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

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Lane, of Paddington, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR WORKING AND CONTROLLING RAILWAY SWITCHES, POINTS,
AND SIGNALS."
Sealed the 11th August 1865, and dated the 15th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Lane at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
February 1865.
I, MICHAEL LANE, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING AND CONTROLLING RAILWAY SWITCHES, POINTS,
AND SIGNALS," to be as follows:→
My Invention consists in the employment of a shaft carrying a toothed
wheel or ratchet and a screw thread, which thread works through a fixed nut
for the purpose of communicating to-and-fro motion to the said shaft; also in
connecting to the switch or other lever a rod with teeth to engage into the
teeth of the ratchet or toothed wheel upon the shaft. The shaft carries
locking bars, which are carried to or fro according to the direction in which
the shaft is made to travel by driving the toothed rod in one direction or the

page_text: other upon motion given to the switch lever; and these locking bars either
hold secure or allow motion to switch or signal levers, according to the direc-
tion in which the shaft is made to travel. Instead of a toothed rod or rack
being connected to the switch lever to work the shaft I place a worm wheel
on the shaft and a worm upon the rod.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Michael Lane in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
LANE, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Michael Lane, Her special licence that I, the said Machael Lane,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Michael Lane, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING AND CONTROLLING RAILWAY SWITCHES, POINTS,
AND SIGNALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Michael
Lane, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
iny, 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 Michael Lane, 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 to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say

page_text: My Invention consists in the employment of a shaft carrying a toothed
wheel or ratchet and a screw thread, which thread works through a fixed nut,
for the purpose of communicating to-and-fro motion to the said shaft; also in
connecting to the switch or other lever a rod with teeth to engage into the
teeth of the ratchet or toothed wheel upon the shaft. The shaft carries
locking bars, which are carried to or fro according to the direction in which
the shaft is made to travel by driving the toothed rod in one direction or the
other upon motion given to the switch lever, and these locking bars either
hold secure or allow motion to switch or signal levers, according to the direc-
tion in which the shaft is made to travel. Instead of a toothed rod or rack
being connected to the switch lever to work the shaft I place a worm wheel
on the shaft and a worm upon the rod.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation, and Figure 2
a side elevation, with the signal lever and the locking bars removed, of an
apparatus for working and controlling switches, points, and signals constructed
according to my Invention; Figure 3 is a side elevation, showing the locking
bar and the signal lever, but with the toothed rod before mentioned.
a is a shaft carrying a toothed wheel or ratchet b, and a screw thread-c;.
the screw thread works through a fixed nut d in the end framing e, for the
purpose of communicating to-and-fro motion to the shaft a, as before stated.
fis the switch lever, it has connected thereto a rod g with teeth, which engage
into the teeth of the wheel b; h is the locking bar connected to the shaft a,
and carried to a fro according to the direction in which the shaft a is made
to travel by the toothed rod g when acted on in one direction or the other by
the switch lever f; j is the signal lever. When the lever f is pushed forward
the locking bar h comes in front of the signal lever j, and thereby prevents
it being moved until the lever f is brought back to its first position; another
locking bar in like manner comes in front of another switch or signal lever
(not shown in the Drawings), and prevents that lever being moved until the
lever is brought back. The locking bars are guided in their to-and-fro
motion by guides k.
Any number of switch and signal levers for working a corresponding
number of switches and signals may be arranged in one apparatus, each
switch lever being furnished with its own toothed rod g, toothed wheel b,
shaft a, and locking bars. Each switch lever may be made to work one or
more pairs of switches.
0
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, constructing

page_text: apparatus for working and controlling railway switches, points, and signals, in
which switch and signal levers, or either switch or signal levers are locked and
unlocked, substantially by the means and in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Lane, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
M. LANE. (L.S.)