Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1886.
Complete Left, 9th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 26th July, 1887.
I JOHN WHITEHEAD of 63 Saint John's Villas Clarence Road, Harborne in the
county of Stafford Engraver do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has reference to a method or arrangement of indicating whether or
not a door has been secured by its fastening, and particularly applies to the doors of
railway and other carriages, where the handle of the fastening is upon the outside,
and not readily seen by the occupant of the carriage. As is well known it sometimes
happens, that a railway carriage door for instance is shut but not fastened, and in
most of such carriages at any rate, there is nothing from the inside to indicate the
danger of this, and to obviate or lessen this danger, I have made this my invention.
I will describe my invention as applied to a railway carriage door. The handle of
the door fastening is upon the outside only, the spindle of which passes through to the
inside of the said door, and is generally secured there by a hexagon nut. About such
part of the said spindle, I should fix to the door a plate, generally of a quadrant shape,
and upon such plate at suitable angles, I should place one or more words to indicate
whether the door was fastened or otherwise such as FAST, OPEN, SAFE, DANGER,
or other selected words. Upon the spindle I should mount an arm or indicating
finger which may have upon its front side any of such aforesaid indicative words and
which when being turned round by the motion of the fastening or unfastening of the
handle upon the outside, would change its position and either cover or expose such
words as may be desired to indicate the position of such handle, for instance, supposing
that upon an horizontal line with the spindle there was the word OPEN and the arm
or finger was wide enough to cover this word, but had upon its surface the word
FAST then when the latter word was to be seen the occupant would know the door
was secure, the word OPEN being covered, but when the handle was again turned,
the arm may pass behind a plate or covering so that the word OPEN would alone be
seen, the occupant then knowing that the door was not secured.
These words may be printed, painted, enamelled or otherwise, as would be best
suited to the purpose, and arranged to suit fancy, design, or convenience.
Dated this 29th day of September 1886.
CHAS. T. POWELL,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Indicator for Railway Carriage and other Door
Fastenings.
I JOHN WHITEHEAD of 63 Saint John's Villas Clarence Road, Harborne in the
county of Stafford Engraver do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention has reference to a method or arrangement of indicator for railway
carriage and other doors and particularly applicable where it is desirable to shew
whether the fastenings of such doors have been turned, and may be also used to
indicate by the motion of the fastening such other significant words, as may be
selected, and has for its object the manipulation of such indicator behind a perforated
plate, from and by the end of the spindle of the handle or knob, after the manner
hereinafter described.
In order to more clearly describe this my invention I have appended hereunto an
illustrative sheet of drawings upon which are figures and letters of reference like
letters referring throughout the several views to the same thing or part.
I will first describe it as particularly applicable to a railway carriage door, in order
to indicate whether such door has been secured. The handle of the fastening being
upon the outside is not readily seen by the occupant of the carriage.
As is well known it sometimes happens that the door is shut, but not fastened, and
in most of such carriages there is nothing to indicate from, or upon, the inside, the
danger of this, and to obviate or lessen this danger, is one of the objects of this my
invention, as follows :-
Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a part of a door and the fastening and also the indicator.
Fig. 2 is a front view of the indicator with the fastening unturned or insecure, and
consequently indicating OPEN. Fig. 3 is a similar view to that of Fig. 2, but with
the fastening turned & secured, and indicating FAST.
a, is the handle of the fastening which also works the indicating plate or arm b.
This indicating arm bis shewn in detail at Fig. 6. C,
in this case is the latch or
bolt of the fastening. dis a raised plate or cover, which covers the mechanism except
what may be seen through the aperture e, see detail Fig. 4.
It will now be seen that the arm b, having upon its face an indicative word is
secured to the end of the spindle f.
The word OPEN may be either made upon a plate as at Fig. 5, and screwed to the
door, in the position indicated, or, it may be printed upon the door itself at such a
position. The cover plate d is then secured in its place by means of screws at g, or
other convenient method, with the aperture e, opposite the word OPEN. When the
door is unfastened as in Fig. 2, the arm b is hidden, exposing the word OPEN.
turning the handle however, as in the act of fastening the door, the indicating arm b,
would cover the said word OPEN, and thus expose the word FAST.
By

page_text: A modification of this indicating mechanism, in some of its details, I have shewn in.
