Year: 1886

page_text: We CHARLES ANTHONY KIRBY of 103 West Street, Boston in the county of
Lincoln, Civil Engineer and HENRY KIRBY, of 52 Eden Grove, Holloway in the
county of Middlesex Signal Engineer do hereby declare the nature of our Invention
to be as follows:-
"
The object of our invention is to produce an apparatus which shall be certain
and safe in working the "facing points," "facing point locks or "plungers" and
the signals, by means of which apparatus the signalman shall be able to detect
any failure of the "facing points" and "facing point lock" or "plunger" to work
as required, and thereby to avoid accidents.
And our invention consists in arranging suitable "wedge locks" or similar locks
in the "plunger box" or casting, such "wedge locks," or similar locks, working on
either or both sides of the "facing point lock or "plunger."
26
,,
"
Through such "plunger box" or casting we pass two slides or bars in connection
with the signals, such slides or bars being made to pass in a transverse direction
over or under the "facing point lock or "plunger." We also make either the
tie" or the connecting rod as may be preferred (situate between the points) to
actuate the aforesaid "wedge locks' or similar locks, according as the apparatus
belonging to the "plunger box or casting is applied to the one or the other.
The apparatus is caused to work in the following manner.
"
"
On the "facing point lock or "plunger" we fix or form a suitable strip of iron
which is notched so as to allow the slides or bars (in connection with the signals)
to work through such notches. Strips of iron are provided upon the said slides or
bars and by this means the signals can be interlocked with the "facing point lock
or "plunger," or the "facing point lock" or "plunger" can be locked with the
signal slides or bars.
"

page_text: We also make either the "tie" or connecting bar as the case may be (between
the "
facing points") to actuate the "wedge locks," or similar locks, by means of
suitable notches formed in either such "tie' or such connecting bar, in such a
manner as to be capable of locking the signal slides or bars, or we make the said
slides or bars to work the "wedge locks," or other similar locks, and thus lock
either the "tie" or the connecting rod as required.
By the above method unless the "facing points" are securely fixed in their
required position by the "facing point lock," or "plunger" it is impossible for the
signalman to give a signal from the signal box indicating that the points are in a
position contrary to the fact.
In the above apparatus the "tie" or connecting rod actuates the locking arrange-
ment directly without the use of levers or other mechanism as heretofore, and the
points must be pulled home into position before the signal can be moved.

page_text: LOCKS OF Plugs, and signa
We, CHARLES ANTHONY KIRBY and HENRY KIRBY of 8 Quality Court, London
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The object of our invention is to produce an apparatus which shall be certain
and safe in working facing points and their locks and the correlated signals, so
that the signalman shall not be able to work them in such a way as to put the
points and signals in conflict with one another, and that he shall be able to detect
failure in their working and thereby avoid accidents. The apparatus, which we
are about to describe, is intended to be situated close to and in immediate connection
with the points themselves so that its action cannot be subject to failure owing to
the fracture or derangement of rods, levers or other connections used for transmitting
movement to a distance, and it is intended to operate directly on the points, the
point lock, and the signal pulls so as to produce the following results:-to prevent
the points from being unlocked when either of the signals, that for the main line
or that for the branch line, is lowered to "safety,"-to prevent either of these
signals from being lowered to "safety" unless the points are locked;-and to
prevent either signal from being lowered unless the other is raised to and locked
in its "danger" attitude. We construct and arrange the apparatus for this purpose
as we will describe referring to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a general plan of part of a railway at and near. the points shewing the
position and connections of our apparatus A which is preferably situated between
the rails so as to have the most direct possible action, but which might be situated
outside the rails, as at A¹, with its connections indicated by the dotted lines. In
this figure R R are the rails P P the point rails, B or B₁ the ordinary locking bar,
C the signal cabin which may be at a considerable distance, S S the signal pulls,
which are led by guide pullies or otherwise across the line and through the
apparatus A and continued to the signal posts which may be at a distance, L or
L' is the plunger or bolt which by entering suitable holes in the cross tie T
connecting the point rails, or in the cross tie T¹ extended outside the line, holds
the points firmly home in either position. The levers and rods for working and
connecting the points, the locking bar and the locking plunger are arranged in the
usual way. The other figures, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are drawn to an enlarged scale.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the apparatus A with its cover removed, Fig. 3 is a section
on W W, Fig. 4 a section on X X, Fig. 5 a section on Y Y and Fig. 6 a section
on Z Z. In the box or framing of the apparatus A is fitted to slide longitudinally
the plunger L which when moved to the left can enter either of two holes t¹ t' in
the gross tie T which connects the two point. rails P. P. This tie T may be in one

