US283231A - Electric locking mechanism for switch and signal levers - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

0. GASSETT.

Patented Aug. 14, 1883.

' (No Model.)

ELEGTEIG LOOKING MECHANISM FOR SWITCH AND SIGNAL LEVEES. No. 283,231.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

O. GASSETT. ELECTRIC LOGKING MECHANISM FOR SWITCH AND SIGNAL LEVERS. No. 283,231. Patented Aug. 14, 1883.

\fimgm. \gwm. c0: m 4m e7 I v qmnuxyglgayye 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

A 0. GASSETT. ELECTRIC LOCKING MECHANISM FOR SWITCH AND SIGNAL LEVERS.

No. 283,231. Patented Aug. 14; 1883.

(No Model.)

4 ll/A 7/////////l n osoAn enssnrr, or Bos'ron, MASSACHIIS-ETTS.

ELECTRIC LOCKING MECHANISM FOR SWITCH AND SIGNAL LEVI-IRS.-

' SPECIFICATION forming Application filed April 4,1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR'GASSETT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvement in Electric Locking Mechanism for Switch and Signal Levers; and I do here by declare the following to be a full, clear,

, concise, and exact description thereof,refer-.

ence, being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-,- like letters indicating like parts- Figurel, Sheet 1, shows a diagram of, two railway-tracks with my present system of apparatus applied thereto, the latter being shown partly in diagram and partly in section,

, than the tracks.

but the sectional view being to a larger scale Fig. 2, Sheet 2, shows in side elevationa Saxby and Farmer switch or signal shifting lever with such of theappliances thereunto appertaining as are necessary to illustrate the present invention. Fig. 3., Sheet 3, shows by sectional view the electrical apparatus of Fig. 1, but to an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is an end elevation. of Fig. 3. Figs. 5 to 8 illustrate constructions of electric-circuit make-and-break mechanisms, or track-instruments, as they are generally called, suit able for use inthe present system of apparatus. My present invention relatesto a system of apparatus wherein the hand-actuated lever by which a switch isshifted, or a signal is set, or a draw-bridge or switch-lock is operated is automatically locked inposition by the use of a train-actuated track-instrument controlling an electric current as the train approaches, and is automatically unlocked by like means operated by. the train while departing. In

this system any form or construction of hand or manual lever may be employed, such as is adapted whenimoved to set or shift a switch, a signal, or switch or draw-bridge lock, or other movable appliance on, along, or in connection with a railway-track; but for convenience of illustration I have shown in the drawings a lever such as is. employed in the Saxby and Farmer apparatus. This lever A, Fig. 2, with its connected devices, will be found described under likelettersof referenceas those herein used in the United States Patent of John Saxby, No. 230,200, of July 20, 1880, andhence such part of Letters Patent No. 283,231, dated August 14, 18 83.

description need not here be repeated. In the manner. and by the operation described in said patent the lever motion istransmitted to a flop,

there and here lettered 0 only the edge and. end of the flop being here represented. This.

flop has an oscillatory or rocking motion on its axis,(and hence its name,) and one end of said axis is represented by the bearing 0 Figs. 1

and 3. i i

From the arm I) of the lever, or in other suitable way, motion is transmitted by any suitable connection to the object or thing to be moved-as, say, to aswitch or other device as above stated, and as a representative of such device I have shown a semaphore-signal, b which maybe arranged at anypoint where protection is desired; and for the purposes of this part of my description I will assume that the signal I)? is at or near a street or grade trackcrossing, and that it is set at safety position by the movementpf the lever A in one direction, and comes back to danger under-the influence of a weight or spring, or is pulled back when the lever A is reversed. a

On the flop c is affixed a disk, the upper edge of which is curved to or' approximately to the arc of a circle struk from the axis of the bearingas a center Inthe edge of this disk is a notch or recess, 9, of suitable shape and size to recefvethe end of an armaturedever, s, the armature s of which comes within the in. fluence of the electro-magnet H. This armature-lever is so weighted, pivoted, and adjusted that when the electro-magnet is excited by an electric current, or is in a closedelectric circuit, the locking end 8 will be drawn up clear of the notch or recess, and when the circuit is broken it will drop into the notch or recess, if the latter be in proper position therefor, or as soon as it comes into position. A retractile spring may obviously be used to cause the lever to enter the recess.

It will now be seen that when the end of i the On the side of the armatureelever s, I make circuit of electro-magnet H is broken the free end of the armature-lever s will engage the stud i, and so lock the armature-lever s in its downward position in the recess or as soon as it enters such recess. This locking motion of the armature-lever 8 .may be given by means of a counter-weight, h, or by a retractile spring. By this means the armature-lever s is locked when in the disk-recess, and unlocked by electro-magnetic action; and it will be observed that the locking of the flop 0 through the coaction of the disk 9 and the armature-lever s,-takes place in the first instance when the electro-magnet H is in a broken, or open circuit, and that such locking will continue so long as such circuit is broken, and also so long as it is kept in a locking position by the armature-lever s",- and it will also be seen that the armature-lever s will be in operation as a locking device so long as its electro-magnet H is in a broken or open circuit, and that to unlock,the lever A the circuit of H must be closed, and the circuit'ofH must be closed. A loop or clip, Z, is to be added to hold or guide the armature-lever s in its proper motions.

