Automatic Railway Switch Page: 3 of 4
[2], 2 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this patent.
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Patented December 20, 1904.
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
CHARLES LEE, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.
AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-SWITCH.
SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 777,960, dated December 20, 1904.
Application filed October 12, 1903, Serial No. 176,705.To all whom it may coneerm:
Be it known that I, CHARLES LEE, a citizen
of the United States, residing at Sari Antonio,
in the county of Bexar and State of Texas,
5 have invented certain new and useful Improve-
ments in Automatic Railway-Switches; and I
do declare the following to be a full, clear, and
exact description of the invention, such as
will enable others skilled in the art to which
10 it appertains to make and use the same.
This invention relates to improvements in
automatic switch- throwing mechanism for
railways.
The object of the invention is to provide
15 mechanism which may be operated by de-
vices carried by a moving train to throw the
switch - point and automatically close the
switch on the main-line tracks should the same
have been inadvertently left open.
20 Another object is to provide means whereby
the switch may be operated by hand to open
or close the same.
A further object is to provide such mechan-
ism which will be simple in construction,
25 strong and durable in use, positive in action,
and which will be comparatively inexpensive.
of manufacture.
With these and other objects in view the in-
vention consists of certain novel features of
30 construction, combination, and arrangement
of parts, as will be more fully described, and
particularly pointed out in the appended
claims.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is
35 a top plan view of a portion of the main-line
and switch tracks of a railway, showing the
application of the switch-throwing mechan-
ism. Fig. 2 is a side view showing the man-
ner of operating the same. Fig. 3 is a sec-
40 tional view through the tracks on the line 3 3
of Fig. 1. looking in the direction of the ar-
row and showing front end of a locomotive
with the switch-operating devices in place.
Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of one of the oper-
45 acting devices carried by the locomotive.
Referring more particularly to the draw-
ings, 1 denotes the tracks of the main line;
2, the tracks of the switch or siding. 3 de-
notes the switch-points, connected by the usual
50 bridle-rods 4 and switch-rod 5. These partsmay be of the usual or any suitable construc-
tion.
6 denotes the switch-throwing mechanism,
consisting of an operating - bar 7, slidably
mounted in a bearing or bracket 8 and having 55
its inner end connected to the switch-rod 5 and
its outer end connected to the crank-arm 9 of
a land operating-lever 10, which is pivoted in
a supporting-bracket 12. The operating-bar
7 has arranged thereon a washer 13, which is 6o
held in place by a pin 14 and serves as a stop
for a coiled spring 15, which is also arranged
upon the bar 7 between said stop-washer and
the bearing-bracket 8, the tendency of the
spring being to normally retract the bar 7 and 65
close the switch-points. To open the switch-
points, the operating-lever 10 is actuated to
turn the crank-arm 9 and force the bar 7 in-
wardly, thereby compressing the spring 15.
In order to hold the switch open, a pivoted 70
latch-bar 16 is provided, said bar being piv-
oted at one end, as at 17, and adapted to
drop into engagement with a notch 18, formed
in the bar 7, thereby holding said bar in and
the switch-points open. The free end of the 75
latch-bar 16 is guided and limited in its up-
ward movement between guide-bars 19, con-
nected at their upper end by a cross-piece
20. When the latch-bar is raised out of the
notch 18, the spring 15 will retract the bar 8o
7 and close the switch-points. In order that
the latch-bar may be raised and the operating
mechanism released by a moving train, a trip-
ping mechanism is employed, which consists
of a horizontally-disposed longitudinally-ar- 85
ranged rock-shaft 21. Said shaft is loosely
mounted in bearings 22 along the side of and
at a suitable distance from the tracks. Fixed
I to said rock-shaft are laterally-projecting arms
23, connected at their outer ends by a longi- 90
tudinally-disposed curved trip-rod 24, which
lies along the line of and adjacent to one of
the track-rails.
25 denotes a crank arm or lever connected '
at one end to the rock-shaft 21 and project- 95
ing laterally therefrom in a direction oppo-
site to that of the arms 23 and over the latch-
bar 16 and is connected to said bar by a link
or rod 26. The free end of the arm 25 pro-
jects beyond its connection with the link 26 100No. 777,960.
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Lee, Charles. Automatic Railway Switch, patent, December 20, 1904; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth512547/m1/3/: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.