AN IMPROVED ALARUM AND SIGNALLING APPARATUS.”
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Germain Canouil, of Paris, France, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ALARUM AND SIGNALLING APPARATUS.”
PROVISIÓNAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Germain Canouil at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
January 1864.
I, GERMAIN CANOUIL, of Paris, France, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ALARUM AND SIGNALLING
APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to an apparatus which may be applied to a door,
window shutter, or other closure, and serve as an alarum for calling the
attention of the people in the room, in the house, or other suitable places bý
the effect of a detonation or suitable loud report taking place at the moment
of an undue opening of the closure. The apparatus may also be applied.
to the compartments of railway carriages, and by being within reach of any
of the passengers within enable these latter, if required, to call the attention of
the guard or driver and signal for aid by producing at will a detonation and a
light blaze or sort of Greek fire. The apparatus consists of a strong brass or
other suitable tube or cylindrical barrel, in which a central rod is driven
forward by means of a spiral or other suitable spring coiled round it, or
otherwise suitably applied, and by the percussion of the rod against a suitable
cap or plug cause the explosion of a percussion cap, fulminating amorce, or

page_text: other suitable fulminating medium, the report of which is sufficiently loud to
call the attention, whilst, if wished, the fire may be communicated to a Greek
fire or other suitable composition or a piece of firework. The tube or barrel
is to be fastened to the door or other closure, or to its frame, or other suitable
part of the room or carriage, and the further end of the rod is provided with
an eye, knob, or other suitable arrangement for allowing to bend or stretch the
spring, and thereby put the apparatus in what may be called the cocked state,
in such manner that by any undue opening of the door or other closure, or by
means of the knob or eye of the rod, the spring may be set free, and thereby
driving forward the rod procure the explosion of the percussion cap, fulminating
amorce, or other fulminating medium. Provision is made for allowing the
person who is to make use of the apparatus at will to relax or unbend the
spring and put the apparatus at rest, or what may be called the uncocked
state, without giving rise to the explosion of the fulminating medium, and
afterwards again put the apparatus in the cocked state or ready for serving as
an alarum, or for signalling, or call for aid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Germain Canouil in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GERMAIN
CANQUIL, of Paris, France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Germain Canouil, Her special licence that I, the said Germain Canouil,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Germain
Canouil, 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 "AN IMPROVED ALARUM AND
SIGNALLING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Germain Canouil, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: 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 Germain Canouil, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The Invention relates, 1, to certain apparatuses which may be applied to
a door, window shutter, or other similar closure, and serve as an alarum by
calling the attention of the people in the room, the house, or others, by the
loud report of a detonation taking place at the moment of an undue opening
of the closure to which the said alarum is applied; and, 21, to an apparatus
intended to be applied to railway carriages, and by means of which any pas
senger within the carriage is enabled, if wished, to call the attention of the
guard or driver and signal for his aid by producing at will a detonation and a
Strong light or blaze. The alarum apparatuses are intended to be applied to
a door, window, or other closure, and are to be provided with a percussioni
cap, fulminating amorce, or other suitable fulminating medium, which at the
undue opening of the closure will detonate, and thereby call the attention of
the people.
The apparatus intended to serve as a signal for the passengers of
a railway carriage to apply for the aid of the guard or driver also calls the
attention by the detonation of a petard set fire to by a percussion cap.' ful-
minating amorce, or other suitable fulminating medium, and by the light of
a sort of Greek fire at the 'outside of the carriage, so as whilst calling for
assistance indicate the carriage where the same is required.
In the annexed Drawings are represented various views of the apparatus
above referred to.
