IMPROVED APPARA- TUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING THE GATES OF RAILWAY CROSSINGS, WHICH APPARATUS ALSO ACTS SIMULTANEOUSLY UPON THE SIGNALS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Lea, of Shallowford, near Stone, in
the County of Stafford, Miller, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARA-
TUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING THE GATES OF RAILWAY CROSSINGS, WHICH
APPARATUS ALSO ACTS SIMULTANEOUSLY UPON THE SIGNALS."
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 9th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Henry Lea at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th March 1863.
I, CHARLES HENRY LEA, of Shallowford, near Stone, in the County of
Stafford, Miller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING THE GATES OF RAILWAY
CROSSINGS, WHICH APPARATUS ALSO ACTS SIMULTANEOUSLY UPON THE SIGNALS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention is designed for the purpose of preventing accidents at level
crossings, and to enable one person by a simple movement of a lever to open
or close both gates, and at the same time to set the signals on both the up
and down lines of the railway. At places where a railway crosses a common
road at about right angles it is usual to have two pairs of gates so arranged as
that when they are open as regards the road they are closed as regards the
railway, and vice versa. I mount these gates so as to turn upon footsteps and

page_text: connect each gate by a link to the outer end of a lever capable of vibrating on
a fixed centre. The inner ends of each pair of levers meet in the centre and
are furnished with slotted eyes, and they are all four connected together by
rods and links running along the "six-foot way," so that they all must act
simultaneously. The outer end of one of the levers is lengthened and is con-
nected by a chain or chains to two hand levers, one of which being depressed
causes the gates all to open simultaneously, and the other closes them in a
similar manner. By connecting the ordinary semaphore or other signals on
the up and down lines to the levers which work the gates by means of chains
passing round pullies, the opening of the gates (or closing of them as regards
the railway) will be caused to raise the danger signals on both lines, a spring
or weight bringing the same down as soon as released by the closing of the
gates to the road. This arrangement will not prevent the signals from being
worked by hand in the ordinary way whenever it is required to work the
signals without opening or closing the gates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Henry Lea in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
1lENRY LEA, of Shallowford, near Stone, in the County of Stafford, Miller,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Henry Lea, Her special license that I, the said Charles
Henry Lea, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Henry Lea, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING THE GATES OF RAILWAY CROSSINGS, WHICH
APPARATUS ALSO ACTS SIMULTANEOUSLY UPON THE SIGNALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Henry Lea, my executors or ad-

page_text: ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under
the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Charles Henry Lea, 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 in writing and on reference to the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:-
This Invention is designed for the purpose of preventing accidents at level
crossings, and to enable one person by a simple movement of a lever to open
or close both gates, and at the same time to set the signals on both the up
and down lines of the railway. At places where a railway crosses a common
road at about right angles it is usual to have two pairs of gates so arranged
as that when they are open as regards the road they are closed as regards
the railway, and vice versa. I mount these gates so as to turn upon footsteps,
and connect each gate by a link to the outer end of a lever capable of
vibrating on a fixed centre. The inner ends of each pair of levers meet in
the centre, and are furnished with slotted eyes, and they are all four connected
together by rods and links running along the "six-foot way," so that they all
must act simultaneously. The outer end of one of the levers is lengthened
and is connected by a chain or chains to two hand levers, one of which being
depressed causes the gates all to open simultaneously, and the other closes
them in a similar manner. By connecting the ordinary semaphore or other
signals on the up and down lines to the levers which work the gates by means
of chains passing round pullies, the opening of the gates (or closing of them
as regards the railway) will be caused to raise the danger signals on both lines,
a spring or weight bringing the same down as soon as released by the closing
of the gates to the road. This arrangement will not prevent the signals fio i
being worked by hand in the ordinary way whenever it is required to work the
signals without opening or closing the gates.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for " Improved
Apparatus for Opening and Closing the Gates of Railway Crossings, which
Apparatus also acts simultaneously upon the Signals," I will now proceed to
describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may be
distinctly understood, I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative

page_text: thereof, and have marked the same with figures and letters of reference
corresponding with those in the following explanation thereof, that is to
say:
In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1 is a plan or horizontal view of a level
crossing on a railway showing the application of my Invention thereto, and
Figure 2 is a longitudinal view of the same.
A, A, is the "up" line of rails, and B, B, the "down" line of rails; C, C,
represents an ordinary road crossing the railway at about right angles, and
D, D, are the two pairs of gates, which are represented as closed as regards
the road and open as regards the railway, the "semaphore" signals (both on
the up and down lines) indicating "all clear." Figure 3 is a transverse view
representing the gates as closed to the rail and open to the road, both the
semaphore signals indicating "danger." I may here remark that although,
for the sake of convenience in the Drawing, the signal posts are represented as
at only a few yards distance from the gates, it is intended that they shall be
placed at the usual distance therefrom, so as to give timely warning to the
engineer of an approaching train in case of danger, and that although, for the
sake of illustration, the levers and other mechanism connected with the gates
are in the Drawing exposed to view, they will in reality be below the surface
of the ground and covered in with suitable iron plates capable of being easily
removed (in parts) for convenience of access. The gates D, D, are mounted
on footsteps, and have each a short lever a, a, a, a, attached to them at the
bottom and connected by links to the levers b, 61, 62, 63. These levers are all
four connected together by the links c, c, c, c, and lever d, d, so that all four
of the gates must work simultaneously. It will be seen that the outer end of
the lever 6 is prolonged and is connected by a chain e, e, (passing over pullies)
to the outer ends of two levers f. f. The inner ends of these levers (see
Figure 2) are connected by a chain 9, 9, passing over a wheel h, h, to which
the chain is made fast, so that on turning the wheel partly round by moving
the hand lever i, over into the position shown the dotted line in Figure 2,
the positions of the levers f, f, will be reversed, which will (by means of the
chain e, e,) pull the lever 6%, and consequently the levers b, b', and b³, into the
position represented by dotted lines in Figure 1, which will have the effect of
opening the gates as regards the rail, as also seen in dotted lines in Figure 1.
This simple movement of the hand lever i, i, will also have the effect of setting
the "danger" signal on the "up" and "down" lines by means of the chain
k, k, attached to the lever 63, and a similar chain 7, 7, attached to the lever b',
the chains passing round pullies and being attached respectively to the weighted
levers m, m, which levers, as soon as the chains are released by opening the

page_text: gates to the rails, will bring the signals down to the "all clear" position again.
I would here observe that I intend to arrange the signals so that they can be
worked when required independently of the gates, which can readily be effected
by attaching a secondary chain to each of the chains k, k, l, l, and connecting
the same to a wheel and hand lever similar to the wheel and lever h, i, and
placed in juxta-position thereto, so that the same attendant can work either
signal separately or the gates and both signals simultaneously without moving
from his position. The hand levers will be provided with pins or catches (as
usual) to hold them in position until released by the attendant.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for "Im-
proved Apparatus for Opening and Closing the Gates of Railway Crossings,
which Apparatus also acts simultaneously upon the Signals," together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention
the apparatus above described and shown in the Drawings, or any mere modi-
fication thereof, operating substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein particularly set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Henry Lea, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
CHARLES HENRY LEA. (L.S.)