IMPROVEMENTS IN FOG D
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Joseph Curtis, of No. 1, Sebbon Street,
Islington, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOG
D
1
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Joseph Curtis
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his' Petition, on the
21st December 1855.
I, WILLIAM JOSEPH CURTIS, of No. 1, Sebbon Street, Islington, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FOG SIGNALS, AND IN LAYING THE SAME UPON THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists in attaching fog signals to the rails by means of
springs, in place of by strips of lead, as has been usual heretofore. I prefer
to make the spring so as to embrace and nip the flange of the rail when
placed thereon. My Invention also consists in laying fog signals on to the
rails by means of apparatus attached to a railway train, and this I prefer to
do by means of an instrument connected to a carriage, which instrument
temporarily holds the fog signal, and when brought into action carries it down
on to the rails, against which it is pressed, so that the spring of the signal is
forced over the flange of the rail. The pressure necessary for this purpose
may be given either by the instrument which places the signal on the rail or
otherwise.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Joseph Curtis in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOSEPH CURTIS, of No. 1, Sebbon Street, Islington, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Joseph Curtis, Her special licence that I, the said William Joseph
Curtis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Joseph Curtis, my 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FOG SIGNALS, AND IN LAYING THE SAME UPON THE RAILS OF RAIL-
WAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Joseph
Curtis, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 I, the said William Joseph Curtis, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in attaching fog signals to the rails by means of
springs, in place of by strips of lead, as has been usual heretofore. I prefer
to make the spring so as to embrace and nip the flange of the rail when
placed thereon. My Invention also consists in laying fog signals on to the
rails by means of apparatus attached to a railway train, and this I prefer to
do. by means of an instrument connected to a carriage, which instrument
temporarily holds the fog signal, and when brought into action carries it down
on to the rails, against which it is pressed, so that the spring of the signal is
forced over the flange of the rail. The pressure necessary for this purpose

page_text: may be given either by the instrument which places the signal on the rail or
otherwise.
:
:
repre-
Figure 1 is a sectional side view of a railway carriage or van;
senting the flooring; B, B, the wheels; G, the bar usually connecting the
5 guard irons; C represents the detonating or exploding signal; D, the flexible
steel or iron plate, to which the pliers d for holding the signal is attached;
E, the guide bar, connected by the bracket / to the floor of the carriage, and
attached likewise by l' to the connecting bar G, pointing towards the rail and
wheel; F, the wire of communication, whereby the signal is passed to the
wheel. This part of the apparatus is shewn at half the full size in Figures
2 and 3. h is the spring by which the signal clips the rail; C¹, Cu, are two
pieces of wood placed on each side of the exploding signal, whereby the con-
cussion and weight of the carriage wheel is prevented from exploding the
signal; d is the superior end of the pliers, which is forced upwards by the
spring d', thus causing the inferior end of the pliers 9 to grip or hold tightly
the end of the strip of tin Z, to which the signal and pieces of wood C¹
and C are attached; f is a part of the flexible plate D, formed partly to
embrace and slide freely along the guiding bar E, so that the signal may be
securely and steadily directed towards the wheel. K is a stop fixed to the end
of the guide bar E, in order to prevent the plate D from going off the bar;
X denotes the line of rail; r is a sheet-iron shutter, to close the hole in the
floor of the carriage when the apparatus is out of use.
When it is necessary
to apply a signal to the rail; the guard or other person places the tin end of
the signal in the pliers, and then slides the signal, by means of the plate D
and wire F, towards the wheel. As soon as the point C¹ of the signal is
caught by the wheel, the signal is snatched out of the pliers, and the wheel
passing over it forces the spring h down upon the rail, to which it becomes
firmly attached, and the wood resisting the weight and concussion of the
wheel, the signal is left behind upon the rail without being exploded, then
the engine of the following train being so much heavier than the carriage,
and the momentum so much greater, crushes the wood, and the signal is then
exploded. The object of this apparatus being to place a fog or exploding
signal upon the rail whilst the train is in motion, so that advice may be given
to a following train not to run into a train in advance. The stop K, as has
been before stated, prevents the plate D leaving the bar E when the signal is
snatched out of the pliers by the action of the wheel.
Figure 4 shows a cross section, upon half scale, of a rail and the detonating
signal, also the peculiar shape which is given to the spring h. C is the signal;

