Improved Device for Operating Switches for Street-railways.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 16th Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Device for Operating Switches for Street-railways.
1, GOTTHELF PASCHKE, of 148 Wilhelmstrasse in the City of Berlin, in the
Empire of Germany, Butcher, 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 a device for operating the sliding tongues of switches
in connection with street railways and to hold same in the open or closed position
so as to avoid an accidental displacement by the wheels of the car or vehicle
coming in contact with the point of the tongue; at the same time it is possible
by this arrangement to reverse the position of the tongue by means of the wheels
of the car coming in the other direction of the track.
The tongue is operated directly by movable plates, arranged on the same
plane as the street-pavement, such plates being depressed either by the horses or
by a suitable device operated by the car driver. A casing preferably in the form
of a cylinder closed at both ends and pivotally mounted in standards is thus made
to tip in the one or the other direction according to the plate depressed and at the
same time a heavy ball in said casing rolls to the corresponding depressed end of
the casing and holds same in position; these movements of the casing are
transmitted to the switch-tongue by suitable connecting rods.
Referring to the accompanying drawings
:-
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the switch arrangement, the tilting casing being
shown in horizontal position.
Fig. 2 is a section showing the switch-tongue in its moved position i.e. for turning
the car on to a branch line.
Fig. 3 is a section on line - of Fig. I and
Fig. 4 a plan view of Fig. 2.
a is the street pavement in which the rails are embedded. At those parts
where a switch is to be laid, the pavement is opened for receiving plates c, c' which
operate the switch tongue d either by the horse treading on the plates c, e' or by
means of a suitable device (not shown on the drawing) worked by the driver. On
plates c, c¹ being thus depressed, they operate the cylindrical casing g through the
medium of rods or supports e and their connections f, f. The casing g mounted
in standard is provided with a heavy ball i which rolls towards the depressed
end of the casing and thus not only operates the tongue d to its extreme limit in
the one or other direction, but also prevents same from accidentally falling back
again.
In order to transmit the movements of the casing g to the tongue d, a rod k,
turning on pivots is connected to the latter; the rod k is then pivotally connected
at m to the casing g by the rod l. The rods or supports e are connected at their
lower ends to strong sheet-metal plates or cross-pieces e', which latter are provided
with bolts o screwed or riveted to same and entering the boxes or sockets P let into
the ground; by this means the plates c, c' together with their rods e are kept in
their proper position and guided during the ascending and descending movements
of same.
Moreover the pressure exerted on the plates c, e by other vehicles
passing over same is taken up by said rods e and cross pieces e¹; the cylindrical
casing g and its connections, therefore, cannot be damaged even if very heavy
wagons etc. pass over the plates c, c'.
The weight of the ball is such that-even when the tongue d is more or less
impeded in its movements for any reason-it will cause the complete movement of

page_text: the tongue d and retain same there, without there being any danger of the tongue a
being accidentally forced back by the wheels of a car.
It will be evident that the switch, of which the illustrations shown in the
drawing is given as an example only, may be carried out in many different ways
without departing from the spirit of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare, that what I
claim is :-
Improved device for operating switches for street railways, consisting of con-
necting rods (k, l) transmitting the movements of the tilting casing (g) to the
switch tongue (d), such casing being provided with a heavy ball moving freely
in same and securing the complete movement of the switch tongue also holding
same in position, substantially as described and shown in the drawing.
Dated this 11th day of February 1895
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.