IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION TO SWITCHES OR POINTS OF RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS
Year: 1884

page_text: I, JOHN THOMSON KING, of Clayton Square Liverpool in the county of
Lancaster, Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION TO SWITCHES OR POINTS OF
RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS to be as follows:-
The object is to provide simple, efficient and durable apparatus for giving motion
to the switches or points for diverting locomotives and carriages or cars from one
Jine of rails or trains to another.
Under my invention movable switches or points are made and connected in any
usual way and are actuated by apparatus constructed and combined in the following
novel manner.
First. A plate or bar is attached to the said switches or points at or near the
ends thereof and beneath the said plate or bar and parallel therewith is fitted a
rocking shaft. The plate or bar and shaft or a cum or cams or equivalent devices
attached to or formed with the shaft are made or provided with grooves and
projections which fit one into the other and are so disposed and shaped that the
switches or points cannot be moved except by means of a partial revolution of the
shaft. Such revolution of the shaft moves the plate or bar and with it the switches
or points attached thereto the requisite distance.
Second. For railways 1 combine with the above mentioned rocking shaft a side
bar to prevent the points or switches from being moved whilst the train is passing
over them.

page_text: I JOHN THOMSON KING of 4 Clayton Square Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION TO SWITCHES OR POINTS OF
RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object is to provide simple eflicient and durable apparatus for giving motion
to the switches or points for diverting locomotives and carriages or cars from one
line of rails or trams to another.
Under my invention movable switches or points are made and connected in any
usual way and are actuated by apparatus constructed and combined in the following
novel manner.
First. A plate or bar is attached to the said switches or points at or near the
ends thereof and beneath the said plate or bar and parallel therewith is fitted a
rocking shaft. The plate or bar and shaft or a cam or cams or equivalent devices
attached to or formed with the shaft are made or provided with grooves and
projections which fit one into the other, and are so disposed and shaped that the
switches or points cannot be moved except by means of a partial revolution of the
shaft. Such revolution of the shaft moves the plate or bar and with it the switches
or points attached thereto the requisite distance.
Second. For railways I combine with the above mentioned rocking shaft a side
bar to prevent the points or switches from being moved whilst the train is passing
over them.
In the accompanying illustrative drawings.
Fig 1 is a viow of the apparatus looking from abova.
Fig 2 a side view. Fig 3 a vertical section through the lines A A. Fig 4 a
view showing the underside of the plate 6. Fig 5 a view of the shaft S and cam 9.
Under the first part 1 represents the fixed rails and 2 the movable rails of
switches or points for railways or tramways.
The movable rails are connected by the rods 3 4. 5. and also at their moveable
end by the plate 6. The said plate 6 has on its under side a groove 7. Figure 4.
Beneath this plate is fastened in any convenient manner the shaft S having upon it
a cam 9 at each end of which are two parallel strips of metal placed at right angles
to the axis of the shaft which lock the switch, Figures 3 and 5; The cam 9 fits
into the groove 7 and as the said shaft is turned a lateral movement is given to the
plate and the switch is shifted as desired and is also locked. The shaft 8 projects
at one side beyond the rails and firmly secured thereto is the arm 10. To the other
end of said arm is secured the rod 11 which may be extended any distance to the
switch station or operating lever. By means of this rod the shaft 8 is turned and
the switch shifted and locked.
The same results may be secured by substituting for the groove 7 upon the
plate 6 a metal pin and for the cam 9 upon the shaft S a groove extending across
the same in the same manner as the said cam, or by placing a pin on the shaft to
work into a groove on the lower surface of the plate 6. Better results will in cach
case be obtained by giving to the lower surface of the plate 6 a concavity adjusted
to the convexity of the shaft.
Under the second part. A link 12 is also fastened to said arm 10 and is thence
extended parallel with the rails to the arm 13 to which it is also secured; said
arm 13 is connected by a short shaft with a corresponding arm on the inner side of
the rails which is fastened also to tho side bar 14.” This short shaft is firmly secured

page_text: to each of said arms and as the arın 13 is moved by the link 12 the corresponding
inner arm also moves in like manner and the side bar 14 is raised and moved
either backward or forward as the switch may be opening or closing.
The side bar 14 is placed close to the in er side of either of the rails and may be
extended to any desired length. As the movement of the levers which open or
close the switch also move the said plate and as the movement of said plate is
upward as well as backward or forward the wheel flanges will while the train is
passing over said sido bar 14 prevent the upward movement of the same and thus
securely lock the switch until the train passes beyond said plate which does not
occur until after the last car of the train has entered the switch.
This is a safeguard against the switch tenders changing the switch until the
entire train has passed it.
The lever 12 may if desired be placed on the inner side of the rails and thero
fastened to a projection on the shaft S and also either directly to the said sido
bar 14 or to an arm thereon similar to those above described.
I consider the use and combination of the side bar 14 above described with tho
apparatus described under the first part of my invention to be advantageous but it
is not necessary to the operation thereof.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
1 The combination in a switch of the movable switch rails and the plate 6
provided with projections 7 with the rocking cam 9 substantially as described.
2nd The combination in a switch of the rails 1, the plate 6, the shaft 8, cam 9
and means for working said shaft and cam substantially as described.
3rd The combination with the shaft S and means substantially as described for
moving the switch rails, of the side bar 14 supported on links, the rock shaft and
arın 13, link 12 and arm 10 attached to the shaft a, as and for the purposes setforth.
Dated this 10th day of October 1884.