page_text: Figure 5 is another mode of applying the signal to the wheel; the guide
bar E points towards the rail and wheel, as in Figure 1, and may be
covered by a casing e, forming a species of tube. The clip or pliers may
be made as described under Figure 1, or as shown, and in half scale at
Figure 6; in this case the clip or pliers is formed by a flexible piece of
steel D, tightened by the thumb screw d, by which the end of the tin 'z is
securely held; then the signal being pushed down the guide bar E by a flexible
piece of hoop iron, or by other suitable means, the signal is presented to the
wheel, as in Figure 1; the wheel runs over it and affixes it to the rail without
exploding it, as before described, the stop K preventing the pliers leaving the
bar E. The same letters denote correspoding and equivalent parts of the
apparatus and carriage, &c. throughout this Specification.
Figure 7. This Figure shows a method of applying the signals to the rail
behind the wheel. The guide bar E is adjustable by means of blocks 1, l',
fixed to the carriage, sliding in corresponding slots in the bar, so that when a
man presses his foot upon the lever S a considerable amount of pressure is
exercised upon the flexible lower end of the bar, then in contact with the rail,
and which may be continued, although the man's foot is withdrawn, by a notch
in the spring t retaining the bar in its position; then an apparatus, similar to
that shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, being used (but inverted), and the rod F being
inflexible from the joint f' upwards, the signal is forced by a sudden and rapid
action between the flexible end of the bar E and the rail; at the same time
the superior end d of the pliers is compressed by this movement, and the signal
is released; then the end of the bar E, pressing with force upon the spring h,
and a piece of wood placed upon it, somewhat similar to that shown in C", "in
Figures 2 and 3, the signal is thus fixed to the rail, as in the former instances;
when the apparatus is not in use it is lifted up by the lever S, and is thus kept
out of contact with the rail.
:
Figure 8 is another method of applying the signal to the rail behind the
wheel of the carriage. F is the guide bar, pointing to the rail and to the
supplemental wheel b, which is connected by a suitable connection to the car-
riage, being raised from the rail or pressed down to it by means of the lever p
and link n acting upon the bar o, one end of which receives the end of the
axle of 6, and the other is connected with the guard iron of the wheel or other
suitable support from the carriage. In the Drawing, the wheel b is in contact
with the rail. The signal and pliers are the same as in Figure 1, but the signal
is directed towards the supplemental wheel by the weight e, held by the
strings, which when relaxed causes the signal to slide along the guide bar to
the wheel b, which runs over and fixes it to the rail, as before described; but

page_text: in this case the signal has to bear only the comparatively light pressure of the
supplemental wheel, which pressure may be regulated at will by the operator.
When not in work, the supplemental wheel b is lifted from the rail by the
lever p being made to occupy the position shown by the dotted line.
Figure 9 is another mode of applying the signal behind the wheel. E is
the guide bar, pointing towards the rail fixed to the carriage by the bracket G
and stud 9; m is a spring or springs attached to the carriage. The bar F has
flexible pieces of steel attached to its lower end, which grasp the spring h of
the signal when placed between them, as shewn in Figure 10, which is a front
view of that part of the apparatus. When the signal is to be applied to the
rail, the sliding piece f, attached to the lower part of the bar or rod, is placed
upon the bar E, and the rod directed towards the rail; the pin q is inserted in
the shackle of the springs m,. when the operator forcibly brings the signal into
contact with the rail by hand, as shown, or by placing his foot upon the bent
lever denoted by the dotted lines; the signal is thus kept in contact with tho
rail by the bar F whilst the carriage travels the space between y and y', a
space of about eighteen inches; then, when the bar F has passed this space
it is withdrawn from the signal and rail by the movement of the carrige, and
the signal remains fixed to the rail; in this case, the pieces of wood C', C",
are not required; the vertical action of the bar F is compensated by the
springs m, m, which force the signal on the rail without any concussion being
produced. The front view of the guide bar E is shown at Figure 10, where
it will be perceived a notch is cut in the lower end to allow the sliding piece f
to leave the rail when the bar is moved laterally by the operator.
Figure 11 is a front view, and Figure 12 the plan, of an apparatus
whereby a signal light may be attached to the rail whilst the train is in
motion; this will be useful in tunnels or in other cases where a certain caution
may be desirable between trains. U, the fire-work, is fixed to one side
of the spring h, which may be fixed to the rail by any of the before-
described methods, the piece of tin T, connected with the signal, being pre-
sented to the wheel, as before described; the fire-work may be ignited in the
usual way, by fulminating powder being placed on the top of the charge,
which is ignited by a blow against a hard substance; or a fog signal may be
placed on the rail in connection with the spring h, and a port fire communi-
cating with the top of the. fire-work and the fog signal, the ignition may be
produced by the explosion of the signal under the wheel of the carriage
communicating the fire by means of the port fire.
Figures 13, 14, 15, show front view and plan of hand signals. The best way
is to apply the signal sideways, as shown in Figure 14, and pass it round the

page_text: rail, when it tightly embraces it, and assumes the position shown in Figure 13.
Figure 15 is a plan of signal; the whole being drawn upon half scale.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim the
mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details as shown
and described; but what I claim is,-
First, the combining metal springs with fog signals, in order to attach them
more securely and certainly to the rails of railways,
And, secondly, I claim the combining of mechanical parts or apparatus for
placing fog signals on to the rails of a railway from a moving carriage.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Joseph Curtis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
.S. CARPMAEL.
W. J. CURTIS. (L.S.)