Fig. 1 shows an outside, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectional view, of my
alarum apparatus intended to be applied to a door, window, or other similar
closure; in these Figures 1 & 2 the same letters refer to corresponding
parts:
The apparatus consists of a tube or barrel A, of brass, iron, or other suitable
metal or material, in which a small plug or hammer a, fixed to a rod B passing
through a corresponding hole provided in the centre of the front a¹ of the
tube A is allowed to glide freely, and is acted upon by a spring b coiled' round
the rod B in the inside of the' tube A, the other end of the rod B is provided
with a button, the part 6' of which forms a ring; C is a tack or small rod
turning at one end on a pin or screw c and provided towards the free end with
a stud c', in order that when the tack is turned so as to have the stud of

page_text: applied behind the shoulder 62 of the button, as shown in red lines in Fig. 1
(in which the apparatus is represented as applied to a door), and in Fig. 2. the
tack C serves as a stop for the rod B. The back end of the tube A may be
closed by means of a cap D intended to serve as an anvil for producing the
detonation of a fulminating amorce, laid thereon in a depression d, when this
amorce is struck by the hammer a the cap D turns as a hinge on a pin e
and is provided with a clasp e¹ which when the cap shuts the tube A, takes
round a projecting part 3 cast on the tube A, which latter is further provided
with two wings f for fixing the apparatus against the inner side of the door F
or other closure by means of the screws f¹, whereas a strong round-headed
nail or pin G is fixed in the door post or frame F1 at such distance apart from
the front end a¹ of the tube A that when the rod B is sufficiently far drawn
out of the barrel or tube A the ring 61 may be put over the pin G, and hereby
this pin, and consequently the rod B and hammer a, kept in the position repre-
sented in Fig. 2. If now a fulminating amorce be inserted in the depression d
of the cap D, and this latter fixed on the barrel A by the clasp e', the appa
ratus will be ready for serving as an alarum for any person in the room, for
should anybody from without open the door this would cause the alarum
to be advanced towards the inside of the room, whereby the ring 61 will
instantly become released from the pin G, when the spring b in distending will
drive the hammer a'towards the anvil D, and by striking the amorce procure
the detonation of this latter with a loud report sufficient to awake or call the
attention of the person in the room; instead of an amorce a percussion cap
might be applied on a nipple provided in that case at the front part of the
hammer a. Should the person in the room, on leaving this latter, wish to
prevent anybody from entering therein without his knowledge, after having
provided the apparatus with an amorce and put the tack C in the position
shown in Fig. 2, and in red lines in Fig. 1, viz., with the stud c' behind the
shoulder 62 of the button, he may at once leave the room, and in shutting the
door behind him the ring 6' will apply itself over the pin G and thereby
release the tack C from the button, so as to cause the apparatus to assume the
position represented in Fig. 1 ; should the door now be opened the explosion
of the amorce will take place.
Fig. 3 shows an outside view of another arrangement of alarum to be fixed
against the inside of the frame or door post F¹.
A is a tube or barrel; D, a cap or anvil kept in position by means of the
rods d'; B is a rod provided at one end with the hammer or plug a, whereas
to the other or upper end is fixed a catch and springwork similar to those
commonly made use of for ringing office door bells, and consisting of a fixed

page_text: 4
the
part H and a moveable one I, the part H being fixed to the rod B. by t
shoulder h', whilst the opposite end forms a fork h, h, for the shoulder. i of the
moveable part I to turn round a pin i¹, round the lower part of which pin is
coiled a spiral spring J acting from underneath on a gudgeonj fixed in the
part I; the free end of the shoulder i is arranged in such manner as to allow
the part I to move forward, yiz., towards the outside of the door, but not
further backward, viz., towards the inside of the room, as to come in the
direction of the fixed part H; the free end I' of the part I is rounded off on
one side for allowing the door, in shutting the same, easily to glide over this
part I. K is an opening cut out in a slanting direction in the barrel A, and
provided at the top of its side k¹ with a recess for the shoulder h¹ to rest in.
By means of the wings fand the screws f¹ the barrel A is fixed to the door
frame or post.
