IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Entwistle, of Blackburn, in the County
of Lancaster, Agent, and Joseph Raw, of the same Place, Accountant,
39
Sealed the 7th October 1871, and dated the 8th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ebenezer Entwistle and
Joseph Raw at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 8th May 1871.
We, EBENEZER ENTWISTLE, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster,
Agent, and JOSEPH RAW, of the same Place, Accountant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
SIGNALS," to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention "is to save "life" and property on rail-
ways, it being a system of signals acted upon by the trains passing over
the apparatus, and in so passing moves certain fingers or levers at such
distances from each other giving motion to certain shafts and other
levers whereby finger signals may be elevated, danger light signals
turned on, noise signals created, and the whistle of the engine or equi-
valent set going, and all before one train can possibly run into another

page_text: where these signals are used. Or these or other signals can be worked
by hand when required, in which case they will act as signals to stop
the train or engine at any time.
On any part of a railway where signals are required and men are
posted to work such signals we place across the line or under and secure
to the rails or other equivalents a shaft or equivalent to which is attached
finger knuckled levers, weights, or other equivalent at any angle so
as to be easily acted upon by a friction roller or equivalent fixed to the
engine or guard's van, such friction roller or equivalent on its passage
over these knuckled levers or equivalents presses such down, thus by
means of our mechanical arrangements will signal behind the train in
any of the before-mentioned ways.
If at any required distance it is thought desirable we fix other such
knuckled levers, weights, or other equivalents. These knuckled levers
or equivalents are connected by means of levers, chains, or wire, having
the effect of moving the before-mentioned signal, and so on to any extent
or distance by a repetition of the apparatus.
On the engine-or guards van or (both) we fix a frame in which is fitted
a slide rack lever or equivalent, at the lower end of which is a friction
roller or equivalent, the other or top end is connected by rods and
levers or wire or chain to the whistle of the engine or other equivalent.
If a train has passed the first-mentioned signal and not arrived at the
second as before mentioned, if it be dark or foggy, or any danger, and
the light or finger signal not seen, such signals being up "keeps up
an incline projection placed in the centre on the line, over which the
above mentioned friction roller or equivalent of the rack lever or
equivalent passes, lifting such, and giving alarm by whistle or other
equivalent.
"
Thus it will be seen that a collision cannot take place without warning.
We can and may put up or down the signal by placing a rib alongside
or otherwise of the rail so as to be acted upon by the engine or other
part of the train. We likewise place a bell or other equivalent at or
near the stations or places of danger which we connect to the apparatus
at any convenient distance.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ebenezer Entwistle and Joseph Raw in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 8th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EBENEZER
ENTWISTLE, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Agent, and
JOSEPH RAW, of the same Place, Accountant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Ebenezer Entwistle and Joseph Raw, Her
special licence that we, the said Ebenezer Entwistle and Joseph Raw,
our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Ebenezer Entwistle and Joseph Raw, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thercafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Ebenezer Entwistle
and Joseph Raw, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Ebenezer Entwistle and Joseph
Raw, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
Hereunto we annex two Sheets of Drawings in the several Figures of
which similar parts are marked by corresponding letters of reference.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the signal post part of our apparatus,
shewing the connections and levers to the finger rod; Fig. 2 is a side
view of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan of the same; Fig. 4 is an end
elevation of prong end of rod a shewing its connection with the lifting

