A MODE OF WORKING SIMULTANEOUSLY THE POINTS AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS AT JUNCTIONS, TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Saxby, of Brighton, Sussex, for the Invention
of "A MODE OF WORKING SIMULTANEOUSLY THE POINTS AND SIGNALS OF
RAILWAYS AT JUNCTIONS, TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS."
Scaled the 19th December 1856, and dated the 24th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Saxby at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th June
1856.
I, JOHN SAXBY, of Brighton, Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "A MODE OF WORKING SIMULTANEOUSLY THE POINTS AND SIGNALS
OF RAILWAYS AT JUNCTIONS, TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS," to be as follows:
This Invention consists of an arrangement of mechanism by which the
"switches" or "points," the signal lamps, and the arms of semaphore signals,
as used on railways, may be simultaneously actuated by one, movement, and in
such a manner that the points cannot be wrong when the signals are right, nor
the signals wrong when the points are right. Hitherto the signal lamps and
the arms of the semaphore signal; or,telegraph have been actuated by one
movement of the hand of the signal-man, while by, an arrangement of stirrups
for the feet, he was enabled to adjust the "points;" but this arrangement has
led to serious accidents from want of proper connexion between the points,
which shift the .carriage from one line to another, and the signals, which indi-
cate to a coming train the safety of proceeding; for while the signals have

page_text: been right, the points or switches have been wrong, or vice versâ, causing
collisions and other accidents. By the simultaneous action of my arrangement
much greater certainty and safety are attained, and the use of pedals or stirrups
for the feet of the signal-man dispensed with.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Saxby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SAXBY, of Brighton, Sussex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Saxby, Her special licence that I, the said John Saxby, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Saxby, my
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 "A MODE OF WORKING SIMUL-
TANEOUSLY THE POINTS AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS AT JUNCTIONS, TO PREVENT
ACCIDENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Saxby,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Saxby, 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:-
This Invention, of a mode of working simultaneously the points and signals
of railways at junctions, to prevent accidents, consists of certain mechanical
arrangements, whereby the danger hitherto arising from the points and the

page_text: signals being actuated by different persons, or by a motion of the feet as well
as the hands of the signal-man, is avoided. In many instances accidents upon
railways have occurred through the negligence or even absence of the man to
whom the charge of the points has been intrusted; in such cases, although
the signals may be right, and indicate to the engine driver that the line is clear,
in consequence of the points not being properly set, the train will be either
directed upon a wrong line or into a siding, and an accident occur before
the driver is aware that his train has been turned from its proper course. In
the signal apparatus now in use upon some lines of railway, the semaphoro
signals and the signal lamps are actuated by a stirrup, put in motion by the
foot of the signal-man, while with his hand he actuates a lever, which sets
the points. The danger of this arrangement is, that should the attention of
the signal-man be required to more than one train, as is frequently the case
while setting the signals for both, he may forget the points, and an accident
arise from that cause.
Now by this Invention, the semaphore signals, the coloured glasses of the
signal lamps, and the "points" are all actuated a single motion of a lever,
thus rendering the duties of the signal-man of the most simple character, and
making it impossible for an accident to arise from the signals and the points
differing.
But in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to
describe the same in detail, referring to the accompanying Drawings forming
a part of this Specification, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Fig. 1 represents a front view of a signal apparatus suitable for railway
junctions; Fig. 2 is a side view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a plan of the
foregoing, showing the connection of the points with the levers. A, A', are the
signal posts, which support the semaphore signals and the lamps, at a sufficient
elevation to be visible a considerable distance up and down the lines; B, B,
is the framing, on which is placed the stage or platform C, on which the signal-
man stands, the height at which he is placed giving him an uninterrupted view.
over the lines of railway under his care; and upon the stage or platform are
fitted the pair of levers which actuate the semaphore signals, lamps, and points
of the up and, down lines, and also a pair of levers, by which the signals and
lamps only may be set, without disturbing the position of the points; D, D',
are the semaphore signals for the "up" and "down" lines; and E, the signal.
lamp for these lines; F, F, are the semaphore signals; and G, the signal lamp
in connection with the points of the branch lines.
The signal lamps are of the construction described in the Specification of
Letters Patent granted to me, and bearing date at Westminster, on or about

