US459497A - Arthur - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

A. G. LEONARD. INTERLOGKING SWITCH.

.110. 459,497. Patented sept. 15, 1891.

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UNITED STATES ,PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR G. LEONARD, NEW YORK, N. Y.

INTERLOCKING SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 459,497, dated September 15, 1891.

Application tiled May 9, 1891. Serial No. 392,148. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR G. LEONARD,

of the city and county of New York, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Interlocking Switches, of which the following is a specification".

My invention relates to an improvement in interlocking switches in which a switch-operating lever and a signal-operating lever are so interlocked that the switch can only be thrown out of its normal posit-ion after the signal has been setto danger, and the signal set to safety only after the-switch has been thrown into its normal position.

The object is to provide a simple and effective device for use in connection with a pair of operating-levers located side by side, one serving as an operating-lever for aswitch and the other as an operating-lever for a signal to indicate the position of that switch.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying` drawings,

in which- Figure 1 is a view of the interlocking switch and signal levers in side elevation, showing in full lines the levers in normal position and in dotted lines the signal-operating lever full thrown to set the signal to danger and the switch-lever partially thrown; and Fig. 2 is a top plan view.

A represents the supporting-stand, shown in the present instance as a pair of inverted- U-shaped frames bolted rmly together and having sector-bars a a', fixed between their upper ends and spaced from each other and from the frames to admit of the swing of the operating-levers between them.

The switch-operating lever is represented by B and the signal-operating lever by C. They are fulcrnmed upon a common pin or shaft D, secured to a pair of cross-bars of the frame, and are locked in their positions at the limits of their strokes by means of spring-actuated dogs E E', adapted to engage notches c in the outer edges of the sector-bars a d. The dogs E E may be operated at the moment of grasping the handle of the levers by means of angle-levers e', pivotally secured to the levers B and C near the handles and connected with the dogs by rods or bars e2, as is common. One of the levers, in the present 1nstance the signal-operating lever C, is pro! vided with a pin c, fixed in a projection c at the edge of the lever and extending laterally therefrom in front of the lever B, so that the lever B cannot be moved from itsnormal position until the signal-operating lever C moves.

I have assumed as the normal position ot' the levers that` position which they occupy when the switch is in the position to make the main track intact and the signal for the switch set to safety It .will therefore be impossible to move the switch-operating lever to throw the switch, so as to break the main track without first releasing the signal-operating lever C and allowing it to swing and hence the danger signal to be set.

It is to be assumed that the levers B and C are connected with the switch and signal, respectively, by any well known Vand approved mechanism. As such connecting mechanism forms no part of my present invention, I have omitted it in the drawings. When the signal-operating lever has been irst thrown into the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. l, and the signal thereby set to dangen the switch-operating lever may then be freely swung to complete its stroke and throw the switch to the side track. On the other hand, when the switch-operating lever has been thrown to set the switch to the side track, the signal-operating lever is locked by it, the locking-pin c being now located behind the lever B with respect to its-return throw, so that the signal can only be set to safety after the switch-operating lever has been moved to set the switch to the main track or to its normal position.

The device is simple, it provides a very positive reminder to the operator, and unskilled operators are by it successfully prevented from fatal mistakes.

In an interlocking switch, the combination, with a switch-operatinglever and a signaloperating lever mounted upon the same axis and free to swing simultaneously in the same direction and means for holding the levers at the limits of their strokes, of a stop senal-operating lever in advance of the Switch cured to the signal-operating lever and -eX- operating lever in the opposite direction, subtending across the path of lche sWitch-opet'- stantially as set forth.

ating lever, so as to prevent the movement ARTHUR G. LEONARD. 5 of the switch-operating lever before the move- Witnesses:

meut of fhe signal-operating lever in one di- HUGH F. HENRY, Jr.,

rection and prevent the movement of the sig- THOS. S. WINSLOW.

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