Improved Railway Facing Points Detector.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Sept., 1895-Accepted, 11th Jan., 1896
Improved Railway Facing Points Detector.
I, GEORGE GARRY, Mechanic, of 12 Grass Street North Road Darlington in the
County of Durham 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 :-
My invention has for its object to provide facing points with means whereby
should the rods which connect the points together be broken or disconnected,
although the operating rod may not be broken yet the operating lever moved and
only one point, the signalman shall be made aware of the defect, and by the ordinary
arrangement of interlocking only the proper signals can be given in accordance
with the proper position of the points.
I use a stretcher bar in two parts engaging independently with shutters for
releasing the locking bar lever, and these may be of the ordinary construction.
As hitherto arranged, however, should the rods which connect the points together
be broken or disconnected, the signalman can relock the points with only one point
in its proper position owing to the breakage.
According to my invention, I provide means whereby after the plunger is
withdrawn from the stretcher bar of the points, it cannot be returned to the locked
position until both points have been moved over.
And in order that my invention may be properly understood, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying drawings, a manner in which the same
may be performed, of course with the understanding that I do not confine myself
to any particular make, as it may be varied without departing from the novelty of
my invention.
Figure 1 is a plan with the cover removed showing the stretcher bar a and a¹ in
two parts which are attached to each point, also the plunger D half way in ready
to engage with the catches B and B which are held in their position by a
spring F.
Figures 2 and 3 are sectional elevations showing in Fig. 2 the catch B holding
the shutter C in the raised position after the moving over of the points, and before
the plunger D is placed into the locked position.
Figure 3 shows the position of shutter C in accordance with the position of the
stretcher bar or points after the plunger D is withdrawn, and before the points have
been moved over.
I use a suitable metal protecting box H with a partitiou in the front part for the
stretcher bar a and a' to slide in with the motion of the points.
As hereinbefore described I use a stretcher bar in two parts on each of which is
attached a mechanical arrangement A and A' for raising the shutters C and C¹ on
to the catches B and B' by the moving over of the points.
The part A' of stretcher. bar a' having raised the shutter C₁ on to the catch B³,
and by the same motion part A on stretcher bar a releasing its hold of shutter C
which is held by catch B (the shutter C¹ being held in its raised position by part
of the stretcher bar A' and catch B¹) so that when the plunger D is placed into the
locked position it extends the catches B and B' beyond the length of the shutters C
and C, thereby allowing the shutter C to fall against the plunger D, and when the
plunger D is withdrawn the spring F draws the catches B and B' into their former
positions, again engaging catch B₁ with shutter C', as shown in Fig. 3, the shutter C

page_text: automatically falling over the hole in such a manner that the plunger D cannot be
returned to the locked position until both points have been moved over.
For instance, should the rods which connect the points together be broken, and
not the stretcher bar a¹, with the points in the position shown in Fig. 3, and the
operating rod is attached to point a the signalman can only move half of the
stretcher bar a¹ over with the point (owing to the stretcher bar being divided in
the centre) thereby leaving the shutter C covering the hole owing to the other half
of the stretcher bar a not moving over to raise the shutter C. If the stretcher
bar a' was broken with the connecting rods the point a¹ could be moved without
the stretcher bar a¹ and the result would be the same. Still confining myself to the
position of the points in Fig. 3, in connection with which the operating rod is
attached to point a, with the rods which connect the points together and the
stretcher bar a broken the signalman can only move point a and as the stretcher
bar a does not move over with the point to raise the shutter C, the signalman
cannot relock the points.
In all cases where the operating rod is attached to the point which is closed
(so long as the stretcher bar is not imperfect) both points will move over together
without being defective owing to the construction of the stretcher bar.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In connection with facing points detector, a stretcher bar in two parts working
with the points independently of each other.
2. In connection with facing points detector, shutters which are held by catches,
and allowed to fall when the plunger is withdrawn, and which can only be raised
by the moving over of both points as hereinbefore described.
3. The whole arrangement and combination of parts for the aforesaid purpose as
illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 2nd day of August 1895.
GEORGE GARRY.