IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO RAILWAYS AND ENGINES OR CARRIAGES RUNNING THEREON. PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Neill, of Bold, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, and Francis Augustus Remington Neill, of
the same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO RAILWAYS AND ENGINES OR CARRIAGES RUNNING THEREON.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Neill .1
Francis Augustus Remington Neill at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 9th December
1873.
We, WILLIAM NEILL, of Bold, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
and FRANCIS AUGUSTUS REMINGTON NEILL, of the same Place, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO RAILWAYS AND ENGINES OR CARRIAGES RUNNING THEREON," to be
as follows:-
Our Invention consists in an arrangement whereby an engine or train
cannot pass a certain point before another engine or train is a certain

page_text: distance before it without giving notice to the driver or other official,
while at the same time the steam is shut off and the break is applied by
the motion of the engine or train. To accomplish these objects we use a
lever placed alongside the rail and capable of turning upward or down-
ward, it being however pressed upward by a spring or weight. To this
lever is connected a catch, beneath which an arm carried by a rod may
be passed so as to prevent the said lever from turning downward, such
rod being continued to any desired distant position on the line. To the
engine or tender are adapted rollers mounted on rods which are forced
downward by springs, the said rollers being situate in the same plane as
the aforesaid lever, and arriving in contact therewith as the train moves
onward. If the lever is not held up by the above mentioned catch
arrangement the rollers press it downward and the train is allowed to
pass onward; but if the catch holds the lever up then the said rollers
are forced upward against their springs, and an arm carried by the
engine or tender by ascending the lever and by turning upon a centre
shuts off the steam by means of suitable rods and levers, and at the same
time blows the signal whistle, the break also being applied. If however
it is not necessary that the train should be stopped the catch arrange-
ment is not connected to the lever, and it is therefore forced downward
out of range of the aforesaid arm. As the lever turns downward an
incline thereon gives motion to a rod or chain which acts upon a catch
so as to liberate a similar lever placed at a distance behind the train,
and any following train may therefore proceed. After the same manner
a similar arrangement in front liberates the catch or allows the lever to
remain in its elevated position.
.The arrangement of break motion we adopt is as follows:-In proximity.
to a running wheel is a roller mounted on a lever capable of turning
upon a centre, and connected by a rod to the aforesaid apparatus for
shutting off the steam. This roller is connected by wheels to a shaft
which on being turned acts upon a sliding rod so as to put on the break,
which movement is effected by the aforesaid apparatus bringing the said
roller into contact with the running wheel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Neill and Francis Augustus Remington
Neill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
NEILL, of Bold, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and FRANCIS
AUGUSTUS REMINGTON NEILL, of the same Place, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Neill and Francis Augustus
Remington Neill, Her special license that we, the said William
Neill and Francis Augustus Remington Neill, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Neill and
Francis Augustus Remington Neill, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO RAILWAYS
AND ENGINES OR CARRIAGES RUNNING THEREON," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Neill and Francis Augustus Remington
Neill, by an instrument in writing under our hands and scals, or under
the hand and scal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and caused 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 Francis Augustus Remington Neill,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and the accompanying Drawings
(that is to say):-
Our Invention consists in an arrangement whereby an engine or train :
cannot pass a certain point before another engine or train is a certain.

page_text: distance before it without giving notice to the driver or other official,
while at the same time the steam may be shut off and breaks applied.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents in side elevation a
rail with our improvements applied, an engine and tender being also
shewn; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of two rails. In both of these Figures
the rails are broken off in two places for the purpose of bringing
apparatus into the Figure, which in reality, as will be hereafter explained,
are at considerable distances from each other.
-
At 1 is a block, upon which is a pedestal 2, to which is jointed a
lever 3 so as to be capable of turning upon a centre 4, and to this is
adapted a short lever 6, shewn by dots in Fig. 1, and projecting through
a slot formed in a rod.7, the other end of which is connected to a lever 8
turning upon a centre 9 carried by the block 1, and to this lever is con-
nected a rod 10 jointed to a lever 11 turning upon a centre 12, which
carries a lever 13 connected by a link 14 to a longitudinal sliding
piece 15; upon the lever 3 is a catch 16, which according to the
position shewn in Fig. 1 has been thrust on one side upon a centre 17
by the advance of an incline on the sliding piece 15, as will hereafter be
explained. Figs. 3 and 4 represent these parts on an enlarged scale.
Upon the lever 13 is a rod 20 connected to a bell-crank lever 21, a pin 2
projecting from one arm of which passes into a slot formed in a rod 22,
which at its other end has a slot within which is a short lever 6ª
mounted on the axis of a lever 3ª, these two parts being similar to those
shewn at 6, 3, and above referred to; the levers 3, 3ª, are pressed
upward by means of springs 23, 23ª; upon the engine frame, or it might
be that of a carriage, are mounted rods carrying rollers 24, 24, which
are pressed downward by means of springs 25, 25.
According to the positions of the parts shewn in the Drawings the
rollers 24, 24, have passed on to the lever 3 and have caused it to turn
downward upon its centre 4, by which means the short lever 6 has
caused the rod 7 to slide, and through the intervention of the rods and
levers above described cause the sliding piece 15 to advance and place
the pendant catch 16 in the position shewn. As soon as the rollers 24, 24,
have left the lever 3 it will turn upward by the force of the spring 23,
and the pendant catch 16 will swing into a vertical position and will a
then rest upon the sliding piece 15 which has not been drawn back by

page_text: reason of the short lever 6 moving in the slot of the rod 7, and thus the
lever 3 becomes propped up. If now an engine or train should follow
before the appointed distance is gained by the first, the rollers thereof,
similar to those shewn at 24, 24, not being able to press the lever 3 down
will themselves be forced upward against the springs 25, 25, so as to
admit the passage of the engine or train, but this time another effect
arises. Upon the engine is mounted a lever 28, which when the lever 3
is in the position shown passes just free of it; but supposing it to be
propped up as above mentioned then the lever 28 by being caused to
turn upon its centre 29 will through the intervention of a rod 30 turn
a lever 31 upon a centre 32, which will cause two rods to come into
action, the one 33 to whistle and the other 34 to shut off the steam,
while at the same time a rod 35 will put on the breaks by any suitable
connexions, or one of these things only may be done if desired, or other
signals may be given. Suppose however when the second engine
arrives at A. the first has attained its proper distance at B then by
passing over the lever 3ª the rollers will depress it, and this motion will
cause the short lever 6ª to slide forward, the rod 22 and the end of the
slot thereof will turn the bell-crank lever 21 so as to draw forward the
rod 20, and this by turning the lever 13 will withdraw the sliding
piece 15 from its support so as to allow the motions above described to
take place, and the engine will as before pass over without giving a

page_text: purposes above set forth, the use of the rollers 24 and levers 3, 3ª, or
similar parts, acting substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Augustus. Remington Neill,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.