MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR ACTUATING SIGNAL WIRES
Year: 1884

page_text: I FRANCIS ROWLAND CLARKE of 481 Gorton Road, Reddish, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of said invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR ACTUATING SIGNAL WIRES," to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improved combination and arrangement of mechanism
for actuating signal wires in such manner as to allow the wire to expand and
contract according to the variations in temperature.
My invention consists in a lever mounted on a suitable fulcrum under the hand
lever by which the signal wire is actuated-A chain is connected with the end of
the signal wire and passes under a guide pulley fixed in any convenient manner
under a pulley carried on one end of the said lever and the chain passes over that
pulley, and over another pulley carried on the other end of the said lever and
has then a weight (which may be increased or diminished). suspended upon it
sufficient to keep the wire at the proper tension.
The pulley at the weight end of the lever is adjustable to and from the fulcrum
of the lever so that the position of the weight may be adjusted to act as a counter-
balance weight on the lever as well as a weight to stretch the signal wire and the
pulley at the opposite end of the lever has two grooves in it one for the chain and
the other a V groove for a segmental friction pawl to enter, which corresponds with
the V groove and this pawl has a tail part which will come against a bolt or stop
on the lever and to limit the lift of the pawl.
There is or may be on the pawl end of the said pulley lever an adjustable bracket
to form a connection with the rod which is used to connect the pulley lever with
the hand lever on an arm from it for actuating the signal wire this adjustable
bracket permitting of adjustment of the movements between the hand lever and
said pulley lever.
There is a screw stop or other arrangement on the framing which when the pawl
end of the said pulley lever lowers, will come against the segmental friction pawl
so as to release it from the V groove in the pulley and thus leave the chain and
consequently the wire free to move by its expansion or contraction.
The said pulley lever may be a bell crank or T lever in some cases to suit various
positions in relation to the actuating hand lever.
The chain or a part of it upon the pulleys is or may be a jointed toothed chain,
and one or both of the pulleys in the lever has in this case teeth in their grooves
to fit the links of the chain-One or more pawls are or may be used jointed on the
lever to act upon the teeth in place of the friction pawl above referred to.
L "

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I FRANCIS ROWLAND CLARKE, of 481, Gorton Road, Reddish, in the County of
Lancaster Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of said invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR. ACTUATING SIGNAL WIRES, and in,what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My invention relates to an improved combination and arrangement of mechanism
for actuating signal wires in such manner as to allow the wire to expand and
contract according to the variations in temperature.
My invention consists in a lever mounted on a suitable fulcrum under (by
preference) the hand lever by which the signal wire is actuated-A chain is
connected with the end of the signal wire and passes under a guide pulley fixed
in any convenient manner, then over a pulley carried on one end of the said lever
and over another pulley carried on the fulcrum pin of the said lever and has then
a weight (which may be increased or diminished) susponded upon it sufficient to
keep the wire at the proper tension.
There is a weight on the end of the lever which weight is adjustable to and from
the fulcrum of the lever to act as a counter balance weight. The pulleys have
each a groove for the chain, and that pulley on the fulcrum pin of the lever, has
recesses and projections to engage with the links of the chain and this pulley has
also a V groove to fit a V edged segmental friction pawl having its fulcrum on the
lever.
-
There is or may be on the pawl end of the said lever an adjustable attachment
to form a connection with the rod which is used to connect the pulley lever with
the hand lever, or with an arm from it, for actuating the signal wire, this adjustable
attachment permitting of the adjustment of the movements between the hand lever
and said pulley lever.
There is a screw stop or other arrangement on the framing which when the pawl
end of the said pulley lever lowers, will come, against the segmental friction pawl
so as to release it from the V groove in the pulley and thus leave the chain pulley
and consequently the wire free to move by its expansion or contraction.
The said pulley lever may be a bell crank or T lever in some cases to suit various
positions in relation to the actuating hand lever.
The chain or a part of it upon the pulleys is or may be a jointed toothed chain,
and one or both of the pulleys on the lever has or may have in this case teeth in
their grooves to fit the links of the chain-or if an ordinary link chain is used, the
groove of the pulley is made with recesses and projections to engage with the links
as herein before mentioned."
Fig 1 is a side elevation and fig.2 a plan view (with the lever and connected
parts in a horizontal position) illustrating my invention. a is a lever formed by
two bars (a) connected together by bolts with tubes to separate the 'bars at a³
and a³ and by a shouldered bolt with screws at each end at a*.
The axis of the lever is on a pin alin a stand or bracket b secured by bolts or
other means to a wood beam c placed in a convenient position and carried in walls
or on wood posts sunk in the ground, or otherwise fixed.
-
"
*J.'
The pin altalso forms the axis of the grooved pulley d which has a groove with
recesses and projections to engage with the links of the chain and a V groove for
the friction pawl

page_text: Another grooved pulley e is on the pin a' on the lever a the other end of which
has an adjustable weight upon it which can slide between the two bars of the
lever a and be secured by a pin passing through the bars to wholly or partly
counter balance the weight of the lever a and its connections, g is a forked
attachment which can be jointed nearer to or further from the fulcrum of the
lever a (to vary the length of pull upon the wire) and the end of this attachment
is jointed with a rod g' passing to the lever handle or to an arm from it which is
employed for actuating the signal which lever handle is usually placed on a
platform above the lever a.
Upon a pin or stud as in the lever a a segmental pawl h is jointed which has a
Vedge to fit the V groove in the pulley d.
The segmental V edge of the pawl is excentric to its axis a' so as to bite more
tightly as it rolls in contact with the V groove in the pulley d.
The weight of this segmental pawl h will cause its V edge to fall against and
keep in close contact with the V groove of the pulley d except when the lever a is
in the position in which it is shown, when the lower edge of the segmental pawl h
will come against the head of an adjusting set screw i that screws into the stand
or bracket 6 on the beam c and the head of this set screw i will hold the pawl h
out of contact with the V groove of the pulley d and leave it free to move; the
lever a being shown in the position which it occupies when the signal is at
".danger."
•
a³ is the pin having the tube upon it between the bars of the lever a which
tube on the pin will prevent the segmental friction pawl from lifting too far.
The signal wire has a length of chain attached to its end and the chain passes
under a pulley j having its axis carried in a stand & secured to a beam or sleepër
and then passes from the pulleyjover the pulley e on the end of the lever a through
the fork in the attachment g and then over the pulley d on the axis a¹ of the
lever a and then descends and has a weight or weights m attached to its end-
This weight or these weights m are heavy enough to stretch the signal wire but
are not so heavy as to overcome the weight acting on the signal arm to bring it to
the danger position.
When the handle for actuating the signal is moved to "pull off" the signal from the
danger to the "line clear" position the first least movement given to the lever a
takes the segmental pawl h clear from the head of the screw i and thus allows the
pawl to bite upon the V groove and hold the grooved pulley d from revolving
backwards and compels it to oscillate with the lever a and the hold which the
recesses and projections of the pulley d have upon the links of the chain, attaches
the chain to the lever a so that its movement will actuate the signal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination of a lever, friction pawl and grooved pulley and chain for
actuating wires for signals substantially as herein before described.
.
2. The combination and arrangement of a lever a pulleys j, e and d, friction
pawl h, chain or its equivalent and weight m for actuating wires for signals
substantially as herein before described and illustrated by the drawings.
3. The combination of the mechanism for actuating wires for signals is herein-
before described and illustrated by the drawings.
nath Jon of Time 100K