US336702A - Railway switch and signal interlocking - Google Patents

Description

Patented Feb H. P. 00X.

ARAILWAY SWITCH AND ,SIGNAL INTERLOGKING.

(No Model.)

N. PETERS Pnuxo-Ulhcgmpher. wasnmglen. D4 C.

UNITED STATESv PATENT UFFIci-i HENRY F. COX, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY SWITCH AND SIGNAL INTERLOCKING.

SPECIFICATIONformng part of Letters Patent 1810.336302, dated February 23, 1886.

Application mea May 25, less.

To aZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. COX, of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Railway Switch and Signal Interlocking, of which the following is a full and true description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention belongs to that class of devices which are employed in connection with railway switches and signals for the purpose of insuring the performance of certain actions in a fixed and safe order.

In devices of this kind heretofore used provision has been made, as arule, to interlock the operating-levers alone. In this way it is quite evident to any one skilled in the art that a breakage of the connection between the switch-operating lever and its switch might result in a wrong indication of the posit-ion of the switch by the signal.

lThe object of my invention is to provide a locking device which will insure the switch being in its normal position as set for the main ltrack before the signal-operating device can be placed in such a position as to allow the signal to indicate safety, and which will also prevent the displacement of the switch while the signal indicates safety.

Reference being now had to the drawings7 which illustrate my invention as applied to a switch and signal connections of the usual kind, Figure lis a plan viewof such aswitch; Fig. 2, a horizontal view on the section x. Fig. 3 shows my locking-cam in its normal position. Fig. 4 shows my locking-cam in its position when the switch is open and the signal indicates danger.77

A A are the fixed rails; B B, the movable points of the switch; C, the switch-actuating connecting rod; D, the switch-actuating lever; E, the usual bearings of the lever and rod. G is the signal operating and locking rod. II H H are bearings for the rod G. I is the lockingcam, preferably forged on the rod G. J is the lever-arm for actuating the signal. j is a staple or hasp, to which the lever J may be secured. Kis a pulley for the Serial No. 166,609. (No model.)

signal-connection; L, the signal-connection, and M the signal.

The shape and construction of the lockingcam I are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. As will be seen, when the switch is in its normal position, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the main track is open and the signal set to indicate safety by means of the lever J, which in this position (see Fig. 2) not only passes over and locks the switeh-actuating levers D, but vholds the cam I with its elongated end or portion upward and extending above the bottoni of the rail B, to which it must be in close proximity, so that it will lock and prevent its being moved. rlhe cam I is so shaped and so secured to the rod G that it will thus lock the rail B during the whole rotation of the rod and until the lever J is thrown completely over, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and then only is it possible to move the switchpoint B over the cam, as shown in Fig. 4. When the switch is thus opened, the rail B rests upon or in close proximity to the flat side of the cam, and locks it and the rod G in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1; and consequently the signal remains at danger and cannot indicate safety until the point B is completely moved back to its position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, andthe main track again perfectly clear. The cam I thus serves the double purpose of insuring the correct position of the switch-points before it is possible to turn the signal to indicate safety and of locking the switch-point in the safety position. The bearings I-I H H, in which the rod G turns, are secured to the tie and the timber' supported from the ties on which the levers are journaled. rPhis method of securing the cam-rod insures the correct position of the cam with reference to the rail, and makes it easy to apply my improvement to any existing switch. The ease with which my improvement can be so added is also increased by securing the pulley Ii on the rod G, as shown,

and the connection of the cam-rod G with the signal by means of the pulley-and-rope connection is important, as these will readily accommodate themselves to the position of the cam, and not tend, as would a more rigid consubstantial] y as shown and described, the rod G,having cam I, and bearings H,secured to the tie.

3. In a switch and signal interlocking device, substantially as shown and described, the rod G, having cam I, pulley K, and bearings H, secured to the tie.

HENRY F. COX.

XNTitnesses:

W. O. DUNBAR, JOSHUA MATLACK.

Images