IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLI- CABLE TO THE WORKING OF MOVING PARTS OF RAILWAY TRACKS, AND OF THE SIGNALS CONNECTED THEREWITH, AND OF OTHER INSTRUMENTS REQUIRED TO BE OPERATED IN A PREDETERMINED ORDER
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Anderson, of Dublin, in the Kingdom of
Ireland, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLI-
CABLE TO THE WORKING OF MOVING PARTS OF RAILWAY TRACKS, AND OF THE
SIGNALS CONNECTED THEREWITH, AND OF OTHER INSTRUMENTS REQUIRED TO BE
OPERATED IN A PREDETERMINED ORDER."
Sealed the 27th December 1864, and dated the 27th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Anderson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th July 1864.
I, WILLIAM ANDERSON, of Dublin, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
APPLICABLE TO THE WORKING OF MOVING PARTS OF RAILWAY TRACKS, AND OF THE
SIGNALS CONNECTED THEREWITH, AND OF OTHER INSTRUMENTS REQUIRED TO BE
OPERATED IN A PREDETERMINED ORDER," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to simplify the work of pointsmen and
signalmen on railways, and to enable them to adjust the switches and signals
in a manner that will ensure the proper ways being open and the proper
signals being set for the time being. To this end I provide an arrangement
of apparatus that operates on the principle of the jacquard in looms, that is,
by selection, and thus a given result is ensured, or the attendant is kept from
error by being prevented from setting the points or signals other than as
required for the proper guidance of the trains.
The apparatus admits of many modifications in adapting it to railways, and

page_text: the principle also applies to a variety of other uses, as, for example, the
regulation of the course of supply of liquids and fluids where it is essential
that one passage or valve shall be opened before another is closed to avoid the
risk of accidents; it will be obvious, therefore, that the form in which the
improvement is embodied is not the essential part of the Invention.
In applying the Invention to railways I propose to control the action of
the operating levers which transmit motion to the points and the signals, and
the arrangement adopted for this purpose will serve to illustrate the appli-
cation of the Invention to the other uses above indicated. To each of the
levers which actuate the points and signals I connect one of a series of bori-
zontal sliding rods which are arranged parallel to each other with their free
ends standing in front of a transverse sliding bar or its equivalent, which acts
as a stop to the movement of the sliding rods, except when it is designed to
set their operating levers in action; this bar I furnish with holes so arranged
as to permit the rods to slide freely through the bar when the movement of
their respective operating levers is required. The sliding bar is connected to
what I term a selecting lever, which moves over the face of a quadrant and
springs into notches formed therein to fix it in position, the several notches
indicating a particular position of the switches and of the signals in connection
with the apparatus. By moving this selecting lever to a given notch it will
shift the position of the pierced transverse sliding bar, and thus bring certain
of the holes of the bar into coincidence with certain of the sliding rods,
thereby leaving them free to slide through the bar when acted upon by their
operating levers. The attendant then taking in hand the levers corresponding
to this position of the sliding bar, will operate the proper points and signals;
but if through inattention he attempts to operate the wrong levers their
movement will be arrested by the transverse bar, and no further effect will
be produced. The operating levers are to be marked to correspond to the
notches of the selecting lever, so that any inexperienced person will have a
guide as to what points and signals are to be operated on the passage of a
given train.
When it is desired to move and fix one or more of the operating levers
before moving others, this can be conveniently done by forming the sliding
rod which first comes into action with an inclined plane at the end, so that in
passing through the pierced bar that bar will be raised to bring other holes
into coincidence with the sliding rods of the operating levers that are next to
be put in action to complete the adjustment of the points and signals. For
the purpose of fixing or locking the operating levers the pierced bar may be
slotted in a manner to allow of its entering a notch in the sliding rods, and

page_text: thus stopping the return motion of the operating levers connected therewith
until the sliding rods are released by the transverse bar or its equivalent.
The like arrangement modified to suit the peculiar circumstances of the case
it will be obvious may be adopted wherever a series of hand levers or their
equivalent are used for operating valves or other instruments in a determinate
order.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Anderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ANDERSON, of Dublin, in the Kingdom of Ircland, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Anderson, Her special license that I, the said William
Anderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Anderson, 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE WORKING OF MOVING PARTS OF
RAILWAY TRACKS, AND OF THE SIGNALS CONNECTED THEREWITH, AND OF OTHER
INSTRUMENTS REQUIRED TO BE OPERATED IN A PREDETERMINED ORDER," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Anderson, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Anderson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-

