IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH RAILWAY POINTS OR SWITCHES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Bell, junior, of Portobello, in the County
of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Civil Engineer, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH RAILWAY POINTS OR
SWITCHES."
J
Sealed the 6th February 1874, and dated the 21st August 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Bell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st August 1873.
I, JAMES BELL, junior, of Portobello, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH RAILWAY POINTS OB
SWITCHES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the working of railway points or
switches in a positive, secure, and safe manner, and by mechanism which
is not liable to derangement.
In carrying out the Invention wedge shaped pieces are formed in or
attached to the inner sides of the points of the switches, and wedges

page_text: sliding in guides formed in chairs are acted on by a horizontally moving
transverse lever centered midway between the rails. When the lever is
moved into either of its two positions it moves the wedge on one side so
as to close the switch on that side, whilst the wedge on the other side is
drawn back, allowing the other switch to be drawn inwards by the
transverse rods, which as usual connect the two switches. The guides
for the wedges are by preference undercut, and counterpart ribs and
grooves are formed in the acting faces of the wedges and wedge shaped
pieces on the switches, and the switches are thereby prevented from
being displaced vertically. The transverse lever is connected by a rod
to one arm of a three armed lever having a second arm connected in the
usual way to the pointsman's hand lever, whilst the third arm is jointed
or connected to a detector guard rail. This guard rail is jointed or
connected to one or more other levers, which guide it so as to keep it
parallel when moved by the three armed lever, and the parts are so
placed that when the switches are being shifted from one position to the
other the guard rail approaches the main rail and then recedes again,
being nearest the main rail when the switches are about half over.. The
guard rail may be of any convenient length, and it is placed so near the
main rail at the facing side of the points as that if a carriage should be
approaching the points from that side the flanges of the wheels will
prevent the movement of the guard rail and so render it impossible to
shift the points. A slot is by preference introduced in the acting con-
nections between the guard rail and the transverse lever which works
the wedges so that the guard rail is partly moved before the transverse
lever is acted upon, and can consequently detect in time the presence of
wheels between it and the rail.
In addition to what has been described, locking bars are arranged in
connection with the signals and with the guard rail or with one of the
wedges, a slot or slots being provided in the guard rail so as to be entered
by either locking bar only when the switches are in the position agreeing
with the respective signal, and so that when the switches are not in a
position corresponding with the signal desired to be made, such signal
cannot be made.
With the herein-before described arrangements it would be impossible

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Bell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BELL, junior, of Portobello, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Bell, junior, Her special
licence that I, the said James Bell, junior, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Bell, junior, my
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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH RAILWAY POINTS OR SWITCHES,” upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Bell, junior, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and scals, 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 James Bell, junior, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :—
My said Invention has for its object the working of railway points or
witches in a positive, secure, and safe manner, and by mechanism
which is not liable to derangement.
My improved arrangements are specially designed for what are known
s facing points, with which it is next to impossible to lin

page_text: some through lines of railway, and which it therefore becomes urgently
necessary to have constructed and worked in a safe manner, particularly
in cases where trains pass through at high speeds.
In carrying out my said Invention the switches are moved by wedges,
which are arranged so as to prevent lifting or vertical displacement, and
there is a detector or movable guard rail which prevents the opening of
the switches when there is a carriage near them, whilst locking bars
prevent the moving of the signals, excepting so as to agree with tho
switches.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and representing a
set of railway points or switches as fitted with my improvements. In
these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same
or like parts wherever they are repeated.
.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a plan, whilst Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, arc
vertical sections as at the lines A B, C D, E F, G H, respectively, in
Figure 1. Wedge shaped pieces 1 are formed on or attached to the
inner sides of the points of the switches 2, 3, and wedges 4, 5, sliding
in guides formed in chairs 6 arc acted on by a horizontally moving
transverse lever 7, centered midway between the rails. When the lever 7
is moved into either of its two positions it moves the wedge 4 on one
side so as to close the switch 2 on that side, whilst the wedge 5 on tho
other side is drawn back, allowing the other switch 3 to be drawn
inwards by the transverse rods, which, as usual, connect the two
switches. The guides 6, for the wedges 4, 5, are undercut, and counter-
part ribs and grooves are formed in the acting faces of the wedges and
wedge shaped pieces 1 on the switches, and the switches 2, 3, are thereby
prevented from being displaced vertically. The transverse lever 7 is
connected by a rod 8 to one arm 9 of a three armed lever having a
second arm 10 connected by a rod 11 in the usual way to the pointsman's
hand lever, whilst the third arm 12 is jointed or connected to a detector
guard rail 13. This guard rail 13 is jointed or connected to one or
more other levers 14, which guide it so as to keep it parallel when moved
by the three armed lever, and the parts are so placed that when the
switches 2, 3, are being shifted from one position to the other the guard
rail 13 approaches the main or stock rail 15, and then recedes again,

page_text: being nearest the main rail 15 when the switches 2, 3, are about half
over. The guard rail 13 may be of any convenient length, and it is
placed.so near the main rail 15 at the facing side of the points as that if
a carriage should be approaching the points from that side the flanges of
5 the wheels will prevent the movement of the guard rail 13, and so render
it impossible to shift the points. The three armed lever 9, 10, is made
in two parts with counterpart segments shaped to allow of some move-
ment of one part 10 before it acts on the other part 9, so that the guard
rail 13 is partly moved before the transverse lever 7. is acted upon, and
can consequently detect in time the presence of wheels between it and
the rail.
In addition to what has been described, locking bars 16, 17, are
arranged in connection with the signals, and with one, 4, of the wedges,
a slot or slots being provided in the wedge, so as to be entered by either
locking bar 16, 17, only when the switches 2, 3, are in the position
agreeing with the respective signal, and so that when the switches 2, 3,
are not in a position corresponding with the signal proposed to be made
such signal cannot be made.
In the very unlikely event of the switch being slightly open when a
carriage is advancing towards it the action of the wheels on the detector
mil 13 will be through it to force home the wedge 4, and thereby make
the switch point quite close. The detector guard rail 13 may be extended
so as to reach and just cover the point of the switch. 2, and if this is
done it will make it impossible to open the. switch until the very last
wheel of a train has passed the switch point.
The arranging of the detector guard rail 18 as herein described and
delineated, moving horizontally, and in concert with the point shifting
lever 7, is in my opinion the best and most suitable for practical pur-
poses, and distinguishes my improved mechanism from previously
proposed plans having a similar object.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described and delineated, and that I do not
claim the Invention of a vertically moving detector guard rail, but that
what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,--

page_text: 1. The working of railway points or switches by means of wedges
arranged and operating substantially as herein-before described.
2. The arranging of the wedges in guides which prevent their lifting,
and the combining of the wedges with the points or switches with
grooves and ribs or equivalent parts, so as to prevent the points or
switches from lifting as herein-before described.
3. The combining of the point shifting wedges with a horizontally
moving detector guard rail substantially in the manner hercin-before
described.
4. The combining of the point shifting wedges with locking bars
connected to the signals in the manner herein described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Bell, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Seventeenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JAMES BELL, J
(L.B.)