The mode of working of the apparatus is as follows:-A fulminating amorce
having been laid in a suitable recess in the anvil D, or a percussion cap
having been placed on a nipple, with which, in such case, the front part of
the hammer a is to be provided, the rod Bis lifted by means of the parts H, I,
till the shoulder h¹ rests in the corresponding recess in the top of the front
side k¹; by this means the spring coiled, round the rod B in the inside of the
barrel A, between the hammer a and a fixed washer through which the rod B
passes, is contracted; the door being now shut, the same will glide over the
rounded end I¹ of the part I and lay before this part, as shown in Fig. 3, in
which position, should anybody open the door from without, the parts I and H.
would be pushed back towards the inside of the room, whereby the shoulder ¹.
is lifted out of its rest or recess, which will allow the spring in the inside of
the barrel A of driving, the hammer a downward so as to strike the amorce on
the anvil D, and thus procure the detonation of the said amorce or other.
fulminating medium made use of. The door may now be shut again, when
the spring J will cause the part I to resume its normal position.
=
Fig. 4 shows a side, and Fig. 5 a front view of another arrangement of
alarum which in Fig. 6 is, represented applied to the door post F', whilst the
door. F is provided with the catch and springwork H, I, described in respect
to Fig. 3. In Figs. 4 & 6 the apparatus is represented in the cocked or
armed state, and in Fig. 5 in the state of rest. The same consists of a solid,
stay plate L of the shape shown in Fig. 4 to be fixed to the door post F¹ by.
means of its two wings f and the screws f₁; in this stay plate. L is provided
a slot hole m for the arm m' projecting from the back of the hammer a to
glide in, which hammer is acted upon by the spring. M fixed to the arm m
and the lower part of the stay plate, which spring in contracting drives the

page_text: .7
hammer towards the anvil D fixed in the stay plate. Towards the top the
hammer a has a projecting part or shoulder n, which whilst resting on
the top n of the plate L prevents the hammer a from moving towards the
anvil D; a ring n² serves for lifting the hammer. In working the apparatus
a fulminating amorce is laid on the anvil D, or a percussion cap is applied on
a nipple, with which 'in that case the hammer à is to be provided; this latter
is lifted till the shoulder n rests on the top of the stay plate, viz., as represented
in Figs. 4 & 6, the apparatus and the catch and springwork H, I, having
been applied previously respectively to the door post F¹ and the door F, as
shown in Fig. 6. On opening the door from without, the catch I in pushing
against the top a of the hammer, viz., in the direction shown by the arrow
in Fig. 4, will cause the shoulder n to escape from the top of the stay plate
L, when the hammer by the effect of the spring M will be driven towards the
anvil D, and in striking against the fulminating amorce procure the detonation
of this latter or other fulminating medium made'use of. In the Figures 1, 3,
and 6, several parts are represented as partly cut of. Fig. 7 represents an
outside, and Fig. 8 a longitudinal sectional view of another alarum, which I
intend more especially to apply to railway carriages in the manner as shown
on a contracted scale in Fig. 9, which latter Figure represents part of the
inside of a railway carriage provided with my apparatus; in these Figures 7,
8, and 9, several parts are represented as partly cut away, The apparatus
consists of a long tube or barrel A closed at the lower end, and open at the
top, in which latter end is screwed a similar tube A', of only a small length,
and in which is fixed a central tube R of smaller diameter than the tubes A
and A'; the tube R is perforated over its entire length with numerous small
holes s for transmitting the fire of the gunpowder with which this tube R is
to be filled to the Greek fire "composition to be put in the open space left free
between the tubes A' and R, whilst round the upper or protruding part of
the latter tube is applied a petard or other suitable explosive composition.
