IMPROVEMENTS IN POINTS OR SWITCHES FOR TRAMWAYS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morris, of The Avenue, Blackheath, in
the County of Kent, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN POINTS OR SWITCHES FOR TRAMWAYS."-A communication from
abroad by William Sheldon, of Chateau de Langoeld, Sous Uccle,
pres Bruxelles, Belgique.
Sealed the 1st January 1870, and dated the 23rd July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd July 1869.
I, WILLIAM MORRIS, of The Avenue, Blackheath, in the County of
5. Kent, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN POINTS OR SWITCHES FOR TRAMWAYS," to be as follows:-
The point or switch at the junction of the rails of two lines of
tramway or of a line and a siding is caused to shift by the action of
the car wheels, so that after their arrival at it the cars running in one

page_text: direction will go on one line or siding, and before their arrival at it the
cars running in the opposite direction will go on the other line or
siding. This is effected by a metal tongue fixed by two bolts to the
upper side of a sole plate, or attached by a bolt on which the tongue can
be moved horizontally, but so as to be fixed at pleasure in one direction
or another by a key at one end taking into a notch or socket. In
either case the metal tongue has a part furthest from the fixed end
narrowed towards the extremity, which lies when at rest within a recess
on the fixed rail, but is free to move by the yielding of its shape to
the pressure of the wheel and to lie for a time in a recess on the
opposite fixed rail. After the wheel has passed the tongue returns to
its former position by the elasticity of its substance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Morris in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORRIS, of The Avenue, Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Esqre,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Morris, Her special licence that
I, the said William Morris, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Morris, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN POINTS
OR SWITCHES POR TRAMWAYS," a communication to me from abroad by
William Sheldon, of Chateau de Langoeld, Sous Uccle, pres Bruxelles,
Belgique, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Morris, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing

page_text: 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 Morris, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The object of my Invention is the more effectual and convenient
shifting of the switch point on tramways, so that two sets of rail cars
will travel on their proper lines of rails at a junction or siding.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a plan; Fig. 2 is a vertical
section through B, b, of two rails of a line and siding and the switch;
Figs. 3, 4, 5, vertical sections across the lines of rail at the ends of the
bed plate and at a similarly; Fig. 6 is a plan, and Fig. 7 a cross section
of other rails of the line and siding and switch, but so as to show the
use of the key. The same letters refer to like parts in the Figures.
A, A, the bed plate; B, the tongue of the switch; a, the part in which
the wheel flange runs, and which narrows so that the flange in running
along the direction of the arm 2 pushes the end of the switch from one
recess c on the plate into the other on the rail, and so allow the wheel
to pass on to that rail, after which the thin end of the tongue, the other
end being held by screw bolts b, b, returns by its elasticity to the
position in Figs. 1 and 6, and the carriage wheel running in the direction
of arrow 1 will pass along the other rail to the siding. The rails and
the switch as represented in the Drawings are for a particular arrange-
ment of the to-and-fro journies of the car; but the arrangements
of the journies will require corresponding adjustment of the parts.
When it is desired to use the lines and sidings so that the wheel flanges
may not encounter projections at the recesses, these may be rounded
off or the recesses dispensed with. In Figs. 1, 2, 5, the switch tongue B
s shewn as fixed by the screw or bolts and nuts at b, b. In Figs. 6
and 7 the end of the shorter arm of the tongue d is inserted in the
open slot e, and is fixed there to one
shewn in section, Fig. 7, so that the
side or another by the key f, as
other end of the switch will be

page_text: usually in one or other recess, c (Fig. 1), and the carriages will then run
always on the main line rail or the siding as may be determined.
What I claim as my Invention is, the improved point or switch for
tramways, as described, also the tongue of the point or switch made
adjustable by a key, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morris, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
W. MORRIS. (L.S.)