IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING RAILWAY SWITCHES, POINTS, AND SIGNALS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Skinner, of the City of Worcester, Signal
Inspector, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING
RAILWAY SWITCHES, POINTS, AND SIGNALS."
Sealed the 18th April 1866, and dated the 16th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Skinner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th October 1865.
I, HENRY SKINNER, of the City of Worcester, Signal Inspector, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
WORKING RAILWAY SWITCHES, POINTS, AND SIGNALS," to be as follows:-
In working railway switches, points, and signals, it is often necessary when
any particular switch or signal is worked that certain other switches an
signals should be locked until the first-named switch or signal is thrown out of
gear.
Now my Invention consists, first, in connecting the lover of the switch or
signal first referred to by a link or otherwise to a horizontal rod, free to
turn when the lever is acted upon, and in securing to such rod as many
notched bars as there are switches or signals requiring to be locked at the
same sime. The notches of the bars when the first-named lever is worked
take hold of pins or projections on the levers of such switches or signals as
are to be locked at the same time, whereby those levers are firmly locked or

page_text: held until the first-named lever is thrown out of gear or released, and the
notched bars thereby freed from the pins or projections.
My Invention also consists in means whereby I avoid the necessity of coni-
pensating for expansion and contraction in the rods which lead to points at a
distance. I form several notches in each of the notched bars herein-before
described, and corresponding notches in the quadrants in which the switch
and signal levers work. When owing to contraction or expansion in the
point rod a switch or signal lever cannot be moved the usual distance in its
quadrant, the ordinary spring plate on the lever takes into one or other of the
notches in the quadrant according to the distance the lever is moved, while
the corresponding notch in the notched bar takes hold of the pin or projection
on the lever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Skinner in the Great. Seal Patent Office on the
16th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
SKINNER, of the City of Worcester, Signal Inspector, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Henry Skinner, Her special licence that I, the said
Henry Skinner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Henry Skinner, my executors, administrators, or 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 FOR WORKING RAILWAY SWITCHES, POINTS, AND
SIGNALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Skinner, 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 Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: ני
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Skinner, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
In working railway switches, points, and signals, it is often necessary
when any particular switch or signal is worked that certain other switches
and signals should be locked until the first-named switch or signal is thrown
out of gear.
Now my Invention consists, first, in connecting the lever of the switch or
signal first referred to by a link or otherwise to a horizontal rod free to turn
when the lever is acted upon, and in securing to such rod as many notched
bars as there are switches or signals requiring to be locked at the same time:
The notches of the bars when the first-named lever is worked take hold of
pins or projections on the levers of such. switches or signals as are to be locked
at the same time, whereby those levers are firmly locked or held until the
first-named lever is thrown out of gear or released, and the notched bars
thereby freed from the pins or projections.
:
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation of an apparatus
constructed according to my Invention for working switches, points, and
signals; Figure 2 is a back view, and Figure 3 an end view of the same, with
the end plate removed.
A is the framing of the apparatus; B, the bearings of the levers C, which
actuate the switches, points, and signals; D represents the slotted quadrants, in
which the levers C move to and fro. The levers are numbered from left to right in
Figure 1 in the following order: Number 1 is the branch "up" junction signal;
2, branch "down" junction; 3, "down" line points; 4, "up" line points; 5, main
line up junction; 6, main line down junction; 7, main line up distance; 8, main
line down distance; 9, branch line distance. This arrangement of the levers
as regards their order of succession and their number, may be varied as
required. When all the levers are in their normal position, the main up and
down lines are open, and the signals are all at danger and the branch signals
locked. E is a link by which the "up" line point lever 4 is attached to an
arm F on a collar G; H is a rod extending across the front of the appa-
ratus and carrying the collar G, each of these parts, however, rotates indepen-
dently of the other. When the "up" line is open, the lever 4 being in its
normal position, the collar G is brought round so as to cause the bar I, which
is fixed to the collar G and is near the lever 1, to move with it. The free
end of the bar I is notched so as to catch a pin which projects from the side

