IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-LOCKING SWITCHES FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Armstrong, of Rotherham, in the County
of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-LOCKING SWITCHES
FOR RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 12th March 1875, and dated the 14th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Armstrong at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th January 1875.
I, JOSEPH ARMSTRONG, of Rotherham, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SELF-LOCKING SWITCHES FOR Railways," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in self-locking switches
for railways. For this purpose the switches are so arranged that the
first portion of their motion is to raise their point ends to a proper height
out of a groove or recess formed in the slide chairs or bearings before
the switch can be shifted from one side to the other. This I perform

page_text: with an eccentric, lever, link, crank, or clutch connected to the switch,
by means of which when the pointsman has raised the point ends of the
switches to the required height the same action throws the switches over
to the other side, by which it will be readily seen that the pointsman
cannot alter or tamper with the switches whilst a train is passing over 5
them.
As an additional security to the locking I rivet or otherwise connect
pieces of angle iron or bars to the sides of the switches at a proper
height, and elongated beyond the point ends of the switches, so that tho
latter cannot be shifted when the train has entered upon the angle iron 1
or bars connected to the switches, the flanges of tho wheels preventing
the switches from being lifted. Or the switch rails may be rolled with
flanges upon them for the above purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Armstrong in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ARMSTRONG, of Rotherham, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing dato the Fourteenth day of January, in the 2
. year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Armstrong, Her
special license that I, the said Joseph Armstrong, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph :
Armstrong, 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 SELF-LOCKING SWITCHES FOR RAILWAYS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Armstrong, my executors

page_text: 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 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 Joseph Armstrong, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
•
The Invention has for its object improvements in self-locking switches
for railways. For this purpose the switches are so arranged that the
first portion of their motion is to raise their point ends to a proper height
out of a groove or recess formed in the slide chairs or bearings before
the switch can be shifted from one side to the other. This I perform
with an excentric, lever, link, crank, or clutch connected to the switch,
by means of which when the pointsman has raised the point ends of the
switches to the required height the same action throws the switches over
to the other side, by which it will be readily seen that the pointsman -
cannot alter or tamper with the switches whilst a train is passing over
them.
As an additional security to the locking I rivet or otherwise connect
pieces of angle iron or bars to the sides of the switches at a proper height,
and elongated beyond the point ends of the switches, so that the latter
cannot be shifted when the train has entered upon the angle iron or bars
connected to the switches, the flanges of the wheels preventing the
switches from being lifted. Or the switch rails may be rolled with
flanges upon them for the above purpose.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly understood
and readily carried into effect I will proceed, aided by the accompanying
Drawings, more fully to describe the same.

page_text: a, a', are ordinary rails, and b, b¹, are switch rails, which are “fished”
or otherwise connected to other rails, as is well understood. Instead
however of operating such switch rails b, 6', and giving to them a simple
sliding motion to take them from one side to the other, I, according to
my Invention, arrange and operate them so that the first portion of their
motion is to raise their point ends out of a groove or recess c³ formed in
the slide chairs or bearings c before the switch can be shifted from one
side to the other. This motion may be effected by means of an eccentric,
lever, link, crank, clutch, or other suitable means connected to the
switch; but the means I propose to employ, and which I have found to 1
answer are those represented in the Drawings, in which it will be seen
that the rod or bar d connecting the switch rails b, b', together, and
through which they are moved is operated by one end of a lever e,
which is mounted on an axis of motion f, and is connected at its other
end by pin joint to one end of a link g. This link g at its other end is 1
pin jointed to one arm of a bell-crank lever h, which is mounted upon
an axis of motion i, and is by its other arm operated by a hand
lever k.
As an additional security to the locking I rivet or otherwise connect
pieces of angle iron or bars to the sides of the switches at a proper height, 2
and elongated beyond the point ends of the switches, as will be readily
understood, so that the switches cannot be lifted when the train has
entered upon the angle iron or bars connected to the switches, tho
flanges of the wheels preventing the switches being lifted.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the mode ?
in which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details herein shown and described,
but what I claim is,—
First. The mode herein described of constructing and working self-
locking railway switches, whereby they are securely held or locked in a
position by resting in recesses or grooves formed in the slide chairs or
bearings c, from which the point ends of the switches must be first
raised before they can be shifted from the one side to the other, in
manner substantially as herein shewn and described.
And, Secondly. I claim as an additional security to self-locking &
switches tho addition of angle iron or bars to the insides of the switches

page_text: at a proper height to act in combination with the flanges of the wheels,
in manner substantially as herein shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Armstrong, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.