Improvements in the Arrangement of Railway Signal Levers and Apparatus and in the Mode of Working the same.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 26th May,
1892
Complete Specification Left, 29th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 8th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Arrangement of Railway Signal Levers and
Apparatus and in the Mode of Working the same.
We, ALEXANDER Ross, of London Road Station, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer to the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Company, and THOMAS WHARMBY, of 18 Audenshaw Road, Guide Bridge, in
the said County, Signal Inspector to the said Company, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:
Our invention relates to improvements in railway signal levers and apparatus
and the chief object of our improvements is to enable the work to be accomplished
by one signal lever which it has usually prior to our present invention taken two or
more levers to accomplish.
We will describe our invention as applied to a junction with a main or other line
of three diverging roads.
In this case the main line is normally open and each of the other roads has a
separate lever to work its points; and in ordinary arrangements all four lines of
rails would require a separate signal lever; but according to our invention we so
arrange and combine the mechanism that a single lever only can be made to
operate the signals for all four lines. This single signal lever has suspended from
it an arrangement of multiplying pulleys, and the ends of the two chains or
equivalents passing over the last pair of these pulleys are attached to a series of
four plungers each of which passes through a locking box and is connected at the
other end to the signal wire or chain which it controls. Each of the three point
levers has pivoted to it a rod, the other end of which is connected to the points of
the diverging road which it controls, and each point rod has an arm or projection
to which is connected a crank slide or equivalent part which is arranged to operate
a lock bolt rod whenever the point lever in connection therewith is pulled over
For example let it be supposed that a train is to proceed along the main line or
No. 1 road. The points stand normally open for road No. 1, the first plunger is
normally unlocked and therefore signal No. 1 is free to be lowered, when the signal
lever is pulled over, while at this time the three plungers controlling the signals for
the three diverging roads are all bolt locked by their point levers, and consequently
it is impossible to lower their signals, until the signal lever has been put back and
the point lever of the diverging road required has been pulled over thus releasing.
the plunger which controls the signal of such road.
We have described our invention as applied to a junction of four lines, but we
wish it to be clearly understood that it is equally applicable to a junction of two or
three roads, and it would be possible to apply it to a junction of more than four
roads.
Dated thi. 05th den of Mo 1909
H. B. BARLOW,
Agent for Applicants.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Arrangement of Railway Signal Levers and
Apparatus and in the Mode of Working the same.
We, ALEXANDER Ross, of London Road Station, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer to the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Company, and THOMAS WHARMBY, of 18 Audenshaw Road, Guide Bridge, in the
said County, Signal Inspector to the said Company, 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:-
Our invention relates to improvements in railway signal levers and apparatus
and the chief object of our improvements is to enable the work to be accomplished
by one signal lever which it has usually prior to our present invention taken two or
more levers to accomplish.
We will describe our invention as applied to a junction with a main or other line
with three diverging roads.
In this case the main line is normally open and each of the other roads has a
separate lever to work its points; and in ordinary arrangements all four lines of
rails would require a separate signal lever; but according to our invention we so
arrange and combine the mechanism that a single lever only can be made to
operate the signals for all four lines. This single signal lever has suspended from
it an arrangement of multiplying pulleys, and the ends of the two chains or
equivalents passing over the last pair of these pulleys are attached to a series of
four plungers each of which passes through a locking box and is connected at the
other end to the signal wire or chain which it controls. Each of the three point
levers has pivoted to it a rod, the other end of which is connected to the points of
the diverging road which it controls, and each point rod has an arm or projection
to which is connected a crank slide or equivalent part which is arranged to operate
a lock bolt rod whenever the point lever in connection therewith is pulled over..
And in order that our invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will describe the accompanying sheet of drawings reference being had to
the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a diagram of a main line with three diverging roads.
Figure 2 is a diagram of the signal frame illustrating the levers we require to
work the signals and points for the four roads.
