IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING, ACTUATING, AND SETTING IN MOTION RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS, ALSO IN THE APPARATUS FOR REGULATING OR GOVERNING THE ACTION AND MOVEMENT OF SUCH POINTS AND SIGNALS IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cariss, of Kilburn West, in the County of
Middlesex, Superintendant of Works, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING, ACTUATING, AND
SETTING IN MOTION RAILWAY POINTS AND SIGNALS, ALSO IN THE APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING OR GOVERNING THE ACTION AND MOVEMENT OF SUCH POINTS
AND SIGNALS IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER."
Scaled the 13th August 1867, and dated the 27th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cariss at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th April
1867.
I, JOHN CARISS, of Kilburn West, in the County of Middlesex, Super-
intendant of Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING,
ACTUATING, AND SETTING IN MOTION RAILWAYS POINTS AND SIGNALS, ALSO IN THE
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING OR GOVERNING THE ACTION AND MOVEMENT OF
SUCH POINTS AND SIGNALS IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER," to be as follows:--
The Invention relates to a novel arrangement, construction, and disposition
of the mechanical contrivance and apparatus employed for locking and for
actuating or setting in motion the locking and unlocking gear used for
regulating or governing the action and movement of railway "points," aud
in combination with the signals, and in relation to each other, the novel
improved arrangement enabling the pointsman to inspect the working parts

page_text: of the mechanism in order that he can clean or oil any bar lock or lever in the
apparatus, and also for enabling a mechanic or other skilled workman readily
to effect any alteration that might be required to the locking apparatus.
The improvements consist in arranging the levers and bars actuating the
signals on a line and at right angles with the levers actuating the points, the
bars, bolts, or sliding rods employed for locking and unlocking the points and
signals by this arrangement intersecting each other at right angles underneath
the floor plate or platform upon which the signal and pointsman stands, the
said bars always remaining (whether sliding or stationary) over each other,
so that the bars in connection with the points are constantly embraced and
covered by the signal bars. The sliding lock bars in connection with the coming
in and going out signals are provided with notches or recesses on their inner
sides opposite to each other, a space being left between them which will
admit of the rods or bars in connection with the levers actuating the points to
slide in a transverse direction between them for the purpose herein-after
described. The signal and point levers when in their normal position will
allow any signal that is required to be set, the action of which moves the
notched sliding bar so as to bring one of the notches on to and into contact
with the points lever corresponding with the line of rail upon which such signal
is placed for danger or otherwise; thus, if the signal for the up line indi-
cated that all was "clear" for an out going train the actual placing of that
signal in such a position would lock the levers actuating the points on the
line of rail denoted "clear" preventing thereby any points being disarranged
or put into a conflicting position that would cause the outgoing train to diverge
from the "clear up line."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cariss in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CARISS, of Kilburn West, in the County of Middlesex, Superintendent of
Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Cariss, Her special licence that I, the said John Cariss, my executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Cariss, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR LOCKING, ACTUATING, AND SETTING IN MOTION RAILWAY POINTS AND
SIGNALS, ALSO IN THE APPARATUS FOR REGULATING OR GOVERNING THE ACTION AND
MOVEMENT OF SUCH POINTS AND SIGNALS IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Cariss, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 John Cariss, 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 following statement
and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:--
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement, construction, and disposition
of the parts of apparatus for locking and unlocking railway points and signals,
and by which the action and movement of railway points are in combination
with the signals governed, controlled, and regulated, and they are caused to
act and react upon each other. And it consists in combining together in a
novel manner a series of rectangular bars, bolts, or sliding rods crossing or
intersecting each other within a suitable frame, box, or bed plate which may
be fixed horizontally or vertically. The rectangular bars are each intended to be
connected with and in their action to represent either a pair of railway points
or a railway signal, which having to be moved or the position thereof changed,
the required movement or motion is communicated through the proper-bar,
which is interposed between the ordinary hand lever or lever handle and the
signal or the point (as the case may be) for that purpose. These bars may
vary in their dimensions and in their proportion of breadth to thickness and
are notched on one or more faces, and for convenience and economy of space
two or more bars may be placed and worked face to face and parallel to cach
other at any suitable distance apart, to admit of the bars placed at right angles
thereto passing between them, and a series of sets or layers of these bars may
be combined together within similar frames, cases, or bed plates of cellular
or other convenient form or structure, and be superimposed, placed face to

