IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING RAILWAY POINTS, SIGNALS, POINT-LOCKS, AND LOCKS FOR GATES, BRIDGES, AND TURNTABLES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Black, junior, of Canterbury Terrace, Kilburn, in
the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR WORKING RAILWAY POINTS, SIGNALS, POINT-LOCKS, AND LOCKS FOR
GATES, BRIDGES, AND TURNTABLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Black at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th March 1880.
PETER BLACK, junior, of Canterbury Terrace, Kilburn, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING RAILWAY POINTS,
SIGNALS, POINT-LOCKS, AND LOCKS FOR GATES, BRIDGES, AND TURNTABLES."
It is usual to collect and arrange in one place signal box or cabin, the levers for
working a number of railway points, signals, point-locks, or locks for gates, bridges.
or turntables, some of which are worked at considerable distances, each by a distinct
and separate rod connecting it to its operating lever. My Invention relates to
means of rendering such connections more simple and economical by making ouc
and the same connecting rod convey movement from either of two of the operating
levers to a detector point-lock, or to either of two of the distant points, signals, or
locks.
For this purpose I link the two operating levers to the opposite arms of a sway-
beam, which at an intermediate point I link to a single connecting rod extending
nearly to the distant object or objects that have to be worked by it. When that
object is a detector poiul-lock, the two levers, which are in that case locking levers,
are linked to the sway beam, so that when the one lever is moved over the
connecting rod is pulled, and when the other lever is moved over the connecting
rod is pushed, the point-lock being thus worked in the known manner for securing
a set of points in either of their two attitudes, and for detecting by resistance to
the movement of either of the locking levers any failure in the complete movement
of the points.
When two sets of points have to be worked by the single rod, connected as
above described, to their two operating levers at its one end, I connect the other end
of the rod to the two sets of points through apparatus so arranged that when
either set of the points is being moved by the rod the other set is held stationary,

page_text: the two operating levers being thus made to exert through the one connecting rod
two separate actions, one on each set of the points. The apparatus for thus
separating the actions of the rod may be constructed and arranged in various ways.
According to one construction the connecting rod moves a slide or an arm
presenting cam-paths, in which work the pins of rods or levers linked respectively
to the two sets of points, these cam paths being so formed that when the connecting
rod is moved to or fro on one side of its middle position it works the one set of points
holding the other set at rest, and conversely, when it is moved to or fro on the other
side of its middle position. The cam paths instead of being formed in or on the
slide or arm worked by the connecting rod may be formed in arms connected
respectively to the two sets of points. Or the rods that are linked to the two set
of points may be arranged to cross each other, each rod presenting a notch through
which the other rod can slide, and each thus holding the other stationary, while it
is itself in motion. According to another construction, the one connecting rod may
be linked to the middle joints of two toggles, each of these toggles being linked at
one of its ends to one set of the points, and the ends of the toggles being guided so
that when they are moved to or from their middle position either way one end of
each is held stationary while the corresponding end of the other is left free.
Instead of working two sets of points in this manner, two signals or two locks
could be so worked, or a signal and a set of points, or any two of such points.
signals, or locks as it might be convenient or desirable to connect through one rod
to their respective two operating levers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Peter Black in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
September 1880.
PETER BLACK, junior, of Canterbury Terrace, Kilburn, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING RAILWAY POINTS,
SIGNALS, POINT-LOCKS, AND LOCKS FOR GATES, BRIDGES, AND TURNABLES."
It is usual to collect and arrange in one place signal box or cabin, the levers for
working number of railway points, signals, point-locks, or locks for gales, bridges,
or furntables, some of which are worked at considerable distances, cach by a distinct
and separate rod connecting it to its operating lever. My Invention relates to
means of rendering such connections more simple and economical by making one
and the same connecting rod convey movement from either of two of the operating
levers to a detector point-lock, or to either of two of the distant points, signals, or
locks.
For this purpose I link the two operating levers to the opposite arms of a sway-
beam, which at an intermediate point I link to a single connecting rod extending
nearly to the distant object or objects that have to be worked by it. When that
object is a detector point-lock, the two levers, which are in that case locking levers,
are linked to the sway beam, so that when the one lever is moved over the
connecting rod is pulled, and when the other lever is moved over the connecting
rod is pushed, the point-lock being thus worked in the known manner for securing
a set of points in either of their two attitudes, and for detecting by resistance to
the movement of either of the locking levers any failure in the complete movement
of the points.
When two sets of points have to be worked by the single rod, connected as
above described, to their two operating levers at its one end, I connect the other end
of the rod to the two sets of points through apparatus so arranged that when
either set of the points is being moved by the rod the other set is held stationary,
the two operating levers being thus made to exert through the one connecting rod
two separate actions, one on each set of the points. The apparatus for thus
separating the actions of the rod may be constructed and arranged in various ways.
