IMPROVEMENTS IN FITTINGS FOR THE CONNECTIONS OF RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS, AND IN
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Telford Dutton, of the City of Worcester,
Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FITTINGS FOR THE CONNECTIONS OF RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS, AND IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Telford Dutton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th May 1873.
I, SAMUEL TELFORD DUTTON, of the City of Worcester, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FITTINGS FOR THE CONNECTIONS OF RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS,
AND IN THE MEANS OF FIXING THE SAID FITTINGS TO THE GROUND," to be as
follows:-
In constructing railway points and railway signals various parts
commonly called connections and fittings require to be firmly secured to.
the ground, such for example as the cranks, roller frames, pulleys, ground
signals, or indicators. In the ordinary way of connecting the said points

page_text: and signals the said fittings are secured to the ground by means of
flanges on their bases, screw bolts being passed through holes in the said
flanges for securing them to wooden sleepers which are embedded in the
ground. This method of fixing the said connections is costly and
inconvenient, as the wooden sleepers can only with difficulty be firmly
secured to the ground, and are liable to decay from the joint action of
the air and moisture.
The object of my Invention is to effect the fixing to the ground of the
said connections in an economical and lasting manner, and my said
Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in the said
fittings, and the means of fixing them to the ground.
Instead of securing the said fittings to wooden sleepers I employ in
place of the said wooden sleepers, blocks, or supports of artificial stone,
concrete, Portland, or Roman cement, or of other like material which
can be readily moulded while in a plastic state and which afterwards
hardens. Or I make the said blocks or supports of clay, which is
I
moulded and afterwards fired or burned in the ordinary manner.
make the said blocks or supports by preference hollow and of a pyramidal
figure. On the summit or horizontal face of the block I make a shallow
under-cut recess into which the improved fitting of the connection herein-
after described is inserted, the space between the fitting and the under-
cut recess in the summit of the block being filled with Portland or
other hard cement. Or the summit of the block may be without the
said recess, and instead thereof it is provided with holes for permitting
the attachment of the fittings by screw bolts and nuts. The said blocks
arc embedded in the ground by merely excavating a hole, inserting the
block therein, and ramming soil closely all round it, the precise height
and level of the top of the block being properly adjusted.
Where several of the fittings require to be fixed near each other,
instead of using a separate block for each, I prefer to make a foundation
or bed for the same of sufficient size for the attachment thereto of the
several fittings, the said bed having Lewis bolts cemented therein by
means of which the fittings may be attached to the bed.
My improvements in the fittings of the said connections consist in
making them as follows:-When the fitting is to be inserted and fixed
in an under-cut recess in the summit of the block I make the fitting of
the same figure as the recess, but so much smaller as is necessary to.

page_text: permit of its introduction into the recess, the space between the fitting
and recess being filled with Portland or other coment. When the block
has no recess I fix the fitting of the connection thereon with screw
bolts and nuts, and in this case I make the edges of the fitting turn
down over the edges of the block so as to form as it were a metallic cap
to the block.
permit of its introduction into the recess, the space between the fitting
and recess being filled with Portland or other cement. When the block
has no recess I fix the fitting of the connection thereon with screw
bolts and nuts, and in this case I make the edges of the fitting turn
down over the edges of the block so as to form as it were a metallic cap
to the block.
Instead of making the block and fitting separate, as described, the
block may be enclosed by a cast-iron base made in one piece with the
fitting of the annuration
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Telford Dutton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
TELFORD DUTTON, of the City of Worcester, Mechanical Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Telford Dutton, Her special
license that I, the sa id Samuel Telford Dutton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Telford
Dutton, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FITTINGS FOR THE CONNECTIONS OF RAILWAY POINTS AND
SIGNALS, AND IN THE MEANS OF FIxing the said FITTINGS TO THE GROUND,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Telford Dutton,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 Samuel Telford Dutton, 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 :-
In constructing railway points and railway signals various parts com-
monly called connections and fittings require to be firmly secured to the
ground, such for example as the cranks, roller frames, pulleys, ground
signals or indicators. In the ordinary way of connecting the said points
and signals the said fittings are secured to the ground by means of
flanges on their bases, screw bolts being passed through holes in the said
flanges [for securing them to wooden sleepers, which are embedded
in the ground. This method of fixing the said connections is costly and
inconvenient, as the wooden sleepers can only with difficulty be firmly
secured to the ground, and are liable to decay from the joint action of
the air and moisture.
The object of my Invention is to effect the fixing to the ground of the
said connections in an economical and lasting manner, and my said In-
vention consists of the improvements herein-after described in the said
fittings, and the means of fixing them to the ground.
I
Instead of securing the said fittings to wooden sleepers I employ in
place of the said wooden sleepers blocks or supports of artificial stone,
concrete, Portland or Roman cement, or of other like material, which
can be readily moulded while in a plastic state and which afterwards
hardens. Or I make the said blocks or supports of clay which is
moulded and afterwards fired or burned in the ordinary manner.
make the said blocks or supports by preference hollow and of a
pyramidal figure. On the summit or horizontal face of the block I
make a shallow undercut recess into which the improved fitting of the
connection herein-after described is inserted, the space between the
fitting and the undercut recess in the summit of the block being filled
with Portland or other hard cement.
bo without the said recess, and instead thereof it is provided with holes
for permitting the attachment of the fittings by screw bolts and nuts.
Or the summit of the block may

