A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE GUARD AND DRIVER OF A RAILWAY TRAIN
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Howard Ashton Holden,
Edward Bull, and Alfred Knight at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 24th January 1853.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
WC, HOWARD ASHTON HOLDEN, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, EDWARD BULL, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Agent, and ALFRED KNIGHT, of Birmingham aforesaid, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED METHOD OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE GUARD AND DRIVER OF
A RAILWAY TRAIN" to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in the use of a continuous speaking or signal
tube extending from one end of a railway train to the other, whereby
the guard and driver may converse with and signal one another. Our
Invention is carried into effect in the following manner :-We fix a
tube of metal on the top and near the edge of each carriage, the said
tube extending the whole length of the said carriage, and we connect
the said metal tubes together by means of india-rubber or other flexible
tubes, the said flexible tubes extending from the metal tube on one

page_text: carriage to the metal tube on the adjoining carriage, and we connect
the said flexible tubes with the said metal tubes by an ordinary coupling
joint, or in any other convenient manner; the said flexible tubes are of
sufficient length to accommodate themselves to the varying distances
between the said carriages, and when connected with the said metal
tubes hang in a curve between the said carriages. By these means a
perfectly continuous tube is provided from end to end of the train, the
said tube being capable of casy division and connection by the said
coupling joints. The extreme ends of the said continuous tube arc
made of a bell shape, so as to give facility in speaking through the said
tube, and in each of the said bell shaped ends a whistle or other signal
is placed, the said whistle or signal being made capable of easy adap-
tation and removal. Our Invention is used in the following manner:
When the guard wishes to communicate with the driver, or the
reverse, he takes the whistle or signal from his end of the tube, and
by blowing through the said tule acts upon the whistle or signal at
the other end of the tube, so as to call the attention of the person at
the other end of the tube; the latter removes the whistle or signal and
applies his car to the mouth of the tube, while the former speaks to
him from the other end. After the conversation is finished the whistles
or signals are replaced at both ends, and the means of communicating
from either end to the other re-established.
We do not limit ourselves to any material in making the said tubes,
but we prefer metal tubes on the carriages and india-rubber tubes to
connect the said metal tubes; neither do we confine ourselves to any
sized tubes, but we have found tubes of 1 inches diameter answer very
well. In using our Invention with wagons, we prefer attaching the
tubes to the side instead of on the top of the wagons, but we do not
confine ourselves to any particular situation of the said tubes on the
said carriages or wagons.