Figs. 7 to 12 inclusive; in views Figs. 7 & 8 however I have shewn the latch or
fastening c, upon the side of the door, for the better illustration of its application to
ordinary doors for indicating purposes hereinafter explained. As in Figs. 1, 2, & 3,
it will be seen that the operating mechanism is attached to, or worked from the end of
the spindle f. In this case h is a cam plate secured to the spindle f, and shewn as
having three cam recesses or stops j, for the same number (three) of indicative words.
Instead of having three cam recesses, it will be clear I may increase the number, or
diminish them, according to the number of words it is desired to indicate. i, is a
pawl acting upon and into the cam recesses j, and kept to its work, by means of the
spring k. In this cam plate h, I make a slot, which, when the cam plate is turned
round, gives a sliding motion to a stud m. This stud m, forms part of an indicating
sliding plate n, shewn in enlarged detail in Figs. 11 & 12. 0, is an outer case or
cover having an aperture about its centre, through which the indicative words may be
p, is a plate upon which is mounted the pawl i, and spring k &c. The plate p,
may be secured to the door by screws or otherwise, or may be made as shewn, that is,
to fit inside the case or cover o; then the indicating sliding plate, is put into position
with its stud m inserted into the slot ; the width of this plate n as shewn, is equal in
width to the inside of the cover o, and capable of sliding up and down therein.
Between the sliding indicating plate, and the inside of the cover plate o, I prefer to
place a piece of glass, which serves to protect the indicating plate, and also improves
its effective appearance.
seen.
It will now be understood, that upon turning the handle, the cam plate is turned,
which raises and lowers the indicating plate by means of the slot and stud, and
bringing into view any one of the words required to be seen, which words may be,
OPEN, and FAST as before described, or other selected words.
In applying this my invention to other doors for indicating purposes, I should place
the latch e as before intimated upon the side of the door, working into or behind a
catch q upon the door jamb. This latch c would be further made to work behind a
quadrant bar r, upon which may be made marks to indicate where the latch c should
rest, in order to expose a certain word upon the other side. For instance as shewn in
Fig. 8, the latch e is opposite OUT, (the handle a, being removed in order to shew it
more clearly), and it will be further seen that the stud m, is shewn at its highest point
in Fig. 10; this being so, brings the said word OUT, which is the lowest upon the
plate Fig. 11, up to and opposite the aperture in the cover o, as shewn in Fig. 9. By
turning the handle around until the pawl fell into the next cam recess, the slot lowers
the stud m, and accordingly brings the word IN into view, and so on.
Thus when applied, say to a consulting room when the occupant is "engaged" the
door would be locked, when "in" but not engaged, the indicator would expose the
word IN, but would not be locked, and when “out” would expose the word OUT,
and not locked.
Any other words may however be substituted for these, as desired.
In Fig. 8 it will be seen that provision is made to suit the different thicknesses of
doors to which it may be applied, by making the spindle f, telescopic, (in two parts)
and secured at any point of thickness by means of set screw t.
I wish it to be understood that any of the several parts in the views may be
interchanged for each other, as for instance, I may apply the indicator shewn in
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 upon the kind of handle, shewn in Figs. 7 & 8, or, the indicator
shewn upon Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12, upon handle as shewn in Figs. 1, 2, & 3.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1st. The improvements in indicators for railway carriage and other door fastenings
as hereindescribed and illustrated upon the drawings Fig. 1 to 12 inclusive, that is to
say an indicator working behind a plate operated from the end of the spindle of a door

page_text: fastening and presenting certain descriptive words under certain conditions of the
fastening of the door.
2nd. The improvements in indicators for railway carriage and other door fastenings
as herein described and illustrated upon the drawings, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6, that is
to say the operating or working such indicators behind a perforated plate, and
presenting selected descriptive words or marks, under certain conditions of the
fastening of the door, from and by the end of a handle spindle, by means of an arm b,
and which may be made to act in conjunction with other indicative words upon the
door &c., substantially as and for the purposes specified.
3rd. The operating or working such indicators behind a perforated plate, and
presenting to view, selected descriptive words or marks, under certain conditions of
the fastening of the door, from and by the end of a handle spindle by means of a cam
plate h, acting upon a sliding plate, upon which latter are placed the said descriptive
words or marks, substantially as hereindescribed and illustrated upon the drawings
Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12.
4th. The general combination and arrangement of door indicators as hereindescribed.
and illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6.
5th. The general combination and arrangement of the modification of this my
invention for indicators for doors, as hereindescribed and illustrated in Figs. 7,
8, 9, 10, 11, & 12.
Dated this 7th low of May 1007
CHARLES T. POWELL,
4, Cherry Street, Birmingham,
Applicant's Agent.