A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF HANGING AND OPENING AND CLOSING GATES USED AT THE LEVEL CROSSINGS OF RAILWAYS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Dieudonné Charles Eugéne
Leloup at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th May 1871.-A communication from abroad
by Nicolas Libotte, of Gilly, near Charleroi, in the Kingdom of
Belgium.
I, DIEUDONNÉ CHARLES EUGENE LELOUP, of Park Place Villas,
Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD
OF HANGING AND OPENING AND CLOSING GATES USED AT THE LEVEL CROSSINGS OF
RAILWAYS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide the means of hanging or
fixing and opening and closing the gates used at the level crossings
of railways and for other similar or useful purposes simultaneously
and with ease and expedition.
The means by which the said Invention is carried out in practice
are as follows:-The gates may be constructed of wood or iron or a
combination of both, the materials being so disposed as to produce
the greatest strength with the least weight or quantity of material.

page_text: The heel posts of the gates to be operated by my improved method
are extended below the level of the railway, and the opposite ones
securely fixed to a horizontal shaft turning in suitable bearings
extending across and under the railway, all the proposed connections
between the several gates being also below or under the railway. To
the said shafts balance weights are fixed, each opposite to and equal
in weight to its respective gate or thereabouts. On one or both ends,
and also midway if desired, of the shafts are cranks; those opposite
each other and on the same side or in the middle of the railway are
united by an iron rod, so that when one shaft is turned both are turned,
and all the four gates generally used at railway crossings thereby
raised vertically and instantaneously behind the gate posts, and clear
of the opening, and afterwards lowered or closed by the reverse process
at once and simultaneously by one man. On closing these gates
ordinary coil or ornamental springs or vertical buffers are fixed at
the place where each pair of gates meet to prevent any shock to the
gates on being lowered or on falling into their normal horizontal
positions. Somewhat similar means are provided to receive the heel posts
of the gates when, on being opened, they attain the vertical position.
Side gates, wickets, and doors can be operated in the same way.
My improved mode of thus opening and closing the gates is effected
by pushing forward and backward a lever fixed to or keyed on one
of the shafts near the heel post of one of the gates. When necessary
the same man can open the side gates or doors by having the operating
lever thereof placed near the one used for operating the principal or
centre gates. In this case to prevent any shock on closing the gates
a cast-iron projection covered with india-rubber is provided for the
clapping post of the gate to fall and rest upon. By an extension of
this mode of opening and closing gates one man can with ease operate
the gates of two or three level crossings within a reasonable distance
by simply working two or three levers placed near him; the whole.
of the gates would thereby be raised or closed almost instantaneously.
The gates are held in their respective positions by the balance weights;
these weights also cause the apparatus to be as easily worked as that
used for signals.
The great advantages of this Invention are self-evident. Economy
is effected by its enabling one man to do the work of two or three in
certain cases, at the same time it provides greater safety to the public

page_text: especially in bad weather, in the prompt and simultaneous opening or
closing of the whole of the gates at a crossing by one simple movement,
and also safety to the gate-keeper himself from his not being required
to cross the line, or indeed to move from his post or position from the
commencement of the operation to its close. Where the foot traffic
over a level crossing is considerable this plan will afford great facility
therefor, and the public will lose less time than heretofore, on account
of the rapidity with which the gates can be thrown up, raised, or lowered
to allow them to pass over.