The apparatus thus described is organized into a system for operation by connecting the electro-magnet H into a circuit, R, .which includes a battery, 1, and a track-instrument, P, suitably arranged at a greater or less distance up the track from which trains are eX- pected in the normal operation of the road, which track-instrument P, as presently to be described, maybe caused to act as a circuitvbreaker by the action of the approaching train. The other electro-magnet, H, is coupled in another circuit, R, which includes abattery, v and a track-instrument, P,which;latter is arranged down the track in the direction trains normally move in departing, at

any desired distance, and which, as presently to be described, is caused to operate as a circuit-closer under the action of the departing train.

The track-instrument P P may be of any desired construction, many suitable ones being known in the art. One such, suitable for use at P, is shown in its main features in Figs. 5 and 6, where represents a lever suitably arranged to be actuated by the wheels of a passing train, and in such manner as to raise V a plunger, 1), and thereby cause a spring contact-plate, u, to which one terminal wire is secured, to clear the fixed contact-plate u, to which the other terminal is secured. Proper insulating material is of course to be employed at the proper points. This instrument acts and the plunger 12 may be weighted, or a spring be employed to rElose the circuit.

The other track-instrument, P, may have the construction shown in Figs. 7 and 8, where, the contacts being reversed, the circuit will be closed as the train departs. Assume now that the signal or signals are setfor the approach or passage of (a train. lever A which so sets it or them, will bring the recess 9 under the free end of the armature-lever s. The train in passing track-1nstrument P will break the circuit B, so as to release the armature-lever s and allow it to enter the recess 9, and the free end of the armature-lever s will then engage the stud i and lock the lever s, for, it will be observed, the electro-magnet H is then in a broken circuit. The signal-lever A will then be locked in position, so that the signal operated thereby cannot be changed until the train shall have acted on the track-instrument P. This action closes the circuit through H, attracts the armature s and unlocks the armature-lever s, so that its electro-magnet, which then is in a closed circuit, may cause it to clear the recess g and unlock the lever A In actual use I construct. the track-instruments in any of the ways known to the art, by which their action will, if need be, be suffi: ciently prolonged to produce the efiect de scribed; and for this purpose any suitable form of track-instrument may be employedsuch as, for example, a bar arranged beside and near to the rail, so that the tread of the wheel may engage both, the terminals being properly arranged and connected with reference to the function described; or, still further, short'section of track may be insulated at about the points where the making and breaking of circuits is desired, and the connections be so made that in the manner well known in the art the circuits will be made and broken by train action, as described; and all such appliances are included herein under the term trackinstruments; nor is the stud i essential, as any shape or conformation of the two armature-levers s 8 may be employed which will secure the locking and unlocking actions substantially in the manner described.

It will also come within the present invention to reverse orchange the connections and circuits and the arrangements of the magnets and armature-levers, so that the locking shall be effected by closing the circuit R by the action of the incoming train, and opening or breaking the circuit R by the action of the train when departing, and themaking of such changes as will attain this order of operation will come within the ability of the mechanic skilled in the art; nor is it essential to the whole of the present invention that the armature-levers s should engage a disk or other device secured to the flop, though I believe this to be the best, and a combinationof whichsuch construction forms a part is included herein as of my invention.

This armature-lever may be caused to do its work by engaging the main lever itself, or its catch-rod, or any device so connected with the The movement of the IIO 5 l asare used in the Saxby and Farmer system or main lever that the lattercannot be moved so long as the former is locked. Many such locks are known in the art, and they need not be further described. a

- This system of apparatus may be utilized by applying itto any desired hand-actuated lever, as already stated, whether for actuating a safety-signal on the line over which the train is passing, or a switch or locking-bolt lever on the same line, or for setting a danger-signal out on the line of a crossing track, so that such danger-signal lever shall be locked with the signal at danger by the approaching train operating one track-instrument, and shall remain locked until the train shall have passed the crossing and shall have actuated another track-instrument to unlock it; and having shown and illustrated the manner of locking y and unlocking one hand-lever, the skilled constructer will have no difficulty in applying the system of apparatus described to the locking and unlocking of any handactuated lever ordinarily used in connection with. the movable appliances employed on or along railwaytracks, or on any one of a series of levers such other similarly-operating systems.

I claim herein as my invention 1. In combination with ahand-actuated lever for shifting a movable appliance on or along a railway-track, a track-instrument arranged to be operated by an approaching train, an electric circuit extending thence to an electromagnet, an armature-lever arranged to lock such hand-actuated lever, a secondarmaturelever to lock the first in a locking pos1t1on, a

track-instrument arranged beyond thepoint v to be protected, and in suitable position to be actuated by the departing train, and an electric circuit extending thence to the electromagnet of such second armature-lever, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a hand-actuated lever and electrically-actuated locking and unlocking mechanism, a track-instrument arranged at each side of the point to be protected, an

electric locking circuit extending from one track-instrument, through a battery, to the locking mechanism, and anelectric unlocking circuit extending from the other track instrument, through a battery, to the unlocking mechanism, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the rotary flop of an interlocking machine, arecessed disk} 9, thereon, armature'levers 8 8 for locking, holding locked, and unlocking said disk, and through ,it the flop and its hand-lever, elect-ro-magnets H H, for actuating said armature-levers, and the respective circuits and track-instruments thereof, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

a OSCAR GASSETT. YVitnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, FRED A. POWELL.

Images