Improvements in and relating to Railway Switch Boxes.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 13th June, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 13th. June, 1898-Accepted, 27th Aug., 1898
Improvements in and relating to Railway Switch Boxes.
I, EDWARD WILLIAM COUGHLIN, residing at 1327, North Stricker Street, in the
City of Baltimore and State of Maryland, United States of America, Manu-
facturer, 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 relates to means for throwing the switch points of a frog of a
railway switch, and it is designed especially for use with a special construction,
of frog in which there is employed a swing section, which overlaps the main line
rail to effect the switching without breaking the main line of rail.
While it is desirable that both the switch points and the swing section of the
frog be operated by a single lever, or from a single switch box, it is objectionable
(owing to the distance between the switch points and frog) for the points and
swing section of the frog to be thrown simultaneously.
The purpose, therefore, of the present invention is to provide a switch box
which will, by a partial movement of its operating lever, throw the switch points,
and subsequently, by a continuation and completion of the movement of the lever
move the swing section of the frog, or vice versa.
With this end in view the invention consists in the features of construction and
combinations of devices hereinafter fully described and specifically pointed out in
the appended claims.
In the accompanying drawing-
Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved switch box.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same, a portion of the casing being broken
away to show the mechanism.
Figure 3 is a plan view of the operating lever and its attached parts, and
Figure 4 is a vertical central section of the box.
The casing 1 is of general rectangular shape, with openings 2 and 3 at its ends
through which extend arms 4 and 5 of the slide plates 6 and 7. These plates each
comprise a vertical body portion 8 rounded at its upper end 9 to conform to the
rounded cover 10 of the casing 1, and the horizontally extended arm (4 and 5)
which extends beyond the casing and is slotted or forked, as shown at 11 to
facilitate the attachment thereto of the connecting rods (not shown) leading to
the switch points and frog.

page_text: Each of the slide bars is formed with a cam slot (12 and 12"). These slots are
reversely curved, as shown by full and dotted lines in Figure 2.
13 designates a lever terminating at its inner end in a yoke 14 provided with
eyes or loop bearings 15 within which are keyed short shafts 16 and 17 which extend
inwardly and are supported in bearings 18 and 19 in the side walls of the casing 1.
On the inner end of each of the shafts 16 and 17 is rigidly secured an arm 20.
These arms diverge from each other at an angle of about ninety degrees and each
is provided at its outer end with a roller 21, mounted upon a rivet pin 22.
The rollers 21 project into the slots 12 and 12, and the contact of said rollers
with the walls of the slots operates to slide the slide plates 6 and 7 in either
direction, accordingly as the lever is turned.
As shown in Figure 4, the side walls of the casing are provided with cleats 23
which serve as guides for the horizontal flanges 24 at the bottom edges of the slide
plates.
The peculiarity of operation of the parts thus described, is found in the fact
that when the lever is turned from a horizontal to a vertical position, only one of
the slide plates is moved, the roller in the slot of the other plate moving idly
therein. When, however, the lever is in its vertical position, a further forward
movement of it operates to throw the idle roller against the wall of the other slide
plate causing it to move, and allowing the first named roller to move in the slot
of the first moved plate without further movement of the latter. Thus it will
be seen that either the switch points or the frog may be moved independently
of the other, or that both may be moved by a full throw of the lever.
One important advantage in the use of this form of switch-box is, that if the frog,
through neglect of the switch-man is not returned to its operative position away
from the main line after the passage of a train, a slight pressure
upon the swing section of the frog, such as would be caused by the
contact therewith of a car wheel in travel, would serve to move the slide plate
connected with the frog and thus permit the frog swing section to be thrown out
of the way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a switch box, the combination with a housing or casing, of movable slides
provided with oppositely curved cam slots, an operating lever comprising a yoke
and a handle, shafts keyed to the arms of said yoke and lying in the same horizontal
plane, arms mounted on said shafts in parallel vertical planes but at different
angles from the yoke, and rollers carried by said arms and extending into said
cam slots.
2. In a switch box, the combination with a housing or casing provided with
horizontal guide ways of oppositely movable slides provided with oppositely
curved cam slots, and horizontal guide flanges, an operating lever
comprising a yoke and handle, shafts keyed to the arms of said
yoke and lying in the same horizontal plane, arms mounted on said shafts in
parallel vertical planes, but at different angles from the yoke, and rollers carried
by said arms and extending into said cam slots.
a
Dated this 13th day of June 1898
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent.