Improvements in or relating to Railway and similar Signals.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 14th July, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 4th May, 1892-Accepted, 11th June, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Railway and similar Signals.
We, WALTER GRIMES, of Silverlands, St. Margarets, Twickenham, in the
County of Middlesex, Traveller, and Joux HIGGINS, of 25, Phibsborough
Road, Dublin, Ireland, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be.as follows:-
As at present arranged the ordinary railway signal can be tampered with by a
person lifting up the balance weight and propping it up or fixing it up so as to set
the signal at "line olear" when it should properly be at "danger," and partly to
obviate this drawback and partly for other advantages we adopt the following
arrangement: The signal connecting rods and wires may be all of the usual con-
struction and operation but in place of the balance weight which is usually fixed
upon the lever at the foot of the signal post we connect the rods or rod and wire
to the lever in the usual way but dispense with the balance weight and connect the
lever in any convenient manner with a spring preferably coiled in the manner of a
clock spring. This spring and indeed the whole lever may be protected by a
suitable box or casing a portion of which may be removable to allow of the
mechanism being got at but which may be secured ordinarily by a pad-lock or
other locking device to prevent the mechanism being tampered with. At the
same time it would be understood that even if no protecting casing be provided
it will be far more difficult to tamper with this spring arrangement than with
a simple weight which can be easily propped up.
As a convenient way of connecting the lever with the spring and especially
to admit of adjusting the power of the spring to the work required the spring
may be carried in a barrel after the manner of a clock spring or a central block
may be employed inside the spring (which may have many or few coils according
to requirement) and the spring be connected with this block which would either
turn upon a fixed central pivot or would itself be pivotted to the holding bracket
or in the casing and be connected with the lever. The block or barrel is pre-
ferably provided with a number of holes and the lever or its boss provided with
one or more set screws or pins by which it can be connected at any required
position to the block thus allowing of the ready adjustment of the power of the
spring.
'
This device may also be employed in the signal boxes or other places instead of
the balance weights now commonly used.
..
T
1001
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Railway and similar Signals.
We, WALTER GRIMES, of Silverlands, St. Margarets, Twickenham, in the
County of Middlesex, Traveller, and JOHN HIGGINS, of 25 Phibsborough Road,
Dublin, Ireland, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
As at present arranged the ordinary railway signal can by tampered with by a
person lifting up the balance weight and propping it up or fixing it up so as to set
the signal at "line clear" when it should properly be at "danger," and partly to

page_text: obviate this drawback and partly for other advantages we adopt the following
arrangement. The signal connecting rods and wires may be all of the usual con-
struction and operation but in place of the balance-weight which is usually fixed
upon the lever at the foot of the signal-post we connect the rods or rod and wire or
chain to the lever in the usual way but dispense with the balance-weight and connect
the lever in any convenient manner with a spring preferably coiled in the manner
of a clock spring. This spring and indeed the whole lever may be protected by a
suitable box or casing à portion of which may be removable to allow of the
mechanism being got at but which may be secured ordinarily by a pad-lock or
other locking device to prevent the mechanism being tampered with.
At the same time it would be understood that even if no protecting casing be
provided it will be far more difficult to tamper with this spring arrangement than
with a simple weight which can be easily propped up.
As a convenient way of connecting the lover with the spring and especially to
admit of adjusting the power of the spring to the work required the spring may be
carried in a barrel after the manner of a clock spring or a central block or disc
may be employed inside the spring (which may have many or few coils according
to requirement) and the spring be connected with this block which would either
turn upon a fixed central pivot or would itself be pivotted to the holding bracket
or in the casing and be connected with the lever. The block disc or barrel is pre-
ferably provided with a number of holes and the lever or its boss provided with
one or more set screwa or pins by which it can be connected at any required
position to the block thus allowing of the ready adjustment of the power of the
-spring.
The accompanying drawing is a view with part of the cover broken away, of
- one form of the apparatus constructed according to our invention.
A is the box or casing which is adapted to be secured upon the signal post or
other support by bolts coach-screws-or equivalent passing through the holes A' in
the lugs A³.
B is the fixed central pivot which may be screwed into or otherwise conveniently
secured to or form part of the base of the box and which if desired may extend
through the lid or cover C which for this purpose would have a central
perforation.
D is the block or disc which is capable of rotating freely on the pivot B. and
which is formed with any desired number of preferably screw-threaded
holes D D D³.
E is the operating lever also capable of rotating freely on the pivot B and which
is provided with preferably two holes for receiving the bolts F by which it is
secured to the block or disc D, and two other holes E' at which are connected the
rods, chains or equivalent shown by the dot and dash lincs G G¹ leading respec-
tively to the signal-arm and the signal cabin or other place from which it is
operated. The rods or chains G G¹ pass out of the box or casing A through holes
or slots A formed in its upper and lower walls.
The block or disc D is formed with a hook D which engages with the inner
hooked end H¹ of the coiled spring H whose outer hooked end H' engages with the
stationary hook A' formed on the lower wall of the case A or any other suitable
means may be employed for connecting these parts.
The whole of the before described operating mechanism is contained in the box A
and closed-in by the cover C which may either be secured to the box by bolts and
nuts I (one of which only is shown in the drawing) or it may be hinged to the box A
and secured by a lock; or it may be fixed in position in any other convenient
manner.
Should it be desired to alter the tension of the spring it is only necessary to
remove the bolts F from the block D and alter the relative position of these two
parts by turning one of them on the pivot B in one or other direction according
to whether the tension is to be increased or decreased and screw the bolts F into
the holes D¹ D³ or D³ according to the extent of the desired alteration of tension

page_text: so that when the lever E is (with the block D) turned round to its working
position the desired degree of tension will be obtained.
The lever E in the drawing is shown in what are intended as its extreme working
positions in respectively full and dot-and-dash lines.
The before described apparatus may be modified without departing from the
spirit of the invention for example the block or disc D may be substituted by a
hook-ended arm having a single screw-threaded hole to receive a bolt capable of
being inserted in any of a series of holes. formed in the lever E which for this
purpose would be formed in one with a disc or enlarged boss having the required
number of holes, or other suitable device may be employed for adjustably securing
D and E together. The spring may be of other form than in a coil though this
coiled form is preferred.
-
The before desoribed device may be employed in the signal boxes or other
places instead of the balance-weights now commonly used, and instead of being
used vertically may be used horizontally or in any other convenient position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion; and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is,
1. The employment of a spring for operating railway and similar signalling
apparatus in one direction substantially as described.
"
2. In a device for returning a railway or similar signal to its normal position
the combination within the same box or casing of all the operative parts sub-
stantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
3. In railway and similar signalling apparatus the combination with the operating
lover of a spring substantially as and for the purpose described.
4. In a device such as described the combination with the lever Ę to which the
operating connections are attached of a block or disc such as D pivotted concen-
trically with the lever and spring such as H the whole arranged and operating
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
5. In railway and similar signalling apparatus the combination with an enclosed
box or casing such as A A C of a pivot B block or disc such as D lever E bolts F
and spring such as H H'H' substantially as described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawing.
Dated this and do of Max 1802