page_text: the Nineteenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in
which the different coloured glasses are caused to rotate by means of hand
levers, and are thus brought between the flame of the lamp and the plain or
uncoloured lenses or bulls-eyes.
"
In the arrangement herein-after described the coloured glasses are caused
to rotate by means of connecting rods attached to bell-crank levers, which are
actuated by the signal rods. H is the lever by which the signals and points
of the "up" line are actuated; H' is the lever by which the signals and points
of the "down" line are put in motion; I is a lever by which the signals of the
up" line may be set when the points do not require alteration; 1' is a similar
lever, by which the signals of the "down" line may bo set irrespective of the
points. The levers II and H¹ extend below the stage, and at the lower part
are set at right angles, forming the cranks K and K', which are secured to
the shaft L, supported by the bearings L'. M is a framing, to which the
bearings L' are secured by nuts and screws. The lower ends of the levers H, II',
are connected by the rods N, N', to the bell-crank levers O, O', and to these
aro connected the rods P, P', by which the points Q, Q', are actuated. R, R,
are the rails of the "up" line (shown in the plan, Fig. 3); R', R', the rails
of the "down" line; Q, Q, branch rails, coming into the "up" line; Q', Q¹,
branch rails of the "down" line; S, S¹, are guides, secured to the platform C,
in which the levers II, II, and I, I, traverse to and fro, the shaft L forming
the axis on which they rotate. Two notches are made in the side plates of the
guides S, S', seen in Fig. 1; into these notches a sliding plato T, fitted in front
of each of each lever, falls, when the lever is moved either to or from the signal-
man; by this means when a signal is made the lever is held in position as long
as desired. The sliding plate T of each lever is instantly withdrawn from the
notches by pressing the lever U when the handle is grasped; this causes the
elliptical piece of metal forming the lower part of the lever U to turn upon its
axis and raise the sliding plate T, which is kept close to the front of the lever
by a guide T. To the upper part of each handle is screwed a spring V, which
presses against the lever U, and causes the sliding plate to fall into either of
the notches directly it is brought over one of theni. To the axis of each of
the semaphore signals are keyed two crank levers W, W; these are put in
motion by the connecting rods Y, Y. The rod Y is on the opposite of the
signal post A', and is, therefore, not seen in the elevation, Figs. 1, 2, but is
similar in its arrangement to the rod X, Fig. 2. These rods also actuate the
coloured glasses of the signal lamps, by means of the bell-crank levers Z, Z',
and a, a', to which the connecting rods b, b', and c, c', are secured, the other
ends being attached to the spindles, by which the coloured glasses are put in

page_text: motion. The glasses of the signal lamp for the "up" and "down" lines are
actuated by the spindles d, d', and the glasses of the lamp for the branch lines
by those marked e, el; the signals and glasses may also be. actuated by the
levers f, f, and g, g'. The lower ends of the connecting rods X, X', and Y, Y',
terminate in links, by which they are connected to the bell-crank levers h, ',
and i, h is a triple-cranked lever, to which the connecting rod X and the
rods X and X3 are connected by links; h' is a double-cranked lever, to which
the rods X and X are connected by links in like manner. By means of the
triple rods X, X3, X3, and: cranked lever h, the day and night signals of the
"up" line may be actuated by either of the levers for I, and the signals and
points by the lever I'. The double rods X', X, and cranked lever h¹, give
motion to the signals, glasses, and, points of the "down" ine, either by means
of the levers f', 1', or H. To the joists which support the flooring of the
stage are secured the brackets k, k, and k', k; these form bearings for the two
pairs of rocking shafts 1, 1, 1, 1, to which the cranks for giving motion to the
signals and points through the levers H, II', and I, I', are keyed. In the plan,
Fig. 3, the position of the different connecting rods may be more readily traced
than in the elevations, Figs. 1, 2.. To the levers H and H' are jointed two
connecting rods m, m²; the first connects the lever II with the rocking shaft l
by means of a crank n' keyed thereto; the second rod m¹ connects, the lever H'
in like manner with the rocking shaft . On the shaft are two other cranks
nand n³, one of which actuates the signals of the "up" line, and the other the
signals of the "down." line (if necessary), and the signals for the "up" branch
line. The lever H' of the "down" line is connected to the shaft by a crank o;
on this shaft is another crank, which actuates the signals for the "down" line
and the branch line. The lever I is connected by a rod and crank p to the
upper rocking shaft 7, to which is keyed the crank p'; this gives motion to the
"up" signals. The lever l' is connected in like manner by the crank q to
the shaft, a similar crank q' giving motion to the "down" signals. In Fig. 1
the levers II, II, and I, I', are represented as being placed over to the left
side of the Figure; in this position both the "up" and "down" lines are
"clear," and the signals D, D', and glasses of the lamp E, may be actuated by
the levers ff, the points being held in their respective positions by the
levers II, II, the sliding plates T of which are held by the front pairs of
notches in the guides S, S. If the lever I be moved backward, the signal D
will be lifted, and the red glass brought before the flame of the lamp, indi-
cating to the engine driver on the "up" line that his line is not clear, the
signal arm being lowered, and the green light shown indicating "all clear."
If the lever II be moved backward, the signal F of the branch line, the glass

page_text: of the lamp G, and the points of the "up" line will be put in motion, opening
the communication between the "up" and the branch line, allowing a train to
pass from the branch to the "up" line, or vice versa, the signals F, G, indi-
cating that the points of the branch line are open. While the points remain
open, the signals of the "up" line cannot be altered to mislead an engino
driver. The lever fis locked by the position of the lever H, and the lever I
is inoperative; but by releasing the lever II, the points are closed, and the
signals of the "up" line are free, and may be worked by either of the levers
for I. What has been described with regard to the "up" line applies also
to the signals and points of the "down" line, which are worked in a similar
The lever g of the branch line is fitted with a guide w, in which is
a hole to receive a pin w¹, by which the signal F may be held up during any
required time; the lever g¹ is fitted with a like arrangement. The foregoing
mode of working the semaphore signals and glasses of the lamps is also adapted
for use at the ordinary stations on railways.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the mauner of carrying
the same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise arrangement of the mechanical details herein-before
described and shown, as the same may be varied without departing from the
Invention; but what I claim, and desire to secure under the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent, is, the mechanical arrangement herein-before
described, and shown by the accompanying Drawings, whereby the semaphore
signals, the coloured glasses of the night signals, and the "points" of each
line are worked by the motion of a single lever, or any mere modification
thereof.
In witness whercof, I, the said John Saxby, have hereunto set my hand
AD TORG
Witness,
CHARLES BARLOW,
Patent Agent,
89, Chancery Lane.
JOHN SAXBY. (L.S.)