IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING AND WORKING GATES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Aldridge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd October 1874.
'
I, JOHN HENRY ALDRIDGE, of the Town and County of the Town of
Southampton, Doctor of Medicine, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING AND WORKING GATES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the mounting and working of gates such as
railway level crossing gates, and consists in suspending them from the
extremities of a beam or beams which is or are so mounted on a vertical
axis as to be capable of oscillation in a horizontal plane.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the gates of railway
crossings.-Over the line I crect a frame of sufficient height to allow of
trains passing beneath it. At a point on this frame above the point of
intersection of the centre of the railway and that of the road crossing it
I affix a vertical shaft on which two beams are mounted and work one
above the other. To the ends of these beams (which I term the gate
beams) the gates are suspended by rods. To the opposed faces of the

page_text: gate beams I affix toothed wheels which are geared together by a pinion
mounted on a horizontal shaft carried in suitable bearings affixed to the
frame. By turning this shaft the gate beams are caused to oscillate, and
the gates suspended from them (each of which gates is of the width of
half the roadway) are thereby moved in the arc of a circle so as to open
the roadway and close the railway, or vice versa. The said horizontal
shaft may be caused to rotate by means of suitable gearing worked
either from the ground or from a signal cabin or a platform erected on
..
gate beams I affix toothed wheels which are geared together by a pinion
mounted on a horizontal shaft carried in suitable bearings affixed to the
frame. By turning this shaft the gate beams are caused to oscillate, and
the gates suspended from them (each of which gates is of the width of
half the roadway) are thereby moved in the arc of a circle so as to open
the roadway and close the railway, or vice versa. The said horizontal
shaft may be caused to rotate by means of suitable gearing worked
either from the ground or from a signal cabin or a platform erected on
the aforesaid frame.
Instead of two gate beams one only may be used, in which case 1
the gate at each end of the beam is made of the full width of the
roadway.
Where signals are used to indicate to the engine drivers the positions
of the gates I so connect the signals either directly or by means of
suitable gearing with the gate beams that the "danger" signal shall be 1
exhibited when the line is closed; and the "all right" signal when the
line is unobstructed.
Instead of working the gates by means of mechansim, as herein-before
described, the roadway may be opened or closed by simply pushing the
gates in one or other direction.
In cases were the road crossing the railway is narrow I use only onc
gate beam, the motion of which is limited so that the gates suspended
from it shall be allowed only to move sufficiently to clear the roadway
without obstructing the railway. In this arrangement I affix to tho
frame an inclined bar on which a roller carried by the gate beam travels. 2
The gate and beam are thus caused to rise when the former is pushed
open, and on the gate being relased the beam descends by gravity,
thereby automatically closing the roadway.
My Invention although especially useful for railway gates is also