IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKING APPARATUS FOR THE POINTS AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Saxby, of Canterbury Road, Kilburn,
Railway Signal Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOCKING APPARATUS FOR THE POINTS AND SIGNALS OF RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 14th November 1871, and dated the 17th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Saxby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th June 1871.
I, JOHN SAXBY, of Canterbury Road, Kilburn, Railway Signal
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS. IN. LOCKING APPARATUS FOR THE POINTS AND SIGNALS OF RAIL-
WAYS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to looking apparatus whereby the levers which
work the points and signals of railways are controlled in their move-
ments so as to prevent signals from being given which are contradictory
to one another or to the state of the points, or prevent the points from
being shifted unless the necessary signals are first put at danger.
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me bearing date the
20th July 1867, and altered by Disclaimer & Mem. of Alteration on the

page_text: 11th August 1869, I described several methods by which the act of
grasping or letting go the spring catch of a lever with or without the
movement of the lever itself was utilised so as to give movement to the
locking apparatus.
My present Invention has reference to improved mechanism for this
purpose, which is constructed as follows:-At the side of the notched
quadrant into which the spring catch rod latches I mount a slotted
rocker free to oscillate vertically on a pivot. situated between the notches
of the quadrant, midway or nearly so in the stroke of the lever. A
projection from the spring catch rod works in the slot of this rocker,
and one end of this rocker is connected to a vertically sliding bar.
Some of the vertically sliding bars are made with oblique sides working
in slots of horizontally sliding bars, and others of the vertically. sliding
bars have slots in them, in which the horizontally sliding bar can move
to and fro. The horizontally sliding bars have at proper places notches
in them, through which the vertical bars can work up and down.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-On grasping the spring
catch of a lever so as to raise it out of the notch of the quadrant, its pro-
jection acting in the slot of the rocker causes it to oscillate on its pivot.
By this movement the vertical bar connected to the rocker is moved
vertically. When this bar has oblique sides its vertical movement
imparts a horizontal movement to the horizontally sliding bar into which
it is notched. When the vertical bar has slots in it it is moved across
the path of the horizontal bars which present notches for its passage.
Thus the act of moving the spring catch either moves a horizontal bar,
or causes the movement of some of the horizontal bars to be prevented.
As the lever is "moved over " the projection moving along the slot of
the rocker maintains it in its position, and on releasing the spring catch
the descent of its rod acting on the rocker on the other side of its
fulcrum adds to the movement of the bar connected to it.. The move-
ments thus imparted from the spring catches to the several vertical &
horizontal bars effect the locking and unlocking of the levers to which
these bars are respectively connected.
As the movement of the spring catch has been employed to-work
vertical and horizontal bars for the purpose of locking, and as the
locking has been effected by movements of vertical and horizontal bars
such as I have described, it is not intended to lay any claim generally to
such mechanism for the purpose of looking the levers of railway points

page_text: and signals, but by causing the spring catch rod to act as I have
described on a rocker pivotted midway or nearly so on the stroke of a
point or signal lever, and thereby to give the required 'movements to the
locking gear. I am enabled to obtain a sufficient movement for locking
3 by raising the spring catch rod, and to effect further locking and also
unlocking by the dropping of the spring catch rod. This I believe to
be new, and I therefor claim as my Invention the mechanism which
I have described for this purpose, either by itself or in combination with
the other parts of the locking gear.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Saxby in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SAXBY, of Canterbury Road, Kilburn, Railway Signal Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Saxby, Her special license that
I, the said John Saxby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Saxby, 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 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 LOCKING APPARATUS;
FOR THE POINTS AND SIGNALS OF Railways,” upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Saxby, my 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Saxby, 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, and the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings.
My Invention relates to locking apparatus whereby the levers which
work the points and signals of railways are controlled in their move-
ments so as to prevent signals from being given which are contradictory
to one another or to the state of the points or prevent the points from
being shifted unless the necessary signals are first put at danger.
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me bearing date the
20th July 1867, and altered by Disclaimer and Memorandum of Altera-
tion on the 11th August 1869, I described several methods by which
the act of grasping or letting go the spring catch of a lever with or
without the movement of the lever itself was utilized so as to give
movement to the locking apparatus.
My present Invention has reference to improved mechanism for the
purpose above mentioned and which is constructed as follows:-At
the side of the notched quadrant into which the spring catch rod
latches I mount a slotted rocker free to oscillate vertically on a pivot
situated between the notches of the quadrant midway or nearly so in
the stroke of the lever. A projection from the spring catch rod works
in the slot of this rocker, and one end of this rocker is connected directly
or indirectly to a vertically sliding bar. Some of the vertically sliding
bars are made with oblique sides working in slots of horizontally sliding
bars, and others of the vertically sliding bars have slots in them in
which the horizontally sliding bars can move to and fro. The horizontally
sliding bars have at proper places notches in them through which the
vertical bars can work up and down.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:- On grasping the spring
catch of a lever so as to raise its lower end out of the notch of the
quadrant its projection acting in the slot of the rocker causes it to
oscillate on its pivot. By this movement the vertical bar connected
to the rocker is moved vertically. When this bar has oblique sides
its vertical movement imparts a horizontal movement to the horizontally
sliding bar into which it is notched. When the vertical bar has slots
in it it is moved across the path of the horizontal bars which present
notches for its passage. Thus the act of moving the spring catch either
moves a horizontal bar or causes the movement of some of the horizontal

