A METHOD OF OPENING AND SHUTTING TWO OR FOUR GATES OR DOORS SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND FOR FASTENING THE SAME WHEN EITHER OPEN OR SHUT, APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY CROSSINGS AND OTHER PURPOSES.
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Vickers, of the City of Bristol, Cotton
Spinner, for the Invention of "A METHOD OF OPENING AND SHUTTING TWO
OR FOUR GATES OR DOORS SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND FOR FASTENING THE SAME
WHEN EITHER OPEN OR SHUT, APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY CROSSINGS AND OTHER
PURPOSES.
Sealed the 11th May 1860, and dated the 12th November 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Vickers at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th November 1859.
I, ARCHIBALD VICKERS, of the City of Bristol, Cotton Spinner, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A METHOD OF OPENING AND
SHUTTING TWO OR FOUR GATES OR DOORS SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND FOR FASTENING THE:
SAME WHEN EITHER OPEN OR SHUT, APPLICABLE TO RAILWAY CROSSINGS AND OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My method of opening and shutting two or four gates or doors simultaneously.
and for fastening the same when either open or shut, consists in the employ-
ment of a crab turning four upright shafts by means of wheels and worms,
which upright shafts are the hinges or pivots upon which the gates or doors
are hung; these upright shafts are situate at four equidistant points in con-
nection with two line shafts running parallel with each other, and being
connected together by a cross shaft worked by a pair of mitre wheels at each
end of it; the crab works on the end of one of the line shafts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Archibald Vickers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th May 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
VICKERS, of the City of Bristol, Cotton Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Archibald Vickers, Her special licence that I, the said Archibald
Vickers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Archibald Vickers, 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
"A METHOD OF OPENING AND SHUTTING TWO OR FOUR GATES OR DOORS SIMUL-
TANEOUSLY, AND FOR FASTENING THE SAME WHEN EITHER OPEN OR SHUT, APPLICABLE
TO RAILWAY CROSSINGS AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Archibald Vickers, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Archibald Vickers, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My method of opening and shutting two or four gates or doors simultaneously
and for fastening the same when either open or shut, consists in the employ-
ment of a crab turning two or four upright shafts by means of wheels, worms,
and pinions. The shafting may be either vertical, oblique, or horizontal, and
may be made of wood, iron, or any other suitable material. The upright shafts
are the hinges or pivots upon which the gates or doors are hung. These upright
shafts are situated at four points at equal distance from one another, and are

page_text: in connexion with two line shafts running parallel with each other, and con-
nected together by a cross shaft worked by a pair of mitre wheels at each end
of it. The crab works on the end of one of the line shafts.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan of the framework and
gearing constructed according to my Invention for supporting and working
the gates; Figure 2 is an elevation of one pair of gates; Figures 3
and 4 show in side elevation and plan respectively on a large scale a flange
coupling. Similar letters of reference refer to like parts of the apparatus in
Figures 1 and 2.
A, A, are the gate posts, carrying at the lower ends the worm wheels
B, B; C, C, are worms gearing into the wheels B, B; these worms are
formed on shafts J, J, carrying bevil wheels which take into similar wheels on
the cross shaft K; D, D, are the lines of rail; E, E, are the sleepers or
runners to carry the rails; F is the stonework or masonry to support the
machinery; F is the wooden framework to carry the gate machinery; G is a
crane or crab to which motion is communicated through a crane or crab
pinion H; I is the frame for supporting the crab or crane; L, L, are pillars
to steady the working gate posts; M is a stop to lock the wheels; N, N, are
flange couplings for the shafts; and O, O, are the gates.
The
When the gates are open they cannot be shut without turning the crab, and
when they are shut the same means must be employed to open them.
worm wheel on the foot of the gate posts intersecting the grooves of the worms
forms a perfect lock. The crab is worked by one spur wheel and pinion, or,
if desired, an intermediate spur wheel may be introduced; or the crab may be
dispensed with altogether, and an upright or oblique shaft may be substituted
working into the worm shaft by means of mitre wheels at the bottom, with a
rim or fly wheel on the top of the shaft for imparting motion to the whole.
Or instead of the worms and wheels, mitre wheels may be used throughout the
whole apparatus, except where motion is communicated to the gearing by
means of the crab, and in that case a worm wheel is fixed on the end of one
of the shafts, as shewn in Figure 1; but then instead of a spur pinion a worm
is to be used as the first propelling instrument, and the worm wheel and the
worm (which thus work together) will form a lock to the whole apparatus,
and prevent the gates from opening or shutting until the crab is moved.
some cases the gates may be made to work either with or without the crab.
If provision be made by means of a lever and slide box attached to the worm
wheel by which it may be detached from the worm, the gates may be worked
independently of the crab, so that by opening or shutting any one of the gates
motion will be given to all the rest, and consequently four will shut or open
In

page_text: simultaneously; under these circumstances the self-acting fastening formed by
the worm wheel and worm crab will be dispensed with, and the fastening will
cease to be self-acting. But by hanging a pendulum ball-like bar upon a
pivot on one gate of each pair when the gates are brought together, this bar
may be turned over into a staple fixed into the corresponding gate, and so
form a firm fastening to each; by this means one fastening would answer for
all four, but if desired a fastening may be applied to both pairs of gates..
The cross shaft, which in the Drawing is shown running between the two
lines of rails, may, if thought desirable, be brought to the outside of the other
working parts, and the shafting may be rendered more casy to handle and fix;
if instead of one entire length two lengths or more be used by means of
flange couplings, one of which I show in Figures 3 and 4. The timbers may
be kyanized or otherwise preserved, and the fixings for the shafting and
gate posts may be either bedded upon the stonework or suspended from the
timber.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim the opening
and shutting of two or four gates simultaneously, but what I do claim is, the
method of opening and shutting two or four gates simultaneously, and
fastening the same, whether they are open or shut, essentially in the manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Vickers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, One thousand eight bundred
and sixty.
ARCHIBALD VICKERS. (L.B.)