page_text: rail c and a; Fig. 5 elevation of sound signal apparatus; Fig. 6 a plan
of the same.
In Fig. 1a is the ordinary rail in use; b, the chair so made as to
allow the incline lifted rail c to slide upward, this rail is connected to
the fulcrum end of lever h by connecting bars d; e is a pin passing i
through lever h, carrying a link to which is a chain or equivalent m
passing round pulley n, and on to pulley p, thence up the side of the
line round pulley o, in Fig. 6 shewing sound signal. The lever / is
fulcrumed to bracket i; on the outer end is a ballance weight j. k is the
end of a leg lever on the end of which is a ballance weight 1; q is a lever 1
by which the signal is lifted, which has on the other end a ballance
weight r; u, u, u, u, are pullies round which passes a chain s, onc end
of which is connected to catch lever y which holds the signal up until
released by the passing train, at the other end of this chain is a ballance
weight x.
The lever is fulcrumed on to bracket t, the other end of
which is connected to the bottom end of signal rod v; w is a joint for
regulating length of rod v. This rod is jointed to inner end of signal z.
A is the signal post. The leg lever k in Fig. 2 has a slot in it 1, 1, this
slot is for sliding the connecting bar 2 along so as to regulate the lift
of lever q. This leg lever fulcrums into bracket 3 at the bottom end 4.
There is a link connecting a chain that passes round pullies 5, and is
connected by another link to wedge slide plate 6, which is so ballanced
to slide by the action of pronged lever h in Fig. 1. The other end of
this wedge slide plate is linked to a wire or chain marked 7. There are
two guides 8 and 9 for this wedge slide to pass between.
The prong lever in Fig. 3 is shewn in plan. Fig. 4. shews side view
of lifted rail c inclined at both ends, and its connection with prong
lever h, fulcrum i, and connecting bars d. Figs. 5 and 6 is our sound
signal apparatus.
a is an inclined lifting rail placed longitudinally in the centre of the
line of rails; it is operated upon by the two links b, b, hung in
brackets c and e. On the spindle in bracket e is pulley o, round which
and secured by screw pin is chain secured to wire i running down
side of the line and connects to wire m in Figs. 1 and 3; p, in Fig. 6 is
another pulley over which passes another chain at the lower end of
which is a ballance weight h. The end of this chain g is secured to the
pully by screw pins; d is a rod running from the side across the line
to work inclined rail a.
.

page_text: Having described the different parts of our apparatus in detail and
their uses we will proceed to describe its action and effects. When
a train passes over the rail a in Figs. 1, 3, and 4 the flange of the wheels
press down the inclined rail c, this acting on prong or fulcrum end of
lever lifts up the other or ballance weight end of such lever threby
allowing the wedge slide plate 6 to slide along by the assistance of the
ballance weights attached to wire 7, which likewise acts by leg lever k
on signal lever q and lifts the signal. But previous to such train having
arrived at this point it passes over the sound signal apparatus, which at
night would ring a bell on the engine or sound the whistle. By
attaching in front of the engine a rod fixed in a slide, having at the
bottom end a friction roller or bowl, which coming in contact (as the
train passes over) with the central inclined lifting rail which will act
on the sliding rod, lifting it up suddenly, the top end acts upon a "bell,"
"whistle," or other equivalent, at the same time such roller or bowl
passes over this inclined rail be deflected and pressed down and by
acting upon suitable rods opperate upon "a sight signal," "a light
signal," or a sound signal on the side of the railway. This may bo
placed at any required distance from the before-mentioned apparatus
acted upon by the wheels. The train having passed these two points
leaves all signals required duly acted upon and set, which remain so
until such train has got a safe distance, at which point is fixed a similar
inclined lifting rail to that shown on Figs. 1, 3, and 4, acted upon by
wheel flanges and connected by wires and chains to the before-mentioned
signals. This unships the catch, drops or changes the signal, and the
line is again free for the next train.
We have now described our Invention and the way in which it is
worked, we wish it to be understood that we do not confine ourselves
to the precise detail we have herein described as many variations can
be made without deviating from the principle or main features of our
Invention, but what we claim as ours and secured by these Presents
is,—
First. The inclined lifting rails as acted upon by wheels and rod
in front of the engine, substantially as and for the purposes hercin set
forth.
Second. The levers and methods of ballancing them to take off the
substantialy as and for the nurnoses herein sot

page_text: Third. The sliding wedge plate and method of acting thereon,
substantialy as and for the purposes herein set forth.
Fourth. The general arrangement of the several parts herein described
substantialy as and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Ebenezer Entwistle and Joseph
Raw, have hercunto set our hands and seals, this Sixth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-one.
EBENEZER ENTWISTLE. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOHN LEWIS,
Engineer and Patent Agent,
Preston,
Lancashire.