IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR AF- PARATUS FOR WORKING SWITCHES AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jeffreys, of Old Kent Road, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR AF-
PARATUS FOR WORKING SWITCHES AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 14th July 1865, and dated the 18th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Jeffreys at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
January 1865.
I, WILLIAM JEFFREYS, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WORKING SWITCHES AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of
machinery or apparatus for the purpose of actuating the switches and signals
of railways in such a manner that there shall be no possibility of error between
the position of the switches and the indication of the signals, both of which
must always coincide and can never be wrongly adjusted. The apparatus
consists of a quadrant with a series of spring levers placed therein, all working
upon the same fulcrum formed by a rod fixed at the base of the said quadrant.
A portion of these spring levers are for actuating the signals and the remaining
ones are for actuating the switches. A short distance above the fulcrum of
the switch levers are jointed by bolts or pins connecting rods, at the end of
each of which is a crank or lever. These cranks or levers are keyed to two or
more rods according to the number of switch levers required. These rods are

page_text: set in bearings side by side and parallel with the fulcrum of the spring levers;
on each of the rods are fixed other cranks or levers actuating connecting rods
jointed to stops set on a bar at the base of the quadrant parallel to that on
which the spring levers work and close thereto. If for working a junction, the
stops and cranks or levers are so arranged that when the switch levers are set
forward the main line signal levers are at liberty to be drawn back, but the
stops so act upon the back of the branch. signal levers that it is impossible to
move them. When the lever or levers connected with the facing points are
drawn back, it brings the stops to act upon the main line signal levers both up
and down, so that they cannot be moved. When the lever or levers connected
with the facing points is put forward and the lever or levers connected with
the trailing points is drawn back the levers connected with the main line down
signals are at liberty to be drawn back and also the levers connected with the
branch up signals; but the main line up signal levers and the branch down
signal levers are locked and cannot be moved. By these arrangements it is
evidently impossible for the signalman to place the switches in any other than
the true position for the passage of the trains, so that all chance of accident
arising from carelessness or neglect of the signalman is avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Jeffreys in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOŐM 'THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JEFFREYS, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of January, 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 sail
William Jeffreys, Her special licence that' I, the said William Jeffreys, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 'I, the said William
Jeffreys, 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' máke, 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WORKING SWITCHES AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Jeffreys, my

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Jeffreys, 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:
the same.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of an arrangement of my Invention
applied to a main line of railway, consisting of an up and down line of
road or way, with a branch line of two similar roads or ways entering it,
as Figure 1; Figure 2 is an end elevation, and Figure 3 a plan of
A represents the framing or quadrant (broken off to shew
the interior parts), forming a guide for the levers B, which work upon the
shaft C set in bearings D. To the levers 4, 5, aro jointed rods E, F, con-
nected at the other end to cranks or levers G, H; these cranks or levers are
keyed to the shafts I, J, set in bearings K; upon these shafts are also keyed
other levers L, connected by rods M to stops N, working upon the. shaft O,
set in bearings at D, and parallel to that on which the levers B work.
In explaining the action of the apparatus I will suppose that No. 1 lever
represents the down distance signal; No. 2 lever represents the down branch
semaphore; No. 3 lever represents the up branch semaphore; No. 4 lever re-
presents the facing points; No. 5 lever represents the trailing points; No. 6
lever represents the up main line semaphore; No. 7 lever represents the down
main line semaphore; No. 8 lever represents the up branch distance signal;
No. 9 lever represents the up main line distance signal. We will now sup-
pose the points are right for the passage of main line trains only both up and
down; the levers 1, 6, 7, 9 are at liberty to be drawn back, showing the all-
right signals for the main line up and down trains, but the levers 2, 3,.8 are
locked by the stops N, so that it is impossible to move them, thereby prevent-
ing an all-right signal being given for a branch train. We will now suppose
that No. 4 lever is drawn back, thereby opening the points for the passage of
trains down the branch line; it will be seen by reference to the Drawings that
this lever is connected by the rod E to the crank or lever G, so that this lever,
being drawn back, will cause the stops N to operate upon the levers 3, 6, 7,
8, 9, by causing the stops N to travel forward and abut against projections
formed on the levers in such a manner that they cannot be drawn back

page_text: to show a wrong signal, but the levers 1, 2, are at liberty to be drawn back,
thereby showing the down branch line only as clear. We will now suppose that
Number 5 lever is drawn back, thereby opening the points for the passage of
trains up the branch line. This lever is connected to the crank or lever H in
the same manner as 4 lever is connected to the crank or lever G. It will be
seen that this lever actuates the stops in the same manner as before described,
so that the levers 9, 6, 2, are locked so that they cannot be moved, thereby
preventing the main line up signals and the branch down signals being
lowered, but the levers 8, 7, 8, 1, are at liberty to be drawn back, shewing
the branch up line and the main down line as clear. We will now suppose
that levers 4, 5, are both drawn back, opening the points for the passage of
trains up and down the branch line. These levers being connected to the
cranks or levers G, H, as before described, it will be seen that the levers 9, 7,
6, are locked, thereby preventing the main line (both up and down) signals
being lowered, but the levers 1, 2, 3, 8, will be at liberty to be drawn back,
shewing the branch up and down line as clear.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and how the same is to
be carried into effect, what I claim as my Invention is, the arrangement of
suitable stops on a main shaft in such a manner that, as any one necessary
lever is pulled back, the same action causes the stops to travel forward and
abut against projections formed on the signal levers, thus locking them, and
thereby preventing the possibility of giving a wrong signal.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jeffreys, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
S.
(1.S.)
'OUT STAT TO TITTAA