page_text: face or back to face, or otherwise combined together in such a manner as
will allow of each section, portion, or layer containing its own
bars or
sliding rods being readily separated and removed from the others. The
channels or grooves in which the bars, bolts, or sliding rods are fitted may
be of different widths and vary in depth, so as to permit of the requisite
variations in and combinations of the notched bars being effected in a convenient
manner.
I prefer generally to place the frame or box horizontally, so as to form a
platform upon which the signal and pointsmen may stand whilst performing
their duties; and I prefer to place the point levers in front, whilst the signal
levers are at right angles thereto, and disposed partly on the right and partly
on the left of the platform, the levers being ranged on three sides thereof,
although any other convenient arrangement and disposition of the point and
signal levers may be made, such as the whole being in one line or in two
parallel lines, or in lines at right angles to each other, and the connection
between the levers and the bars, bolts, or sliding rods may either be direct or
through any of the usual or common meclianical means employed for changing
the direction of or for transmitting motion or movement.
For the ordinary class of railway junctions for double lines of rails, main
and branch, I prefer to place the bars to represent the points between the
bars representing the signals, although, of course, they may be otherwise dis-
posed, and by notching both faces of the point bars to cause the notches on
the upper faces of the lower bars and the notches on the lower faces of the
upper bars to take into or engage them when requisite for the purpose of
effecting the locking.
I am aware that in railway point and signal apparatus constructed in
accordance with the Patent granted to John Saxby and John Stinson Farmer,
on the Twenty-seventh day of February One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-seven, bars, bolts, or rods crossing each other at right angles, and having
collars or projections thereon, or notches or recesses cut or formed therein
for the purpose of engaging or interlocking have been described, and that
motion has been communicated to such rods in various ways; but by the
present Invention the bars, bolts, or sliding rods rest in and are guided and
move in continuous grooves or channels, which guide them and prevent their
being sprung or bent, and maintain them securely throughout so much of their
length as is in use in proximity to each other, whilst the facilities offered for
the purposes of examination, repairs, or alteratious are thoroughly secured,
as also accessibility to all the working and wearing parts.
One of the arrangements and dispositions of the parts of the apparatu, which

page_text: I prefer to adopt in putting my Invention into practice, and which I have
selected for the purpose of illustration in the accompanying Sheet of Draw-
ings, consists in arranging the locking bars of the signals in lines at right
angles with and to the bars intended for locking the points, in a series of
grooves within a frame, box, or it may be a sole plate, which I have shewn
as being employed as the platform on which the signal man may stand, so that
the bars, bolts, or sliding rods employed for locking and unlocking the points
and signals are in this arrangement of apparatus made to cross or intersect
each other at right angles beneath the floor plate or platform. The signal
locking bars are likewise shewn in the arrangement of apparatus (which
I have illustrated) as remaining generally throughout their working length
opposite and in proximity to each other, and the bars in connection with the
points are alternately held by the notches in or permitted to move or slide
between the inner faces of the top and bottom.rows or series of signal bars;
and although no rollers or pressing springs are shewn for holding the middle
or point bars in their places against the bottom of the grooves, such may be
applied in practice.
In the arrangement of apparatus illustrated in the accompanying Drawing
the sliding lock bars in connection with "the coming in" and "going out"
signals are provided with notches or recesses respectively on the edges or sides
opposite to each other, a space being left between the sliding leck bars which
will admit of the sliding lock bars or rods in connection with the hand levers
actuating the points sliding in a transverse direction between them, as more
fully herein-after described.
The "signal" and "point levers" or lever handles, when in their normal
position, i.e., when all the signals are at "danger," and the points are capable
of being moved, will allow of the movement of certain of the signals that are
required to be set, the movement and action of which lever causes the notched
sliding bar to bring one or more of the notches into contact with some other
sliding locking bar, and obstruct its passage and the movement of the points
corresponding with the lines of rail upon which such signal is placed and moved
to indicate "danger" or "caution," as the case. may be; thus, if the signal for
the "
up line" indicated that all was "clear" for an outgoing train the actual
placing or movement of that signal into such a position. would lock the levers
which actuate (through the corresponding sliding bars) the points on the line
of rails indicated as "being clear," thereby preventing any pair of "points"
being disarranged, or being put into any conflicting position.
Such an arrangement of apparatus constructed in accordance with my
Invention, and intended for the purpose of governing or regulating the move-