Fig. 3 is an end elevation, Fig. 4 a front elevation and Fig. 5 a plan of our
improved signal lever apparatus.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
The diagram Fig. 1 shows the main line or No. 1 road, and the three diverging
roads Nos. 2, 3 and 4 with their respective signal semaphores a, b, c, d. The
diagram Fig. 2 indicates the signal frame in which are placed the signal lever e
which according to our invention works the signals for all four roads and the three
point levers ff, f2, which respectively work the points for the three diverging
roads Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
Figs. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate the improved signal lever e and the connections and
appliances by which we are enabled to control the signals for all four lines from
the said lever. The arm of the levere has suspended from it by a link e' a'pulley g
over which passes a chain which also passes under two pulleys g² g³ and is secured
at its ends to the frame j'; from the pair of pulleys g² g³ are suspended by links e² e³
a second pair of pulleys 9 9 and over each of these pulleys passes a chain k. To
the ends of the two chains k are connected the series of four plungers 11, 12, 13, 1,
each of which passes through a locking box m', m², m³, or m², and at its lower end
is connected by a chain n', n², n³ or n to the wires which respectively control the
four signals a, b, c, d, for the roads Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. To the arm of each point
lever fff, is connected a point rod o, o', o³, the other end of which is connected

page_text: "
by a bell crank lever p and rod p¹ to the points of the diverging road which it
controls; and each point rod o, o', 0, has an arm or projection o³ to which is con
nected a crank slide q, q', or q², which is fitted in a slot in a lock bolt rod r, r¹ or r²,
and so moves the latter endwise when its respective point lever is pulled over. The
lock bolt rods r, r, r, are so formed that when one of them is moved endwise to
take the lock out of one plunger it puts the lock into another; thus the curved end
of the lock bolt rod r stands normally clear of the plunger in the locking box m¹
and at this time its straight end is locking the plunger in the locking box m².
Similarly the straight ends of the lock bolt rods 1,, are respectively locking the
plungers,, whilst their curved ends stand clear of the plungers 13 respectively;
but when either of them is moved end wise to unlock its respective plunger 1 or 1*
its curved end enters and locks one of the plungers 12 or 1 as the case may be. It
will thus be seen that as the plunger is normally unlocked the signal corresponding
to it can be lowered at any time unless the points are set for another line in which
case it would be locked by the curved end of the bolt rod r and could not be moved
until the point lever controlling the same had been pulled back.
For example let it be supposed that a train is to proceed along the main line or
No. 1 road. The points stand normally open for road No. 1, the first plunger lis
normally unlocked, and therefore signal a for the No. 1 road is free to be lowered,
when the signal lever e is pulled over, while at this time the plungers 12, 13, 1, con-
trolling the signals b, c, d, for the three diverging roads Nos. 2, 3, 4 are all bolt
locked by the lock bolt rods r, r, r, controlled by their point levers f, f', ', and
consequently it is impossible to lower their signals b, c, d, until the signal lever e
has been put back and the point lever f, f¹, or f, of the diverging road required
has been pulled over, thus raising its point rod o, o', or o², and the corresponding
crank slide q, q', or 9 thereby actuating the lock bolt rod r, 1 or 2, as the case
may be, through which the said crank slide works and releasing the particular
plunger 1, 1, 3, or 1, which controls the signal of such road, the other plungers
remaining bolt locked.
We have described our invention as applied to a junction of four lines; but we
wish it to be clearly understood that it is equally applicable to a junction of two or
three roads, and it would be possible to apply it to more than four roads.
In the case of two roads, only one pulley would be suspended from the signal
lever e and the chain instead of being secured at its ends to the frame j would be
secured directly to two plungers 1 one of which would control the signal for the
main line and the other the signal for the branch or diverging line.
In the case of a junction of three roads we employ as many multiplying pulleys
as for four roads, but only three instead of four plungers; and one end of one of
the chains k instead of being attached to a plunger is fastened to a stationary part
of the frame.
We have shown and described our invention as applied to signals which control
the passage of trains from a main or other line to a branch line or lines; but it is
equally applicable to signals which control the passage of trains in the reverse
direction namely from the branch line or lines to the main line.
It is obvious that our invention will prove useful in cases where there are a large
number of sidings and consequently several diverging roads.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The herein described mode of working the signals at a junction of two or
more roads with a main or other line by means of a single signal lever combined
with a
multiplying pulley or pulleys and locking gear substantially as and for the
purposes herein set forth.
2. The combination with a railway signal lever, of an arrangement of multiplying
pulleys and chains employed in conjunction with plungers and locking boxes the
lock bolt rods of which are actuated by crank slides or equivalent parts connected

page_text: to the rods of the point or other levers which control the points of the diverging
roads, all combined arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes
herein described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
3. The general combination and arrangement of parts embodying our improve-
ments substantially as and for the purposes described with reference to the
drawings.
Dated this 26th day of August 1892.
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agent for Applicants.