A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OF ACTUATING OR WORKING " THE POINTS OR CROSSINGS OF RAILWAYS SO AS TO DISPENSE WITH POINTSMEN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Joseph Louis Marie Lagarrigue and Pierre
Aristide Castera, both of Upper Clapton, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OF ACTUATING OR WORKING
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Joseph Louis Marie
Lagarrigue and Pierre Aristide Castera at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 18th July 1866.
We, JEAN JOSEPH LOUIS MARIE LAGARRIGUE and PIERRE ARISTIDE
CASTERA, both of Upper Clapton, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OF
ACTUATING OR WORKING THE POINTS OR CROSSINGS OF RAILWAYS SO AS TO DISPENSE
WITH POINTSMEN," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to work the points of railways by means of
mechanism attached to the locomotive so that pointsmen may be dispensed
with; the apparatus. is therefore called the mechanical pointsman. It is
applicable to all railways now constructed, and may be worked either by the
driver or the guard of the train. The driver or the guard can without any.
other agency than this improved mechanism attached to the locomotive open.

page_text: and close the points on the line of rails over which the train has to pass, and
thereby shunt the train with facility."
The operation of changing the way or working the points is effected by the
combined action of two arrangements of mechanism, one of which is connected
with the permanent way or rails and the other is placed on the locomotive.
The first arrangement of mechanism, or that which is placed on or connected
with the permanent way, consists of a transverse bar which is connected by
its two ends to the two moveable rails or points; upon this bar are fixed
two vertical pins or blocks which project up about six inches above the
rails; by acting on or pushing against either of these projecting pins or
blocks a movement to the right or left, as the case may be, will be given
to the rails which are connected together by the transverse bar, and by
this means one side of the road will be opened and the other closed. The
mechanism which is adapted to the locomotive consists of two sliding
or moveable rods each provided at their lower end with a shoe or block;
these moveable or sliding rods are placed in front of the locomotive, and may
be raised or lowered by means of a lever. By lowering either of the rols
the shoe as the locomotive. advances is brought against the block on the
transverse rod of the moveable points, which will thereby be shifted to the
right or left in the direction desired. The hinder part of the engine or
tender is provided with a similar apparatus or mechanism, and the two
apparatus are connected together by a longitudinal bar placed under the
locomotive. The apparatus is worked by the engine driver by means of a
lever connected to the longitudinal bar by jointed rods, whereby an axial
motion may be given to the longitudinal rod so as to bring the shoes into a
position to strike against the blocks on the transverse rod of the points.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Joseph Louis Marie Lagarrigue and Pierre Aristide
Castera in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th January 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JEAN
JOSEPH LOUIS MARIE LAGARRIGUE and. PIERRE ARISTIDE CASTERA, both of
Upper Clapton, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting: -
: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant unto us, the said Jean
Joseph Louis Marie Lagarrigue and Pierre Aristide Castera, Her special licence.

page_text: that we, the said Jean Joseph Louis Marie Lagarrigue and Pierre Aristide
Castera, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Jean Joseph Louis Marie Lagarrigue and Pierre Aristide Castera, our,
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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OF ACTUATING OR
WORKING THE POINTS OR CROSSINGS OF RAILWAYS SO AS TO DISPENSE WITH POINTS-
MEN," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Jean Joseph
Louis Marie Lagarrigue and Pierre Aristide Castera, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 Jean Joseph Louis Marie Lagarrigue,
on behalf of myself and of the said Pierre Aristide Castera, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manuer the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto, annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (tha: is to say): -
The object of this Iuvention is to work the points of railways by means of
mechanism attached to the locomotive so that the pointsmen may be dispensed:
with; the apparatus is therefore called the mechanical pointsman. It is
applicable to all railways now constructed, and may be worked either by the:
driver or the guard of the train. The driver or the guard can without any
other agency than this improved machinery attached to the locomotive open
and close the points on the line of rails over which the train has to pass and
thereby shunt the train with facility.
The operation of changing the way or working the points is effected by the
combined action of two arrangements of mechanism, one of which is connected.
with the permanent way or rails and the other is placed on the locomotive.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn various ways of effecting the
object of our Invention..
'
Fig. 1 is a plan view shewing the simplest arrangement. That part of the
mechanism which is placed on or connected with the permanent way consists:
of a transverse bar a, which is connected by its two ends to the two moveable:
ails or points 6, 61. Upon this bar is fixed a vertical pin which projects up