page_text: "
piece, but it is preferred to make it in two lengths, overlapping each other as
shewn, these sliding side by side transversely in the box A. Should one of the
point rails P P fail to move quite along with the other then that part of the cross
tie T belonging to it would not present its hole t¹ or t* for reception of the plunger L,
and as in that case the plunger could not complete its stroke to lock the points,
the signalman would be apprised of the failure of one of the point rails to come
home to its proper position. Two bars S¹ S which are connected respectively to
the two signal pulls SS (Fig. 1) are fitted to slide in guides across the box A On
the upper face of the plunger L there is a projecting rib which has through it
two notches 1, 12, and on the lower faces of the bars S¹ S' are projecting ribs 8¹ 8ª.
Unless the plunger L makes its full stroke to the left entering one or other of the
holes tor and so locking the points, neither of the signal bars S¹ S³ can be
pulled because their ribs 818' are stopped by the rib . But when the plunger L
is home to the left, locking the points then the notches present themselves to
the ribs 818 and either signal bar S' S' could be pulled, lowering either signal to
safety." Assuming that one of them, say S¹, is so pulled, its rib 81 passing
through the notch, then the plunger L could not be withdrawn so as to unlock
the points, and the points must therefore remain locked until by the back movement
of S¹, raising the signal to "danger" the rib s¹ has passed out of the notch 1. So
far as the apparatus has been described, it prevents either signal from being lowered
to safety unless the points are locked, and it prevents the points from being unlocked
while either signal is lowered to "safety." Other parts of the apparatus, which we
will now describe, serve to correlate the signal for the inain line, which may be
moved by the bar S¹, to the position of the points for the main line, and the signal
for the branch line, moved by S³, to the position of the points for the branch line.
For this purpose the box A is fitted with two longitudinal slides D' and D³ which
have inclined or wedge shaped ends fitted to enter corresponding notches in the
cross tie T and in the two signal bars S¹ S³. The operation of these slides is as
follows: Assuming the points to be set right for the main line and locked in that
position by the plunger L, then the cross tie T presents towards the slide D' an
inclined notch d². The end of D being free to enter the notch d³, the bar S¹ can
be pulled to lower the main line signal, but, when it is so pulled, the slide D2 cannot
be moved back, until by the return of S¹ to the position shewn in Fig. 2 it presents
its V shaped notch to receive the end of D. After shifting the points to the
branch and so by the incline of the notch d pushing D to the right so as to engage
in the V notch of S¹, then, even when the points are locked by the plunger L, the
signal bar S¹ cannot be moved to lower the main line signal because the slide D'
finds no notch in T to receive its end and therefore cannot move out of engagment
with the V notch of S¹. In a similar way when D¹ is engaged with the V notch
of S and cannot enter a notch in T, the branch line signal cannot be lowered.
But when the points are shifted to the branch, and the notch at d is brought to
face the slide D¹ then the bar S³ can be moved as described with reference to S¹.
Thus each of the two signals is locked at "danger" when the points are not set
for the road which it controls. Moreover, if the signalman, in endeavouring to
lower either signal, finds the pull impeded by reason of the engagement of D¹
or D with its bar, he is apprised that the tie bar T is not in proper position and
consequently that the points are not set home to make good the road along which
he desires to signal. And farther, if either signal be not at "danger" so that it
bar S¹ or S does not present a notch for D₁ or D³, then even if the points be
unbolted, they cannot be shifted because the inclined end of D₁ or Ds remains
engaged in the notch d¹ or d³ of the bar T. In some situations it is convenient to
arrange the signal pulls S S parallel to the line. The apparatus may then be
arranged as shewn in plan at Fig. 7, in section along X X at Fig. 8 and in section
at Y Y in Fig. 9. In these figures the reference letters indicate parts corresponding
to those similarly marked in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive; thus T is the cross tie bar of
the point rails with its two notches t, of which t¹ receives either the plunger L

page_text: when the points are right for the main line or a rib attached to the signal bar S*
when the points are right for the branch, and t receives a rib attached to S¹ when
the points are right for the main line or it receives the plunger L when the points
are right for the branch. When the points are unlocked as shewn in Fig. 7. neither
of the signal bars S¹ S can be moved because neither of the cross slides D¹ D³ can
be disengaged from its V notch. When the points are locked by pushing the
plunger Linto t¹ and so bringing notches d¹ d³ to face D¹ D', then S₁ can be moved
locking the points by its rib entering t but S cannot be moved because its rib
finds no notch to enter in T. If the points be shifted for the branch and locked by L
then S can be moved, its rib entering t¹ but S¹ cannot be moved.
When either S¹
or S is moved, L is locked by the slide D¹ or D' being thrust into. its V notch.
In some situations it is convenient to arrange the point moving bar L, the plunger
bar T and the signal bars S¹ S' all parallel to one another as shewn in plan by
Fig. 10, in section at X X by Fig. 11 and in section at Y Y by Fig. 12. In this.
case there are cross slides D1 D2 D3 D* D* with V shaped lips or ends arranged to
enter V notches in the slide bars L T S¹ S' effecting an interlocking of these in a
manner similar to that above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
In working railway facing points, facing point locks or plungers and signals
correlated thereto, the use of sliding bars having inclined or wedge shaped ends
arranged to move across the paths of the point, point lock and signal motors so as
to enter inclined notches in these motors locking them, or to be thrust out of these
notches unlocking them, substantially as herein described and illustrated by the
accompanying drawings,
Dated Loc
1