A NEW OR IMPROVED AUTOMATIC APPARATUS TILE VARIATIOve TY LENGTH OR THE IDES OR CULING LETTER
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Robert Sharpe, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manager of the Williams' Railway Patents Company,
Limited, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED AUTOMATIC APPARATUS
TILE
VARIATIOve TY LENGTH
OR
THE IDES OR
CULING
LETTERS PATENT to Charles Robert Sharpe, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manager of the Williams' Railway Patents Company,
Limited, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED AUTOMATIC APPARATUS
FOR COMPENSATING THE VARIATIONS IN LENGTH OF THE WIDES OR CHAING
USED FOR WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS."
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification in
pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Robert Sharpe at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th August 1880.
CHARLES ROBERT SHARPE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manager of the Williams' Railway Patents Company, Limited.
A NEW OR
IMPROVED AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR COMPENSATING THE VARIATIONS IN LENGTH
OF THE WIRES OR CHAINS USED FOR WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS."
This Invention, which relates to new or improved apparatus for compen-
sating the variations in lengths of the wires or chains between the signal posts
and operating levers on railways, consists as follows:-The wire or chain, or
combined wire and chains, are connected in the ordinary manner to the pulley or
lever on the signal post, but the opposite end of the wire or chain is passed round
one or more pulleys in the neighbourhood of the operating lever or levers, the
said end of the said wire or chain having attached to it a weight sufficient to
maintain the wire or chain at all times at a constant tension.
In order to cause the wire or chain to be locked into or upon the loose pulley or
pulleys around which it passes, there is mounted upon the axis of one of the loose
pulleys, a lever of sufficient length to carry at its outer part a gripping jaw piece
which is moveable on the axis by which it is attached to the said lever. The inner
end of this gripping jaw piece passes in between the groove of the pulley, and its
outer end is coupled to the lower arm of the operating lever in the signal cabin, so
that whenever the operating lever is pulled its first effect is to move the gripping
piece or jaw slightly on its axis, thereby causing its inner or short end to grip the
LD 71

page_text: wire or chain between itself and the groove in the loose pulley. This being done
the further motion of the lever carries the loose pulley round and imparts that
motion to the wire or chain, and thence to the signal.
In order to further compensate after the one end of the wire or chain has become
a fixed point by the completed movement of the lever operating such wire, I employ
a T shaped lever, the tail of such lever carrying a counter balance which with its
leverage will not overcome the weight hereinbefore referred to as passing over the
pulley. This T shaped lever is provided at its other end with two sheaves, over
and under, which, respectively, the connecting wire or chain passes, so that the
counterbalance keeps in tension the whole of the length of the wire or chain, and
any tightening of one end of the wire does not produce a corresponding slackness
at the other end.