Improvements in or relating to Railway Switches.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 27th. Feb., 1894-Accepted, 21st Apr., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Railway Switches.
We, WILLIAM HALLIDAY, and THOMAS F. RAWLS, of Barnett, in the
County of Clarke, and State of Mississippi, United States of America, Gentlemen,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
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This invention relates to railways, and particularly to a railway switch, and its
novelty will be fully understood from the following description and claims when
taken in connection with the annexed drawings, and the object of the invention
is to provide means connected to a railway switch and operated from the cab of
an engine to close the switch.
A further object of the invention is to provide means attached to the railway
ties to automatically close the switch from the engine as the latter approaches the
switch.
The invention consists in the novel arrangement and construction of parts, as
will be hereinafter fully described and set up in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings forming part of this application:
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an engine, upon a railway track showing our
improved mechanism upon the engine and connected to the switch.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the switch, track, and operating mechanism, with the
switch open. .
Fig. 3 is a similar view with the switch closed.
Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the horizontally slidable trigger arm
and the upright to which it is pivoted.
Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the trigger arm.
Fig. 6 is a perspective view, partly broken, of two railway ties, the upright, the
trigger arm and the spring trolling the latter.
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Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the upright in a modified form.
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a modified form of trigger arm.
Fig. 9 is an inverted perspective view of the end of the arm having the
dove-tail lug.
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Fig. 10 is a perspective view partly broken away of the track and means
controlling the switch.
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The same letters of reference denote the same parts throughout the several
figures of the drawings.
To the front of the engine A, is secured a bell-crank lever B, one of its
arms a, las connected to it an operating rod b, which extends into the cab, or in
a convenient position to be'operated by the engineer.
The other arm C of the bell-crank lever depends from the corner of the engine
a sufficient distance to engage the upright D, pivoted at c, to one of the ties d.
This upright D, (so called because its normal position is upright) has a slot F,
with a pin e, passing through it, and through the slot f, in the enlarged head F,
of the trigger arm G, leaving the said trigger arm resting upon the ends of two
or more of the ties and kept there by the brackets g, in which the arm is moved
back and forth parallel with the track.
The said trigger arm is moved forward by means of the depending arm C, and
backward into its normal position by means of the plate spring H, secured at one
end to one of the ties upon which the trigger arm rests, and the other free end
engages the front edge of the lower portion of the trigger arm'head F.

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To the movable end of the switch I, is secured the tie-bar K, having a spring g',
secured thereto at h, and to one of the ties d, at i, for keeping the switch closed.
A dove-tail notch L, is formed in the said tie-bar between its spring connected
end and the railway track, to receive the dove-tail lug 1, upon the lever M.
This lever is connected to one of the ties by means of a hand-crank lever N, is
hinged together at m and provided with a spring n, which keeps the hinged parts
of the lever M, parallel with each other until the end having the dove-tail lug l,
and flange m' is pushed by the trigger arm.
The notch L, is made dove-tail so that the dove-tail portion of the lug 1, will
more readily enter the said notch, and should it only enter to a small degree it will
engage the side walls of the notch closely.
The flanges m' of the said lug l, rest upon the top of the tie-bar K, at the edge
of the said notch, to keep the bottom of the dove-tail portion of the lug out of
engagement with the bottom of the notch, thereby greatly lessening the friction.of
the said parts.
Referring to the modified form of trigger arm, it is wedge-shaped, and the end
connected to the slotted upright is curved or bent upward, and is T-shaped,
forming a bearing O, which fits in the slot of the said upright, and a head o, to
prevent its displacement; this trigger arm is inserted into the said upright by
simply turning the T-shaped head upon its side edge which is thin enough to pass
through the slot of the upright, when it is then turned flat, leaving the bearing O,
in the said slot, thus entirely dispensing with the pivot pin e, which passes through
the upright.
It will be observed by the peculiar construction of each trigger arm, that they
both are movably secured in the upright, that is they are free to move in the slot
of said upright whenever the latter is moved.
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The lever N is shown connected to and operated by a hand-crank simply for
convenience, as the said lever N may be operated by any well known and common
device now in use.
The operation of the several parts of the invention having been set forth in the
foregoing description the operation of such parts collectively and particularly the
automatic mechanism is as follows:
The switch having been (it will be supposed accidentally) left open, leaves
the dove-tail lug in the notch of the tie bar opposite the end of the trigger arm,
and as the locomotive approaches the switch, the depending arm C strikes the top
of the upright D, pushing it forward and causing the trigger arm to force the
dove-tail lug out of engagement with the tie bar allowing the tie bar and the
trigger arm to be returned to their normal positions by means of the spiral and
plate spring respectively.
Although there is but one depending arm C shown, there may be another upon
the other side of the engine and the said arm is held up until approaching a switch
when the engineer has simply to let it drop..
We do not wish it to be understood as limiting ourselves to any particular siz
or length of the arms and levers herein described, nor to the particular location
relative to the tracks, but reserve to ourselves the right to change the size, length
and location without departing from the spirit of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The combination with a railway switch, of the spring actuated tie bar having
a notch, the lever having a lug, engaging the notch when the switch is open,
the slotted upright, the trigger arm, one end of which is movably secured in the
slot of the said upright and the other end adapted to engage the said lug and push
it out of the said notch to close the switch, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
2. In a switch closer, operated from a locomotive, the combination of the slotted

page_text: upright pivoted adjacent to the switch, the switch tie bar, the lever having a lug,
the trigger arm movably secured at one end in the slot of the upright and the
other end left free to slide horizontally to engage the lug of the said lever, and
push it out of the notch to close the switch, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
3. In a railway switch, the combination of the tie bar to which the movable end
of the switch rails is secured, said bar extending out from one side of the track,
such extension having a notch, the spiral spring secured to the extension and to
one of the track sleepers, the slotted upright, the trigger arm secured in the
upright, the plate spring bearing against the head of the trigger arm,
the pivoted
lever having a dove-tail lug adapted to engage the said notch and to be pushed out
by the said trigger arm, substantially as shown and described.
4. In a railway switch, the combination of the tie bar to which the movable
ends of the switch rails are secured, the said bar extending out from the track and
having a dove-tail notch, the spiral spring secured to the extension and to one of
the track sleepers, the slotted upright, the trigger arm having a slotted head
pivoted in the upright, the plate spring having its free end bearing upon the head
of the trigger arm, the pivoted hinged lever having a dove-tail lug adapted to
engage the notch and be pushed out of it by the said trigger arm, and the spring
secured to the said lever across its hinge, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
5. The combination with a railway switch, of the spring actuated tie bar, the
lever engaging the tie bar when the switch is open, and the trigger arm, one
end of which is movably secured at the side of the track and the other end
adapted to engage the said lever and cause it to disengage the said tie bar to close
the switch, as set forth.
Dated this 27th day of February 1894.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.