IMPROVEMENTS GUARDING AND LOCKING POINTS FOR RAILWAYS, AND IN THEREFOR.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William March, of No. 1, Basinghall Street,
in the City of London, and Richard Dalgliesh, of Melton Mobray,
in the County of Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
GUARDING AND LOCKING POINTS FOR RAILWAYS, AND
IN
THEREFOR.
"
APPARATUS
Scaled the 9th December 1875, and dated the 23rd August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William March and
Richard Dalgliesh at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 23rd August 1875.
We, WILLIAM MARCH, of No. 1, Basinghall Street, in the City of
London, and RICHARD DALGLIESH, of Melton Mobray, in the County
of Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GUARDING. AND LOCKING POINTS FOR RAILWAYS, AND APPARATUS
THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a
guard for railway facing points, to whichever side they may be shifted;

page_text: combined with means of locking or bolting those points so that they
--cannot be shifted when a train passes over them: For this purpose-we-
mount between the rails immediately in front of a pair of facing points
a heart-shaped block pivotted on a vertical axis near its small end, so
that it can be swayed towards either rail to an extent such as shall
leave between that rail and the curved side of the block a slot or passage
for the flanges of the wheels of passing trains acting in the manner of a
guard rail bearing against the inside of the flanges, so as to keep the
flanges up to the rail, and thereby making it absolutely impossible for
the flanges of the wheels ever to touch the points. This block is
connected by levers and rods to the points, so that when they are shifted
to either side the block is caused at the same time to oscillate towards
the other side, thus becoming a shifted guard rail having the effect of
always directing the wheels of the train into the road for which the
points are set.
i
Either the block so connected to the points, or the points themselves
may be locked or bolted by any of the known means for that purpose
worked by a separate bolting or locking lever, and the bolts so worked
may be connected with the apparatus commonly known as a switch
lock, consisting of a long bar mounted by the side of the rail, which bar
being prevented from moving by wheels of trains passing over or by the
side of it renders it impossible to shift the points until the train lias
passed them.
As a means of locking points when they are provided with a shifting
guard as we have described above, we prefer to mount on the point
lever itself a locking lever connected to a spring or weighted latch
mounted near the guard block, so that it can catch into one or other of
two notches provided thereon.
When it is desired to shift the points the locking lever is first moved
so as to withdraw the latch from the one notch, whereupon the points
and the guard block can be moved by the point lever, and when they
have been so moved the latch again engages in the other notch and
holds them in their new position.
Instead of providing two notches on the guard block a single stud,
may be arranged on it, so that the latch, according as it engages on
the one side or the other of this stud, can hold the block in the one or
the other positi on.

page_text: We prefer to effect the locking of the guard block and points so that
these cannot be moved during the passage of a train by locking the just
described latch by means of the following arrangement:-At the outer
side of one of the rails we mount a curved lever connected by a bell
crank and rod or chain to a lever mounted between the rails, to which
is attached a sliding bolt.
On the engine framing we fix an arm projecting over the side of the
one rail, so that when the engine passes the before-mentioned curved
lever the said arm pushes against the same and turns it somewhat, so
as to cause the locking bolt to slide beneath the latch of the guard
block. The latch being thus prevented from being depressed the locking
of the guard block, and consequently also of the points, is thereby
effected, as the point lever cannot be shifted.
At a distance from the points equal to the longest train that is used
on the line we place another curved lever, which is also attached by a
bell crank and rod or chain to the lever. actuating the sliding bolt, but
so arranged that the arm of the engine in moving this second curved
arm outwards withdraws the sliding bolt, and thus frees the catch
of the guard block, so as to allow this and the points to be shifted
again.
As owing to the amount of play allowed between the gauge of the
wheel flanges and that of the rails the engine may be shifted over to
one side of the rails, and consequently its arm may project somewhat
farther beyond the rails at one time than at another; it will shift the
curved lever a greater distance in the one case than in the other, and
as it is necessary that the smaller amount of motion of the curved lever
shall effect the locking of the catch we make the lever that actuates
the locking bolt elastic, so that when the arm tends to shift the curved
lever to the greater extent the lever of the locking bolt will spring
somewhat so as to allow this to be done.
Instead of arranging the curved levers outside the rails as above
described they may be arranged close against the inner side of the one
rail, so as to be actuated by the flanges of the engine wheels passing
between them and the rails.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters 1 atent
filed by the said William March and Richard, Dalgliesh in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st February 1876.
TO¨ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
MARCH, of No. 1, Basinghall Street, in the City of London, and
RICHARD DALGLIESH, of Melton Mobray, in the County of Leicester,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said William March and
Richard Dalgliesh, Her special license, that we, the said William
March and Richard Dalgliesh, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said William March and Richard
Dalgliesh, our 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 GUARDING AND LOCKING POINTS
FOR RAILWAYS, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William March and Richard Dalgliesh,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them, 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 March, on behalf of
myself and the said Richard Dalgliesh, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :—

