An Improvement in Electric Locks for Railway Point and Signal Levers.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Nov., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 24th July, 1897-Accepted, 28th Aug., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Electric Locks for Railway Point and
Signal Levers.
I, EDWARD TYER, of Ashwin Street, Dalston, in the County of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In my Specification No. 8331 of 1893 I described means of locking a point or
signal lever by a pawl hanging in the path of a shoulder of the spring catch rod of
the lever, and thus preventing the rod being raised so as to free the lever, until the
pawl was moved out of the way by the action of a solenoid excited by an electric
current, the catch rod of the lever being thus left free to be raised so that the lever
was unlocked. In the apparatus described in the said specification the pawl was
carried by the lever and the solenoid was fixed on the lever frame near the lever. My
present invention relates to a construction of electric lock all of which is carried
by the lever itself, and which is available for locking the lever in either of its
extreme positions. For this purpose I fix on the lever a casing containing an
electromagnet, presenting two poles near which is pivotted an iron pawl which by
its own weight or by a weight on an arm projecting from it is normally caused to
take such a position as to be away from the poles of the magnet and to hang in the
path of a sliding rod attached to the spring catch rod of the lever.. The pawl, while
it occupies this position. prevents the rod from being raised, the lever consequently.
being locked. But when by an electric current the electromagnet is excited, it
attracts the pawl out of the path of the sliding rod which is thus left free to be
raised with the spring catch, the lever being released. The pawl when attracted
may cause a contact to be made whereby the unlocking of the lever may be signalled
to a cabin or elsewhere.
Dated
11th d. of Naomben 1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Electric Locks for Railway Point and
Signal Levers.
I, EDWARD TYER, of Ashwin Street, Dalston, in the County of London, Engineer
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:-
In my Specification No. 8331 of 1893 I described means of locking a point or
signal lever by a pawl hanging in the path of a shoulder of the spring catch rod of

page_text: the lever, and thus preventing the rod from being raised so as to free the lever
until the pawl was moved out of the way by the action of a solenoid excited by an
electric current, the catch rod of the lever being thus left free to be raised so that
the lever was unlocked. In the 'apparatus described in the said specification, the
pawl was carried by the lever and the solenoid was fixed on the lever frame near the
lever. My present invention relates to a construction of electric lock all of which
is carried by the lever itself, and which is available for locking the lever in either
of its extreme positions. For this purpose I construct the lock as shewn in vertical
section in Fig. 1 and in front view with cover removed in Fig. 2. When it is
intended to lock in both extreme positions of the lever I employ the modification
shewn in Fig. 3 in vertical section."
I fix on the lever L a casing A containing an electromagnet B presenting two
poles CC near which is pivotted an iron pawl D which, by its own weight or by a
weight on an arm projecting from it, is normally caused to take such a position as to
be away from the poles C C and to hang in the path of a sliding piece E which is
attached to the spring catch rod F of the lever L. The pawl D, while it occupies
this position, prevents the piece E and the rod
E and the rod F from being raised, the
lever L consequently being locked. But when, by an electric current transmitted
from spring plungers P P, to contacts H H¹, the electromagnet is excited, it
attracts the pawl D out of the path of E which is thus left free, allowing the spring
catch rod F to be raised and releasing the lever, which can be pulled over. The
pawl when attracted may cause a contact to be made whereby the unlocking of
the lever may be signalled to a cabin or elsewhere. When it is desired to lock the
lever at both extremes of its stroke, I employ the modifications shewn in Fig. 3,
providing, besides the contacts H H, a pair of contacts h h¹ on the opposite of
the lock, meeting another pair of spring plungers ppl.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
An electric lock for a railway point or signal lever, constructed and operating
substantially as described with reference to the drawings.