IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR REGISTERING THE SPEED, LENGTH, AND TIME OF STOPPAGES OF A RAILWAY TRAIN AND OTHER MOVING MACHINERY
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leonard Randal Davies, of 2, Tower Royal, Cannon Street,
in the City of London, Iron Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR REGISTERING THE SPEED, LENGTH, AND TIME OF STOPPAGES
OF A RAILWAY TRAIN AND OTHER MOVING MACHINERY." A communication
from abroad by Vincent Ferrero, Mechanician, of Florence, Italy.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Leonard Randal Davies at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th December 1877.
LEONARD RANDAL DAVIES, of 2, Tower Royal, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Iron Merchant. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR REGISTERING THE SPEED,
LENGTH, AND TIME OF STOPPAGES OF A RAILWAY TRAIN AND OTHER MOVING
MACHINERY." [A communication from abroad by Vincent Ferrero, Mechanician, of
Florence, Italy.]
My Invention of improvements in machinery for registering the speed, length,
and time of stoppages of a railway train and other moving machinery consists in a
method or methods by means of which a strip of paper, parchment, or other suitable
material is moved forward at an uniform rate by clockwork, and a pencil or pencils
at the end of a lever is moved backwards and forwards across the strip of paper or
other material by connection with an axle of the railway carriage or machine of
which it is desired to register the speed and stoppages by a diagram.
The motion of the axle is reduced by suitable gearing, so that a certain distance
travelled by the train causes the pencil or pencils to move twice across the strip of
paper, and since the paper is drawn by the clockwork uniformly underneath the pencil
a wavy curve will be described, the distance between the crests of the waves of the
curve evidently depending on the speed with which the pencil or pencils cross the
paper
The strip of paper being divided to represent hours and minutes, or any regular
period of time, a division representing, say, one minute, is arranged to pass under.

page_text: the pencil point in one minute by the clockwork to find out the time taken by
the train in travelling any given distance by inspection of the diagram. Since a
movement of the pencil backwards and forwards across the strip of paper represents
a known distance travelled, the time occupied in travelling that distance is repre-
sented by the number of divisions included between the crests or between the
hollows of two contiguous waves. The length and time of stoppages will also be
recorded by the diagram, because if the train stops the pencil no longer travells
across the paper, and will describe a straight line, the direction of the stoppage
being recorded by the number of divisions opposite the straight line, and the time of
stoppage by the distance of the straight line from the commencement of the wavy
line, which shows the time the train started.
In the Figure (A) is the clock which moves the drum (D) fitted with studs
(S), (S), on its periphery, which studs fit into holes in the strip of paper or other
suitable material; (T) shows a plan of the strip with curve drawn on it, and prevent
the slipping of the same on the drum; (P) is one of two pencils in a line across the
strip ou each side of the studs, and fixed in the end of the lever (L), said lever being
centred on the bearings (C), and caused to reciprocate on those bearings by an
excentric on the end (E) The excentric is rotated by connection with an axle of
the railway carriage or machine, and in such a manner that a number of revolutions
of the axle causes one rotation of the excentric, and a movement of the pencil across
the paper twice.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Leonard Randal Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
June 1878.
LEONARD RANDAL DAVIES, of Davies, 2, Tower Royal, Cannon Street, in the
City of London, Iron Merchant. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR REGIS-
TERING THE SPEED, LENGTH, AND TIME OF STOPPAGES OF A RAILWAY TRAIN AND
OTHER MOVING MACHINERY." A communication from abroad by Vincent Ferraro,
Mechanician, of Florence, Italy.
Improvements in machinery for registering the speed, length, and time of
stoppages of a railway train and other moving machinery.
My Invention of the speed and time register consists in a method or methods by
means of which a strip of paper, parchment, or other suitable material is moved
forward at an uniform rate by clockwork, and a pencil or pencils at the end of a
lever is moved backwards and forwards across the strip of paper or other material
by connection with an axle of the railway carriage or machine of which it is desired
to register the speed and stoppages by a diagram.
The motion of the axle is reduced by suitable gearing, so that a certain distance
travelled by the train causes the pencil or pencils to move twice across the strip of
paper, and since the paper is drawn by the clockwork uniformly underneath the

page_text: pencil a wavy curve will be described, the distance between the crests of the waves
of the curve evidently depending on the speed with which the pencil or pencils
cross the paper.
The strip of paper being divided to represent hours and minutes, or any regular
period of time, a division representing, say, one minute, is arranged to pass under
the pencil point in one minute by the clockwork to find out the time taken by the
train in travelling any given distance by inspection of the diagram.
Since a move-
ment of the pencil backwards and forwards across the strip of paper represents a
known distance travelled; the time occupied in travelling that distance is represented
by the number of divisions included between the crests or between the hollows of
two contiguous waves The length and time of stoppages will also be recorded by
the diagram, because if the train stops the pencil no longer travels across the paper,
and will describe a straight line, the duration of the stoppage being recorded by the
number of divisions opposite the straight line, and the time of stoppage by the
distance of the straight line from the commencement of the wavy line, which shows
the time the train started.
In the Figure (A) is the clock, which moves the drum (D) fitted with studs
(S), (S), on its periphery, which studs fit into holes in the strip of paper or other
suitable material, and prevent the slipping of the same on the drum; (T) shows a
plan of the strip, with curve drawn on it; (P) is one of two pencils in a line across
the strip on each side of the studs, and fixed in the end of the lever (L), said lever
being centred on the bearings (B), and caused to reciprocate on those bearings by
an excentric on the end E. The excentric is rotated by connection with an axle of
the railway carriage or machine, and in such a manner that a number of revolutions
of the axle causes one rotation of the excentric, and a movement of the pencil across
the paper twice.
It should be mentioned that the apparatus registers the backing of trains and
reversing machinery, when the transverse lines of the pencils, instead of turning
towards the horizontal lines, which indicate the stoppages, point in the opposite
direction.
Claim for arrangement as described, for registering the speed, length, and time of
stoppages of a railway train and other moving machinery.
LEONARD RANDAL DAVIES. (L.S.)
Witness,
HEINRICH LUCIAN WALTERS,
2, Tower Royal,
Cannon Street,
City,
E.C.
RICHARD LINKE,
30, Union Square,
New North Road,
N.
LEONARD RANDAL DAVIES. (L.S.)