According to one construction the connecting rod moves a slide on an arm
presenting cam paths, in work the pius of rods or levers linked respectively to
the two sets of points, these cam paths being so formed that when the connecting
rod is moved to or fro on one side of its middle position it works the one set of points
holding the other set at rest, and conversely, when it is moved to or fro on the other
side of its middle position. The cam paths instead of being formed in or on the
slide or arm worked by the connecting rod may be formed in arms connected
respectively to the two sets of points. Or the rods that are linked to the two set
of points may be arranged to cross each other, each rod presenting a notch through
which the other rod can slide, and each thus holding the other stationary, while it
is itself in motion. According to another construction, the one connecting rod may
be linked to the middle joints of two toggles, each of these toggles being linked at
one of its ends to one set of the points, and the ends of the toggles being guided so
that when they are moved to or from their middle position either way, one end of
each is held stationary while the corresponding end of the other is left free.
Instead of working two sets of points in this manner, two signals or two locks
could he so worked, or a signal and a set of points, or any two of such points,
signals, or locks as it might be convenient or desirable to connect through one rod
to their respective two operafing levers.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is an elevation shewing one arrangement according to my Invention for
working two sets of points, of which Fig. 2 is a plan, by two levers acting through
a single rod extending from near the levers to near the points. The two levers
mounted side by side, one of which A appears in Fig. 1, have respectively short
arms a and a projecting from them in opposite directions, that is to say, a is the
short arm of the one lever A, and a' is the short arm of the lever behind A, which
I may indicate by the letter A', although being behind A it does not appear on
the Figure. To the short arms a, a, joint a sway beam B, aud to the middle
of B 1 joint a rod which, by suitable levers or bell cranks such as b', is connected
to the rod C, this being the rod of cousiderable length which has to extend to the
neighbourhood of the different sets of points. When the front lever A is pulled over
to the right the arm is raised, and as the arm a is stationary the sway beam B
is thus raised on its pin as a fulcruni, raising the rod band thus pulling the rod C
in the direction of its length. When again the hind lever A' is pulled over to the
right the arma is made to descend, remaining stationary, and thus the rod bis
depressed and the rod C is pushed in the direction of its length. Hence, according
as the one or the other of the two levers A, A', is moved to the right the rod C in
pulled or pushed, and when the levers A, A', are moved back to the left the rod C
is subjected to a corresponding push and pull. Near the points, which are marked
respectively D and D in Fig. 2, the rod C is jointed to the middle of a lever or
sway beam E, the ends of which are connected through suitable bell cranks to the
iwo points rols d, d, respectively. When the rod C is pulled the rod d is pulled
and the points D are shifted, the other points D₁ being at this time home to
the one rail. When, on the other hand, the rod C is pushed the points D' are
shifted, the other points D being then home to the one rail. As the pull or push
of the rod C depends, as above described, on the movement of one or other of the
two levers A or A, thus the shifting of the one or the other set of points D or D'
is made to result from the movement of one or the other of the levers A or A', the
single rod C sufficing for the connection of these two levers to the two sets of
points. As the levers A and A', besides being capable of thus shifting their
respective points in the one direction, must also be capable of shifting the poiuts
back again by their reverse movement, I provide for this at the crossing of two of
the point rods, as at , by notching both rods so that either can slide through the
notch of the other, but when either is so slid the other is held stationary until, by
.shifting back the former till the two notches again coincide, the latter can be
moved, and when it is so moved the former is in its turu held stationary. A
modified form of the apparatus is shewn in elevation at Fig. 3, the two sets of
points worked by it being shewn in plan at Fig. 4. In this case the two levers
A and A' (of which only the front one A is seen in Fig. 3) have their short arms
a, a', extending from them in the same direction but of unequal length so that
they are jointed to opposite ends of the sway beam B to a point of which pro-
portionally dividing it the connecting rod is jointed. This rod is connected to
the rod C which, extending to near the points D and D', is jointed to the middle
of a sway beam or lever E, the ends of which are connected to the point rods d, d'.