page_text: The said blocks are embedded in the ground by merely excavating a
hole, inserting the block therein, and ramming soil closely all round it,
the precise height and the level of the top of the block being properly
adjusted.
Where several of the fittings require to be fixed near each other
instead of using a separate block for each I prefer to make a foundation
or bed for the same of sufficient size for the attachment thereto of the
several fittings; the said bed having Lewis bolts cemented therein by
means of which the fittings may be attached to the bed.
My improvements in the fittings of the said connection consists in
making them as follows:-When the fitting is to be inserted and fixed
in an undercut recess in the summit of the block I make the fitting of
the same figure as the recess, but so much smaller as is necessary to
permit of its introduction into the recess, the space between the fitting
and recess being filled with Portland or other cement. When the block
has no recess I fix the fitting of the connection thercon with screw bolts
and nuts, and in this case I make the edges of the fitting turn down over
the edges of the block so as to form as it were a metallic cap to the
block.
Instead of making the block and fitting separate, as described, the
block may be enclosed by a cast-iron base made in one piece with the
fitting of the connection.
I prefer to make the said base of a pyramidal figure with open or
perforated sides.
I will now describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the
manner in which my Invention is carried into effect.
Figure 1 represents a plan, and Figure 2 an elevation of a cross over
road and siding points upon a railway, with connections from the hand
levers to each of the said points, the said connections being fitted and
fixed according to my Invention. A, A, are the point rods leading from
the hand levers working the points; B, B, are the roller frames for tho
rods A, A, of the points; C, C, are the cranks which give motion to the
points from the said rods A, A.; D, D, is the wire working the signal E
with the pulley F for changing the direction of the wire across the line
towards the signal; G is a ground signal working with the siding points.
The roller frames B, B, the cranks C, C, the pulley F, and the ground

page_text: signal G are fitted and supported or fixed in the blocks H according to
my Invention.
Figure 3 represents a longitudinal section; Figure 4 a transverso
section; and Figure 5, a plan of one of the roller frames B drawn to a
larger scale, the said roller frame being fixed in my improved block or
support a, the lower part or base b, b, of the said roller frame B fitting
into the undercut recess c, c, of the block a, and being cemented therein
as shown at d, d. The said block or support a is mado in the manner
herein-before described.
Figure 6 represents a section of another roller frame B and block a;
the recess c in the block a being provided with longitudinal grooves c³
instead of the undercut recess c, Figure 3. The said grooves c³ in the
recess c, Figure 6, have the same effect in retaining the cement and
securing the roller framo B in the block a as the undercut recess c,
Figure 3.
Figure 7 is a cross section of a crank stud or centre e fixed in the
block or support fin a similar way to that in which the roller frame B,
Figure 3, is fixed in its block or support a. The recess in the block f
to receive the base of the fitting e is marked c, and the cement for fixing
it in the said recess is marked d in the said Figure 7.
Figure 8 is a cross section of a crank stud e fixed in a similar way to
the roller frame, Figure 6, that is to say, having grooves c² in the recess c
in the summit of the block f for giving a hold to the cement & placed in
the recess in the said block.
I
Figure 9 is a cross section, and Figure 10 a plan of a crank stud or
centre fixed upon the block h, and attached thereto by the bolt i
passing through the said stud and block; g is a metallic cap made in
one piece with the stud or centre g, the said cap covering the summit of
the block . In order to secure a perfect bearing of the cap g³ upon the
block cement is placed between the said cap and the summit of the
said block h.
Figure 11 is a cross section, and Figure 12 a plan of a pulley frame m
fixed in a block fin the same way as the crank stud e, Figure 7.
Figure 13 is a side elevation, Figuro 14 an end elevation, and
Figure 15 a plan of a roller frame B with an extended and skeleton
frame base a, which base is filled with Portland or other cement j in a

page_text: plastic state, and which hardening therein forms with the said skeleton
frame a a solid pyramidal block or support.
Figure 16 is a cross section, and Figure 17 a longitudinal section of a
channel culvert n for enclosing the rod or wire connections under ground,
which culvert n is provided with recesses & for fixing the roller frames /
according to my Invention. The said culvert is covered either with
slates, tiles, or timber hatches p in the ordinary way, and is made in
the same manner as the blocks or supports herein-before described.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention, but I claim as my Invention of improvements in the fittings
for the connections of railway points and signals,―
First. Making the said fittings with an expanded base of a size and
shape proper to fit in an undercut or grooved recess in the top of or in
a block or support fixed in the ground, substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, and 17 of
the accompanying Drawing, or making the said fittings in the form of a
cap, covering and fitting upon the top of a block or support fixed in the
ground, and provided with a screw pin for connecting it with the block
or support, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in
Figures 9 and 10 of the accompanying Drawing, or making a skeleton
or hollow metallic base in one piece, with the roller frame or other
connection, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in
Figures 13, 14, and 15 of the accompanying Drawing.
I also claim as improvements in fixing the fittings for the connections
of railway points and signals to the ground.
Secondly. Making the blocks or supports to which the said fittings
are fixed of artificial stone, concrete, Portland or Roman, or other like
cement, which can be readily moulded while in a plastic state, and which
afterwards hardens, or making the said blocks or supports of clay
moulded, and afterwards fired or burned, the said blocks or supports
being made by preference hollow, and of a pyramidal figure, the fittings
of the connections being secured to the said blocks or supports,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing; also the modification described and illustrated in

page_text: Figures 13, 14, and 15, in which the block or support of the roller frame
or other connection is made by filling with Portland or other hard
cement a frame or skeleton metallic base made in one piece with the
said roller frame or other connection.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Telford Dutton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
WILLIAM T. PAGE,
Worcester.
SAMUEL TELFORD DUTTON. (L.S.)