page_text: Our Invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a
guard for railway facing points, to whichever side they may be shifted,
combined with means of locking or bolting those points, so that they
cannot be shifted when a train passes over them. For this purpose we
mount between the rails immediately in front of a pair of facing points.
a heart-shaped block pivotted on a vertical axis near its small end, so
that it can be swayed towards either rail to an extent such as shall
leave between that rail and the curved side of the block a slot or passage
for the flanges of the wheels of passing trains, acting in the manner of a
guard rail bearing against the inside of the flanges, so as to keep the
flanges up to the rail, and thereby making it absolutely impossible for.
the flanges of the wheels ever to touch the points. This block is
connected by levers and rods to the points, so that when they are shifted.
to either side the block is caused at the same time to oscillate towards
the other side, thus becoming a shifted guard rail, having the effect of
always directing the wheels of the train into the road for which the
points are set.
Either the block so connected to the points or the points themselves
may be locked or bolted by any of the known means for that purpose.
worked by a separate bolting or locking lever, and the bolts so worked
may be connected with the apparatus commonly known as a switch lock,
consisting of a long bar mounted by the side of the rail, which bar.
being prevented from moving by wheels of trains passing over or by the
side of it renders it impossible to shift the points until the train has
passed them.
As a means of locking points when they are provided with a shifting,
guard as we have described above, we prefer to mount on the point
lever itself a locking lever connected to a spring or weighted latch
mounted near the guard block, so that it can catch into one or other of.
two notches provided thereon.
When it is desired to shift the points the locking lever is first moved.
so as to withdraw the latch from the one notch, whereupon the points
and the guard block can be moved by the point lever, and when they
have been so moved the latch again engages in the other notch and
holds them in their new position.
Instead of providing two notches on the guard block, a single stud
may be arranged on it, so that the latch according as it engages on the.