page_text: The first head of this Invention relates to the simplifying of the work of
pointsmen and signalmen on railways, and to enable them to adjust the
switches and signals in a manner that will ensure the proper ways being open
and the proper signals being set for the time being. To effect this object I
provide an arrangement of apparatus that operates on the principle of the
jacquard in looms, that is, by selection; and I thus ensure a given result by
keeping the attendant from error, and preventing him from setting the points
or signals otherwise than as required for the proper guidance of the trains.
The second head of the Invention relates to the regulation of the course of
supply of liquids and fluids, where it is essential that one passage or valve
shall be opened before another is closed to avoid the risk of accidents.
In applying the Invention to railways I propose to control the action of the
operating levers, which transmit motion to the points and the signals. To
each of the levers, which actuate the points and signals, I connect one of a
series of horizontal sliding rods, which are arranged parallel to each other
with their free ends standing in front of a transverse sliding bar or its equi-
valent, which acts as a stop to the movement of the sliding rods, except when
it is designed to set their operating levers in action. This bar I furnish with
holes so arranged as to permit the rods to slide freely through the bar when
the movement of their respective operating levers is required. The sliding
bar is connected, by preference, to what I term a selecting lever, which moves
over the face of a quadrant, and springs into notches formed therein to fix it
in position, the several notches indicating a particular position of the switches
and of the signals in connection with the apparatus. By moving this selecting
lever to a given notch it will shift the position of the pierced transverse sliding
bar, and thus bring certain of the holes of the bar into coincidence with certain
of the sliding rods, thereby leaving them free to slide through the bar when
acted upon by their operating levers. The attendant then taking in hand the
levers corresponding to this position of the sliding bar will operate the proper
points and signals, but if through inattention he attempts to operate the
wrong levers, their movement will be arrested by the transverse bar, and no
further effect will be produced. The operating levers are to be marked to
correspond to marks opposite the notches of the selecting lever, so that any
inexperienced person will have a guide as to what points and signals are to be
operated on the passage of a given train.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in front elevation my novel
arrangement of apparatus adapted for working the points and signals at the
junction of a single branch line with the main line of railway, which apparatus
is supposed to be set up in a signal house of the usual construction; Fig. 2

page_text: is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 3 is an elevation taken at right angles
to Figure 1. The other Figures relate to detached parts, and will be here-
after referred to in describing certain details of the apparatus. A Diagram
plan of the junction to which the apparatus is applied is shewn at Fig. 4.
A is the main line signal post fitted as usual with semaphore arms, lanterns,
and colored screens, and B is the branch line signal post; pivotted to these
posts are pairs of crank levers a, b, to which are respectively jointed the rods
a', a, and b, 6. The rods a² and 6 lead up their respective posts to the rocking
frames as and b³, which carry the colored screens a and b, and serve to
operate them so as to bring one or other of the colored glasses into view, as
required. These rods a³, 63, are made to operate the screens by means of
hand levers a³, bs. The free extremities of the horizontal rods a', 6', rest in
fixed guide bars a, b, through which they may be slidden when it is proper
that the signals with which they are connected shall be changed from "danger"
to "all right." At other times, however, they are prevented from moving
when by acting as stop rods the setting of the wrong signal is avoided.
Between the fixedguides a, b, is mounted a sliding bar c, which is pierced
with holes to permit of the rods a' and b', receiving an endway motion only,
when corresponding holes in that bar corresponding to holes in the fixed
guides are brought into coincidence. The guide bar a serves also to support
the free ends of a series of rods d and e, the former of which are connected to
the switch levers d', and the latter to the distant signal apparatus, and which
are intended to control by the action of the sliding bar c the setting of the
switches, and the distant signals. The switch levers d¹ work on a fixed
fulcrum, and are respectively jointed at their lower ends to horizontal rods d*,
which operate the switches or points in the usual way. These levers work in
quadrant guides d', which are notched to receive a bolt carried by the levers
for holding them fast in their "open" and "shut" positions. The rods e, e,
are jointed to bell cranks e¹, e¹, which are severally coupled by connecting
rods e to arms e' keyed to short horizontal axles. To these axles are also keyed
drums e', which are fitted with a ring of ratchet teeth e. The drums e' are
intended to receive weighted chains é, which are led under guide pullies to
the distant signals where they are connected as usual to weighted crank levers,
through which the required motion for operating the distant signal is com-
municated. The weighted crank lever serves to keep up the signal at
'danger;" and in order to keep the chain of each drum taut, and yet allow
of its yielding to the contraction produced by variations of temperature, I
adopt the arrangement which forms the subject of a Patent applied for by me
ou the Sixth day of October, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four,

