An Improved Stop-indicator for Railway Points and Crossings.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Apr., 1892
Complete Specification Left. 17th Jan.. 1893-Accepted, 25th Feb., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Stop-indicator for Railway Points and Crossings.
1 GUSTAV OTTO WILHELM KÖHLER of No. 62 Eppendorfer Landstrasse,
Hamburg in the Empire of Germany, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows :-
This invention relates to a device for indicating the minimum distance from a
railway switch or crossing within which railway vehicles cannot approach the
switch or crossing without liability of fouling vehicles on the adjacent line.
Heretofore a stake has been employed for this purpose which being ordinarily
placed between the rails is an impediment to the men and horses who are in
constant danger of being tripped. The device of this invention will fulfil the
function of the stake without in any way impeding the free use of the track. This
device consists of tablets attached to the outer sides of the adjacent rails of con-
verging tracks at a certain distance from their nearest point of intersection so that
each indicator will be visible from the adjacent track. According to one form of
the invention a cast iron frame is bolted against the head and foot of the rail by
bolts attached to it at back and passing through the web of the rail. The
indicating tablet may be made of glass, porcelain, enamelled iron or the like, and
is held in grooves in the frame in which it is slid and secured by cement or other-
wise. The tablet may be made in one or more colours and in one or more parts,
and luminous paint may be employed to render the indicator visible in the dark.
Where risk of damage by the horses hoofs, hauling chains &c. is slight the indicator
may be made of a slab of porcelain or the like bolted directly to the side of the
rail without being fixed in an iron frame.
In proceeding towards a switch or crossing the indicator placed at a certain
distance therefrom on the neighbouring track denotes the limit to which a vehicle
may safely advance without liability of fouling the adjacent line.
Dated this 20th day of Apr 105.
G. O. W. KÖHLER,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Stop-indicator for Railway Points and Crossings.
I, GUSTAV OTTO WILHELM KÖHLER of No. 62 Eppendorfer Landstrasse,
Hamburg, in the Empire of Germany, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to a device for indicating the minimum distance from a
railway switch or crossing within which railway vehicles cannot approach the switch
or crossing without liability of fouling vehicles on the adjacent line. Heretofore a
stake has been employed for this purpose which being ordinarily placed between
the tracks is an impediment to the men and horses employed on the line in shunting
or other work, who are in constant danger of being tripped. The device of this
invention will fulfil the function of the stake without in any way impeding the free
use of the track. This device consists of tablets attached to the outer sides of the
adjacent rails of converging tracks at a certain distance from their nearest point of
intersection so that each indicator will be visible from the adjacent track.

page_text: Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, in which
Figure 1 is a face view and Figure 2 a cross-section of one of the indicators of
this invention.
Figure 3 is a cross-section of a modification in which no iron frame is used.
Figure 4 is a diagram of a crossing shewing the position in which the indicators
are fixed.
According to one form of the invention, represented in Figures 1 and 2, the
indicator is provided with a cast-iron backing or frame a fitting against the head
and foot of the rail S and secured thereto by bolts attached to it at back and 1
passing through the web of the rail, as shewn in Figure 2. The indicating tablet c
may be made of glass, porcelain, enamelled iron, or other material not injuriously
affected by the atmosphere and moisture, and is contained in a recess in the frame a
its edges being received in grooves in the flanges of the frame in which it is slid and
wherein it is secured by cement or otherwise, leaving the face of the tablet
visible at the aperture of the frame. The tablet c may be made of one or more
colors and in one or more parts and luminous paint of good quality may be employed
to render the indicator visible in the dark.
Where the risk of damage by horses' hoofs, hauling chains, etc., is slight, the
indicator may be made wholly of a slab of porcelain, or the like, bolted directly to
the rail against the head and foot of which it is suitably bedded, as represented in
Figure 3, without being fixed in an iron frame.
In order to indicate the point on the converging tracks of a switch or crossing
to which vehicles may advance without liability of fouling the other track,
indicators are fixed at a certain distance from the first point of intersection of the i
two tracks against the outsides of the inner rails of the converging tracks, as shewn
at m, m, in Figure 4, so that the officials in charge of vehicles on track I will be
guided by the indicator fixed against the rail of track II and those in charge of
vehicles on track II will be guided by the indicator fixed to track I.
By thus fixing the indicators against the rails, the space between the tracks is a
left quite clear so that neither men nor horses are liable to stumble over them which
has hitherto been the cause of frequent accidents.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is--
1. An indicator for converging railway tracks consisting of a frame a fixed to
the side of the rail and having fixed therein a tablet c of glass, porcelain, or the
like, made in one or more parts and of one or more colors, substantially as and for
the purpose specified.
2. An indicator for converging railway tracks consisting of a tablet of glass,
porcelain, or the like, of one or more colors, fixed directly to the rail as and for the
purpose specified.
Daten Gray of vanuary
G. O. W. KÖHLER,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.