IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENSURING SAFETY TO RAILWAY TRAINS BY CONTROLLING THE SIGNALS AND, SWITCHES AND DISCONNECTING AND STOPPING THE-CARRIAGES WHEN REQUISITE TO "ACCIDENT
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Baines, of the Railway Plant Works,
Soho, Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENSURING SAFETY TO
RAILWAY TRAINS BY CONTROLLING THE SIGNALS AND, SWITCHES AND
DISCONNECTING AND STOPPING THE-CARRIAGES WHEN REQUISITE TO
"ACCIDENT."
AVOID
Scaled the 9th November 1869, and dated the 8th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by- the said William Baines at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on the
Stl September 1809...
WILLIAM BAINES, of the Railway Plant Works, Soho, Smethwick, in
the County of Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
SAFETY TO
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENSURING
RAILWAY TRAINS: BY. CONTROLLING THE SIGNALS AND SWITCHER AND BY DISCON-
Price &d.1

page_text: This Invention Ims for its object improvements in apparatus for
ensuring safety to railway trains by controlling the signals and switches
and by disconnecting and stopping the carriages when requisite to avoid
accident.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and dated the
8th December 1868, Number 3745, I described apparatus by means of
which the switch or point levers are caused to lock the signal levers
so that they cannot be wrongly set, and part of such apparatus consists
in a sliding plate placed at the side of the switch or point lever and
between it and the adjacent signal lever. This plate has notches in its
sides, and there are corresponding projections on the sides of the levers.
In this arrangement when the levers both stand opposite the notches
in the plate they are free to move, but when one of the levers is moved
from this position the other becomes locked, the notched plate engaging
with it and being restrained from releasing it by the other lever, which
now acts as a stop to prevent the plate moving laterally.
According to my present Invention I modify this arrangement so as
to lock in a similar manner more than one of the levers by means of
a sliding plate on one side of the switch or point lever. I form the
plate as a gridiron frame with a bar running alongside of each of the
levers it is to control. Each of the bars has a notch in it, and the
corresponding lever has a projection on its side adapted to this notch..
In order to enable the gridiron frame to move freely I hang it on links.
Where signals or switches are worked from a distance it is desirable
so to construct the apparatus that a sign may be given back to the
signalman when the motion required has been correctly effected, as
where the connections are long there is always possibility of failure
from the expansion of the connecting instruments and other causes. I.
obtain such a sign by causing one end of a lever from which the switch
or signal is actuated and which is at the distant point to give motion to
a weighted arm suspended at its end from a stud. A projection on the
lever when it is moved comes against a projection on the arm and moves
the arm so as to lift the weight, until when the lever has moved a
sufficient distance the projections pass each other in consequence of the
different positions of the centres about which they move; the weighted

page_text: arm then falls back, and by means of a wire rings a bell or gives a sign
visible to the signalman. When the signal or switch lever is moved back
it acts in a similar way upon a second projection on tlie weighted arm.
In order that any portion of a railway train which may leave the
train may become detached I connect the buffers of the train with the
couplings, so that a severe pressure on the buffer on one side whilst that
on the other is free from pressure releases the coupling.
In order that the carriages may not run back down an incline I
provide stops attached by joints to the wheels or to the axles; these stops
as soon as the carriage commences to move back cone against fixed
projections and arrest the rotation of the wheels. The stops are by suitable
apparatus placed under the control of the guard, so that he may be able
to hold them out of action when desired, but except when the guard is
thus voluntarily controlling them they always stand ready to act.
Similar stops may be provided to act when the train is moving forward
and so arranged that they may be thrown into action by the guard when
it is desired suddenly to stop the train.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Baines in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th March 1870:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BAINES, of the Railway Plant Works, Soho, Smethwick, in the County
of Stafford, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in
the thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Baines, Her
special licence that I, the said William Baines, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Baines,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might

