Improvements in Wheel Guards or Obstruction Removers for Railway and Tramway Engines or Vehicles.
Year: 1888

page_text: Improvements in Wheel Guards or Obstruction Removers for Railway
and Tramway Engines or Vehicles.
I, JOHN HENRY LAWSON of 24 Albion Road, Liverpool Road, N. London, of no
occupation at present, but formerly an assistant.to my father John Lawson, Chrono-
meter Maker to the Admiralty, London do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
It consists of two forms-each form of the invention being movable. One form
comes down in a semi-circular sweeping curve in front of each locomotive or tramcar
wheel, and falls back against a fixed rest on coming in contact with a person or
obstruction on the line. The extreme end near the rail being about 31 of an inch or
an inch clear of the rail, and having a very small wheel underneath which prevents
it tearing the rail when driven back and downwards. The upper part of the extreme
end is also well smoothed and rounded, so as not to cut when slipping under a person
on the line. The invention works in a head which is fixed to the engine or tramcar.
At the back of the head a spring is fixed which holds the Life Arm up free of the
rail the spring being only strong enough to uphold the Life-Arm and overcome the
resistance of the wind in travelling. The other form instead of being semi-circular
comes down in a backward curve in the shape of the wheel itself until about one foot
from the rail; it then branches forward forining a curved right angle, as it were-the
semi-circular curve of the arm in the first form being made up for by a strap which is
fastened half way up the arm and then brought forward and made fast about eight
inches from the extreme end, and which is left slack so as to hang in a curved form.
This form is also kept free of the rails by means of a spring at the back of the head ;
and also has a very small wheel under the extremity to prevent it tearing the rail-
each form, owing to the curve, falling downwards to the rail on being driven back-
wards. This form of the invention has no rest but falls back against the wheel of the
engine or tram-car, which it is prevented from tearing by a small wheel at the back of
the Life-Arın.
Dated this 0th day of October 1888

page_text: and Tramway Engines or Vehicles.
I, JOHN HENRY LAWSON, 24 Albion Road, Liverpool Road, N. London of no
occupation at present, but formerly assistant to my father, John Lawson, Marine
Chronometer Maker London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement
The invention, which is in two forms, is a movable, curved, metal arm, so formed
and shaped, that, on coming in contact with an obstruction lying on the railway or
tramway line, it instantly sinks to the rail and sweeps it off, rising again the moment the
obstruction is removed. If the obstruction should be a person lying on the rail, the
curve of the arm glides under them without cutting. The name given to the inven-
tion is "A Life-Arm and obstruction remover for railway and tramway engines or
cars.
Each form of the invention works in a head, Fig. 4. A, Sheet 3. the upper part of
the arm being fitted into the head, and held by a bolt passing through both; a flat
spring Fig. 4. B, Sheet 3. screwed to the back of the head, and projecting about six
inches downwards, presses against the back of the arm, and holds the extreme end up
free of the rail. This spring, which is nearly as broad at the top as the back of the
head, tapers downwards, and is made only strong enough to uphold the arm and
overcome the resistance of the wind in travelling. The head is screwed or fixed to the
underpart of the engine or car, and a little in advance of each wheel the part of the
arm fitted into the head being so shaped that the extreme end of the curve cannot rise
more than three quarters of an inch or an inch above the rail. (Fig. 4. C. Sheet 3.)
(Fig. 1. D. Sheet 1).
:
The first form of the invention Fig. 1. Sheet 1. comes down, from a short arm, in a
semicircular sweeping curve in front of each engine or car wheel, and falls back
against a fixed rest Sheet 1. E. on coming in contact with an obstruction lying on the
line the extreme end of the arm, owing to its curved form, sinking at the same
instant down to the rail, and, if the obstruction should be a person lying on the rail,
instantly gliding under them. Under the extreme end Fig. 5. Sheet 3. a very small
wheel is fitted into a groove cut in the arm; this wheel prevents the arm itself coming
in contact with the rail, and is so small that the under part of the extreme tip of the
arm is only just free of the rail when the wheel is pressed down against it. The tip
and the upper part of the extreme end of the arm are so shaped and smoothed, that
when the extremity of the arm strikes against a person's body and sinks to the rail the
curve glides under them without cutting.
The rest Fig. 3. F. Sheet 3. against which the back of the semicircular curve of the
invention falls when driven back is a little under a quarter of a circle of flat
metal fastened by strong screws to a strong upright rest, and which is screwed or
fastened to the underpart of the engine or car, just behind the head of the Life-Arm,
and close to each wheel. At the lower end of each side of the curved portion of the
rest are two small flange-like projections, between which the Life-Arm sinks when

