliding
bolt is moved (or raised) in order to free the catch which holds the hand
lever in its position.
For some purposes I prefer instead of the foregoing to attach to the
sliding bolt of the hand lever a notched or serrated plate or a clip, which
may surround the hand lever and have a series of grooves or notches at the
back and front and sides thereof, and studs or projecting bosses may be fitted
thereinto and be so applied that vibrating bars moved by horizontally sliding
bars shall move into or be received by the grooves, notches, or studs, and thus
the sliding bolt may be prevented from moving or being moved so as to free the
catch of the hand lever. A similar effect may be produced by the action of
the slides only, the slides having projections instead of as before described, so
that upon certain levers being moved these slides shall pass into the notches
or between studs or pins or other projections from the sliding bolt, and so
prevent it from being moved, and thus also retain the hand lever in its proper
position. Instead of either of the foregoing additions to the sliding bolt and
hand lever a rocking shaft or shafts may be fitted on to or fixed to the front
or back of the levers, which shall be moved by means of those levers required
to effect the locking of others, and so that by having projections on them
which shall be brought into the notches or above or between the studs of
the sliding bolt the latter will be prevented from moving up or down, and

page_text: retain the hand lever in the pre-arranged position, and so prevent its acting,
except some other movement is employed to set it free, or unless it be acted
upon by some other point or signal connection by which it is intended to be
governed.
By my present Invention I regulate the action upon the locking apparatus
through the movement of the sliding bolt of the hand lever or lever handle
for working the points and switches or the signals of railways, and I also cause
the locking or interlocking apparatus to act upon and secure the hand levers
through the sliding bolts of such hand levers.