page_text: 66
moved over
"
bars to be prevented. As the lever is
the projection
from the spring catch rod moving along the slot of the rocker maintains
it in its position, and on releasing the spring catch the descent of its
rod acting on the rocker on the other side of its fulcrum adds to the
movement of the vertically sliding bar connected to it. The movement
thus imparted from the spring catches to the several vertical and
horizontal bars effects the requisite locking and unlocking action.
Instead of employing the rockers as transmitters of motion to sliding
bars such as are above referred to they may obviously be used for
transmitting motion from the spring catches to other locking gear or
locking apparatus of a similar or equivalent character.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents a side elevation, and Figure 3 a plan of
one of the point or signal levers fitted with a rocker constructed according
to my Invention. A is part of the framing, and C is the notched
quadrant; D is the lever for working a point or a signal, and E is the
spring catch rod, the lower end of which takes into a notch in. the
quadrant C in the usual manner. On a pivot or bearing B at the side
of the quadrant C I mount a slotted rocker F. The slot in this rocker
is circular struck from H, the centre of motion of the lever D when the
rocker is at middle stroke; G is a projection from the spring catch rod
entering the slot in the rocker F, and K is a pin or joint in the rocker F
by which it is connected to the locking gear as will hereafter be
described. In Figure 2, which represents the lever D drawn back, the
parts are marked by the same letters as in Figures 1 and 3. The action
of the lever D and its spring catch rod E on the rocker F is as follows:-
The lever being in the position represented in Figure 1 with its spring
catch rod latched into the front notch of the quadrant C the end K
of the rocker is in its lowest position. On grasping the spring catch
so as to raise the rod E, the projection G acting in the slot of the rocker
raises the end K a certain distance and brings the rocker into such
a position that its circular slot is adjusted to the centre H. The
lever D can then be drawn back, the projection G travelling along the
slot in F. When the lever D is thus brought back to the position
represented in Figure 2, on letting go the spring catch its rod E
descends so as to latch into the back notch of the quadrant C and the
projection G depresses the back part of the rocker and thus farther
raises the front end K. In the movement of the lever from the

page_text: When for
position indicated in Figure 2 to that indicated in Figure 1 there is a
corresponding action on the rocker, two successive movements being
given to its end K, but downwards instead of upwards.
locking purposes the stroke of the point K requires to be increased, the
rocker may be constructed with a prolonged end as represented in
Figure 4. Or when it is desired to diminish and reverse the stroke
of K the rocker may be made to act through a lever L as represented
in Figure 4ª.
Having thus described the construction of the rocker and the manner
in which it is acted on by the lever and spring catch I will now illustrate
the application of the mechanism to the locking gear, referring to
Figures 5 and 6, Sheet No. II., which respectively represent a side and a
front view of a locking apparatus for one point lever and two signal
levers worked according to my Invention.
In Sheet No. 2, a³, a³, a³, are vertically sliding bars, one to each lever,
connected respectively to the ends K of the rockers F, and c is a hori-
zontally sliding bar mounted in the framing; d is an oblique sided
projection from the bar a¹ taking into a notch in the bar c, and b³, b³,
are rectangular projections from the bars a³, a³, which can enter notches
in the bar c. When the three levers are in the attitudes indicated in
Figure 5, the point is supposed to be set for the main line, and both
the main line and the branch line signals are raised to danger. In this
condition there is a notch c³ in the bar o facing the projection 6* and
affording passage for that projection. But if the spring catch of the
lever 1 be grasped the bar a¹ is raised by the action of the rocker
belonging to that lever, and the oblique projection d acting in the slot
of the bar c moves that bar in the direction of the arrow.
ment of c carries the notch c³ past the projection 6³, and
towards but not up to the projection b³. If now the lever 1 be drawn
back so as to shift the points from the main line to the branch and
the spring catch let go the farther action of the rocker as described
above raises still farther the bar a¹ and thus causes the bar c to move
farther in the direction of the arrow till the notch c³ is brought opposite
The
the projection 63 so as to give that projection free passage.
reciprocal action of projections such as 6 and notches such as those in c
so as to effect locking and unlocking is well known and understood,
and this action or the apparatus used as above described for effecting
it forms no part of my present Invention and is described here for
This move-
the notch c³

page_text: the purpose of shewing a convenient mode of applying my Invention
to locking gear of the kind above mentioned.
It may be readily understood that the action of the rocker could
be applied to locking gear of other kinds, the movement of the rocker
being communicated by bell cranks, rocking shafts, or other known
means to the various parts of the apparatus which it is intended to set
in motion or arrest, the leading principle embodied in my Invention
being nevertheless maintained in such apparatus.
This principle may be described as follows:-By causing the spring
catch rod to act as I have described in a rocker pivotted midway or
nearly so in the stroke of a point or signal lever and thereby to give the
required movement to the locking gear I am enabled to obtain sufficient
movement for locking by raising the spring catch rod before moving
the lever and to effect farther locking and also to effect unlocking by
the dropping of the spring catch rod after the lever has been moved
over.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner it is to be performed, I would have it understood that I lay
no claim generally to utilizing the movement of the spring catch for
the purpose of working locking gear or to locking gear worked in
that manner, but what I claim is, the use of a rocker such as is herein
described for the purpose of conveying the movement from the spring
catch to the locking gear, substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Saxby, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witness,
WILLIAM SMITH, O.E.,
19, Salisbury St.,
Strand.
JOHN SAXBY. (L.S.)