CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR EPFECTING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GUARDS, PASSENGERS, AND ENGINE DRIVERS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bennett and James Woodcock, both of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR EPFECTING
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GUARDS, PASSENGERS, AND ENGINE DRIVERS ON
RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 1st January 1869, and dated the 3rd July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bennett and
James Woodcock at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd July 1868.
We, GEORGE BENNETT and JAMES WOODCOCK, both of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GUARDS, PASSENGERS, AND ENGINE DRIVERS ON RAIL-
WAYS," to be as follows:-
The Invention is designed to effect a means of communication between
the passengers and guard or engine driver, or between guard and driver,
of trains on railways without the employment of cords, tubes, wires or

page_text: other connections extending from carriage to carriage and requiring
connecting or coupling together.
Our improvements consist in the application, adaptation, and use of the
power derived from the motion or revolution of the wheels of each
carriage, van, truck, engine, or tender for the purpose of actuating a
revolving fan to create a current of air which may be applied to sound
a whistle or other alarm outside the carriage from which the com-
munication is desired. The means of applying this power may be
effected by means of a bowl, roller, or drum which is caused to come
into and out of contact with and is caused to rotate by the periphery or
the side of each or any wheel on which the carriage moves, and such
bowl may be actuated and the contact made by a simple system of levers
and rods moved by the foot or hand by a passenger within the carriage,
the shaft of the bowl or roller being so arranged as to drive a revolving
fan and create the current of air required either to sound a whistle or
to actuate a spring or other alarm, and simultaneously a mirror is
liberated and falls outwards from the carriage side whence the alarm is
given which at night reflects the end lights of the train and in day is
readily discerned by the guard. Thus each carriage is provided with a
self-contained and independent means of communication, and as the
bowl and levers are arranged for the purpose the contact continues and
the sound is emitted until the train is stopped, and any increase of speed
of the train produces an increase of the sound.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Bennett and James Woodcock in the Great 2
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
BENNETT and JAMES WOODCOCK, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her a
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said George Bennett and James Woodcock, Her special license
that we, the said George Bennett and James Woodcock, our executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George
Bennett and James Woodcock, 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 ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Island, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OP AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND
ENGINE DRIVERS ON RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said George Bennett and James Woodcock, by an instrument
in writing under our, 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 and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Woodcock, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 accompanying Drawings, that is to
say:―
The Invention is designed to effect a means of communication between
the passengers and guard or engine driver, or between guard and driver
of trains on railways without the employment of cords, tubes, wires, or
other connections extending from carriage to carriage and requiring
connecting or coupling together.
Our improvements consist in the application, adaptation, and use of the
power derived from the motion or revolution of the wheels of each
carriage, van, truck, engine, or tender for the purpose of actuating a
revolving fan to create a current of air which may be applied to sound
a whistle or other alarm outside the carriage from which the com-
munication is desired. The means of applying the power may be
effected by means of a bowl, roller, or drum which is caused to come
into and out of contact with and is caused to rotate by the periphery
on the side of each or any wheel on which the carriage moves, and such
bowl may be actuated and the contact made by a simple system of levers
and rods moved by the foot or hand by a passenger within the carriage,
the shaft of the bowl or roller being so arranged as to drive a revolving

page_text: fan and create the current of air required either to sound a whistle or to
actuate a spring or other alarm, and simultaneously a mirror is liberated
and falls outwards from the carriage side whence the alarm is given,
which at night reflects the end lights of the train and in day is readily
discerned by the guard. Thus each carriage is provided with a self-
contained and independent means of communication, as the bowl and
levers are arranged for the purpose the contact continues and the sound
is emitted until the train is stopped, and any increase of speed of the
train produces an increase of the sound.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained
in detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, in which Figs. 1,
2, 3, and 4 are made on a scale of inch equals one foot, and Fig. 5
about three inches to one foot, similar letters of reference being marked
on all the Figures alike.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of an ordinary railway carriage
having applied thereto the signalling apparatus; Fig. 2 represents an
end elevation, and Fig. 3 a detached plan view of the signalling
apparatus; Fig. 4 represents a detached view of the signalling apparatus
applied to the guard's van; and Fig. 5 represents an enlarged sectional
view of the signalling apparatus.
In these Figures a, a, is a framing and body of a railway carriage;
6 is a cord running through and supplied separately to each carriage, one
end of which is permanently secured to one end of the carriage, its
opposite or other extremity being connected with a bell-crank lever and
catch c, which when in the normal position of the rope or cord 6 supports
the lever d, upon which is secured a stud or bracket e, which is provided
for the purpose of supporting the bowl f and fan g to which is attached
the whistle h or other alarm. The lever d when connected with the cord b
retains the bowl f in an elevated position out of contact with the
periphery of the revolving wheels, but should it be necessary to give
an alarm from one of the carriages composing a railway train during
transit the cord 6 is pulled in any one of the compartments of the
carriages which relieves the lever d, which immediately falls so as to
bring the bowlf into contact with the periphery of the carriage wheel;
the motion thereby imparted to such bowl actuates the fan g, from
which air is expelled for the purpose of sounding an alarm, or the rapid
revolution given to the bowl f may be employed for giving any other
equivalent alarm. The dropping of the lever d when released may be

page_text: arranged so as to come into contact with a semaphore so as to throw
it out for the purpose of indicating the carriage from whence the alarm
is given.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, together with
the method of carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be
distinctly understood in conclusion that we claim, the novel employment,
use, and adaptation to railway trains of an independent signalling
apparatus to be attached to each carriage separately that will enable
the passengers, guard, or driver of such train to communicate with each
other, as herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the
Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Woodcock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-nine.