IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL CONTRIVANCES AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING, AND MORE ESPECIALLY FOR ACTUATING OR SETTING IN MOTION THE LOCKING AND INTERLOCKING GEAR FOR GOVERNING RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Easterbrook, of the Firm of Easterbrook
and Company, of Bridgwater, in the County of Somerset, and
3, Finsbury Place South, London, Railway Signal Engineers, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL CONTRIVANCES AND
APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING, AND MORE ESPECIALLY FOR ACTUATING OR
SETTING IN MOTION THE LOCKING AND INTERLOCKING GEAR FOR GOVERNING
RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS."
Sealed the 12th November 1872, and dated the 27th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Easterbrook at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th May 1872.
I, WALTER EASTERBROOK, of the Firm of Easterbrook and Company,
of Bridgwater, in the County of Somerset, and 3*, Finsbury Place
South, London, Railway Signal Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL CONTRIVANCES
AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING, AND MORE ESPECIALLY FOR ACTUATING OR

page_text: SETTING IN
MOTION THE LOCKING AND INTERLOCKING GEAR FOR GOVERNING
RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS," to be as follows :-
This Invention consists of certain improvements in actuating the
locking gear in railway point and signal apparatus by means of, first, a
slotted quadrant together with an actuating piece attached to each of
the main levers at any convenient place above or below the top plate
(working with slotted links and locking attachments similar to those
shewn in the Specifications of Letters Patent heretofore granted to me);
secondly, actuating the locking by means of a slotted link having
inclined surfaces at one end thereof. The said actuating piece forms no
part of the catch rod, or as it is sometimes called "spring hand lever
or "vertical sliding bolt."
"
First. By my present Invention I propose to have the quadrants
which are bolted to the top plates of the frame slotted (instead of solid or
plain as heretofore), with inclined surfaces at both ends of such slots, for
the purpose of lifting or lowering the actuating piece before mentioned;
and to each main lever is fitted an actuating piece working in suitable
guides and provided with a cross bar on the top thereof, such cross bar
working through or in the slots cut in the quadrants, and thereby and
by means of such slotted quadrants and actuating pieces together with
slotted links and locking attachments similar to those shewn and
described in the Specifications of the said Letters Patent heretofore
granted to me, the movement of the main lever is made to lock or
unlock, as the case may be, the actuating piece or pieces of other lever
or levers, and thereby stop the main levers which are intended to be
stopped from being moved.
Secondly. The slotted links before mentioned may be made to actuate
the locking, and for some purposes I prefer that they should do so. In
such case the links would have an inclined surface at one end, and would
be fixed at any convenient place below the top plate, and worked by pins
fixed on the main levers instead of pins fixed on the catch rods, as in my
former Inventions.
It will therefore be seen that by my present Invention the locking is
performed by the motion of the main lever by and with the contrivances
and in the methods herein described, whereas by my former Inventions
the locking is performed by means of the catch rod.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walter Easterbrook in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
EASTERBROOK, of the Firm of Easterbrook and Company, of Bridgwater,
in the County of Somerset, and of No. 3*, Finsbury Place South, in the
City of London, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Walter Easterbrook, Her special licence
that I, the said Walter Easterbrook, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Easterbrook, my exe-
cutors, 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 THE MECHANICAL CONTRIVANCES AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING, AND
MORE ESPECIALLY FOR ACTUATING OR SETTING IN MOTION THE LOCKING AND INTER-
LOCKING GEAR FOR GOVERNING RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Walter Easterbrook, 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 Walter Easterbrook, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
This Invention consists of certain improvements in actuating the
locking gear in railway point and signal apparatus by means of, first, a
slotted quadrant together with an actuating piece attached to each of

page_text: the main levers at any convenient place above or below the top plate
(working with slotted links and locking attachments similar to those
shewn in the Specification of Letters Patent heretofore granted to me);
secondly, actuating the locking by means of a slotted link having
inclined surfaces at one end thereof. The said actuating piece forms no
part of the catch rod, or as it is sometimes called "spring hand lever "
or "vertical sliding bolt."
First. By my present Invention I propose to have the quadrants
which are bolted to the top plates of the frame slotted (instead of solid or
plain as heretofore), with inclined surfaces at both ends of such slots, for
the purpose of lifting or lowering the actuating piece before mentioned;
and to each main lever is fitted an actuating piece working in suitable
guides and provided with a cross bar on the top thereof, such cross bar
working through or in the slots cut in the quadrants, and thereby and
by means of such slotted quadrants and actuating pieces together with
slotted links and locking attachments similar to those shewn and
described in the Specifications of the said Letters Patent heretofore
granted to me the movement of the main lever is made to lock or
unlock, as the case may be, the actuating piece or pieces of other lever
or levers, and thereby stop the main levers which are intended to be
stopped from being moved.
Secondly. The slotted links before mentioned may be made to actuate
the locking, and for some purposes I prefer that they should do so. In
such case the links would have an inclined surface at one end, and would
be fixed at any convenient place below the top plate, and worked by pins
fixed on the main levers instead of pins fixed on the catch rods, as in my
former Inventions.
It will therefore be seen that by my present Invention the locking is
performed by the motion of the main lever by and with the contrivances
and in the methods herein described, whereas by my former Inventions
the locking is performed by means of the catch rod.
I will now proceed to describe my present Invention by reference to
the accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation shewing two levers, one for actuating the
points and one for actuating the signal. Although two levers only are.
shewn, a much larger number of points and signals can be worked from
one apparatus by increasing the number of lovers fitted with the

