The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-18 00:00:00

Railway Passenger Signals,

Yesterday some trials were made at the Waterloo Station
of the South Western Railway of Mr Edmund Tattereall's
plan of railway signals as between passengers and the
guards. The apparatus, which is to a certain extent simple,
though not inexpensive, nor likely to be kept in good work-
ing order, unless carefully looked after, was not tried upon
a train in motion. It was simply affixed to a first-class car-
riage for the inspection of the chairman and directors of the
South Western Railway, that they and others might judge
how far such a contrivance would meet; the want now felt
on every line, of some easy mechanism by which any occu
pant of any compartment in a travelling train can at once
attract the attention and insure the attendance el the guard.
The apparatus has, however, we aro informed, been actu•
ally used upon trains in motion for short distances, and,
us far as instantly alarming the guard is concerned, has
answered admirably well. The mechanism shown yesterday
was on a first-class carriage, and consisted of a simple wire
chain, which passes over the heads of first-class pas•
sengers seated at one side of the compartment. A very vigo-
rous pull on this liberates a detent which holds back a small
white staff about a foot long, an inch in diameter, and with a
conspicuous button at the end. The staff is jerked out by a
spring on both sides of the carriage simultaneously, and the
same movements which effects this does also, by the jerk on
the wire, strike a hammer upon a copper bell outside the car-
riage with a loud resonant sound, which can be repeated as
often as the wire is jerked, till the guard's assistance or
attention is secured. There is no danger of the train being
stopped by this alarm, as it is simply a call to the guard and
not the driver. Nor is there any fear of such a facility being
abused, as the white staff we have spoken of once liberated
cannot be thrust back by the occupants of the compartment
who have sent it forth, so that if done for mischief its per-
petrators would be at once detected. In these impartant re-
spects therefore—first as insuring the attendance of the
guard, if really wanted, and next insuring the discovery of
the persons who needlessly sounded the alarm—Mr Tatter-
sall's invention seems to answer all the purposes required.
As far as the noise of the bell is concerned its alarm is admi-
rable. Its sound,eve are told, has been heard by the guard as
far off as nine carriages distant, and this in a train that was
travelling at speed. Yet looked at from either aspects, the
invention is not so complete as one would wish it to be in
these days when all are hoping for a good, cheap, and sim-
ple apparatus of this kind as will leave railway directors no
excuse for its non-adoption. In the first place, we fear it
would be considered too costly, especially when the possibi-
lity of its not doing the work required with invariable cer-
tainty was carefully dwelt on. Thus, to say nothing of its
liability to derangement from dirt and rust, it is almost cer-
tain that one so inclined could from the inside of the carriage
so tamper with the spring so as to prevent the white staff
shooting out at all, and then might pull the bell as he chose.
Again, to be of any certain use the little wire chain should
be on both sides of
each compartment, and should be so
contrived as to require a less powerful effort than that
which Mr Tattersall's invention now seems to necessitate.
It is said that this extreme rigidity of the apparatus is ne-
cessary to prevent incessant vibration between the hammers
and bells as the train is moving fast, and so getting the
guards sufficiently accustomed to the sound to leave little
chance of the summons being attended to when it was
really rung as an alarm. It is even said that to prevent
such complete neutralisation of the very purpose of the in •
vention, the apparatus must be made yet stiffer still. If this
is so, and bearing in mind the fact that it now requires a
strong—indeed, a very strong—effort to ring the bell at all,
its value to a half stunned man or fainting girl, when it is
made still more rigid, would be almost nil. As a matter of
course, MrTattcrsall does not overlook the obvious fact that
during the night his white staves would not be seen by the
guard at all, so for night trains, instead of the detent libe-
ir;g'thibtegd lamp,awhitelishteaffa policeman's bulbs-eye, which is, as well
staff,
it simply drops a little shade from off a
though until
to the travellingnowinvain.Hispub-
lic as
as the bell mechanism, to b e affixed to the corner of every
ge of very
application
night train, This idea is not a bad one,
b
we fear, full of difficulties,
not alone as to its mere cost, but as to its working feasibility
at any cost. Mr Tattersall, however, deserves the thanks of
the public for having devoted his time
caurtria its practicale
without any hope of
emu n
all have tia ils , to
wished
suchr,tha security
plan, though scarcely likely to find general favour with di-
rectors, evgi ve
fo
will, at least, be the first step towards fulfilling an
acknowledged want, and the ingenious mechanist who goes
yet further and completes *0 rough idea may safely look
to his reward. To the mass of those who have really travel-
led, nothing appears more simple than the plain expedient
of the Americans, whic.!l is also followed on some Swiss
lines, of having a cord that passes along the roof of every
carriage, and communicates at either end with the engine-
driver orguard. In no country in the world is such a pre-
caution loss heeded than in Arne, icaf where the carriages
aro public thoroughfares, literally contain scores of occu-
pants, and where any passenger has only to walk back-
wards or forwards to say what he wishes to either driver or
guard, yet in no part of the world but in America is such
care taken. It has been said over and over again
that in this country such a mode of communication
would be more mischievous than useful, from the man-
ner in which the privilege would, be abused. It is hard,
however, to under stand that an E nglshutan cannot rise up
to the mild standard of an American'si self control in this
respect, or that simple mechanism could not bo devised to
prevent any chance of the signal. s misuse. A plain cord,
such as is used in America, passing along the roofs of the
carriages, with a common index signal to fly out in the car-
riage when the cord was pulled, as the numbers of rooms
i
in hotels are shown when a bell
bs rung, would answer
Every purpose. lint v,
• -hearer of this or some other kindred
invention the public bas urgent need just
de-
voted v- and Mr
Tattersall deserves the thenke of, the public for having
attention, whether successfully or not, to this all-im-
portant question.

President Lincoln has put a representative re,
cruit into the army. J, S. Staples, of Stroudsburg, Monroe
county, Pennsylvania, was the man selected to bear the
Presidential musket,—.knerican .rapfr,