AN IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SHUNTING TRAINS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SHUNTING TRAINS."-A communication from
abroad by Jean Antoine Lanzirotti and Paul Gemelli, both of Paris,
France.
Sealed the 8th May 1863, and dated the 13th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th November 1862.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SHUNTING TRAINS," (communicated to
me from abroad by Jean Antoine Lanzirotti and Paul Gemelli, both of Paris,
France,) to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to enable a train to be shunted or moved
from one line of rails to another without the aid of an attendant.
The Invention consists in fitting to the front or side of locomotives, tenders,
or carriages, in front of a train; a projecting rod or rods which comes or come
in contact with a weighted lever or levers on the rail, which, through the
medium of rods or chains, draw the points together and cause the course of
the train to be diverted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard. Archibald Brooman, 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
"AN IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SHUNTING TRAINS," (communicated to
me from abroad by Jean Antoine Lanzirotti and Paul Gemelli, both of
Paris, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to enable a train to be shunted or moved
from one line of rails to another without the aid of an attendant..
The Invention consists in fitting to the front or side of locomotives, tenders,
or carriages, in front of a train, a projecting rod or rods which comes or come
in contact with a weighted lever or levers at the side of the rail, which,
through the medium of rods or chains, draw the points together and cause the
course of the train to be diverted.

page_text: The arrangements preferred for carrying this Invention into effect are
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Figure 1 is a general plan shewing its application to two lines of rails A, A
and B, B; Figures 2 and 2ª are end views, Figures 3 and 3* side views, and
Figure 4 a plan, of the mechanism for working the points. Figure 5 is an
elevation of an arrangement I employ for raising the weighted lever f, as
hereafter described, after the passing of a train, and which is situated at the
part marked D in Figure 1. Figure 6 is an end view of part of an engine
fitted with sliding rods a, a', a³, a³, shewn in side view in Figure 6, one or
other of which is made to project so that when the train is to be shunted or
to be moved from one line of rails to another it may come in contact with a
corresponding rod or projection 6 on a pillar c, Figure 3; the pillar c is free
to turn upon its axis, and is furnished at its upper part with an excentric d,
Figures 3, 7, and 8, which works in a space of corresponding shape.
As soon
as the pillar c is caused to move by one of the rods a, a', a³, a³, coming against
one of the projections b, 61, 62, 63, the excentric d presses upon a support e, on
which a point lever f, weighted at g, rests. The support e is free to slide in
the frame of the apparatus, and when moved by the eccentric d disengages the
lever f, which then falls of its own weight and assumes the position indicated
by the red lines in Figure 3. When the rod a has passed the projection b,
the pillar c, being acted upon by a counterbalance weight h, resumes its
original position. Instead of the weight h a coiled spring may be employed
to recal the pillar c. The point lever f is connected by a link i with a chain
or rod j, and when the lever falls sufficient traction is exerted upon this chain
or rod to work the points. The lever f, in falling, also acts upon another
chain k, to one end of which it is connected; the other end of this chain is
attached to a lever n through a link which moves upon a slide m, see
Figure 5. When the chain k is pulled upon by the falling of the lever f the
slide m assumes the position indicated in red in Figure 5, and the link / raises
the lever n, which is movable upon the point o, and consequently another
lever p movable upon the point q. A projecting spurr fitted at the back of
the last carriage of the train presses upon the lever p, which in its turn acts
upon the lever n, which returns the link l, and consequently the slide m, to
their original position; the slide m thus exerts a traction on the chain k,
which replaces the leverf with its weight g. This arrangement for replacing
the lever f, and represented in Figure 5, may be dispensed with, but it
would then be necessary for an attendant to replace it. The rods a, a', a², a³,
may bear the names of the places where the train is to be shunted or any
other suitable indications.

page_text: :
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, fitting a projecting
rod or rods to locomotives, tenders, or carriages in front of a train, together
with an arrangement of levers, rods, and other appliances at the side of the
rails upon which the said projecting rod or rods acts or act, in such manner as
to work the points and cause the train to be shunted or moved on to a
different line of rails, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof; I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)