IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM FOR WORKING THE LOCKING BOLTS, SWITCHES, AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jolin Brierley and Walter Wight Brierley, both of
Kilburn, in the County of Middlesex, Railway Signal Engineers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM FOR WORKING THE LOCKING
BOLTS, SWITCHES, AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS." Partly a communication from
abroad by Frederick Wade Brierley, of Philadelphia, in the United States of
America
Scaled the 27th February 1877, and dated the 1st September 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Brierley and Walter
Wright Brierley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st Sep-
tember 1876.
JOHN BRIERLEY and WALTER WRIGHT BRIERLEY, both of Kilburn, in the
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
County of Middlesex, Railway Signal Engineers.
MECHANISM FOR WORKING THE LOCKING BOLTS, SWITCHES, AND SIGNALS OF
RAILWAYS."
This Invention has for its object to simplify and thereby reduce the cost of the
mechanism employed for working the locking bolts and bars, switch points and
signals used on railways.
Our improved mechanism will, moreover, attain the desired object of operating
and locking the several parts in a more satisfactory manner than heretofore. To
this end a peculiar arrangement of chagonal slots or inclined surfaces is employed,
such diagonal slots or inclined surfaces being made to bear against other diagonal
surfaces, or against suitable pins, in such a manner that should one of these sui faces
or slots be forced forward in any particular direction the other inclined surface, or
the pin which is used in place thereof, would bear against it, and cause the rods
attached thereto to do its work as required.
These inclines may be utilized in a variety of ways, one of the most important
being their adaptation to the rods which work the switch, points, and bolts, and
they are arranged in such a manner that by one single pull of the lever in the
signal cabin the bolts will be pulled down, the switch pulled over, and the bolts
made to rise again to lock the points. In this case a combination of diagonal and
straight slots would be employed, so that while the bolts are being pulled down
the switch rod will wait, the bolts will wait while the switch is being pulled over,
CD 071

page_text: and, finally, the switches will wait in their new positions until the bolts again rise
to lock them fast.
A somewhat similar arrangement of diagonal and straight slots may be employed
for compensating for the expansion and contraction (from atmospheric influence) of
the rods used for working the points, switches, or signals. In this case two diagonal
or inclined surfaces or one inclined and one straight surface are placed in contact,
and as the rod expands or contracts with the weather the inclined surfaces will
rise or fall one against the other, leaving the rigidity of the rods intact.
These inclined surfaces may also be employed instead of bell cranks for turning
corners at right angles, a diagonal slot in this instance being employed with a fixed
pin working in it, so that should the slot be pulled or pushed in any particular
direction the pin must give way in a direction exactly at right angles to that in
which the slot is moving
These inclined surfaces or diagonal slots may be employed in a variety of ways
on railways for effecting two absolutely different motions by the same movement
of the lever in the signal cabin; they may also be employed at all points where
bell cranks are now used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Brierley and Walter Wright Brierley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st March 1877.
JOHN BRIERLEY and WALTER WRIGHT BRIERLEY, both of Kilburn, in the County
of Middlesex, Railway Signal Engineers "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM FOR
WORKING THE LOCKING BOLTS, SWITCHES, AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS" Partly
a communication from abroad by Frederick Wade Brierley, of Philadelphia, in the
United States of America.
This Invention has for its object to simplify and thereby reduce the cost of the
mechanism employed for working the locking bolts and bars, switch points, and
signals used on railways.
Our improved mechanism will, moreover, attain the desired object of operating
and locking the several parts in a more satisfactory manner than heretofore. To
this end a peculiar arrangement of diagonal slots or inclined surfaces is employed,
Buch diagonal slots or inclined surfaces being made to bear against other diagonal
surfaces, or against suitable pins, in such a manner that should one of these surfaces
or slots be forced forward in any particular direction the other inclined surface, or
the pin which is used in place thereof, would bear against it, and cause the rods
attached thereto to do its work as required.
These inclines may be utilized in a variety of ways, one of the most important
being their employment to actuate the rods which work the switch points and
locking bolts, and they are arranged in such a manner that by means of the single
pull of the hand lever in the signal cabin the bolts will be pulled down, the switches
pulled over, and the bolts made to rise again to lock the points.
The inclined surfaces may also be employed for turning corners (thereby dis-
pensing with bell cranks), and for compensating for the expansion and contraction
of the rods from variations in the temperature.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1, Sheet I, shews one arrangement of
apparatus for working the locking bolts and switch points by means of one lever,
and with only one motion.
A is the operating lever in the signal cabin, B, B¹, being two hollow plungers
attached by connecting rods to the tails on opposite sides of the lever A. The two
plungers B, B¹, have peculiar shaped slots C, C¹, into which take the pins shown
in dotted lines, and to which are attached the rods D, D¹, which operate the bolts
and switches It will be seen that when the lever A is moved over into the dotted
position it will cause the plunger B to rise and the plunger B¹ to fall, the two plungers

