Improved Apparatus for Controlling Railway Watchmen
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Apr., 1889
Specification Accepted, 1st June, 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Controlling Railway Watchmen.
Communicated to me from abroad by KONRAD SOHUTTE, of Hecklingen, in the
Empire of Germany, Railway Manager.
1, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co. Patent Agents and Engineers,
of 35 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex 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 and
accompanying drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
This invention relates to an improved apparatus for controlling and indicating the
performance of their duties at the right times by railway watchmen.
In the service of railways, the watchmen, ordinarily are required to walk over and
inspect at certain intervals, that part of the line belonging to their control, for the
purpose of finding out any injuries, or other obstacles and irregularities which may
occur on the line, and of immediately noticing any such impediments, actual or
imminent.
The improved apparatus which forms the subject of the present invention has for
its purpose to secure and indicate the regular and careful inspection of the line by
the watchman in charge of it. Apparatus of the kind hereinafter described is placed
at certain distances apart along the line.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the railway line with the
levers connected with the improved apparatus; Figure 2 is a section through the
line of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a section through the line a-b of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a section through the line c-d of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a front eleva-
tion of the apparatus with the cover removed; Figure 6 is a top view of the same;
Figure 7 is a side elevation of the same; Figure 8 is a section through the guide
cylinder with screw and pin.
~
The levers H and h preferably of flat iron, are arranged between two cross sleepers,
which are made of a greater length than the ordinary sleepers; the fulcrum of the said
levers is respectively in the barse and E laid across the said levers and secured at
their ends to the sleepers. The fulcrum of the lever h is at D, and the fulcrum of

page_text: the lever H at D'. The lever H carries near one of its ends a small projection a
situated below the outside edge of the rail flange, the said projection being held in
close contact with the rail by means of a nose or clamp b. The rail being slightly
bent down by the weight of a train, or wagon, or locomotive passing over it, will
cause the lever arm H in contact with the rail to move down.
The other lever h the end of which does not extend below the rail, is supported at
its outer end as at c, Figure 2; its inner end is in contact with a projection d rising
a little above the rail and arranged so as to be forced down by the wheel tyre of the
waggon passing over it. The said projection d being preferably made of flat iron, is
guided by a pin s¹ secured to the sleeper, the fulcrum of the said projection & being
arranged in an angle iron a extending below the rail and fastened to the sleeper.
The lever carries an arm y¹ on which the rod or bar d rests and which forces the
lever h down, when the bar d is in contact with the wheel tyre.
Every train that passes the spot where the said levers H and are arranged, will
cause the short arm of the lover H to move down, as already described and the longer
arm of the said lever to be raised accordingly.
Near the end of the said longer arm of the lever H, a rod i is pivotted to it, the
said rod or bar i being adjustably connected to a bar g of the apparatus Figure 5,
the lower end of which bar is provided with a screw thread.
The said bar g has slots cut into it through which bolts or studs k, k¹, secured to
the frame of the apparatus extend, such slots and studs serving to guide the bar g
during its rise and fall. The said bar 9 carries, secured to it, a pawl m engaging
with the teeth of a ratchet wheel z, which is turned by. the said pawl during the
descent of the bar g. Another pawl Z opposite to the pawl m prevents the ratchet
wheel from turning in the opposite direction.
The shaft of the ratchet wheel z consists of a sleeve turning on a fixed rod..y;
Figure 6, the said sleeve a carrying a removable disc of wood n and two sheet metal
discs o and o, the said discs being forced against the fixed disc by means of the
nut p screwed on the threaded sleeve. By this means the sleeve and discs n, o and o¹
are firmly united together. The nut p¹ serves to prevent the sleeve from sliding
off the rod y. The ratchet wheel z on being turned, forces the disc n to follow its
movement whereby a paper strip is unrolled from a wheel; on its way from the
wheel to the wheel said strip passes through an opening under a stamping pad.
A springt serves to prevent the wheel r from turning too fast.
Simultaneously with the effect described, caused by the lever H, the passing train
acts upon the lever / by forcing the projecting bar d down and thereby lifts the
opposite end of the said lever h to which a wire is connected, the upper end of which
is secured to a lever f'as shewn in Figure 5.