page_text: ment of trains upon a system consisting of a double main line having a simple
branch and a siding thereout of at a junction station I have illustrated in the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, where Figure 1 represents a general plan
or diagram of a portion of the permanent way of a railway, where in addition
to the points of the branch lines there are points to enable a train to pass from
either of the main lines into a siding, as there shewn.
The position of the various signals (semaphore, dise, or other day signals,
and the night signals connected therewith,) are also there shown, being
numbered respectively 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, which numbers correspond
with the signal moving and locking bars similarly numbered on the plan of
the mechanical apparatus, whilst the points for changing the direction of the
traffic according to the plan of the railway lines (main, branch, and sidings,)
there shewn are respectively numbered 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, which numbers
correspond with the sliding bars relating to the several points. Thus it will
be seen that as I have shewn 6 pairs of points, the sliding notehel bars of
which are connected directly to the lever handles for actuating theni, and
which are placed in one line, (say, in the front of the apparatus,) whilst as there
are 8 signals of various kinds, and in various positions, the hand levers of
the 8 notched bars belonging thereto are placed half on one side (or end) and
half on the other, (say, on the right and left of the apparatus,) these 8 bars
being disposed in two planes.
Figure 2 represents a plan view of the bars for moving and locking the
signals and points respectively. In this Figure a portion of the floor plate is
shown removed in order to exhibit the cellular construction or structure, and
the arrangement and disposition of the intersecting grooves or channels in
which the bars slide or move back and forth and perform their functions.
Figure 3 represents a vertical sectional view of the mechanical apparatus
Figure 2, taken through the bar No. 7 (for example), to illustrate the con-
nection of the bars with the ordinary forms of hand levers and lever frames,
the lever and the bar being here shown in the normal or non-acting position.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 are respectively side views and end sections of the
apparatus of the point and signal moving bars, and show the positions of their
respective notchings or locking. notches.
The principle of action of the apparatus herein last described and shown in
the several Figures may be thus explained :-When the pointsman or person
in charge of the apparatus pulls over the point lever No. 9, the sliding bar
belonging thereto is moved so as to be right for the branch down, then the signal
lever (or bar) No. 12 (or 14) which is for the "branch down" when pulled
over locks all the points 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, so that those signals only which are

page_text: "
numbered 1 and 3 for the "main up can be given, whilst signals 2, 4, 11,
and 13 are locked at "danger."
Moreover, as a further illustration of the action of the apparatus it will be
seen on reference to the Sheet of Drawings that by pulling over the point
lever No. 6 from its normal position for the purpose of shunting from the
"main up" to the "main down," or vice versa, all the signals are locked at
danger, so that the whole of the lines are protected within the range of the
local system of signals, which is bounded on each side by a distant signal or
distant signals, which protect the traffic upon the portions of the line to which
they individually or collectively relate; thus any signal being placed at caution
would prevent the point lever No. 6 from being moved from its normal
position; thus it will be seen that a safe and effective system of traffic
movement is thereby secured.
In the detailed views of the notched sliding bars, shown in the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings in Figures 4, 5, and 6 as detached views, each
set of bars consists of two signal bars placed face to face with the point bars
between them, shown in section as in Figure 4, where each of the bars is
shown as removed from its respective place in the order of number and com-
bination in which the several bars would be placed and worked in their
respective grooves, but they are each turned with the side faces of the signal
bars to view, and the ends of the point bars are shown in section between
their notched edges. In Figures five and six the six notched bars belonging to
the points are similarly arranged to those I have just described, and are so
placed for the purpose of better explaining the action of the one series of bars
with their notched edges upon the series of bars placed at right angles thereto,
for the purpose of taking into or engaging with them, here the side faces of
the point bars are shown with the notches on both edges thereof. Each point
bar is shown between the two sets of signal bais, the ends of the eight signal
bars being shown in section, the bars of the lower series being narrower than
those of the upper series.
Although have shewn in the accompanying Drawing (on Figure 2), and
for the sake of clearness in the textual description of my said Invention, the
several hand levers or lever handles divided into three portions and arranged
on three sides of a parallelogram, the six point levers being on the longer
side thereof, whilst one half of the signal levers is placed at each of the
shorter sides or ends of the parallelogram, the signal band levers belonging
to the signal bars would be, if brought into action at the same time from their
normal position, made to approach each other, when opposite levers, say,
Nos. 1 and 14, 2 and 13, 3 and 12, or 4 and 11, could be moved at the same