page_text: au
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENSURING SAFETY TO RAILWAY
TRAINS BY CONTROLLING THE SIGNALS AND SWITCHES AND BY DISCONNECTING AND
STOPPING THE CARRIAGES WHEN REQUISITE TO AVCID ACCIDENT," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Baines, my executors or
administrators, 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 William Baines, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
ensuring safety to railway trains by controlling the signals and switches
and by disconnecting, and stopping the carriages when requisite to avoid
accident.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and dated the
8th December 1868, No. 3745, I described apparatus by means of which
the switch or point levers are caused to lock the signal levers so that
they cannot be wrongly set, and part of such apparatus consists in a
sliding plate placed at the side of the switch point lever, and between it
and the adjacent signal lever. This plate has notches in its sides, and
there are corresponding projections on the sides of the levers. In this
arrangement when the levers both stand opposite the notches in the
plate they are free to move, but when one of the levers is moved from
this position the other becomes locked, the notched plate engaging with
it and being restrained from releasing it by the other lever, which now
acts as a stop to prevent the plate moving laterally.
According to my present Invention I modify this arrangement so as to
lock in a similar manner more than one of the levers by means of a
sliding plate on one side of the switch or point lever. I form the plate as
a gridiron frame with a bar gunning alongside each of the levers it is to

page_text: control.
has a projection on its side adapted to this notch:
Each of the bars has a notch in it, and the corresponding lever
In order to enable
the gridiron frame to. move freely I hang it on links..
Figure 1 is a front view, Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 a portion of a
vertical section of a set of junction and switch levers having. locking
apparatus combined with them arranged according to my Invention;
Figure 4 is a diagram of the road to which the apparatus shown in
Figures 1, 2, and 3 is applicable. The lever a, Figures 1, 2, and 3, is
connected with and works the signal arm a', Figure 4. The lever b is
connected with and works the signal arm b'. The lever c is connected
with and works the switches or facing points directing a train from the
main line on to the branch line.. The lever d is connected with and
works the signal arm d. The lever e is connected with and works the
switches or trailing points directing a train off the branch on to the
main line, and it also is connected with and works the signal arm e¹.
The levers f, g, and h are connected with and work the signal arms
f, g', and 'respectively. i, are the gridiron locking plates, of which,
in this example; there are two on the same level; they are shown
separately in plan at Figure 2. As will be seen there are slots in these
frames corresponding with the levers, and each lever works in one of the
slots. There are notches in the sides of the slots which engage with corre-
sponding projections on the levers in such manner that the movement of
certain of the levers cannot take place without giving a sideway motion
to the locking plate, and if in consequence of the position of other of
the levers the locking plate be not free so to move the first-mentioned
lever will be locked and retained so as to render movement of it
impossible.
The notches in the locking plates are furnished with adjustable wearing
pieces, as is shown full size in Figure 5, where a is a transverse section of
one of the levers with a projection a¹ on its side, into the angle of which
a small piece of hard steel ax is inserted and is made adjustable so that
the angle may not be worn off; b is an adjustable piece fixed upon the
gridiron locking plate, and there, when suitably adjusted by its screw,
clamped by the binding screw, which the Drawing shows.
this piece is also fitted with a piece of hardened steel 6x,
the acting end of the notch or recess in the locking plate.
action of the incline on the side of the piece a' against the corresponding
The end of
and it forms
It is by the