To the shorter arm of the said lever fa weight s is attached, which as soon as the
wire connected to the longer arm of the said lever is raised, pulls the said lever down
and lifts its longer arm, as indicated by dotted lines in figure 5; to the said longer
arm of the lever a spring m³ is secured which engages with the collar of a helical
spring inclosed in a vertical cylinder u, Figure 8.
The spring is raised up to the extent allowed by the rubber stop w, which limits
the lift of the lever . The spring is loosely guided within the cylinder u; its
lower end is secured to a sleeve carrying a pin or needle, the said sleeve being adjust-
ably secured to the spindle b' of the spring, as fully shewn in Figure 8. The spring v
on being thrown upwards by the spring m' of the lever f will engage with one of
the noses or fingers a¹ formed or secured to a spring d' and projecting into the
cylinder u.
The spring having been forced upwards, has a tendency to extend
downward and, forming a screw or worm, it receives a rotary motion.
A fly or vane secured to the upper end of the shaft & serves to check this rotary
motion and causes the descent of the spring to proceed slowly. The spring v is lifted
as many times as there are axles on the train or waggon passing, each successive
wheel forcing the lever h down again.
Accordingly the spiral spring v will not be able to move down in the cylinder
until all the wheels of the waggon or train have passed, after which, no further lift

page_text: being produced, it attains its lowest position in the cylinder and causes the pin or
needle to pierce the strip of paper, as shewn in Figure 5.
The watchman before inspecting the line under his charge, takes the stamp belong-
ing to his watchmans house or cabin, adjusts the said stamp so as to bear, beside the
number of the watchman's house, the date of the day and the number of the train
before the arrival of which he is bound to inspect the line, then he walks up to the
end of the length of line under his charge, where the controlling apparatus is
arranged in a casing screwed to the sleepers, opens the said casing with a key, lifts
the cover of the stamping pad and prints the stamp upon the paper strip on the said
pad.
If a single apparatus is used for two adjacent lengths of the line, forming the end
of one and the beginning of the other length, the two watchmen of these adjacent
lengths have different stamps and stamping ink of different colours, so as to prevent
one watchman from stamping for both. The stamp marks of the two watchmen are
to be printed one beside another. When the train has gone past, that part of the
paper strip that had been stamped, has been rolled on to the disc n of the wheel R
and another fresh or unstamped part of the paper strip, drawn off the wheel r presents
itself upon the stamp pad.
The strips of paper, wound up on the removeable disc n of the wheel R, may easily
be withdrawn from the apparatus, and on comparing the same with the list of trains
which pass during the day, an easy and perfect control is established in order to
ascertain whether the watchmen have regularly inspected the line before the approach
of each train. The least irregularity will at once bocome known to the controller.
As only very ponderous weights are able to turn the ratchet wheel z, that is to say,
to deflect down the rail, which the power of men, even by the aid of implements,
will not be able to perform, a fraud cannot be committed by the watchmen, the less
so as the lever H, extending below the rail, is firmly clamped to the same, and as
both levers and H are under cover.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed; I declare that what I
claim is
First. An apparatus serving to control railway watchmen, the said apparatus com-
prising a lever H having its fulcrum at the bar e, one arm of such lever being
connected to the rail, and the other arm being connected to a bar g which, baving
been lifted by the deflection of the rail under the passing train, turns the wheel R
by means of a pawl m after the train has passed whereby a strip of paper is unrolled
from the wheel and wound up upon the wheel R passing over a stamping pad
between the two wheels, substantially as and for the purpose described and shewn.
Second. An apparatus serving to control railway watchmen, the said apparatus
comprising, besides the lever H. another lever, having its fulcrum at the bar E,
one arm of such lever being in contact with a bar d forced down by the wheels of
the passing train, and the other end of the said lever h being connected by a wire to
a weighted leverf which, as a wagon wheel passes over the bar d, lifts the helical
spring v and needle within the guide cylinder u the spring sliding down again after
the train has passed, and being retarded by the nose a' of the spring d¹ and a fly
upon the shaft b', so as to produce a perforation in the paper strip when the train has
gone by, substantially as and for the purpose set forth and shewn.
Dated this 16th day of April 1889.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Patentee.