Improvements in Apparatus for Giving Motion to Station Indicators on Railway Carriages.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Feb., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 28th Nov., 1895-Accepted, 28th Dec.,
1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Giving Motion to Station Indicators
on Railway Carriages.
We, WILLIAM EGERTON HUBBARD, of 4 St. Heleu's Place, in the City of
London, Gentleman, CHARLES EDWARD VERNON, of Engineer's Office, Victoria
Docks, in the County of Essex, Engineer, and GEORGE WASHINGTON
ROBERTSON, of 4 St. Helen's Place aforesaid, Enginoor, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The invention relates to an improved construction and arrangement of apparatus
for giving motion to station indicators on railway carriages whereby we obtain
simplicity of construction and action combined with a proper motion to the
apparatus whether the carriage is loaded or not.
For this purpose we mount the first motion lever on an axis situated below the
carriage body at some distance from the end thereof.
According to one plan we fix rigidly to one of the wheel axles, a sleeve made in
two parts provided with flanges and bolted together; around this sleeve is a groove
in which the first motion lever is mounted so as to move freely thereon; to
facilitate the placing of the said lever in position, we form it in two parts, each
having a half collar loosely fitting the groove in the sleeve and provided with
flanges by which the two parts are bolted together.
Or said first motion lever may be mounted in bearings at the end of a bracket
fixed to one of the axle boxes.
The lower limb of this first motion lever is furnished at its end with an anti-
friction wheel in position to be acted upon by a double incline fixed in suitable
position between the rails or at the side of one of them.
The upper limb of this lever, when mounted centrally or nearly so of the
carriage body, is pinjointed to ono end of a more or less nearly horizontal link, the
other end of which is pinjointed to one arm of a bell crank lever mounted on an
axis carried by a bracket fixed to the end of the carriage body; the other arm of
this bell crank lever is pinjointed to the lower end of a vertical link, whose upper
end is pinjointed to the lower end of a rod fitted, and capable of sliding, in guides
fixed to the end of the carriage; the upper end of this rod is pinjointed to the
lower end of a link, whose upper end, in any suitable manner, is connected with
and gives motion to a horizontal shaft at the top of the carriage, which latter, by
Buitable gearing or connections, gives motion to the indicators within the carriage
in any suitable manner.
When the first motion lever is mounted near the side of the carriage body, the
upper limb thereof is connected by the link aforesaid with a lever fixed on one
end of a shaft, which extends to or about the centre of the carriage end, where it
has fixed thereon another lever, which is pinjoiuted to the vertical link herein-
before referred to.
And in order that the first motion lever and apparatus may be kept normally in
their central position and returned to such position immediately after having
operated, wo fit a spring or springs around the sliding rod at the end of the
carriage, which, by acting against suitable abutments, act to keep and return the
said sliding rod, and consequently the first motion lever, in and to their normally
central position in readiness to be acted upon by the double incline in either
direction of motion of the carriage.

page_text: By mounting the first motion lever below the carriage body and at a distance
from the end thereof, and connecting it by a more or less nearly horizontal link
with a bell crank lever at end of carriage, the rise and fall of the carriage body
in relation to the wheels has practically no injurious influence on the action of the
apparatus.
Dated this Orth data...
1008
HARRIS & MILLS,
23 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.
DECIDICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Giving Motion to Station Indicators
on Railway Carriages.
We, WILLIAM EGERTON HUBBARD, of 4 St. Helen's Place, in the City of
London, Gentleman, CHARLES EDWARD VERNON, of Engineer's Office, Victoria
Docks, in the County of Essex, Engineer, and GEORGE WASHINGTON ROBERTSON,
of 4 St. Helen's Place aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention, and in what mauver the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The invention relates to an improved construction and arrangement of apparatus
for giving motion to station indicators on railway carriages whereby we obtain
simplicity of construction and action combined with a proper motion to the apparatus
whether the carriage is loaded or not.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which :—
Fig. 1 is a sectional side view of parts of a railway carriage fitted with our
improved station indicator operating apparatus.
Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.
Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are detail views of parts drawn to larger scales than Figs. 1
and 2.
Fig. 7 is a sectional side view and Fig. 8 is an end view of a railway carriage
showing a slight modification.
In carrying our invention into effect we mount the first or prime motion lever a
on an axis a situated below the carriage body at some distance from the end
thereof.
According to the arrangement represented at Figs. 1 to 6, which we will first
describe, we mount the axis of the first motion lever a in bearings at the end of n
bracket b fixed to one of the axle boxes c. The lower limb of this first motion
lever a is furnished at its end with an anti-friction wheel a' in position to be acted
upon by a double incline or trailing cam d fixed in suitable position at the side of
and parallel with one of the rails of each track. The upper limb of this lever is
connected by a nearly horizontal link e with a lever fixed on one end of a
horizontal cross shaft mounted in brackets and which extends to or about the
centre of the carriage, where it has fixed thereon another lever, the outer end of
which is pinjointed to a vertical link y, whose upper end is pinjointed to the lower
end of a rod g¹ fitted and capable of sliding in guides h' carried by a bracket h
fixed to the end of the carriage; the upper end of this rod g' is pinjointed to the
lower end of a link g³, whose upper end, in any suitable manner, is connected with
and gives the required motion to a horizontal shaft i at the top of the carriage,
which latter, by suitable gearing or connections, gives motion to the station
indicators in any suitable manner.
And in order that the first motion lever a and apparatus may be kept normally
in their central position and returned to such position immediately after having
operated; we adopt the following arrangement:-
Around the rod g' we mount two springs & which act between two pairs of