page_text: time; but I do not intend thereby to confine myself to such an arrangement
or disposition of the point and signal working hand levers, although such an
arrangement is a mechanical and self-evidently convenient arrangement in
many situations and circumstances; neither do I intend to make a claim for
the said arrangement and disposition of the point and signal working hand
levers (shewn in Figures 2 and 3), as thereby forming a part or portion of
the present Invention, inasmuch as such a disposition or arrangement of
hand levers for point and signal working in connection with the actuation of
other descriptions of mechanical apparatus or contrivances for point and
signal locking and working has already been patented and described by
Messrs. Saxby and Farmer in the Specification of a Patent, dated February
27th, 1867; and moreover, instead of connecting the levers to the sliding
bars directly, in manner shown in Figures 2 and 3, I prefer for some pur-
poses and in certain cases to arrange and dispose all the hand levers in one
continuous line or in two parallel straight lines, and in either of such cases
(and also when from any other cause it is more convenient) to move or
slide the notched sliding bars within their grooves by an indirect action or
mechanical means of changing the direction of motion between the hand lever
and the sliding bar to be moved. Any of the existing modes for acting upon
the gear of railway signal and point locking and actuating apparatus
present in use may be employed for the purpose of acting upon either the
sliding point bars or sliding signal bars and locking apparatus constructed
according to my Invention.
at
For some purposes I in addition to forming notches on either or both
edges or sides of some of the point bars drill the sliding bars with holes for
receiving stop pins or studs, or instead of forming round or square holes I
prefer where the thickness of the sliding bars will admit of it to form a notch
or recess on one or both sides of the bar within the width of the groove in
which the bar slides; these holes or the notches or recesses last herein referred
to are intended for the purpose of receiving a stop pin or stud, or a wedge or
fork by the side of the bar, or between the side of the bar and the groove in
which it works, which groove may also have a notch at one or on both sides
thereof, or à corresponding hole at the bottom or top of such groove for the
purpose of receiving the stop pin or stud or a mechanical equivalent therefor,
to be applied as an additional or auxiliary lock, which may be actuated or
brought into play by the movement of any hand lever or sliding bar near
thereto, but not otherwise connected therewith; thus, in addition to the
direct locking effects produced by the movement of one bar upon another at
right angles thereto, as herein-Lefore described, a secondary or intermediate