page_text: being of course made to move at the same speed. The slots C, C¹, in the plungers
are so formed, or are of such a shape, that when the pin to which the rod Ď is
attached is travelling along the inclined surface of the slot C, and consequently
giving a horizontal motion to the rod D, no motion will be communicated to the
rod D (which is connected by its pin to the plunger B¹) as the pin of the rod D¹
will be travelling along that portion of the slot C, which is not diagonal or inclined.
The motions of the two rods D and D¹ will by this means be made alternate. In this
manner the first third of the stroke of the lever A is required to pull down the
locking bolts by causing the rod D to run along the inclined portion of the slot C,
the rod D¹ (which works the switch) in the meantime remaining inactive, its pin
being in the vertical portion of the slot C¹. During the second part of the stroke
of the lever A the switch will be pushed over as the pin of the rod D¹ will run
up the incline of the slot C, the rod D in the meantime being motionless, its pin
then being in the vertical portion of the slot C. Finally, during the third part of
the stroke of the lever A the bolts will be returned to their normal positions by
the rod D running up the second incline in the slot C, the rod D¹ at the same time
remaining inactive in the second vertical portion of the slot CT.
The frames E, E¹, are simply guides, in which the plungers B, B¹, may rise and
fall vertically, while the rods D, D¹, are caused to move at proper times in a
horizontal direction.
Figures 2, 3, and 4 show a modification of the above arrangement, both bolts
and switch being worked from the wedge or inclined surface bar, which causes
the locking bolts to rise and fall. A horizontal motion of about ten and a half
inches is communicated to the bar F, the first part of which motion causes the
bolts G to run down the inclined slot H; the second part of the motion then
causes the arm I to rise in the slot K, as shewn in Fig. 3, and thereby brings
the switches S over, the bolts in the meantime remaining down The third part of
the motion of the bar F, Fig. 4, causes the bolts G, Fig. 2, again to rise in the
second inclined portion of the slots H, thereby relocking the points in their next
position.
The Figures in Sheet II. shew an arrangement by which the rods working
parallel to one another, and from the same connection, niay be made to move in
opposite directions, and either at equal speeds or one faster than the other This
arrangement is useful for working the semaphore signal arms by two rods, or
where two unequal motions are required with only one movement of the lever in
the signal cabin. L is a framework in which slides a flat slotted plate M, which
passes through hollow plungers N, N, in which are firmly fixed pins O, which pass
through the slots M' in the plate M, so that as the plate M is moved to the right or
the left it will cause the plungers N, N, to move backwards or forwards, according
to the direction of the slot. The slots may of course be made of any desired shape
as may be required for the work to be done, or the motion to be produced.
The Figures in Sheet III. shew a similar arrangement to that shewn in Sheet II.,
the slot in this case being simple, and not compound. This arrangement of apparatus
is useful for turning corners at right angles, and we are thereby enabled to dispense
with bell cranks, and prevent the oscillation of the rods to which they are attached.
It is well known that the bell crank always moves in a circle, whereas our apparatus,
shewn in Sheet III, always moves in straight lines. Expansion and contraction of
the iron rods which work the signals or points may also be nullified by the use
of one of these small plungers, as it is only necessary to place one midway
between the two ends of the rods, and to make a slot of sufficient length, in
order to overcome the inconvenience caused by the expansion and contraction of
the rods.
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in the Mechanism for
Working the Locking, Bolts, Switches, and Signals of Railways," and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we claim as the Invention
secured to us by Letters Patent, as aforesaid,―
The construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, herein set forth, or any

page_text: mere modification thereof, whereby by means of one single pull of the hand lever
the locking bolts will be pulled down, the switches or points pushed over or
changed in position, and the locking bolts made to rise again and lock the points
in their new position, as above described.
We also claim the combination, as and for the purposes herein set forth, of inclined
or diagonal slots or surfaces with straight slots or surfaces for acting on the
mechanism, whereby the locking bolts, points, signals, or other moveable appliances
connected with railway switches or crossings are actuated, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Brierley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the First day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
JOHN BRIERLEY. (L.S.)