page_text: necesary locking gear herein-after described. Fig. 2 is an end view of
lever A, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end view of lever B, Fig. 1; Fig. 4, lever C
is an end view of a lever suitable either for working or locking points or
signals; Fig. 5 is a plan of the locking bar.
The levers, as shewn in the accompanying Drawings, stand in their
normal position, that is, in front of the apparatus.
I dispense with performing or actuating the locking before the main
lever is moved, described in my former Letters Patent, No. 2143, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and
No. 509, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
cight; but instead thereof I actuate and effect the necessary locking or
unlocking by the movement of the main lever. For this purpose I
employ a slotted link a, having an inclined surface b, as shewn in Fig. 2,
and a strip c, with an oblique slot d, lever A, Fig. 1, cut therein to slide
the locking bar e. The slotted link a before mentioned is worked by a
pin f in the lever instead of by a pin in the catch rod, as described in my
former Letters Patent. When lever A is moved it will cause the slotted
link a at that part which has the inclined surface b to lift (by means of
the pin working in the slot), consequently by working on a centre g
the other end of the link, which carries the strip c, will descend, and
cause locking bar e, by means of the pin working in the oblique slot d,
Fig. 1, to travel underneath the locking stud h, Fig. 2, and lock the
actuating piece of lever B, Fig. 3, and thereby prevent the last-named
lever from being moved.
I now proceed to explain lever B, Fig. 3, lever A being in its normal
position. In this Figure the fixed quadrant is shewn to have a slot cut
in it, with inclined surfaces k and k¹ at both ends, and also a slotted
link h¹, with an actuating piece working in suitable guides 7, having a
pin f¹ fitted to the top thereof, and a strip c³ jointed to the short end of
the slotted link h¹, with locking studs h fitted thereto. When lever B,
Fig. 3, is moved the actuating piece (having a pin f¹ fitted to the top
thereof to work in the slotted quadrants a¹) will travel with the lever,
whereupon the pin f¹ will mount the incline k, lifting both the actuating
piece and the back part of the slotted link h¹; the same link h¹ being
thus lifted will, working on a centre o, by means of a pin depress the
short end thereof, and will carry downwards the strip c¹ jointed thereto
sufficiently far for the locking studs h, fitted on to such strip c¹ to come
opposite a notch t, cut in the locking bar e, shewn in Fig. 5, and thereby

page_text: hold fast the locking bar e, worked by lever A, and prevent it from being
moved; and so long as the locking bar e is prevented from being moved,
so long is lever A, which works such locking bar, also prevented from
being moved, making it impossible to pull two conflicting levers at the
same time. In this Figure I also shew a back lock q, but it is necessary
to explain Fig. 4 first, because lever B, Fig. 3, and lever C, in Fig. 4,
work in unison one with the other as regards back locking.
In Fig. 4 there are shewn a slotted quadrant a², an actuating piece ³,
a slotted link h³, a locking bar e³, and strip c³, with the oblique slot d,
shewn in Fig. 1, cut therein for working the locking bar e³. It will be
seen that this Figure has most of the parts shewn in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.
These are required because in their combination they act in the double
capacity of moving the locking bar e³, or preventing other locking bars.
from being moved by means of locking studs &² fixed on the strips o².
It is always necessary when points and signals work in unison one
with another, that the points should he first set right before the signal
can be given; and it is also necessary that the signal be replaced to
danger before the points can be altered. For this purpose back locking
is required. I have shewn in Fig. 3, as an example, a back lock q,
slotted like the link h', having a centre r fixed to the top plate w, worked
by a pin n in the actuating piece . When lever B, Fig. 3, is moved,
the pin of the actuating piece mounts the incline k in the front, as
Before stated, and keeps lever c (this being the lever for working the
signal) immovable until lever B is brought over, and the pin f¹in the
actuating piece 2 is lowered to the bottom of the incline k¹. By this
depression of the pin f' into the back lock q will be depressed
sufficiently low down to bear against the strip c³, so that the projection m
of the locking bar e, Fig. 5, comes on to the top thereof, and when this is
done lever C, Fig. 4, is free to be moved. By moving lever C for the
purpose of giving the signal the pin f* of the actuating piece 22, working"
in the slot cut in the quadrant, will mount the incline p, and thus
depress the front part of the slotted link ³, carrying the strip c², so that
by means of the oblique slot d, shewn in Fig. 1, and the studs &², Fig. 4,
fitted thereto, and a pin v fitted to the locking bar e³, Fig. 4, working in
the oblique slot d, the locking bar will travel, and the projection m,
shewn in Fig. 5, will fit into or over the back lock q, Fig. 3, and so keep
the pin f¹, Fig. 3, in the actuating piece 2, Fig. 3, down at the bottom
of the incline k¹ at the back of the slotted quadrant, thus making the

page_text: actuating piece 7, Fig. 3, immoveable; and so long as the actuating
piece is immoveable, so long is the lever to which it is attached also
immoveable until lever C, Fig. 4, is again put into its normal position.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that I do not
claim the quadrants, the slotted link, the strip with oblique slot cut
therein, the locking studs fitted thereto, the back lock, or the locking
bars, as most of the parts shewn in the accompanying Drawings are parts
of my said former Letters Patent, No. 2143, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and No. 509, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight; but what I do claim
is as follows :-
First. The use or employment of the slot in the ordinary immoveable
quadrant, with the incline at each end thereof, for the purposes and in
the manner herein-before described.
Secondly. The use and employment of the actuating piece herein-
before described, with a pin fitted on the top thereof, for working through
the slot cut in the quadrant.
Thirdly. The actuating, locking, or unlocking of all antagonistic
points and signals by means of the slotted links herein-before described,
immediately the main lever is moved, without the aid of the catch rod
or spring hand lever.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Easterbrook, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two
WALTER EASTERBROOK. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named Walter Easterbrook
in the presence of
HUGH EDWARDS,
Engineer,
Crumlin,
Monmouthshire.