A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF SIGNALLING OR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN TRAINS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Dugmore, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and George Haywood Millward.
of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF SIGNALLING OR COMMUNICATING
BETWEEN TRAINS ON RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 9th May 1854, and dated the 17th November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Dugmore
and George Haywood Millward at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th November 1853.
We, GEORGE DUGMORE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick.
Manufacturer, and GEORGE HAYWOOD MILLWARD, of Birmingham afore-
said, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF SIGNALLING OR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN
TRAINS ON RAILWAYS" to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention is to enable the guard or driver of a
train to communicate with the guard or driver of another distant train.
so that in case of accident or on any other occasion a distant train may
be signalled or warned. We carry our Invention into effect in the

page_text: following manner. We lay two rods of metal along the railway and
between the two rails of each line, and we attach two wheels to each
locomotive, or tender, or guard's van, each of the said wheels being
pressed upon one of the said inetallic rods so as to be in electrical com-
munication therewith. Each locomotive, &c. is furnished with a
voltaic battery, and any suitable signalling apparatus capable of being
worked by electricity, and the signalling apparatus is kept constantly
in electrical communication with the before-mentioned wheels, and
consequently with the rods on which they bear. When the driver of a
train wishes to signal the driver of another train, several miles, for
example, behind, and caution him not to approach, he has only to bring
the poles of his battery into electrical communication with the wheels
bearing on the metal rods to convey an electrical current to the signal
apparatus in the distant train, and by affecting the said apparatus com-
municate the desired information. When the ordinary rails are laid so
as to be in electrical communication they may be employed in carrying
our Invention into effect, instead of the rods described. The signalling
apparatus may be a bell or dial and needle, but we do not confine our-
selves to any particular apparatus, the essence of our Invention con-
sisting in providing the means of placing a train in motion in electrical
communication with another distant train in motion, so that in case of
accident or otherwise intelligence may be communicated from one to
the other
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Dugmore and George Haywood Millward
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
GEORGE DUGMORE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, and GEORGE HAYWOOD MILLWARD, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the

page_text: seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto us, the said George Dugmore and George
Haywood Millward, Her special licence that we, the said George
Dugmore and George Haywood Millward, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Dugmore and
George Haywood Millward, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF SIGNALLING OH
COMMUNICATING BETWEEN TRAINS ON RAILWAYS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said George Dugmore and George Hay-
wood Millward, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Dugmore and George
Haywood Millward, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the saine is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof.
that is to say:
The object of our Invention is to enable the guard or driver of a
railway train to communicate with the guard or driver of another dis-
tant train, so that in case of accident or on any other occasion the guard
or person in charge of one train may signal or communicate with the
guard or person in charge of another train. We carry our Invention
into effect in the manner illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents in plan a railway and portions of two railway
carriages supposed to belong to different and distant railway trains,
to which our Invention is applied; and Figure 2, represents an eleva-
tion of the same. a, b, are two rods of metal, laid along the line of

page_text: railway, and between the two rails of each line the said metallic rods
are perfectly continuous, that is to say, there is a perfect metallic
continuity in the said rods from end to end of the line of railway. The
said rods must be divided at intervals, and their ends separated, to
permit of expansion and contraction by variation of temperature, and
the said separated ends must be joined by wires soldered thereto. We
attach to each locomotive, tender, or other carriage, in which the
person in charge of the train is stationed, two wheels c, d, e, f, which
said wheels bear on the rods a, b; the peripheries of the said wheels
c, d, e, f, are of metal, and are in metallic communication with their
axles g, h, i, k, so that during the rest or motion of either or both the
trains the axle g is in metallic or electrical communication with the
axle i, and the axle h is in electrical communication with the axle k.
Each of the carriages l, m, is furnished with a voltaic battery n, o,
and a bell or any other signalling apparatus capable of being worked
by electricity; the said signalling instruments may be stationed at the
points p, q.
2, s, are springs connected with the signalling apparatus p,
which said springs press upon the axles g, h, and thereby keep the
signalling apparatus p, in electrical communication with the rods a, b.
t, u, are similar springs, which keep the signalling apparatus q, also in
electrical communication with the rods a, b. The voltaic batteries n, o,
are furnished with springs v, w, and x, y, respectively, by which the
said voltaic batteries may be brought into electrical communication
with the axles g, h, and i, k, and through them with the rods a, b. The
signalling instruments p, q, are usually kept in electrical communica-
tion with the rods a, b, and the voltaic batteries n, o, are ordinarily
insulated from the said rods by one of the springs v, w, x, y, being
raised from the axles g, h, i, k. The several parts of our Invention
being arranged as last described, the guard or person in charge of
either of the carriages l, m, (we will suppose the carriage 1,) can signal
the guard or person in charge of the other carriage m, by bringing the
springs v, w, of the voltaic battery in his carriage in contact with the
axles g, h, when a voltaic current from the battery n, will circulate
along the rods a, b, and through the signalling apparatus g, in the

page_text: carriage m, and by working the said signalling apparatus will com-
municate with the guard or person on the carriage m. In a similar
way the person in the carriage m nay direct a voltaic current from
the battery o, along the rods a, b, and work the signalling apparatus p,
in the carriage. We do not think it necessary to describe the many
signalling instruments which may be employed at the points q, p, as
many such are well known, and constitute no part of our Invention;
we prefer, however, to use a bell, struck by mechanism actuated by a
voltaic current. Although we prefer a voltaic battery as the most
convenient source of electricity, we do not confine ourselves thereto, as
electricity from other sources may be employed. Although we prefer
to use two rods a, b, laid down expressly for carrying our Invention into
effect, yet we do not confine ourselves to the use of the said two rods,
as where the rails offer a sufficient good electrical conductor, we avail
ourselves of the said rails in carrying our Invention into effect, as
illustrated in Figure 3, where only one rod a is laid down in addition
to the rails, and the said rails are used as the other electrical conductor.
Or, where the rails are sufficiently continuous, they may be used for
the two electrical conductors, in which case, however, it is necessary
that the wheels of the various carriages be sufficiently insulated from
each other to prevent them from establishing an electrical communica-
tion from one rail to another. In place of the pair of wheels c, d, and
e, f, pairs of wheels of the locomotive or tender or other carriage may
be employed, provided the wheels of each pair be sufficiently insulated
from each other. A signal may be sent from any part of the line to a
train on the line by bringing wires from a voltaic battery in contact
with the rods a, b.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be
understood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise methods
of carrying the same into effect herein described and illustrated by the
accompanying Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing
from the nature of the said Invention But we claim as our Invention
communicating between trains on railways by causing a current of

page_text: electricity from one train, whether at rest or in motion, to circulate
in rods laid along the line of railway, or through the ordinary rails,
and actuate a signal on another train at rest or in motion.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Dugmore and George
Haywood Millward, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE
DUGMORE.
(L.S.)
GEORGE HAYWOOD MILLWARD. (L.S.)
GEORGE SHAW.