These rods where they cross are notched as before described, the one at and the
other at ³. A movement of either of the levers A, A', so as to pull the rod C is
ineffective on the points D because the rod d is held stationary by its notch at d
but it is effective on the points D' which may thus be shifted. The notch being
thus brought into coincidence with the rod d, the movement of the other of the
levers A, A, still pulling the rod C will cause the other points D to be shifted,
their rod a sliding through the notch, and so holding the rod stationary. In
cases where the levers A and A' that have to work one rod C are not next to each
other, but at some distance apart in the row of levers, the connection may be

page_text: arranged as shewn in side view at Fig. 5 and in front view at Fig. 6, the two
levers A and A having their projecting arms jointed to the ends of a longitudinal
sway beam B, the middle of which is jointed to the rod b. Fig. 7 is a plan
shewing the arrangement of a detector point-lock, the bolt of which Fis
worked by the pull or push of the rod C moved, as above described, in the ono
direction or the other by one of two lovers. When the rod C is pulled towards
the right by the action of one of the levers, the bolt is also pulled towards the
right, its projection f entering the hole in the cross bar G of the points D, the
locking bar H being at the same time moved over towards the left. If however
the points D are not fairly home, as the projection cannot then enter the hole in
the bar G, the resistance thus opposed to the movement of C apprises the operator
that the points are unsafe. In like manner when the points D have been shifted
so as to bring the hole in the bar G into coincidence with the other projection f
of the bolt 1, the push of the rod C towards the left will cause the insertion of f¹
into the hole, provided the points are fairly home. In either case when the
projection or is inserted the points are held firmly home, and the bolting
cannot be withdrawn for the purpose of shifting the points while a train is passing,
the locking bar H which is connected to the bolt being then held stationary by
the wheels of the passing train. According to the modified arrangement shewn in
plan at Fig. 8, two separate bolts and f', each connected to a locking bar H, H',
are worked by the pull or push of the rod C, their connections being notched
where they cross at de, so that when either is moved the other is held stationary.
The rod C may be connected to the points or other apparatus which it has to work
through toggle joints arranged as shown in Figs. and 10, these toggle joints
having at some of their joints cam projections, such as is shewn separately at
Fig. 11, which engage in recesses of their bearings. Thus, referring to Fig. 9, when
the rod C is pulled towards the right, the end of the toggle T, and the end u of
the toggle being kept in their bearings while the ends and are free, the
rod will be pulled while remains stationary, or when C is pushed towards the
left, the ends and being kept in their hearings, while and are free, the
rod will be pulled while remains stationary, the result of this movement being
ns shewn in Fig 10. According to the arrangement shewn in Figs. 12 and 13, the
rod C works a sliding piece having a central tooth or projection which
n stud on the one or the other of the two bell cranks, A, according as C is pushed
or pulled, the sliding piece having also recesses L, L', which respectively engage the
other arms of the bell cranks, so that when one of them, ask, is moved moving the
rod d, the other with its rod is held stationary. According to the modified
arrangement shewn in Fig. 14, the projection K has inclined sides, which according
as the rod C is pushed or pulled act on one or other of the rollers on the rods d, d,
moving the one rod while the other is held stationary by its roller engaging in the
straight slot L or L' of the sliding piece attached to C. The rods d, di, shown in
Figs. 12, 13, and 14, instead of being near to one another may be at some distance
apart, in which case the sliding piece K may be divided into two separate halves
connected by a rod of suitable length. It often happens that when a rod, such
as C, has to move either of two things such as signals according as it is pulled or
pushed, it is necessary that the action which is to move the one of them should at
the same time lock the other of them. This interlocking may be effected, as
already described, by arrangements such as are shewn in Figs. 9 to 14 inclusive.
Figs. 15 and 16 shew arrangements for the same purpose in which a transversely
sliding bolt M is moved by an incline on one or both of the rods d, d, so as to
catch into a notch of the other of these rods; Figs. 17 and 18 shew arrangements
in which the sliding bolt M acts in conjunction with a tumbler N for the same
purpose.
engages
with
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim in respect of apparatus for communicating move-
ment from hand levers to objects such as railway points, signals, point-locks, or

page_text: locks for gates, bridges, or turntables, which are situated at considerable distances
from the levers that work them,-
First. Linking two of the operating levers to the opposite arms of a sway beam,
which at an intermediate point is linked to a single connecting rod extending
nearly to two objects to he worked by the two levers, and connected to these
objects in such a manner that when the one object is moved in obedience to the
movement of one of the levers, the other is held stationary, thus dispensing with a
second length of connecting rod, substantially as herein described.
Second. Connecting the single connecting rod referred to in the preceding
claim to the two objects to be worked by its pull and push respectively through
toggle joints having their end bearings provided with cam stops, so that the one
object is held stationary while the other is moved, substantially as herein described
with reference to Figs. 9 and 10 of the accompanying Drawings.
Third. In connecting the single connecting rod referred to in the first claim
to the two objects moved respectively by its pull and push the use of a sliding
plate having a projection K and slots L, L, arranged and operating substantially
as herein described with reference to Figs. 12, 13, and 14 of the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Black, junior, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
Que thousand eight hundred and eighty.
PETER BLACK, JUNIOR. (L.B.).