AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY SWITCHES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Thompson of the Phoenix Foundry, York, and
William Joseph Nicholson, of Queen Street, York, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY SWITCHES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Thompson and
William Joseph Nicholson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 30th September 1857.
We, EDWIN THOMPSON, of the Phoenix Foundry, York, and WILLIAM JOSEPH
NICHOLSON, of Queen Street, York, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY SWITCHES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in so constructing railway switches, as that the
tongue rails lift clear of the chairs, instead of sliding as commonly practised.
By the above improvement the necessity for oiling the chairs is dispensed with,
and the chance of sticking half open entirely obviated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Thompson and William Joseph Nicholson in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWIN
THOMPSON of the Phoenix Foundry, in the City of York, Ironfounder, and
WILLIAM JOSEPH NICHOLSON, of Queen Street, in the same City, Engineer,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Edwin Thompson and William Joseph
Nicholson, Her especial license that we, the said Edwin Thompson and
William Joseph Nicholson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Edwin Thompson and William Joseph Nicholson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
our Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY SWITCHES," within England,
Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
during the term of fourteen years thence next ensuing, upon condition,
amongst others, that we, the said Edwin Thompson and William Joseph
Nicholson, or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Edwin Thompson and William Joseph
Nicholson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following Specification thereof, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
نت
Our said Invention consists first, of a mode or modes of constructing ap-
paratus by means of which the tongue rails of railway switches or points are
moved, or have their movements and positions regulated when moved into
contact with or away from fixed lines of rails upon a railway, so as to form a
connection or conjunction between each such tongue rail and line of rail or
sever such connection, as may be from time to time required for allowing the
shunting or passing of a railway carriage or train from one line of railway on
to another line of railway in the usual manner.
And our said Invention consists, secondly, in attaching check rails or
guards to the points or moveable ends of tongue rails, so that when a
tongue rail is open or not in contact with the fixed line of rail, the check
rail or guard is placed in such a position as to act as a check or guard
for the purpose of preventing or assisting in the prevention of the wheels
of carriages; from quitting their proper track along the line of rails which
they are intended to pass along. The apparatus which we employ in

page_text: performing the first part of our Invention for moving or regulating the
movements of the tongue rails of railway switches, and keeping them in their
proper positions during the passing of railway trains or carriages, is constructed
so as to have the effect of lifting the moveable ends of the tongue rails up
from the bases of the chairs within which they traverse laterally. When they
are removed from or into contact with the line of fixed or stock rails, instead
of such tongue rails sliding laterally upon the bases of the chairs within which
they traverse in the ordinary way, thus avoiding or considerably diminishing
the risk and danger of tongue rails sticking fast, and being thus prevented
from being moved into their proper positions. We prefer to effect this object
by attaching the moveable end of a tongue rail to one end of a link, which has
its other end attached to or hinged upon the base of the chair, within which
the tongue rail traverses in such a position that when the tongue rail is moved
away from the line of fixed rails, the link will cause the tongue rail to be
elevated above the level of the line of fixed rail, and also cause the bottom of
the tongue rail to be lifted up from the bases of the chairs within which it
traverses, and when so lifted the elevation is greatest at or near the point or
moveable end of the tongue rail, and is least at the chair nearest to the joint
or hinge of the tongue rail.
We have in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the said Drawings shewn how this part
of our Invention may be carried into effect by means of links acting in such a
way, as to regulate the motions of tongue rails in manuer above mentioned.
Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a railway, shewing a railway switch
furnished with a pair of tongue rails; Figure 2 is a cross section of the same,
taken at the dotted line V, X, in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a section on an
enlarged scale of one side only of the railway switch, taken through the
dotted line Y, Z, in Figure 1. A, A, and B, B, are two lines of fixed or
stock rails; C, C, and D, D, are two tongue rails attached together by two
ordinary coupling rods, so that either of them may be brought into contact
with its neighbouring line of fixed or stock rail, in like manner as the tongue
rail D, D, is in Figure 1, shewn to be in contact with the line of fixed or
stock rails B, B, whilst the other tongue rail is open or away from the other
stock or fixed rail, in like manner as the tongue rail C, C, is in Figure 1
shewn to be open and away from the line of fixed or stock rails A, A. The
coupling rods are, however, attached by joints or hinges at each end to the
tongue rails, so as to permit the tongue rails to be raised, and again depressed
in the manner herein-after described.
The tongue rail on each side of the switch is connected by a hinge or pin
with a link e, and each of those links is attached to the base of the chair

