IM- PROVEMENTS IN LOCKS FOR SECURING SWITCHES, AND FOR SECURING RAILWAY GATES, TURNTABles, Bridges, and SUCH LIKE.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Christopher Rapier, of 5, Westminster
Chambers, in the City of Westminster, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN LOCKS FOR SECURING SWITCHES, AND FOR SECURING RAILWAY
GATES, TURNTABles, Bridges, and SUCH LIKE.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Christopher
: Rapier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th March 1874.
I, RICHARD CHRISTOPHER RAPIER, of 5, Westminster Chambers, in
5.the City of Westminster, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS FOR SECURING SWITCHES, AND FOR
SECURING RAILWAY GATES, TURNTABLES, BRIDGES, AND SUCH LIKE," to be as
follows:-
My improvement consists of making the locking up bolt for securing
O railway switches of a duplex form, so as to enable the operator in the
signal box to discover for certain whether the switches have moved in

page_text: By means of a lever actuated from a signal box or otherwise, I actuate
a bolt which passes through or is fixed to the side of the meeting post of
the gate. Adjacent to the orifice through which this bolt protrudes, I
fix on a pivot a falling cover so contrived that when the gate is opened
this falling cover falls over the orifice, and thus prevents the bolt being
shot; and so informs the signalman that the gate is not locked.
.
When the gate is shut some part of the gate strikes against some part
of the falling plate and elevates it so that the bolt can be shot when the
gate is completely shut, and if the bolt be then shot into the hole in the
gate prepared for that purpose, the signalman is thereby assured that
the gate is locked.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Christopher Rapier in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 26th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CHRISTOPHER RAPIER, of 5, Westminster Chambers, in the City of
Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth 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 suc
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Christopher Rapier,
Her special license, that I, the said Richard Christopher Rapier, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Richard Christopher Rapier, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS FOR SECURING SWITCHES, AND
FOR SECURING RAILWAY GATES, TURNTABLES, BRIDGES, AND SUCH LIKE," upon the
:

page_text: “condition (amongst others) that 1, the said Richard Christopher Kapier,
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 Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months, next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Christopher Rapiér, 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 :—
My improvement consists of making the locking-up bolt for securing
railway switches of a duplex form, so as to enable the operator in the
signal box to discover for certain whether the switches have moved in
the direction intended or not. As at present made such locking-up bolts
are of a simple form, and the same bolt is thrust into one or other of two
holes in a bar attached to the switches, in order to ascertain that the
switch tongue is close home to one side or the other, but if through
failure of the gear used for moving the tongues they should not have
moved at all, the signalman in the signal box might get his point. lever
home for the branch line, and the switches might still continue set really
for the main linc, and the locking bolt at present used would not
discover this because it locks up the same way for either road. Now I
propose to use two locking bolts actuated by the two ends of a short
lever fixed near the switches and having its fulcrum in the middle, the
said lever being actuated by the rod from the signal box. Now if two
apertures be made in the switch bar in such positions that one bolt finds
its hole in one completed position of the switches, and the other bolt
finds its hole in the other completed position, the locking-up lever would
be in the up position in the signal box when the points were completely
set for the main line, and [in the down position when the points were
completely set for the branch line, or vice versa, and the pointsman
would be informed for certain as to the position of the points by his
power to lock up the switches by moving his lock lever to its completed
position one way or other.
Instead of two bolts actuated by the two ends of a lever, one bolt only

page_text: of the branch line of one section, the middle or unlocked part of a plain
square or round section, and the next part for locking up the main line
of a section different from the branch line section, then by making in
the switch bar a T shaped aperture and adjusting the bolt correctly, the
main line part of the bolt would not enter the branch line part of the
hole, and vice versa, or other modified form of bolt might be adopted, so
long as one bolt or part of a bolt be used for locking the switch bar
when the points are set for the main line, and another bolt or part of a
bolt for locking this bar when the points are set for the branch...
With the aid of this Invention accident could only occur in the event
of failure both of the gear for moving the switches and also that for
moving the locking-up bolt at the same time, a contingency not likely to
arisc.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed, I have shewn various views of the
above described locking apparatus for securing railway switches.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 shew- various views of the arrangement first
described. In these. Figures B, 6, are the two locking bolts jointed to
the arms of the lever L, which turns on a pivot at L', and is actuated by
the rod R from the signal box; S is the switch bar which is connected
in the ordinary way to the swith tongue, and is worked to and fro by
thic switch lever in the signal box. The bolts B, b, and lever L are
carried by a casting C, through which the switch bar S passes as shown;
this casting is secured to one of the sleepers or to a suitable support
fixed between the sleepers. Through the bar S are two apertures a, a,
one of which will be in front. of the bolt B when the switch is set for the
main line, and the other will be in front of the bolt 6 when the switch is
set for the branch.
Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 shew various views of the second arrangement
of switch locking apparatus hercin-before described. In these Figures
B, b, is the bolt, S the switch bar, and O the casting which carries the
bolt, and through which the switch bar passes as in the previous
arrangement; is the forward end of the bolt of a section, say of about
-1 inch thick and 3 inchies in height, and is for locking up the points
when set for the branch line; B is the portion of the bolt for locking the
points when set for the main line; this portion of the bolt may be of a
section, say of about 1 inch in thickness and 4 inches in breadth; a is
tho T shaped aperture in the switch bar with which the bolts B, b, work
as herein-before described.
J

page_text: i
(
1. The employment of two locking bolts or a duplex bolt acting
substantially in the manner herein described to lock up railway switches
in their two positions.
2. The combined arrangements of apparatus for locking railway
switches, substantially as above described and shewn by the Drawings
annexed.
The second part of my Invention relates to the locking of railway
gates, navigation bridges, turntables, and other similar things which
interfere with the safe working of railways.
By means of a lever actuated from a signal box or otherwise, I actuate
a bolt which passes through or is fixed to the side of the meeting post of
the gate. Adjacent to the orifice through which this bolt protrudes, I
fix on a pivot a falling cover so contrived that when the gate is opened
this falling cover falls over the orifice, and thus prevents the bolt being
shot, and so informs the signalman that the gate is not shut.
When the gate is shut some part of the gate strikes against some part
of the falling plate and elevates it so that the bolt can be shot when the
gate is completely shut, and if the bolt be then shot into the hole in the
gate prepared for that purpose, the signalman is thereby assured that
the gate is securely locked.
The lever for moving the bolt may or may not be interlocked with
other levers used for actuating points and signals.
:
Figures 8 and 9 show a locking apparatus constructed as abovo
described for locking a railway gate. In these Figures B is the locking
bolt passing through the meeting post M; G is a portion of the gate
carrying a plate g, in which is formed a hole for the locking bolt to
shoot into. In front of the orifice in the post M through which the bolt
protrudes, is the falling cover C turning on the pivot p. When the gate
is open the cover C is in front of the bolt B, and prevents the bolt from
being shot, but when the gate is closed a pin c standing out from the
cover C, strikes against the edge of the plate g, by which the cover C is
turned aside, and the bolt may then be shot into the hole in the gate.
"
I claim as respects this part of my Invention, the employment in
combination with a locking bolt used for locking railway gates, navi- a

page_text: gation bridges, turntables, and such like, of a cover C arranged to act.
substantially in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Christopher Rapier, have
hereunto set my. hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.