Switch Operating Mechanism Page: 3 of 4
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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
JOHN WILLIAM HEADS, OF DALLAS, TEXAS..
SWITCH-OPERATING MECHANISM.Specification of Letters Patent.
Patented March 23, 1909.
Application filed April 28, 1908. Serial No. 429,638.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, JOHN WILLIAM HEADS,
a citizen of the United States, residing at No.
146 Clark street, in the city of Dallas, county
5 of Dallas, and State of Texas, have invented
a new and useful Switch-Operating Mechan-
ism, of which the following is a specification.
This invention relates to devices of that
general type employed in connection with
10 street railway switches for permitting the.
operation of the switch from an approaching
car.
The principal object of the invention is to
provide a mechanism of very simple con-
15 struction, whereby the switch may be placed
wholly under the control of the motorman of
an approaching car and moved in either di-
rection in order to permit the car to proceed
on the main line or to turn.
20 A further object of the invention is to im-
prove and simplify the construction of the
road-bed mechanism. -
With these and other objects in view, as
will more fully hereinafter appear, the inven-
25 tion consists in certain novel features of con-
struction and arrangement of parts, herein-
after fully described, illustrated in the ac-
companying drawings, and particularly
pointed out in the appended claims, it being
3o understood that various-changes in the form,
proportions, size and minor details of the
structure may be made without departing
from the spirit or sacrificing any of the ad-
vantages of the invention.
35 In the accompanying drawings:-Figure
1 is a vertical section of a switch operating
mechanism constructed in accordance with
the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing
the connections between the roadbed trip le-
40 ver and the switch point. Fig. 3 is a detail
perspective.view of a portion of the mechan-
ism carried by the car. Fig. 4 is a trans-
verse sectional view through the road bed.
trip lever and its supporting devices.
45 Similar characters of reference are em-
ployed to indicate corresponding parts
throughout the several figures of the draw-
ings.
To the front of the cross beam 10 of the car
50 truck, or any other suitable car carried mem-
ber, is secured a pair of spaced guide bars 11,
the upper -ends of which are connected by a
cross bar 12 and said guide bars are held in
place by a clip 13 that extends around theirforward edges and is bolted to the front face 55
of the beam 10. The guide bars are further
supported and braced by truss bars 15 which
are riveted or otherwise secured to the bars
and pass back of and are secured to the
beam 10. 60
Fitting between the guide bars 11 is a ver-
tically slidable block 17, in the lower forked
end of which is mounted a shaft 18 carrying
a small roller 19 that is arranged to engage
and actuate the road-bed lever, or levers. 65
The upper portion of the block 17 is provided
with a pair of forwardly extending spaced
links to which is pivoted the lower end of a
link 20, and the upper end of said link is con-
nected to the shorter arm of a bell crank le- 70
ver 21 that is mounted on a pin 22 between
the two guide bars 11.
The upper and longer arm of the bell crank
lever is connected by a chain 24 to the lower
end of an operating lever 25 that extends 75
through an opening in the front platform of
the car, and is provided with a handled up-
per end within convenient reach of the mo-
torman. Under normal conditions the block
17 is maintained elevated by means of a 80
helical tension spring 27 that extends be-
tween the upper arm of the bell crank lever
and a fixed point on the frame of the car, and
it is only by manipulating the lever 25 that
the block 17 and the shoulder 19 may be 85
forced downward into operative position.
At one or both sides of the roadbed, and
preferably at points within the traffic rails,
are arranged sole plates 30 which carry ver-
tically disposed brackets 31, the upper por- 90
tons of which are curved in such manner as
to offer deflecting surfaces for engagement
by the wheels of ordinary vehicles, and the
space between the two brackets is partly in-
closed at the top by a pair of inwardly ex- 95
tending flanges 32, the object being to reduce
the space to such an extent as to prevent the
entrance of vehicle wheels.
Extending across the brackets is a pin 35
on which is pivoted a bell crank lever having 100
an approximately vertical arm 36 and an ap-
proximately horizontal arm 37. The arm
37 is convex from end to end, and this con-
vex face is provided with a groove 38 for the
reception of the periphery of the operating 105
wheel or disk 19, while the base of the groove
is arranged to form two inclined planes or
cam surfaces 40 and 41, either of which willNo. 915,944.
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Eads, John William. Switch Operating Mechanism, patent, March 23, 1909; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth512588/m1/3/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.