Improvements in and connected with Points and Crossings for Railways.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application. 20th Jan., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 25th June, 1896-Accepted. 25th July, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Points and Crossings for
Railways.
JOHN GRAHAM Engineer 111 Church Street Workington Cumberland do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the arrangements of rails and parts of rails so constructed
as to be used for switching or guiding the rolling stock from one line onto another
line which is in conjunction with the first mentioned line, and may be advantageously
employed either on light railways or heavy ones, and is performed in the following
manner.
The various rails and pieces of rails are also enumerated in the following,
I employ for a one throw switch crossing a pair of switch rails F & F', which are
each planed on one end on the sides of the heads and flanges so as to reduce their
thickness to allow them to close up to the stock rails D & D quite closely, and are
fixed at the other ends loosely so as to allow the planed ends to vibrate through
a small arc.
I also employ a pair of wing rails B & B which are fixed at one end loosely,
onto the rails G & G 1, so as to enable them to follow precisely the same movement
as the switches F & F 1, this movement is transmitted to the switches and wing rails
from a rod I connected with links, from the signal, or point box, and through small
connecting rods and bell cranks C, C, C, C.
I also employ a pair of rails with parts of their heads and flanges cut away to
allow them to come up close together, and thus form a vee shaped rail J, these
two rails are bolted, rivetted or otherwise fixed rigidly together, so as to form what
is practically a solid vee shaped rail, it is then permanently fixed rigidly into position,
where the point of the vee will be at the point of intersection of the angles caused
by the inner lines of rails of the railway when crossing each other.
I have in connection with this invention also two rails I call gaurd or check
rails H&H', these two rails are permanently fixed rigidly alongside the inside of
the rails E&E 1 respectively, a space is left between each of these check rails and
E&E to allow of the tyre flanges on the wheels of the rolling stock to pass through
quite easily. The rails H & H thus destroy the tendency of the wheels to run off
the line or follow two seperate rails other than those forming the track onto which
the rolling stock has been switched.
My invention is performed in the following manner-
For example when rolling stock is to be switched from a main line onto a siding,
or from one line onto another, one of the point rails F is closed up to the side of
the stock rail D, thus forming what appears & acts as a continous rail whilst
the opposite switch rail F' opens away from the stock rail D' so leaving a space
between them which allows of the flanges of the tyres of the wheels of the rolling
stock to pass through, at the same time, the wing rails are caused to go through
precisely the same movements, the wing rail B closing in to the side of the vee
rail J and B' opening away from it, these movements are caused by an arrangement
of bell cranks COC and C with the necessary small connecting rods, by a long
switch rod from the signal or point box as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
The rolling stock is then free to pass over from one line to the other, without the

page_text: described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are illustrative
of the means whereby my invention may be performed.
By the use of my invention the wheels of the rolling stock are not subjected to
the detremental shocks experienced in the crossings now in practice on account of
the rails at the crossing closing up to the stock rails at the same time as the switch
rails, so leaving no gap but presenting a line free from openings.
Also the points of the vee rails are preserved from shocks caused by the wheels of
the rolling stock, and so reducing the risk of accidents to a minimum.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The arrangement of rails at the crossings as illustrated in the drawings &
described herein.
2. The wedges J & J 1 working off the end of the bell cranks at the crossing.
3. The arrangement of rails, and parts of rails, levers, rods, connecting links, & bell
cranks, as arranged on the drawings & described in this specification.
Dated this 22nd day of June 1896.
JOHN GRAHAM.