IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING AND LOCKING POINTS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bailey, of the City of Dublin, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING AND
LOCKING POINTS ON RAILWAYS."
Scaled the 11th September 1874, and dated the 18th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bailey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1874.
I, JOHN BAILEY, of the City of Dublin, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR WORKING AND LOCKING POINTS ON RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of improvements in apparatus for working and
locking points on railways, whereby I am able to operate the lock by
means of the same lever that moves the points, the points and lock
being both worked by one motion of the said lever in a peculiar, novel,
and simple way..

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I mount two horizontal bars on the
inside of the rails, immediately in front of the points, the said bars
being pivoted to the rails at the end further from the points, while their
near ends carry locking wedges which partly overlap the ends of the
points. These bars are capable of being moved up and down on their
pivots by means of cranks on a transverse shaft, the outer end of which
carries another crank, to which is attached the rod which works the
points through the intermediation of a short incline plane rod sliding
through a slot in the short point's rod. By this means the points are
prevented from stirring during the first or last movement of the lever,
when the wedges are being lifted or lowered, but only when the incline
plane portion of the long rod is passing through the slot in the short
onc. By working the points thus they cannot be affected through the
expansion or contraction of the rods.
By moving the point rod the wedges are first lifted by means of the
cranks clear of the points, then the points are moved, and then the
wedges are lowered or replaced by means of the cranks, one of them
being now wedged in between one point and the rail, and the other
bearing against the outside of the other point. These movements are
done by one motion of the point lever either close to the points or in
the signal house.
The horizontal bars may be made sufficiently long to ensure that at
least one wheel of a passing train shall press on them, and so drive the
wedges home. The possibility of the points being moved before the last
wheel is clear of the switches may thus be prevented.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bailey in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BAILEY, of the City of Dublin, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
3

page_text: .
and grant unto me, the said John Bailey, Her special licence that I, the
said John Bailey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Bailey, 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 APPARATUS FOR WORKING AND
LOCKING POINTS ON RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Bailey, my executors or administrators, 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 In-
vention, 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 Bailey, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:-.
My Invention consists of improvements in apparatus for working and
locking points on railways, whereby I am able to operate the lock by
means of the same lever that moves the points, the points and lock
being both worked by one motion of the said lever in a peculiar, novel,
and simple way.
In carrying out my Invention I mount two horizontal bars on the
inside of the rails, immediately in front of the points, the said bars
being pivoted to the rails at or near the end farther from the points,
while their other ends carry locking wedges which partly overlap the
ends of the points. These bars are capable of being moved up and down
on their pivots by means of cranks on a transverse shaft, the outer end
of which carries another crank to which is attached the rod which works
the points through the instrumentality of a short incline plane rod
sliding through a slot or guide in the short point's rod. By this means
the points are prevented from stirring during the first or last movement
of the lever, when the wedges are being lifted or lowered, but move only

page_text: when the incline plane portion of the long rod is passing through the
slot in the short one. By working the points thus they cannot be affected
through the expansion or contraction of the rods.
By moving the point rod the wedges are first lifted by means of the
cranks clear of the points, then the points are moved, and then the
wedges are lowered or replaced by means of the cranks, one of them
being now wedged in between one point and the rail, and the other
bearing against the outside of the other point. These movements are
done by one motion of the point lever, either close to the points or in the
signal house.
The horizontal bars may be made sufficiently long to insure that at
least one wheel of a passing train shall press on them, and so drive the
wedges home. The possibility of the points being moved before the last
wheel is clear of the switches may thus be prevented.
The construction and action of my apparatus will be fully understood
on reference to the accompanying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is a
plan, Figure 2 a side elevation, Figure 3 an inside elevation of one of
the rails and horizontal bars, and Figure 4 a transverse section.
A, A, are the two horizontal bars mounted on the inside of the rails
immediately in front of the points P, P. These bars are pivoted to the
rails near one end at a, a, and carry at their other end locking
wedges W, W, which partly overlap the ends of the points. B, B, are
the cranks by which the bars A, A, are moved up and down on their
pivots a, a, and C is the transverse shaft on which these cranks are
mounted; E is the other crank on the shaft C, to which crank the
point's rod R is attached; D is the incline plane rod for shifting the points,
and forming part of the rod R; T is the short point's rod; and G is the
guide therein, in which the incline plane rod D works; Y, Y, are
counterbalance weights.
By examining the Drawings it will readily be understood that when
the point's rod R is pulled the cranks B will raise the bars A above the
points before the incline plane rod D comes into action, that then this
rod D in passing through the guide G will pull the short point's rod T,
and thereby shift the points, and that when this has been accomplished
the cranks B will again lower the bars A, so that one of the wedges W
comes between one point and the rail, while the other bears against the
outside of the other point, all these movements being effected by one

page_text: motion of the point lever. x, x, are running signal locks, which may, if
desired, be used to lock the points a second time when the signal is
lowered, but I make no claim thereto. When either signal is lowered
the corresponding bolt lock or bar passes through a notch cut in the
angle iron S, and so locks the points until the signal is raised again.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim
thic locking bars or locking wedges per se; but what I claim is,―
First. The arrangement for or mode of working the locking bars or
wedges, substantially as herein-before described and represented in the
annexed Drawings.
Second. The arrangement for or mode of operating the locking bars
or wedges, and of moving the points by one motion of the same lever,
substantially as herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bailey, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, the Seventeenth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-four.