page_text: about six inches above the rails, and on this is mounted a longitudinal bar c,
which is pointed at its forward end and is connected by a pin joint at its
opposite end to one of the traverses of the permanent way; by acting on or
pushing against either side of this projecting bar or rail a movement. to the
right or left, as the case may be, will be given to the rails which are connected
together by the transverse bar a, and by this means one side of the road will
be opened and the other closed. The mechanism which is adapted to the
locomotive is shewn at Figures 2 and 3, and consists of two vertical sliding
or moveable rods d', d, each provided at their lower ends with a shoe or
block; these moveable or sliding rods are placed in front of the locomotive,
and may be raised or lowered by means of a lever connected therewith. By
lowering either of the rods d. or d, the shoe as the locomotive advances is
brought against the longitudinal bar c, and the transverse bar a with the
moveable points connected therewith will thereby be shifted to the right or
left in the direction desired. The hinder part of the engine or tender is
provided with a similar apparatus or mechanism, consisting of vertical rods
provided with shoes and worked by levers, and the two apparatus are connected
together by a longitudinal bar placed under the locomotive. The apparatus
is worked by the engine driver by means of a lever connected to the
longitudinal bar by jointed rods, whereby an axial motion may be given to
the longitudinal rod so as to lower the vertical rods d', d, and bring the
shoes into a position to strike against the long bar c which is connected to
the transverse rod of the points. When the locomotive has passed into the
siding the transverse bar a and with it the points are drawn back into their
original position, so that the road will be open as before for an advancing train
to pass directly along the main line.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of another arrangement in which the points when
opened by the engine are kept open by the wheels of the following carriages
of the train. The longitudinal bar in this instance is acted upon only in one
direction, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4; it is connected by a vertical
pin (as in the former instance) to the transverse bar a, and is acted upon by
the shoe of the vertical rod d¹. The points b, 6', are jointed as before to the
transverse bar a, and alongside of the point 6 is another bar h, which is kept
up against the point b by a weighted lever i. It will be seen therefore that
when the engine brings the shoe d against the bar c and shunts the transverse
bar a it will throw the point b and bar h into the position shewn at Fig. 5,
and thus cause the train to run on to the siding rails 1, 1. Immediately
that the flanges of the running wheels come against the wedge-formed or
curved end h¹ of the bar h it will be forced back from the point 1 into the

page_text: position shewn by red lines in Fig. 5, and will be kept in that position all:
the while the train is passing by the points, which will be prevented from:
shifting by a bell-crank lever j, which is worked by a pin fixed in the,
transverse bar a. The pin in the bar a works in a slot in the bell-crank
lever j, which when the points are shunted by the movement of the bar a will
be brought into the position shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 4; this will bring
the arm of the lever j behind a projection on the catch k, shewn in elevation
at Fig. 6, and will thereby prevent the transverse bar from being drawn back,
and consequently the points from being moved; but when all the carriages-
bave passed the weighted lever i will force back the bar h against the point 1,
and will thus release the catch k, and allow the bar to be drawn back by a
counterbalance weight attached thereto, but not shewn in the Drawing, and
will consequently re-open the main line.
Fig. 7 represents a plan view, and Fig. 8 a cross section of another
modification in which the points when opened by the engine as in the former
instances are kept open by a catch instead of by the continual passing of the
wheels of the carriages composing the train. In this instance a is the
transverse bar to which the longitudinal bar c is jointed as before; d¹ is the
shoe of the vertical rod attached to the engine, and which by coming into
contact with the inclined face of the bar c will force it laterally, and with it
the transverse bar a which carries a catch or click into the position shewn by:
dots in the Figure. When the bar a is forced forward the catch / drops into
a notch or hole in a plate attached to the sleeper, and thus keeps the bar and
points from being drawn back again until the catch is released. A double
lever m, m, is jointed to the longitudinal bar c and is provided with a short
rod or arm n; both ends of the double lever m, m, are provided with a curved
head against which a shoe d³ belonging to a vertical rod attached to the last
or break carriage of the train is made to strike as indicated in Fig. 7, when
it passes. By striking against the projecting curved bead of the lever m
the end will be forced back and the rod or arm n pushed forward under the
catch and will lift up and relieve this latter, as shewn by red lines in Fig. 8,
so that the bar a and the points b, b¹, may be drawn back into their original
position by the action of the weighted lever o; as the lever m is provided at
each end with a curved head against which the shoe d³ may strike, it will be
5 seen that if the shoe misses one end it will strike the other.
Having now described our Invention of "A New or Improved Mode of
Actuating or Working the Points or Crossings 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, actuating or working

page_text: the points or crossings of railways by means of a mechanism attached or
adapted to the locomotive as herein set forth so that pointsmen may be
dispensed with.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Joseph Louis Marie Lagarrigue,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
L. LAGARRIGUE. (L.S.)