page_text: collars or washers g'' mounted loosely on said rod. The rod g' has fixed thereou
a collar g* located between the two central collars g' and capable of passing freely
through a hole in a central stop or lug fixed to or forming part of the bracket h.
Thus as the rod g' is either raised or lowered by the action of the first motion lever a,
the collar g on such rod will compress ono or other of the springs and,
immediately after the first motion lever a has passed clear of the apex of the incline
or cam d, said spring & or I will, by acting against the collar g', return the rod g' and
consequently the first motion lever a to their normal position in readiness to be
again operated on the oarriage passing over another incline or cam d. As will be
seen at Fig. 6, during the time one of the springs, say 1, is being compressed and
tends to return the rod g' to its normal position as already stated, the second
spring remains stationary between its two loose collars g'.
As a modification the first or prime motion lever a may be mounted freely on one
of the wheel axles, as represented at Figs. 7 and 8. In this case we fix rigidly to
one of the wheel axles a sleeve made in two parts provided with lugs or
flanges and bolted together; around this sleeve is a groove in which the first
motion lever a is mounted so as to move freely thereon; to facilitate the placing of
the levar a in position, we form it in two parts each having a half collar loosely
fitting the groove in the sleeve and provided with lugs or flanges a* by which the
two parts are bolted together. In this case the lever a is connected by the link e
to the arm of a bell crank lever, whose other arm is connected to the vertical
rod g; in other respects the modification shown at Figs. 7 and 8 is similar to the
arrangement shown at Figs. 1 to 6.
By mounting the first motion lever a below the carriage body and at a distance
from the end thereof, and connecting it by a more or less nearly horizontal link
with a bell orank lever arrangement at the end of the carriage, the rise and fall of
the carriage body in relation to the wheels has practically no injurious influence on
the action of the apparatus.
We would here remark that the construction of the indicatora ; represented in
the drawings is of similar character to those shown in Letters Patent No. 11,170
of the year 1890 and No. 13,166 of the year 1893, and the means shown of com-
municating motion from the vertical rod g' to the horizontal shaft i and from the
Intter to the indicators j, are of similar character to those shown aud described in
the latter of said Patents. These means and the construction of the station
indicators may however be varied without departing from the nature of our present
invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manuer the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The combination with station indicators on railway carriages, of a first motion
lever mounted vertically on an axis carried by the axle of one pair of the wheels of
the carriage in such a manner as to be moved always in a direction fore and aft of
the carriage when acted upon by a double incline or trailing cam fixed in a suitable
position on the track for the purpose of giving movement to the indicator operating
mechanism, substantially as herein shown and set forth.
2. In means for operating station indicators on railway carriages, the combination
with a first motion lever mounted on an axis carried by the axle of one pair of the
carriage wheels and operated by a double incline or trailing cam, of mechanism for
keeping the first motion lever and other parts normally in, or returning them after
each action to, a central position, such mechanism consisting of a spring actuated
rod fitted with two opposing springs, two sets of loose collars or washers, a fixed
central collar mounted loosely in a bracket provided with a central and two end
stops or lugs, the whole attached to the end of the carriage and forming an inter-
mediate link in the device for conveying motion to the indicator operating mechanism,.
substantially as herein before sot forth.
3. In mechanism for keeping the first motion lever of station indicators on railway

page_text: carriages normally in, or returning it after each action to, a central position, the
combination of a spring actuated rod fitted with two opposing springs, two sets of
loose collars or washers and a fixed ceutral collar, with a bracket mounted on the
end of the carriage and provided with a central and two end stops, aubstantially as
set forth.
4. The combination with mechanism for keeping the first motion lever of station
indicators on railway carriages normally in, or returning it after each action to, a
central position, of means for confining the action of the two opposing springs on
the spring actuated rod to that of returning it to its central position and allowing
said rod to compress only one of the two springs at a time, leaving the other spring
stationary, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.
5. In means for operating station indicators on railway carriages, the combination
of a double incline or trailing cam, a first motion lever mounted on an axis carried
by the axle of one pair of the carriage wheels, a long substantially horizontal
connecting rod connecting such first motion lever with the descending arm of a bell
crank lever, said bell crank lever mounted in a bracket or brackets fixed to the
carriage body, a vertical rod at one end of the carriage connected at its lower end
with the normally horizontal arm of the bell crank lover, mechanism fixed to the
end of the carriage for keeping the above mentioned parts normally in, and
returning them after each action to, their central position, mechanism for connecting
such vertical rod and centreing mechanism with and giving motion to a horizontal
shaft on the top of the carriage, and gearing for communicating motion from such
horizontal shaft to the station indicators, substantially as heroin shown aud
described.
Dated this 28th day of November 1895.
HARRIS & MILLS,
23 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.