page_text: We prefer to effect the locking of the guard block and points, so that
these cannot be moved during the passage of a train by locking the
just described latch by means of the following arrangement :-At the
outer side of one of the rails we mount a curved lever connected by a
bell crank and rod, or chain to a lever mounted between the rails to
which is attached a sliding bolt.
On the engine framing we fix an arm projecting over the side of the
one rail, so that when the engine passes the before-mentioned curved
lever the said arm pushes against the same and turns it somewhat so as
to cause the locking bolt to slide beneath the latch of the guard block.
The latch being thus prevented from being depressed the locking of the
guard block, and consequently also of the points, is thereby effected, as
the point lever cannot be shifted.
At a distance from the points equal to the longest train that is used
on the line, we place another curved lever which is also attached by a
bell crank and rod or chain to the lever actuating the sliding bolt, but
so arranged that the arm of the engine in moving this second curved
arm outwards, withdraws the sliding bolt, and thus frees the catch
of the guard block, so as to allow this and the points to be shifted
again.
As owing to the amount of play allowed between the gauge of the
wheel flanges and that of the rails the engine may be shifted over to
one side of the rails, and consequently its arm may project somewhat
farther beyond the rails at one time than at another, it will shift the
curved lever a greater distance in the one case than in the other, and as
it is necessary that the smaller amount of motion of the curved lever
shall effect the locking of the catch we make the lever that actuates
the locking bolt elastic, so that when the arm tends to shift the curved
lever to the greater extent the lever of the locking bolt will spring
somewhat so as to allow this to be done.
Instead of arranging the curved levers outside the rails as above
described they may be arranged close against the inner side of the one
rail so as to be actuated by the flanges of the engine wheels passing
between them and the rails.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a plan of part of a railway at a pair of facing points
with apparatus according to our Invention fitted thereto; Fig. 2 is
partly a side elevation and partly a longitudinal section, and Fig 3 is a
transverse section.
A, A¹, are the fixed rails of the main line; B, B¹, those of the branch;
and C, C¹, are the shifting point rails; D is a heart-shaped block pivotted
at d, and by preference supported at front on rollers d¹, d', so that it
can be readily swayed on its pivot d towards the one rail or the other,
being connected by a lever E and rods e, e, to the point rod F, so that
when the points are shifted by means of the hand lever G connected to
them by the rod g up against the one rail the block D is caused to
move towards the other rail, but to remain at such a distance from it
as to give space for a wheel flange to pass between the block and the
rail. It will be seen that the block in this position operates as a guard
rail, guiding the wheel flange on the one side of a carriage towards the
open point, and so keeping the flange on the other side of the carriage
off the closed point.
For the purpose of locking the block D and also the point rails C, C¹,
in position, a counterweighted latch H is mounted in the middle between
the rails, and connected by a cord or chain 7 to a secondary lever L.
The latch H is caused by its counterweight (for which a spring might
be substituted) to rise when the block D has been moved behind a
lip K, projecting down from the face of the block, or it might be into a
notch on the block, and the block and point rails connected with it are
thus firmly held in position to the one side or the other until it is
desired to shift them, in which case the operator has first to move the
lever L, thereby drawing down the latch, and can then move the block
and points by the lever G. In cases where a switch locking bar is
employed the said bar may be connected either to the block and point
rails or to the latch H, rendering it impossible to move them.during the
passage of a train over the points. In order to effect such automatic
locking without the use of the ordinary switch locking bar, we adopt the
following arrangement:-
We mount by the side of the rails triggers or curved levers M, N,
and N', the first trigger M being placed a little in advance of the
-

page_text: block D, and the other triggers N and N¹ being placed at a distance
beyond-the-points equivalent to the length of the longest train intended
to pass over them, the one trigger N by the side of the main line rail,
and the other N¹ by the side of the branch line rail. These triggers are
connected respectively by a rod or chain m and by rods or chains n and
bell crank n¹ to the opposite ends of a horizontal lever P, the end P of
which acts as a bolt to the latch H when it is moved under it,
preventing it from being pulled down. The locomotive or first carriage
of the train is provided with an arm at the side which may be fitted
with a roller. As it approaches the points this arm acting on the
trigger M moves it, and thereby causes the end p of the lever P to be
thrust in under the latch H. The latch is thereby locked, rendering it
impossible to release the block D for the purpose of shifting the points,
until the said arm by acting on either of the more distant triggers
N or N', according as the train is on the main line or on the branch
line causes the lever end p to be withdrawn from under the latch H,
leaving the latter free to be depressed for the purpose of releasing the
block D and the points. Owing however to the distance at which
N or N¹ is placed beyond the points, their release is not effected till the
whole train has passed.
Instead of using triggers such as M. and N, N', to be thrust aside
horizontally by an arm extending from the side of a passing engine or
carriage, treadles may be employed inside the rails to be depressed
vertically by the flanges of passing wheels.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we claim,—
First. The use of a heart-shaped block mounted on a vertical axis in
advance of a pair of facing points, and connected thereto in such manner
that it acts as a moveable guard rail, shifting with the points so as to
guide the flanges of the wheels of a train in the right direction as they
approach the points, substantially as herein described.
Second. The method, substantially as herein described, of securing by
a latch the heart-shaped block above referred to, and thereby bolting the
points connected to it.
Third. The method, substantially as herein described, of automatically
locking the latch above referred to, by connecting a stop for the latch
to triggers or treadles in such a manner that a train in approaching the

page_text: points causes the stop to be inserted, and causes it to be removed after
the whole train has passed the points.
In witness whereof, I, the said William March, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
WILLIAM MARCH. (L.S.)