page_text: locking or a disengaging action may be effected upon either of the trans-
versely disposed sliding bars, and whether they are laid or placed horizontally
or vertically, and whether acted upon directly in the manner shown at Figures
2 and 3 of the accompanying Drawing, or in any other convenient mode,
such further secondary or intermediate locking may be operated through the
movement of one sliding bar acting upon or against a tumbler, crank arm, or
lever connected to or with the locking stud, pin, fork, or wedge piece, which
is intended for and employed to enter into and stop or secure some other
sliding bar, either parallel with or at right angles to the actuating bar, or it
may be operated by means of the hand lever thereof. The sliding notched
bars in connection with the signals may be treated in a similar manner.
Instead of employing the transverse and intersecting notched point and
signal bars according to my Invention in sets of three, that is, two notched
signal bars sliding in opposite directions face to face, each in its own groove,
and having between them the notched point bars also sliding in their own
grooves at right angles to the others, herein as before described and illustrated,
and instead of several horizontal layers of notched signal bars and front bars
sliding in grooves at right angles one to the other (also as herein-before
described), in each case having the cross cuts or passages in the sliding bars
formed therein as rectangular notches, which allow of the transversely moving
bar passing freely through the notch without producing any longitudinal
motion of the bar containing the notch through which the sliding bar is being
moved, as herein-before described.
I apply and adapt my Invention in the following manner to the require-
ments of the more comprehensive system of railway traffic working incidental
to an extensive terminal station, where many roads travel out of and run into
others, and where a fan-like system of lines radiates from two or more main
lines of road. In addition to the locking and interlocking action between the
cross bars, the one bar sliding through notches in the other bars placed at right
angles thereto, as herein-before described, I effect a movement either for
unlocking or a primary locking, or a primary and secondary locking of some
one or more of the sliding bars, where the requisite motion is provided for
between the hand lever and the sliding bar, or between the sliding bar and
the signal or other connection, or where the hand lever or lever bandle itself
is set free and is rendered capable of being moved by means of suitably shaped
side enlargements, wings, or wedge pieces, on one or more of the sliding bars,
which upon being drawn or pushed through a suitably formed notch in a
sliding bar will cause it to move in one direction or another, and such sliding
bar may le unconnected with the band lever of a point or signal, or be dis-

page_text: connected therefrom at each end; but by its motion or change of position
(effected as last described) it is caused to slide in front of or between the
notches in one or more sliding bars, so that by its movement some additional
locking or unlocking action can be effected, thereby providing for any additional
complications of traffic working.
The last herein-before described arrangements for locking either the point
or signal bars, as set forth, are intended to be employed in the manner
described as an addition to and in connection with the transverse movement
of signal and point locking bars working in transverse grooves, guides, or
channels, as herein described, and of which one of the simplest combinations
and arrangements of such locking gear or apparatus is illustrated in the Sheet
of Drawings hereunto annexed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed and may be put
into practice, and also illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
one of the simplest arrangements of the parts of such apparatus, constructed
in accordance with my said Invention, I wish it to be understood that I do
not intend hereby or herein to claim, as a substantive part of my Invention,
the placing or arranging of points and signal levers at right angles with and
to each other, or in the position shewn in Figure 2; nor for the use and
employment of bolts, bars, or rods crossing each other or extending from side
to side of a point and signal actuating and locking apparatus for the purpose of
effecting such action when such bars, bolts, or rods are not notched or recessed
and guided or fitted in grooves or channels for the purpose herein set forth,
and substantially as herein described; nor for the use and employment sepa-
rately of the parts of the apparatus berein described for effecting the secondary
or intermediate locking, or except as applied to the locking of notched sliding
bars employed for actuating and locking (and unlocking) railway points and
signals; but what I claim as my Invention is,
First, the improvements in the mechanism or apparatus employed for
locking and actuating and setting in motion railway points and signals; also
in the apparatus for regulating and governing the action and movement of
such points and signals in relation to each other, as herein particularly
described and set forth.
Second, the use or employment of recessed or notched sliding bars, bolts, or
rods working face to face in grooves, guides, or channels formed at right angles
within the same frame, box, or bed, for the purpose herein set forth.
Third, constructing the frames of railway point and signal actuating and
locking apparatus with grooves, guides, or channels at right angles to each

page_text: other, for the purpose of receiving and permitting to slide back and forth
therein the actuating and locking bars of such apparatus.
Fourth, the construction and combination within the same frame of two or
more sets of rectangular bars with notches therein, working in different planes
and face to face, the point bars and signal bars being placed and working at
right angles to each other, so as to be capable of sliding over and interlocking
with each other, as herein described and illustrated in the Figures 2, 3, 4, 5,
and 6 in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Fifth, the modes or methods herein described of effecting a further or
secondary or intermediate locking action upon the notched and rectangularly
disposed sliding bars of the point and signal actuating and locking apparatus
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cariss, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven.
Witness,
JOHN RUST,
14, Waterloo Street,
Hammersmith.
JOHN CARISS. (L.S.)