IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLOSING GATES, DOORS, OR BARRIERS, AND FOR ACTUATING SEMAPHORE SIGNALS BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY
FOR OPENING AND CLOSING GATES, DOORS, OR BARRIERS, AND FOR ACTUATING
SEMAPHORE SIGNALS BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY."-A communication from
abroad by Adolphe de Bergmüller and Wilhelm Wolters, both of
Vienna, in the Empire of Austria, Mechanical Engineers.
Sealed the 7th December 1869, and dated the 22nd June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd June 1869.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
5 Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS

page_text: OR MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLOSING GATES, DOORS, OR BARRIERS, AND FOR
ACTUATING SEMAPHORE SIGNALS BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has reference to an arrangement of machinery or
apparatus wherein the armature of an electro-magnet is caused on the
passing of an electric current to release mechanism acted upon by a
weight, spring, or other mechanical force, and thus to allow such
mechanism to set in motion the gate, door, barrier, or semaphore to bo
acted upon. For this purpose a drum or barrel carried by a framing
has a cord or chain wound upon it, on the free end of which cord or
chain a weight, spring, or other power is made to act, tending to impart
rotary motion to the barrel. This barrel is connected by spur gearing
to a shaft having a crank connected by a connecting rod to the gate,
barrier, door, or semaphore in such manner that the partial rotary
motion of such shaft will open or close gate, or barrier, or otherwise
actuate the semaphore, or in the case of a semaphore this may be
directly fixed upon the said shaft. The spur wheel upon this shaft
which receives the requisite motion from the barrel is not fixed upon the
shaft, but causes the same to revolve with it only in one direction by
means of a ratchet wheel attached to the spur wheel, in gear with which
is a pawl carried by an armi on the shaft. The shaft carries a second
arm held by a catch connected by a link to a lever, the free end of
which fits into a notch on another lever, on the same shaft with which
is an arm held by the armature of an electro-magnet, in such manner
that by the passing of an electric current the armature is moved so as
to release the arm, whereby the first-named catch releases its hold of
the arm on the crank shaft, and this latter in obeying the impulse
imparted to it by the weighted barrel effects the required movement of
the gate, barrier, or semaphore. The motion of the latter is regulated
by a friction brake brought into action by a cam or excentric on the
crank shaft, a lever in contact with which is connected by an adjustable
spring to the strap of the brake. In gear with the spur wheel on
the barrel is a pinion capable of being rotated by a winch handle for
rotating the barrel, so as to wind up the rope or chain on the same when
it has run down.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the. said Charles Denton Abel, Her special licence that
I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my execu-
tors, 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 OR MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLOSING GATES, DOORS, OR
BARRIERS, AND FOR ACTUATING SEMAPHORE SIGNALS BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY,"
(a communication to me from abroad by Adolphe de Bergmüller
and Wilhelm Wolters, both of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria,
Mechanical Engineers, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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 Charles Denton Abel, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-

page_text: This Invention has reference to an arrangement of machinory or
apparatus wherein the armature of an electro-magnet is caused on the
passing of an electric current to release mechanism acted upon by a
weight, spring, or other mechanical force, and thus to allow such
mechanism to set in motion the gate, door, barrier, or semaphore to be f
acted upon.
The construction of this apparatus is shown on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, in which the Invention is shown applied to the
barrier of a railway crossing which is opened and closed by being raised
and lowered vertically. The same arrangement of mechanism may
however be employed in combination with various other constructions
of gates, doors, or barriers, and with semaphores, whether oporated
vertically or horizontally.
Similar
Figure 1 shews a front elevation of the apparatus; Figure 2 shews a
back elevation, and Figure 3 shows an end view of the same.
letters of reference indicate similar parts in each of the Figures.
A, A, are two side frames carrying the mechanism; B is a spur wheel
the shaft of which carries a drum C, round which is coiled a rope
weighted at its free end, which weight in descending effects the rotation
The spur
of the drum C and wheel B in the direction of the arrow.
wheel B is in gear with a pùnion D fixed on the shaft of the spur
wheel E; this is in gear on one side with the wheel F, and on the other
side with the pinion G. The spur wheel F is fixed to the ratchet wheel H
with pointed teeth and turns with the same upon the axle I; this
axle I carries a stop K of which the lower end is held by the lever M,
At the upper end of the stop K is a pawl or catch L, which takes into
the ratchet wheel H, the only function of which is to impart to tho
stop K the motion of the wheels F and H. B is a second catch
ar pawl, which prevents the stop K from turning in the contrary
direction. The transmitting mechanism which puts the lever M
in communication with the electro-magnet consists of the three
levers N, O, P. The lever M is attached to the leyer N by means of
a metal link, as shewn; this lever N enters a notch in the boss or head
of the lever O in such manner as to impart its motion to the latter. To
the spindle of the lever O is fixed the lover P, of which the lower end
is held stationary by the armature Q of the olectro-magnet R. When
the electro-magnet is put in action by the passage of an electric current

page_text: through its coils it attracts the armature, Q, the motion of which releases
the lever P, as also the three other levers O, N, M. These four levers
being no longer held in position the weight attached to the cord
actuating the drum C causes rotary motion to be imparted to the several
spur wheels as also to the stop K and its shaft I. At the same time the
arm S fixed to the shaft I imparts the motion it receives from the latter
to the barrier by means of the connecting rod T. The pinion G serves
simply to wind up the weight attached to the cord, which is effected by
means of the winch handle U. The friction brake apparatus serves to
regulate the upward and downward motion of the barrier. It is composed
of an excentric or cam V, a bell crank W, a spiral spring X, a screw Y,
and a semi-cylinder or strap Z, which presses against the wheel or
drum A and retards or regulates the motion of the barrier. The
drum A' is fixed to the shaft of the spur wheel G. When it is required
to retard the motion of the barrier it is only requisite to increase the
tension of the spring X by the screw Y. The motion of the shaft I is
transmitted to the barrier or door to be operated by means of the crank S
and connecting rod T, as before described, but for semaphore signals the
motion is transmitted direct from the shaft by a coupling not shown on
the Drawing.
The general construction and arrangement of the apparatus may be
varied according to the purposes to which it is to be applied, and it may
be placed either vertically or horizontally. The combination of the
several parts may also be arranged in a more compact manner, and the
stop K may be separated from the pawl or catch in order to render their
action independent.
The electric current which sets the apparatus in motion is produced
by any suitable battery or galvanic pile, which is put in or out of action
by a contact lever worked either by an attendant or by the locomotive
itself when the apparatus is applied to railways. In order to control the
exact operation of the apparatus it suffices to fix a contact spring to the
shaft I, so as to effect the ringing of a bell at any required place. This
contact spring may also serve to control or indicate the falling of the
weight when the attendant cannot himself ascertain whether the weight
requires raising or not.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my

page_text: foreign correspondents, what I claim is, the construction and employ-
ment of apparatus for effecting the opening and closing of gates, barriers,
and doors, and for actuating semaphore signals by means of an electrio
current actuating an electro-magnet arranged and combined substantially
as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles
hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Denton Abel, have
day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
ninc.