MACHINERY FOR COMMUNICATING AND SIGNALLING BETWEEN PASSENGERS, GUARDS, AND DRIVERS OF RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Timothy Briggs, of Street Lane, in the Parish of
Ripley, in the County of Derby, for the Invention of "MACHINERY
FOR COMMUNICATING AND SIGNALLING BETWEEN PASSENGERS, GUARDS, AND
DRIVERS OF RAILWAY TRAINS."
Sealed the 10th November 1868, and dated the 16th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Timothy Briggs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th May 1868.
I, TIMOTHY BRIGGS, of Street Lane, in the Parish of Ripley, in the
County of Derby, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "MACHINERY FOR COMMUNICATING AND SIGNALLING BETWEEN PASSENGERS,
GUARDS, AND DRIVERS OF RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to enable passengers in the several
carriages of a railway train to communicate with and to signal to the
driver of the engine and guard of the train while the train is in motion.
The signal is worked by means of a lever attached inside or outside of
the carriage, and once used by a passenger it cannot be replaced in its
original position without the assistance of one of the company's servants.

page_text: Its action is simple, most efficient, and inexpensive to apply to the present
railway carriages, and when once fixed will not require further attention
until it has been used as a signal.
The Invention consists in the employment of a lever attached inside
the carriage either on the top part or the end thereof, or by the use of a
balance weight, a spring, and a bell pull, it can be placed on the end of
the carriage on the outside. This lever acts on another but smaller
lever, which forms a lid or cover for a small box, by preference of an
oblong shape, fastened on or let into the side of the carriage, in which
is concealed a spiral spring which pulls the small lever or box lid open,
and at the same time displays and unfolds a flag (say red) attached
thereto, and when used the flag requires to be carefully refolded before
it can be replaced in the box, which cannot be done by the passengers.
The large lever by means of a sliding hook connected with the said lever
pulls a rope already attached to the trains, by which the guard can when
necessary blow a whistle on the engine, thus making the same means
of communication available for the use of the passengers, so that at the
same time and by the same movement of the lever by a passenger the
flag is unfurled and the whistle on the engine is blown.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Timothy Briggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, TIMOTHY
BRIGGS, of Street Lane, in the Parish of Ripley, in the County of Derby,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Timothy Briggs, Her special licence that I,
the said Timothy Briggs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Timothy Briggs, 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

page_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "MACHINERY FOR COMMUNICATING
AND SIGNALLING BETWEEN PASSENGERS, GUARDS, AND DRIVERS OF RAILWAY
TRAINS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Timothy
Briggs, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Timothy Briggs, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to
say:
The object of my Invention is to enable passengers in the several
carriages of a railway train to communicate with and to signal to the
driver of the engine and guard of the train while the train is in motion.
The signal is worked by means of a lever attached to the carriage, and
once used by a passenger it cannot be replaced in its original position
without the assistance of one of the company's servants. Its action is
simple, most efficient, and inexpensive to apply to the present railway
carriages, and when once fixed it will not require further attention until
it has been used as a signal.
The Invention consists of a lever attached to the end of the carriage
on the outside. This lever acts on a smaller lever or semaphore which
is thrown out of a small box on the side of the carriage at the end
thereof, and sustained by means of a balance weight, which at the
same time lifts the cover from a lamp fixed to the side of the carriage
and exposes to view a red light in the form of a star which can be
distinctly seen by the driver and guard in the night time or when
the train is passing through tunnels. The large lever by means of a
spring sustains a sliding hook and pulley with a weight attached, and
when set at liberty by a passenger pulling the handle, which is placed
inside each compartment of the carriage, and which is connected to
the spring by chains from the different handles, it pulls down a rope

page_text: which runs on the middle of the carriage on the top of the train,
which rope is fastened to the wheel in the guard's van and the other
end thereof to the whistle on the engine, so that the same means of
communicating is available for the use of the passengers and the guard.
On the top of the carriages are pulleys one at each end of the carriage,
and also a groove to protect the rope from injury; there is over each
compartment and connected with each pull a small slide or tell-tale so
as to prove in case of dispute in which compartment the signal is given;
there are also small hooks or clasps introduced into the rope so that a
train can be divided without inconvenience or hindrance. Any passenger
by simply pulling down the handle can blow the whistle on the engine,
which will continue to blow until the lever is put into its original
position or the guard slackens the rope, and at the same time and
by the same means throws out the semaphore and exposes to view the
red light.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view in side elevation,
Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 an end elevation of a railway carriage
fitted with machinery for communicating and signalling between
passengers, guards, and drivers of railway trains according to my
Invention; Figure 4 is an end elevation of a carriage showing the
apparatus detached and the parts in the position they occupy when
a signal is made from a compartment of a carriage.
A is the large lever fitted by preference to the end of a carriage and
held in position by a spring B; C is the weight shown in dotted lines
in the weight case C¹; D is the sliding hook and pulley which pulls
down the rope E running on pulleys F along the top of the carriages
composing the train; G, G, are handles attached to each pull H, as
shown by dotted lines; these handles are fitted to each compartment
of the carriage; I, I, are the tell-tales attached to each pull; K is the
box containing the weight L and semaphore M, as shown in the dotted
lines; N is the cover for the signal lamp; O and P is the light, by
preference in the form of a star. At Figure 3 the signal is shown
in the box and not in use; at Figure 4 the signal is exposed to view.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as
my "Improvements in Machinery for Communicating and Signalling
between Passengers, Guards, and Drivers of Railway Trains,"-

page_text: First. The combination of the large lever and spring to hold it in
position, also the weight and sliding hook or pulley to pull down the
rope, substantially as described.
Second. The application of the pulleys and rope running along the top
of the train, substantially in manner and for the purposes described.
Third. The combination of the pulls with the handles in each com-
partment of the carriage with the spring which holds the lever ready for
action, also the tell-tale attached to each pull, as described.
Fourth. The construction and employment of the box which contains
the small weight and semaphore, likewise the application of the weight
in throwing out the semaphore and removing the cover from the lamp
to show a red light in the form of a star, all substantially in manner
and for the purposes herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Timothy Briggs, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.