page_text: of the lever 1. Thus when the "up" line is open the lever 1 is locked and
" "train is
the branch "up" junction signal cannot be shifted. If now an
up
coming from a branch through the junction on to the main "up" line, the
point lever 4 is drawn forward to the front; this motion moves the collar G
partly round, so as to cause the bar I to descend and clear the pin in the
lever 1, which is then at liberty, and the lever is moved forward setting the
points and signals right for the train to run on to the main line, at the same
time locking the point lever 4 by means of a notched bar l' on the rod H.
In like manner to the arrangement of the "up" line point lever 4, the
"down" line point lever 3 is connected by the link J to the rod K,
which is arranged inside the rod H; L and L' are two notched bars fixed
to the rod K, which serve to retain the levers 2 and 9, thus locking the
branch down junction signal, and the branch distance signal; M is a
third notched bar on the rod K, which locks the lever 8 of the main
line down distance signal when the point lever 8 is moved forward. The
branch down junction signal lever 2 is connected by a link to the rod K¹, which
carries the two notched bars K", and these lock the down line point lever 3,
and the main down junction signal lever when the lever 2 is moved forward.
N and O are two rods carried in brackets projecting from the back of the
framing; P is a link which connects the bar N to the main down junction
signal lever 6; Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, are five notched bars which lock the levers
1, 2, 3, 4, and 9, when the lever of the main down junction signal is brought
forward; R, R, are two notched bars on the rod O to lock the levers 1 and 4
when the lever of the main up junction signal is moved to the front. When
the point lever 3 is operated it liberates the branch line distance signal, which
is then put on at the same time the lever 8 locks the lever 8 of the main
line down distance signal. The main line. down junction signal actuated by
the lever. 6. is then put on, which causes three of the notched bars on the
rod N to, lock the levers, 1, 2, and 4 being the branch up. junction signal, the
branch down junction, and the "up." line points. Upon moving back the
main down junction signal lever 6, the levers 1, 2, and 4 are liberated, the
branch line distance signal lever 9, and the down point lever 3 are next
shifted back, and the down line, is then clear for the ordinary traffic. On
bringing the point lever 4 of the up line forward to allow a train to come
through the junction the branch up junction signal 1 is shifted in like manner
and also the main up junction signal lever. 5; the movement of these levers
locks the, points and lowers the signals to let the train through. The distance
signal lever 1, main junction signal 5, and point lever 4 are then put back,
and the line is clear for traffic.

page_text: Figure 4 represents in end view an arrangement slightly modified from that
shown in Figures 1 to 8; the order of sucoession of the levers is also varied.
In this Figure, S on the upper rod T is one of two curved bars slotted longi-
tudinally, and arranged to take on to a pin projecting from each of the levers
2 and 6 that actuate the main junction signals of the up and down lines. The
rod T has also fixed to it two notched bars, which alternately lock the two
point levers, that is to say, it locks the lever which is not in use at the time.
V is one of two slotted bars fixed to the rod W; these bars are connected in
like manner to the levers 3 and 6, which actuate the branch junction signals, of
both lines. There are two notched bars on the rod W, which lock the point
levers in their forward position on the main junction signals being operated.
Y is a rod extending across the back of the apparatus, to which are fixed the
notched bars Z. When the up line point lever 4 is brought forward the first
bar Z locks the lever 8, the main distance down signal lever; the second bar
locks the lever 6, the main junction down signal; the third bar is raised to
release the branch junction up signal lever 4; and the fourth bar locks the
lever 2, the main junction up signal. In this position of the parts the signal
levers are all locked, with the exception of the distance signal and the branch
junction up signal 3, and must remain so until the lever 4 is shifted back.
a
is a rod arranged below the rod Y, and carrying the notched bars b, the rod a
being connected to the point lever 5 of the down line by a slotted bar, by
means of which it is actuated. When the lever 5 is pulled over the bars b
lock the levers 6 and 8, leaving the branch distance signal lever 9 free for the
operator to lower the signal; the branch junction signal is then lowered by
drawing forward the lever 7; this locks the points of the down line by causing
the rod W to rotate partially, and thus lift the notched bar by the side of the
point lever 5, which is held fast by the bar catching the pin of the lever, and
the points are retained in this position until the train has passed through.
My Invention also consists in means whereby I avoid the necessity of
compensating for expansion and contraction in the rods which lead to points
at a distance. I form several notches in each of the notched bars which lock
the point levers and corresponding notches in the quadrants d, in which the
switch and signal levers work. When owing to contraction or expansion in
the point rod a switch or signal lever cannot be moved the usual distance in
its quadrant, the ordinary spring plate f on the lever takes into one or other
of the notches in the quadrant according to the distance the lever is moved,
while the corresponding notch in the notched bar takes hold of the pin or
projection on the lever.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in apparatus for working railway switches, points, and signals,--
First, constructing and arranging such apparatus, so that the switches and
signals are locked at the proper times, substantially as herein-before described
and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the arrangement or means herein-before described and represented
in the accompanying Drawings, whereby the necessity of compensating for
expansion and contraction in the rods which lead to points at a distance is
avoided.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Skinner, have hereunto set my.
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.
HENRY SKINNER. (L.s.)