IMPROVE- MENTS IN WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice Piers, Baronet, of the City
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS."
Sealed the 18th April 1867, and dated the 24th October 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice
Piers at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th October 1866.
I, Sir EUSTACE, FITZMAURICE PIERS, .Baronet, of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of. the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS," to be as
follows:
'My Invention consists in the arrangement and combination of machinery or
apparatus whereby the. wheels of. a railway engine, carriage, or train passing
over a lever or treadle will give motion to raise a semaphore or other signal
in connection therewith, which: when so raised will be held up, by a catch or
bolt actuated by an electro-magnet through which a current of electricity is
constantly flowing, so that the signal will be held up as long as the electric
current is. unbroken. I break the current of electricity at any given distance
past the signal by arranging another lever or treadle at the point-fixed upon,

page_text: which the wheels of the engine, carriage, or train will depress in passing, and
the movement thus given will separate contact pieces in connection with wires
conducting the electricity to the magnet, and will thus break the current and
allow the semaphore or other signal to fall to its normal position. Imme-
diately after the wheels of the engine, carriage, or train have passed, the lever
or treadle for breaking the current of electricity will rise to its former position
so as to make the contact again, and cause the electricity to flow through the
electro-magnet so as to be ready to hold the semaphore or other signal when
again lifted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice Piers in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd April 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Sir
EUSTACE FITZMAURICE PIERS, Baronet, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice Piers, Baronet, Her special license that
I, the said Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice Piers, Baronet, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice
Piers, Baronet, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING
RAILWAY SIGNALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice Piers, Baronet, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly 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 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 Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice Piers, Baronet,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
My Invention of improvements in the method of working railway signals
consists in a novel arrangement of apparatus whereby the wheels of a railway
engine or carriage passing over a lever or treadle may raise a semaphore or
other signal so as to indicate danger to any following engine or carriage until
the engine or carriage in advance shall have proceeded beyond the point of
the danger, whereat I arrange another lever or treadle which the wheels of the
said engine or carriage may depress in passing, and the movement thus given
will cause the semaphore or other signal previously raised to fall to its normal
position.
In order that my Invention may be clearly understood I have shewn in the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings full particulars of each part thereof; the
same letters of reference being used where like parts occur.
Figures 1 and 2 show two side views; Figure 3 a plan; Figure 4, a sectional
end view of the same. A, A, is an iron case (with the side plate removed),
into which is fixed a shaft B, B; upon the end of the said shaft is a lever or
treadle C; upon the shaft B, B, is also a lever D, D, one end of which is
connected to a semaphore or other signal by means of the rod E, and at the
other end of the said lever is attached a weight F. Upon the shaft B, B, is also
fixed a short arm g, which is chambered out in order to receive a spiral spring
and catch bolt H; K is a lever working in a support L, and carrying at its
opposite extremity a guide rod M, to which is attached the keeper N of an
electro-magnet, the guide rod being kept in position by the guide Z; O is an
5 electro-magnet composed of iron tubes fitted over each other, and coiled with
strands of insulated copper wire through which I cause a current of electricity
to flow from a galvanic battery; P is another iron case (with the side plate
removed), into which is fixed a spring Q and stop bar R; the spring Q and
the stop bar Rare insulated from the iron case by glass or gutta percha or
Dany other insulater of electricity. U is a wire leading from one end of a galvanic
battery to the stop bar R, and (by contact) from the stop bar R to the spring
Q, to which is attached a wire V leading to the electro-magnet O; the other
end of the wire from the electro-magnet inay return through the earth to the
opposite end of the battery, or it may return by an insulated wire overground,
5 as is usual with telegraph wires; the wires U and V are carefully insulated
from the iron case, P by glass or gutta percha or. any other insulator of
electricity. The circuit being thus complete, a current of electricity will flow
from one end of the battery through the electro-magnet and back to the other
end of the battery, thus causing great attractive power to be developed in the

page_text: electro-magnet O, which will hold its keeper N in firm contact, by which
means the lever K will be kept in position, as represented in Figures 1 and 2..
S, S, is a lever working in a joint at T, and carrying at its other end a pin X,
which works in a joint upon the spring Q, and working freely through a cap
in the top plate of the iron case P.
Figure 5 represents a spiral spring applied to the lever D, D, instead of
the weight F, which I may use when desirable so to do; Figure 6 represents
a sectional view of my improved form of electro-magnet; Figure 7 is a plan-
of the same; Figure 8 shows an enlarged view of the arm 9, containing the
catch bolt Hand spiral spring.
Having thus indicated the various pieces of mechanism used in the working.
of my Invention, I will now proceed to illustrate the manner in which the
same is carried into effect as follows:-The wheels of an engine or carriage
proceeding in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figure 1 will come
upon the lever or treadle C and will gradually depress the same, causing
motion thereby to the shaft B, B, by which means the lever D, D, will
pull the rod E downwards, which causes the arm W of the semaphore
to be thrown outwards, so as to indicate danger to any following engine or
carriage. The motion thus given to the shaft B, B; as before stated, also
moves the short arm 9 so as to cause the catch bolt H to slide up the
inclined end of the lever K, during which passage the catch bolt is gradually
pushed into its chamber against the spiral spring shewn by the dotted lines
at H. When the catch bolt has escaped above the end of the lever K it is
again pushed forward by the spiral spring acting upon it. In this position
the catch bolt rests upon the end of the lever K, as shewn in Figure 2,
the said lever being held firm by the action of the electro-magnet upon its
keeper N. This position of the parts, as represented in Figure 2, is maintained
⚫ until the wheels of the engine or carriage have passed to the point represented
by the wheel Y, when the lever S, S, is depressed by the passage of the
wheels over it; this motion causes the pin X to separate the contact spring Q
from the stop bar R, as shewn in Figure 5, consequently the current of
electricity is broken, and the electro-magnet O looses its power and sets its
keeper at liberty; when the weight F, acting upon the lever D, D, and short
arm g, forces the lever K downwards, so that the catch bolt escapes below it,
as shewn in Figure 1. The arm W of the semaphore is thus brought to its
normal position, indicating the absence of danger. When the wheels of the
engine or carriage have passed beyond the lever S, S, the spring Q again
makes contact with the stop bar R, thus completing the circuit of electricity,
when the electro-maguet is again rendered powerfully attractive and holds the

page_text: lever K firmly in position, as represented in Figure 1, and ready for the
next depression of the lever D, D, by the passage of any engine or carriage, as
before.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of my improvements in
working railway signals, I desire it to be distinctly understood that I. claim
as new and of my Invention the combination and arrangement of the various
parts of machinery herein described and illustrated for working railway
signals.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir Eustace Fitzmaurice Piers, Baronet,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
seven.
Witness,
EDWARD BURNS.
EUSTACE F. PIERS. (L.S.)