page_text: incline at the end of the piece b that the gridiron plate receives its lateral
movement when it is free to move, and when it cannot move the piece b
forms a stop, preventing the motion of the lever a. The locking plates
are hung upon links which allow them to swing laterally but keep them
always in a horizontal position. k, k, are separate locking bars, shown
also at Figure 2b, each similar to one bar of the plates i, i; they are
hung separately from pivots /¹. In some cases where the lines of rail
are more complicated than they are at an ordinary junction I employ
two or more sets of locking plates one over the other.
Where the levers have to work signals at a distance by means of a
wire, as is the case at a and h, Figure 1, I employ an arrangement such
as is shown at Figure 6, so that the wire when the signal is at danger
may be free to expand and contract. a in Figure 6 is a weight attached
to a chain a connected to the wire; this chain passes around a chain
wheel b, on the side of which is a ratchet b'. The hand lever c turns on
the axis of the chain wheel, and has upon it a pawl c' engaging with the
teeth of the ratchet b', and connecting the lever with the chain wheel
except when the lever is so placed as to bring the signal arm to danger,
and then the fixed projection d comes against the tail of the pawl and
lifts it, and then the tension on the wire will be regulated solely by
the amount of the weight a.
Figure 7 is a plan of another arrangement of switch and signal levers
adapted to work the line shewn at Figure S; its gridiron plates are
shown in plan at Figure 9. The levers in Figure 7 are lettered con-
secutively from a to i, and the switches and signal arms with which
they are connected are similarly lettered in Figure 8.
Where signals or switches are worked from a distance it is desirable
so to construct the apparatus that a sign may be given back to the
signalman when the motion required has been correctly effected, as
where the connections are long there is always possibility of failure
from the expansion of the connecting instruments and other causes.
I obtain such a sign by causing the instrument from which the
switch or signal is actuated, and which is at the distant point, to
give motion to a weighted arm suspended at its end from a stud.
A projection in connection with the instrument above mentioned
comes against a projection on the arm and moves the arm when the
switch or signal has moved, a sufficient distance. The weighted arm by

page_text: means of a wire rings a bell or gives a sigu visible to the signalman or
engine man. When the signal or switch lever is moved back it acts in
a similar way. Apparatus for this purpose is shown in plan at Figure 10,
and Figures 11 and 12 are side views of the same. a is a pulley on a
vertical cranked axis b, around which the wire or chain passes from a
hand lever at a distance. From the crank b a connecting rod c passes
to the switches or signal to be operated upon, and the parts are so
adjusted that the full motion required is given to the switch or signal by
a half revolution of the cranked axis. d, d, are fixed stops, against one
of which a stop c¹ on the connecting rod comes when the motion is
complete in either direction; e is an arm and projection fixed on the
axis b, it acts upon the other projections f', f', on the horizontal axis f,
on which is a weighted arm f, and is a wire passing from the arm f
back to the signal box or signal station, where it serves to ring a bell or
give a signal of danger. It will be seen that the arm e acts upon the
axis f at the end of its motion in either direction, and consequently the
signalman will not receive the all right signal back unless the motion of
the axis band parts connected therewith has been completely made.
In order that the carriages may not run back down an incline I provide
stops attached by joints to the wheels or to the axles; these stops as soon
as the carriage commences to move back come against fixed projections
and arrest the rotation of the wheels. The stops are by suitable apparatus
placed under the control of the guard or others in charge so that he may
be able to hold them out of action when desired, but except when the
guard is thus voluntarily controlling them they always stand ready
to act.
Figure 13 is a side view of a portion of a railway carriage with
this arrangement applied thereto; Figure 14 is a front view of the
same; Figure 15 is a side view of the wheel separately; Figure 16 is a
plan of a portion of the frame of the carriage; Figure 17 is a similar
view with the wheel applied. a and a' are projections jointed to the
wheel at different distances from the centre and turned in opposite
directions, so that when the wheel is revolving either way one of the
projections will stand out at right angles or nearly so to its plane, whilst
the other will remain folded down against the wheel. b is a slide on the
carriage frame worked by a lever and connecting rod as is shown; it has
a projection upon it which can thus be moved either to or from the

page_text: centre of the wheel and into the track of one or other of the pieces a, a',
according as it is desired that the carriage should be free to run in one.or
other direction. Should the carriage commence to move in a direction
opposite to that for which the apparatus is set the piece a or a' which
was previously folded down immediately starts out and comes against the
projection upon the slide b. If the slide b be set in an intermediate
position it will prevent the wheel revolving either way, which is necessary
when the guard is away from the break, and in some instances I arrange
the door of the break van so that it can only be opened when the
apparatus is in middle gear.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Baines, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM BAINES. (L.S.).