IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING AND LOCKING RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edwards, of Victoria Chambers, Westminster,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
ACTUATING AND LOCKING RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS."
Sealed the 14th January 1868, and dated the 2nd August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
August 1867.
I, JOHN EDWARDS, of Victoria Chambers, Westminster, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY, OR
APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING AND LOCKING RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS," to be as
follows:
My improvements consist in the application and use of screws for the main
movers instead of levers as at present; these screws marked in the Drawing
accompanying this Specification D are fixed in a suitable frame A, A, and are:
moved-by-means of a portable handle or-key-M--(shewn separately), which fits +
into the keyholes N formed in the ends of the screws; C is a nut or saddle!
which travels on the screw D, when it is turned the nut C is connected to the
crank E by the strap O, and as the screw D is turned to give motion, to the.:
nut or saddle C it gives motion to the crank E which works the connecting,
rod G, and thus moves either_the_signals.or points to which it is connected:
For locking: I prefer to bring metal plates in front of the screws, as shown
at-K-;-these plates are perforated at proper distances, and are connected to

page_text: the slotted levers P (also shewn separately); the stud R on the nut or saddle
C travelling in this slot gives backward and forward motion to the levers P,
which conveys the same motion to the locking plates K, and so locks or unlocks
the keyholes N ; but I do not confine myself to this precise arrangement of
mechanism for locking, as the same may be varied. The frame A, A, is fixed
to the floor J. as shewn at I. I.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
.
by the said John Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDWARDS, of Victoria Chambers, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Edwards, Her special licence that I, the said John Edwards, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Edwards,
iny executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention-for- "IMPROVEMENTS: IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR ACTUATING AND LOCKING RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Edwards, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to. be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar-months-next: and immediately after the date of the said Letters-
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Edwards, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner. the same is: to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement::
My Invention for "Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Actuating.
and Locking Railway Points and Signals" consists in the application and use of

page_text: screws as the main movers instead of levers as at present; these screws with
travelling nuts and their connections are fitted in a suitable frame; and are so
connected.to suitable mechanism, as herein-after described for locking either
points or signals, that when any one screw is turned in order to actuate either
a point or sigual it is made to lock as many other points or signals as required
so as to prevent the signalman giving a contradictory signal or moving the
wrong points, thereby preventing a collision.
Having thus described the nature and object of the said Invention I will
now proceed to describe in what manner the same is to be performed by
reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which are represented the
machinery or apparatus referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING.
Figs. 1, 2, 3 (Sheet 1) shew one arrangement of an apparatus according
to this Invention. Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal..view,
and Fig. 3 is a cross section, shewing the screws D fixed in the frame.A, and
one way of moving or turning the screws round is by means of .a-portable
handle or key M (Fig. 4, Sheet 1) which is made to fit into the square key-
holes N formed in the ends of the screws D. Another way of moving or
turning the screws round is by means of making the handle or key M to
fit on square studs formed on the ends of the screws D. C are nuts or
saddles which travel along the screws D when the screws D are turned round
in their fixed bearings. The nuts or saddles C are connected to cranks E or
levers F1 (as shewn in dotted lines) by the metal strap or connection O, and
as any one screw is turned round motion is given to the nut or saddle.Ċ
thereon, and motion is likewise given to the crank E or lever F 1 to which it
is connected, which crank E or lever F 1 being connected to the points or
signals by the rod or wire G it will be seen that as the nut or saddle C travels
along the screw D when the screw is turned round the points or signals con-
nected thereto are also actuated as required. For locking I sometimes use
metal plates K working in guides in front of the square keyholes N in the
end of the screws D; these locking plates are perforated at proper distances
either to allow the key to be inserted or to prevent its insertion as required,
and are moved as required by being connected to the slotted lever P (Fig. 5,
Sheet 1) by the stud S projecting from the bottom edge of the locking plate K
and working in the aperture F formed in the end of such slotted lever. The
slotted
levers-P-work-on-centres-W-formed-inside-the-frame-A,-and-are
passed through guides or slots in the opposite side of the frame to the locking
plates K; the slotted levers P are moved either to the right or left as required

page_text: by the stud R (which is fixed to the nut or saddle C) moving in a straight
line through the slot Q in the lever P, which is laid obliquely in the frame,
thus moving the locking plates also either right or left, and by this means
locking or unlocking the square keyholes N by causing either a solid part of
the locking plate K to come in front of the square keyhole N in the end of
the screw D, and thereby preventing the portable handle or key M from being
ir erted in the square keyhole N in the end of the screw D, or causing a solid
port of the locking plate K to leave the front of the square keyhole N, and
thereby allow the handle or key M to be inserted in the square keyhole N in
the end of the screw D in order to actuate the point or signal connected
thereto. By turning the screw No. 1 and giving motion to the locking plate K
it will be seen that the square keyholes No. 3 and No. 8 will become locked
by having a solid part of the locking plate brought in front of them, and so
on throughout the series of locking plates, as required.
=
(Figs. 1, 2, 3, Sheet 2) shew another mode of locking according to this
Invention, Fig. 1 being a back view, Fig. 2 a front view, and Fig. 3.a-cross
section. The screws D are in this case made hollow (as shewn in section
Fig. 4, Sheet 2), and the handles M are fixed to square bars L' which pass
through the screws D and project any required distance behind the frame A,
and thus the handle of any particular screw can be drawn out a sufficient
distance to allow it to be turned clear in front of the handles next to it.
Locking plates K are formed as shewn at Fig. 5, Sheet 2 (which shews the
square bars L, Nos. 3 and 8, as unlocked or capable of being turned round,
and No. 7 as locked or incapable of being turned round); these locking
plates K are placed either at the back, as shewn, or at the front of the
frame A on the square bars L, and work in guides U, and motion is given to
these locking plates K by means of the slotted levers P and their connections,
as shewu, and described in the arrangement (Figs. 1, 2, 3, Sheet 1). It will
thus be readily seen that when the screw No. 1 is turned and motion is given
to its locking plate K the square perforations T will enclose the square
bars L, Nos. 3 aud 8, and prevent them from being turned round, and the
square perforation T will leave the square bar L, No. 7, and allow it to be
turned round, and thus the screws Nos. 3 and 8 will become locked, and the
screw No. 7 unlocked, so that its handle M may be turned round and the
signal or points connected thereto actuated as required.
(Figs. 1, 2, 3, Sheet 3) shew an arrangement of working distant or
semaphore signals according to this Invention. Fig. 1 is a side view, Fig. 2
is a plan or horizontal view, and Fig. 3 is a front view. The screw D is fixed
in the frame A, and motion is given to it by turning the handle M, the nut or

page_text: saddle C which is connected to the signal by the strap or connection O through
the crank E.or lever F 1 (as shewn in dotted lines), and the rod or wire G; it
will be seen that by turning the screw D the nut or saddle C travelling.along
the screw D will be caused to work the signal as required. The frame A is
fixed to the floor of the signal box or any other convenient place.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention; and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would remark that my Invention is not con-
fined to the precise modes herein-before described of preventing the screws
from being turned except as required, as the same may be varied without
departing from the principle of my said Invention; but what I claim as of my
Invention is, the adaptation and application of screws mounted as described
in combination with travelling nuts and their connections or similar mechanism
to the purpose of actuating and locking railway points and signals (in sub-
stitution for the levers ordinarily used for such purpose) as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edwards, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN EDWARDS. (L.S.)