page_text: No. 2461. The free pendent end of the chain is weighted, as shewn at Figures
1 and 3, but with a weight inferior to the weight on the crank lever at the
distant signal post. The setting of the distant signal is effected by means of
hand levers e, which are severally jointed loosely to a radius arm e' mounted
loosely on the axles of the drums e¹. The levers e' are weighted and fitted at
their lower ends with a catch, which takes into the ratchet teeth e³, and they
are also furnished with a pin which enters a segment slot in the radius arm,
which slot is sufficiently long to allow of the hand lever having a slight throw-
over motion independent of the radius arm. The radius arm carries a
crutch e³, which acts as a stop, and prevents the lever and arm falling further
than the position shewn at Fig. 1. By the use of this arrangement for
lowering the distant signals, which forms no part of the present Invention,
but is introduced to shew my signal apparatus in its most perfect form, it will
be understood that the band lever, instead of receiving a fixed or regulated
amount of motion from the hand of the signalman, will move sufficiently to
ensure the complete, in contradistinction to the partial, fall of the signal, which
partial fall by confusing the engineer on the line has frequently occasioned
fatal accidents. Thus when the weighted lever has in its forward motion
engaged with the ratchet teeth and passed the vertical line, it will add the
weight which it carries to that of the weight pendent from the chain e', and
these together will overcome the weight which keeps the signal at "danger,"
and lower it as desired. If, however, at any time the chain should expand or
contract in length, the pendent weight will keep it at a uniform tension. The
action of the distant signalling apparatus being now understood, it will be
readily seen that the operation of this apparatus is controlled equally with that
of the near signal, and the switch or point apparatus by means of the bar c.
This bar is carried by suitable guides c¹, c¹, and an endway motion is given, to
it by means of a selecting lever c², which works by the side of a notched
quadrant c³, shewn in plan view at Fig. 5. This lever has also a slight vertical
motion. Fig. 6 shews this quadrant in edge view, and its connection through
the hand lever c² (represented by dotted radius lines) with the bar c, which
bar is shewn detached at Fig. 6*.
I will now explain the action of the apparatus, premising that upon the
quadrant the directions as to the order of operating the hand levers to attain
given ends must be placed so that the signalman may know his business, and
that if in haste, by negligence, or otherwise he should fail to comply with the
regulations, then the selecting bar will be an effectual bar to his lowering the
danger signals, and thus throwing the engine drivers off their guard when the
line they desire to take is closed by reason of his inattention. Suppose now

page_text: that a train is coming along the main line from A, Fig. 4, in the direction of
the arrow, the signalman to signal "line clear" will have to lower the distant
signal 1 and the right-hand signal 3 of the main post. To enable him to do
this he must first bring the selecting lever to the notch z, Fig. 6, and the
holes in the bar c corresponding to 1, 3, will then correspond to the ends of
the stop bars of the signals 1, 3. In like manner, in going towards A, the
directions on the quadrant will show the signalman that he must adjust the
bar c by putting the selecting lever in the notch y, he will then be enabled to
lower the distant signal 10 and the near signal 4. When, however, it is
requisite to prepare the line for the passage of a train to or from the branch
line, the points or switches must be moved first, and then the signals. To
ensure this is the office also of the bar c, actuated by the selecting lever c².
Thus, when it is desired to move and fix one or more of the operating levers
(in this case the switch lever) before moving others (the signal levers) the
stop rod which is first to be moved I furnish with an inclined plane at its end,
which in passing through a vertical slot in the pierced bar will raise that bar,
and thereby bring holes into coincidence with the stop rods of the signal levers
that are next to be put in action to complete the adjustment of the points and
signals. For the purpose of fixing or locking the operating levers the pierced
bar may be slotted in a manner to allow of its entering a notch in the sliding
rods, and thus stopping the return motion of the operating levers connected
therewith until the sliding rods are released by the transverse bar or its
equivalent. Or the levers moved next in succession after the one it is desired
to lock have their rods armed with inclined planes also, which further raise
the selecting bar, and cause it to engage into a notch in the rod from the
lever to be locked. In this way the signalman may be compelled to follow
out any desired series of movements without the possibility of his deviating
therefrom, the setting of the selecting lever in any one of the set of notches w,
x, y, or 2, or of a larger set, rendering it imperative on the signalman to follow
the course for which the apparatus may have been arranged, or to leave
the signals standing at "danger."
The second head of the Invention, viz., the regulating of the course of
supply of liquids and fluids in a determinate order (suitable, for example, to
waterworks,) is shown in plan view at Fig. 7, and in longitudinal section at
Fig. 8. In this arrangement A, A, A, represent a series of pipes for con-
veying liquid from one series of vessels or channels to another series of vessels
or channels; and B, B, B, are the stems of conical plugs fitting seats in the
pipes, for the purpose of opening and closing the same, which action is effected
by hand levers C, C, C, affixed to the stems. These hand levers move between

page_text: stops D affixed to the plate E, which serves to support the ends of the stems B.
The plate E is also fitted with guides to carry a sliding plate or bar F, the
office of which corresponds to that of the bar c of the above-described arrange-
ment. In like manner therefore this selecting bar is slotted, so that it may
be made to present openings to the ends of the respective hand levers C in a
manner that will compel the operator to follow the prescribed order of turning
the taps by arresting the movement of the hand levers if he attempts to
depart from that order. As the arrangement of the slots will perhaps vary
with the circumstances attending each application of the selecting bar, as the
pins of a barrel organ vary for every tune, although the principle of con-
struction is retained, it will be useless to enter into fuller details of the mode
of carrying out my Invention, its adaptability to the controlling of mechanical
movements being made sufficiently clear for all practical purposes by the
foregoing explanation.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "improved apparatus
applicable to the working of moving parts of railway tracks and of the signals
connected therewith, and of other instruments required to be operated in a
predetermined order, and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, I claim,―
First. The means above described for controlling the action of the hand
levers for working the switches or points and signals of railways, and enforcing
their use in a predetermined order.
And, secondly. The adaptation of the selecting bar to the other uses above
indicated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Anderson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. ANDERSON. (L.S.)