page_text: within which the moveable end of the tongue rail traverses by a hinge or
pin F, upon which it moves when the tongue rail is moved laterally in either
direction.
The length of each link e, and the position of the hinge or pin are so regu-
lated that when the tongue rail is in contact with the line of fixed or stock
rail the bottom of the tongue rail will rest upon the bases of all the chairs
within which it traverses, and the upper surface of the tongue rail will be
upon the same level as the top of the fixed or stock rails, as shewn in
Figure 3 of the said Drawings, and on one side of Figure 2 in each of which
the top of the tongue rail D is shewn to be on the same level as the fixed or
stock rail B. But when the tongue rail is moved away from the line of fixed
or stock rails, the link attached to the tongue rail turning upon the hinge pin
at its lower end assumes a more vertical position, and elevates the tongue rail
so as lift the bottom of it up from the bases of the chairs within which it
traverses; the top of the tongue rail being raised to a corresponding height
above the level of the line of fixed or stock rails from which it has been
'disconnected.
The positions of a tongue rail and of the link connected with it, when the
tongue rail has been moved away from the line of fixed or stock rails is shewn
at one end of Figure 2, at which the tongue rail C is shewn as having been
moved away from the fixed or stock rail A.
The tongue rails of such a switch may be moved from one side to another
by means of a lever hinged upon a fulcrum pin G, and a lever rod in the
ordinary way as shewn in Figure 2, the lever rod being connected in the
ordinary way with one of the coupling rods by which the two tongue rails are
connected together, as also shewn in Figure 2.
The tongue rails may however be moved by means of an ordinary weighted
lever as shewn in Figures 11 and 12 of the said Drawings, or in any other
way which may be deemed convenient.
In Figure 4 we have shewn how this part of our Invention may be carried
into effect by means of a quadrant instead of a link for raising and supporting
a tongue rail when it is removed from contact with the line of fixed or stock
rails. In this Figure a quadrant H is shewn on each side hinged upon a pin
at the base of a chair within which the tongue rail traverses; the quadrant
having a notch or groove cut in its moveable end to receive the base of the
tongue rail, and in this notch the tongue rail is supported when it is moved
away from the line of fixed or stock rails. The other parts shewn in Figure 4
are the same or nearly the same as those shewn in Figure 3, and they are
'marked with the same letters of reference; the tongue rail in Figure 4 being

page_text: shewn in the same positions as those in Figure 3, or nearly so. The action
of each of the quadrants shewn in Figure 4 is substantially the same as that
of the links shewn in Figure 3, when the tongue rails are moved in either
direction.
In Figure 5 of the said Drawings we have shewn two wheels I, I, sub-
stituted for the quadrants shewn in Figure 4, all the other parts being the
same and marked with similar letters of reference. In a switch constructed
in this way a tongue rail is supported upon the periphery of a wheel I, when
it is moved away from the line of fixed or stock rails, and is by the wheel
elevated in the same manner as by a link or a quadrant, the tongue rail again
descending and resting upon the bases of the chairs within which it traverses
when it is brought into contact with the line of fixed or stock rails.
In Figure 6, we have shewn two inclined planes K, K, substituted for the
wheels shewn in Figure 5, the other parts being the same.
In a switch con-
structed as shewn in Figure 6, when the tongue rails are moved from one side
to the other one of the tongue rails is moved away from the line of fixed or
stock rails at that side of the railway, and that tongue rail is at the same time
moved up the inclined plane which is under it into a position such as the
position of the tongue rail C, shewn in Figure 6. The other tongue rail on
the other side of the switch at the same time passes down the inclined plane
under it until it comes into contact with the line of fixed or stock rails at that
side of the switch, as shewn by the tongue rail D, in contact with the fixed or
stock rail B, in Figure 6.
In Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10, of the said Drawings, we have shewn a switch
similar to that shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, but with check rails or guards
fixed to the points or moveable ends of the tongue rails according to the
second part of our said Invention.
In Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10, parts similar to those shewn in Figures 1, 2,
and 3, are marked with the same letters of reference as those in Figures 1, 2,
and 3. The check rail or guard Ę is shewn in the plan, Figure 7, and also in
Figure 10, which is a side elevation of part of the tongue rail C, and of the
check rail or guard E.
This check rail or guard is curved as shewn in Figure 7, so as to ensure its
acting as a guard when necessary to prevent or assist in preventing the
wheels of a carriage passing along that side of the railway from getting out of
their proper track along the line of the fixed or stock rails A, A.
One of these guards is fixed at the end of each tongue rail as shewn in
Figure 7, and the upper surface of each guard is depressed below the upper
surface of the tongue rail to which it is attached, to such an extent that when

page_text: the tongue rail is in contact with the line of fixed rails the flanges of the wheels
passing along the tongue rail may pass over the guard without touching it, and
the elevation of each tongue rail when it is moved away from the fixed or
stock rail is so regulated that when so moved away the top of the guard is
brought up to the same level as the top of the line of fixed or stock rails so as
to ensure its action upon the inner sides of the flanges of the wheels, and keep
them in their proper track along the top of the line of fixed or stock rails.
Having particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which it is to be performed, we declare that we do
not claim any of the mechanical parts or elements herein-before described or
shewn in the said Drawings as being separately or apart from the combination
and application thereof in manner aforesaid as being any part of our said
Invention, and that we only claim as of our said Invention,―
First, the construction of the apparatus for moving the tongue rails of railway
switches into contact with and away from the fixed lines of rails with links,
quadrants, wheels, or inclined planes so and in such manner as to have the
effect of lifting the moveable ends of the tongue rails, and also to a less extent
each of the other parts of the tongue rails up from the bases of the chairs,
within which they traverse laterally, when such tongue rails are moved away
from the line of fixed or stock rails, and also so and in such manner that
when the tongue rails are again brought into contact with the line of fixed
or stock rails, they shall also be depressed so as to rest upon the bases of the
chairs within which they traverse.
Secondly, the addition of check rails or guards to the ends of such tongue
rails as are raised when removed from the line of fixed or stock rails, and
depressed when brought into contact with the line of fixed or stock rails so
that such check rails or guards may (when the tongue rails to which they are
attached are open or away from the fixed rails) prevent or assist in preventing
the carriage wheels passing along the line of fixed rails from getting off their
proper track along such line of fixed rails as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, the said parties to these Presents have hereunto set
their hands and seals, the Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
EDWIN THOMPSON. (L.s.)
W. J NICHOLSON.
(L.S.)