The centre may further be covered with one or more layers of any suitable
waterproof varnish for excluding moisture, and a cap P' be put over the whole.
a is a hammer or plug fixed to the upper end of the rod B, to the lower end
of which is fixed a button Q; the rod B glides freely through holes provided
for that purpose in a fixed wasber S in the inside of the tube A and in the
bottom part A of this latter, whilst towards the upper end of the rod a spring b
is coiled round the same between the fixed washer S and hammer a, which
spring in distending will drive this latter towards the anvil D forming the
bottom of the upper tube 'A'. In Fig. 7 the spring b is represented in the
distended state, whereas in Fig. 8 the rod B is represented as partly drawn

page_text: out of the tube A', whereby the spring 6 will become sufficiently contracted
for driving the hammer against the anvil D, and cause the explosion of a
fulminating amorce, a percussion cap, or other suitable fulminating medium
applied on the hammer. The tube A is to be fixed in a corner of the railway
carriage to which the apparatus is intended to be applied, in the manner as
shown in Fig. 9, and at such height that the tubes A¹ and R, and the cap P
to be applied over these latter protrudes at the outside of the carriage beyond
the roof through a hole provided in this latter, so as to allow of being easily
perceived by the driver or guard of the train for the effect that by the loud
report caused by the detonation of the petard or other explosive composition
the attention of the driver or guard be at once raised to the blaze or light of
the Greek fire, which latter is to last for a sufficiently long period, the guard
or driver may be guided to the carriage in which the signal was emitted.
For loading the apparatus, viz., for putting the same in working order ready
for immediate use, the upper part formed by the tubes A¹ and R is unscrewed
from the fixed tube A; the tube R is filled with gunpowder, whilst a sufficient
quantity of Greek fire composition is put in the open space left between the
tubes A' and R, after which a petard of any suitable composition is. applied
round the free end of the tube R; the upper part of the apparatus being thus
ready, a fulminating amorce, a percussion cap, or other suitable fulminating
medium is applied on the top of the hammer a, and the upper part screwed
on the top of the fixed tube A, and finally the cap P put over the compositions,
which if judged proper may have been previously covered with one or more
coatings of any suitable waterproof varnish so as entirely exclude any moisture
from the explosive or other composition, and keep these latter in perfect
working order. The apparatus may now be made use of, and as one of them
should preferably be fixed in each of the corners of each carriage of a train,
any passenger within will always easily be in reach of one of them, and the
signal for aid may at once be given by merely pulling on the button Q, which
on being left free again will by the effect of the spring 6 cause the hammer to
strike the anvil D or bottom part of the tube A' with sufficient force for
producing the explosion of the amorce or other suitable fulminating medium
applied on the top of the hammer, the fire of which explosion will by means
of the hole or holes r, perforated for that purpose in the anvil D, and those s
of the tube R, be communicated to the gunpowder in this tube and to the
petard and Greek fire compositions, the cap P having been blown off by the
explosion of the gunpowder of the tube R. It will be readily understood that
by means of the loud report produced by the explosion of the petard, and by
the blaze of the Greek fire, the guard will be induced at once to stop the train,
b

page_text: or take any other suitable measures, and come to the aid of the passengers in
the carriage from whence the signal was given. The mere explosion of a
fulminating amorce or percussion cap produced by simply pulling on a button
in reach of any passenger in the train will thus be sufficient at once to prevent
the repetition of such fearful murders as have of late taken place on the
railways of France and England.
In the various Figures of the annexed Drawings the same letters refer to
corresponding parts; the various apparatus above described may be made of
brass or any other suitable metal or material.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be put into effect or used,
I wish to add here that I do not intend to restrict or restrain myself to the
exact details and shape of the apparatuses described, as many variations may
be made therein without departing from the main features of the Invention,
neither do I intend to restrict myself to the use of any peculiar fulminating
medium or peculiar detonating or lighting compositions, but what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the general arrange-
ment and mode of working of the above-described alarums and railway
signalling apparatus, in which, by the effect of a fulminating amorce or other
suitable fulminating medium, a loud report is produced, and, if required, by
means of a petard and Greek fire or other similar detonating or light-producing
compositions, a report and light or blaže is obtained sufficient to rouse the
attention of the guard of the train on which the apparatus is made use of; and
this as well by daylight as during night.
In witness whereof, I, the said Germain Canouil, hâvé hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four:
Witness;
A. G. BRADE.
GN. CANOUIL. (L.S.)