IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO PLATFORMS OF RAILWAY STATIONS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS TO PASSENGERS ENTERING OR. ALIGHTING FROM RAILWAY CAR- RIAGES.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andreus Cornelius Sonntag, of Peckham, in the
County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN OR APPLICABLE TO PLATFORMS OF RAILWAY STATIONS FOR PREVENTING
ACCIDENTS TO PASSENGERS ENTERING OR. ALIGHTING FROM RAILWAY CAR-
RIAGES.
"
Sealed the 10th June 1873, and dated the 26th March 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andreus Cornelius
:
Sonntag at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th March 1873.
I, ANDREUS CORNELIUS SONNTAG, of Peckham, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO PLATFORMS OF RAILWAY STATIONS FOR
PREVENTING ACCIDENTS TO PASSENGERS ENTERING OR ALIGHTING FROM RAILWAY
CARRIAGES,"
," to be as follows, that is to say :—

page_text: signalman for preventing persons entering or alighting from a train
while in motion, thereby preventing accidents. This fence is constructed
of thin bar iron jointed together in the form of trelliswork, so that it
may be closed down into a space of about six inches in height, and when
opened out by being raised it shall be about three feet in height.
The fence is suitably fixed to the front of the platform, at a short
distance below the top of the same, and is connected to a hand wheel or
wheels in the signal box in a similar manner to that employed for con-
necting signals, videlicet, by a suitable arrangement of chains, rods, and
levers, so as to allow of the fence being raised and lowered by the signal-
man, as herein-after described. By this arrangement, when the guard
gives the signal to start the train, the signalman may raise the fence
(which can be done in a very short space of time) and keep it raised
until the train has passed out of the station, thereby preventing any
person entering or alighting from a carriage while the train is in
motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andreus Cornelius Sonntag in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 26th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREUS
CORNELIUS SONNTAG, of Peckham, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send-greeting..
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March; in the 3
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Andreus Cornelius Sonntag,
Her special licence that I, the said Andreus Cornelius Sonntag, my exe-.

page_text: cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Andreus
Cornelius Sonntag, 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
5 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 OR APPLICABLE TO PLATFORMS OF RAILWAY STATIONS FOR
PREVENTING ACCIDENTS TO PASSENGERS ENTERING OR ALIGHTING FROM RAILWAY
CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Andreus
O Cornelius Sonntag, 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 the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
3 and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andreus Cornelius Sonntag, 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 Drawing
hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say:
The Invention consists in the construction and application to platforms
of railway stations of a collapsing fence to be raised and lowered by the
signalman or other official for preventing persons entering or alighting
from a train while in motion, thereby preventing accidents.
This fence
is constructed of thin galvanized bar iron jointed together in the form of
trelliswork, so that it may be closed down into a space of about six
inches in height, and when opened out by being raised it shall be about
three feet in height.
The fence is suitably fixed to the front of the platform, at a short
distance below the top of the same, and may be connected to a hand
wheel or wheels in the signal box in a similar manner to that employed
for connecting signals, videlicet, by a suitable arrangement of chains,
rods, and levers, so as to allow of the fence being raised and lowered by.
the signalman. I prefer however employing a lever and counterweight
placed at any suitable part of the platform for raising and lowering the.
fence.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed
to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into effect by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1
is a front elevation, and Figure 2 an end elevation, shewing my collapsing
fence applied to the platform of a railway station, the fence being raised;
Figure 3, front elevation shewing the fence lowered; Figuro 4, plan of
lever for raising and lowering the fence. Similar letters in all the
Figures represent similar parts.
The fence is constructed of a number of vertical rails or uprights, cach
consisting of two lengths a, a², of galvanized flat bar iron, placed one
behind the other with a space between them, the two parts being con-
nected together by rivets or bolts b. These vertical rails are placed at a
distance of about eighteen inches apart from one another, and the number
varies according to the length of fence required. The rails are connected
together by three horizontal bars c, c¹, c³, the rivets or bolts & passing
through the horizontal bars. The holes in the bars c, c², c³, are large
enough to allow these bars to move on the rivets or bolts & without
shake. The lower horizontal bar c is firmly bolted to the front A of the
platform, at about one foot from the top of same. Behind the part a¹ of
each upright, and at the lower part of the same, is rivetted a bar d, a
space being left between this bar and the part a¹ of each upright, as seen
in Figure 2. e, e, e, e¹, are guide bars bolted at top to the front A of
the platform, and at bottom to the bar c (as seen in Figure 5, which is a
section on line A, B, Figure 1), except the outer one e', which is bolted
to the front of the platform both at top and bottom. These guide bars
pass through the spaces between the bars d and the back of the parts a¹
of the uprights. The bars e, e, e, in addition to acting as guides to the
fence when it is being raised and lowered, also serve to steady and
strengthen the fence. f is a link jointed at one end g to the upright at
one end of the fence, and at the other end h to an arm i fixed on the
outer end of the horizontal shaft j. This shaft has suitable bearings
underneath the platform, so that it may be revolved on its axis. To the
shaft j is fixed the lever k, which passes through a longitudinal slot /
(seen in plan at Figure 4) in the top B of the platform, and has a
handle m at its outer end. n is a semicircular guide for the lever 1, pro-
vided with a spring catch o for locking the lever when the fence is
raised. The shaft ; is provided with a countorweight, shewn in dotted
lines at Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.

page_text: venting accidents to persons when entering or alighting from railway
carriages, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andreus Cornelius Sonntag, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eiglit hundred
and seventy-three,
Witness,
W. A. GILBEE,
4, South St.,
Finsbury.
A. C. SONNTAG. (L.S.)