page_text: driven back against the rest, and which form a kind of hold-fast, though quite easy
enough to allow the spring to lift the arm the instant the obstruction or backward
pressure is removed. The space between the Life-Arm, when heli up clear of the rail,
and the rest, is such, that the moment the back of the semicircle falls against the rest,
the wheel under the extreme end of the curve touches the rail.
A near resemblance to this form of the invention is seen in the numeral figure 5
when written the upright portion of the figure representing the short arm-made
shorter or longer, according to the height of the underpart of the engine from the rail;
the circular curve of the figure, with the end unslotted and a little prolonged, forming
a downward curve representing the semicircular sweeping curve, the circular part of
which is made the size that is considered the most convenient, and the underpart of
the curved prolongation of the half circle not being more than an inch above the rail,
unless desired. If the arm should be required to be more than one inch above the rail,
the head has then to be screwed at a little greater distance from the fixed rest.
The second form of the invention, Fig. 2. Sheet 2. instead of being in a semi-circular
curved form, is angled. The upper part of the arm comes down in a backward curve
to a distance of from six to twelve inches from the rail; it then branches forwards
and downwards, in a curved form, forming a curved angle. A strap is fastened nearly
half way up the upper part of the arm, and is then brought forward and made fast
about six or eight inches from the extreme end, and is left slack, so as to hang in a
curved form. The parts of the arm to which the ends of the strap are fastened have
notches cut into them, Fig. 7. G. Sheet 4. into which the metal piece attached to each
end of the strap is screwed that belonging to the lower end being turned under the
strap when screwed to the arm. This form of the invention has the spring at the back
of the head, and the small wheel under the extreme end, as in the first form, the tip of
the extremity also being rounded and smoothed.
The second form of the invention, unless it should be otherwise desired, has no
fixed rest to fall back against when fitted to a tramcar; a small wheel, attached to a
metal piece screwed to the back of the extremity of the upper part of the arm, coming
in contact with the car wheel when the arm is driven back. The metal piece,
Fig. 6. H: Sheet 4. to which this small wheel is attached, has a cross-piece, which juts
out on each side of the arm; from the ends of each of these pieces a prong projects,
reaching just over the edge of each car wheel, though quite free of it Fig. 6. I.
Sheet If the Life-Arm should bend on coming in contact with and slipping
under an obstruction on the rail, these prongs prevent the arm swerving too much to
one side.
When fitted to a locomotive engine, this form of the invention has either a short
fixed rest Fig. 6. J. Sheet 4. to fall against, in addition to the small wheel at the back
of the arm, or a long fixed rest Fig 6. K. Sheet 4. reaching to the extremity of the
upper part of arm, which then has no wheel at the back, the lower end of the arm
falling against the end of the rest, and between two flange-like projections, instead of
against the engine wheel. When the short rest is used, it reaches half way down the
upper part of the arm, and is so placed, that at the same moment the wheel under the
extreme end of the arin touches the rail, and the wheel at the back touches the engine
wheel, the middle part of the back of the arm falls against the lower end of the rest,
and between two flange-like projections, forming, as in the first form of the invention,
a kind of hold-fast, though quite easy enough to allow the spring at the back of the
head to lift the arm the moment the backward pressure is removed.
Should the appliance be fitted to a tramcar, which, owing to weak springs,
occasionally sways up and down in travelling, the arm can be separated into two
portions Fig. 7. L. Sheet 4. the first form being separated in the middle of the semi-
circular curve, and jointed in such a way that the curve will only bend upwards, and
not downwards. A spring, strong enough to bend only under very heavy pressure,
being screwed to the upper half of the semicircle, presses against the lower half; if
the extremities of the Life-Arms should strike against the rails during the swaying of
the car, the arms bend up instead of breaking, regaining their shapes the instant the
pressure ceases.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
That my invention is an entirely new invention; that it is not copied or partially
copied from any pre-existing inventions, and that the idea was worked out by me
without any knowledge of wheel guards beyond the straight wheel guards carried
by most Railway Companies' locomotives; and that the falling of the half circled
curve to the rail and the slipping under a person's body and the re-rising are entirely
new also that it was not until some time after I had worked the idea out that I noticed
that the action of the invention bears a slight resemblance to that of the fusee stop work
8
of a marine chronometer.
Dated this 3rd day of December 1888.