IMPROVE- MENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Chamberlin, of No. 4, Hervey Terrace,
Brighton, in the County of Sussex, for the Invention of “IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS."
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Sealed the 7th March 1871, and dated the 6th December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Chamberlin
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th December 1870.
I, WILLIAM CHAMBERLIN, of No. 4, Hervey Terrace, Brighton, in the
County of Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway signals, and
consists in an arrangement of apparatus to place fog or detonating
signals on a railway rail by means of a wire or cord and a hand lever
or wheel at some distance from the point where the signal is to be
applied.

page_text: I use for this purpose a slide parallel to the rail and connected with
the wire passing to the distant signal station. A weight is also connected
with the slide, and keeps the wire constantly strained. There is an
incline on the slide, which, when it is moved longitudinally, acts on
other slides at right angles to the rail, and as it passes them pushes them
forward. These transverse slides are each armed with a fog or detonating
signal, and when either of these sliding holders is thrown forward the
fog or detonating signál is brought into a position to be exploded by the
passing train. When the incline on the slide is not acting on a holder
the holder is drawn back out of the way by means of a weight with
which each is fitted. A series of holders are employed in order that
after one signal has been exploded the signal man at the distant station
may on the next occasion bring the next' holder into action. This he
does by winding up an additional length of the wire and so drawing the
slide one step further, and so signal after signal is exploded, until so
many of the signals have been used as to render it necessary that the
stock should be renewed.
.
Or a number of fog signals may be contained in a box or hopper,
and the wire from a distance may be made to act on a lever arm and
push the bottom signal out of the box-or hopper on to the rail.
When the wire is released a weight previously raised moves another
lever arm, which knocks the fog or detonating signal off the rail. In
this way all the signals in the box or hopper are used; when they are
expended or nearly expended an attendant replaces the unexploded
signals in the box or hopper to be reused.
.
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SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letter's Patent,
filed by the said William Chamberlin in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHAMBERLIN, of No. 4, Hervey Terrace, Brighton, in the County of 8
Sussex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth.
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and 3

page_text: grant unto me, the said William Chamberlin, Her special license that I,
the said William Chamberlin, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Chamberlin, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 RAILWAY
SIGNALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Chamberlin, 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 and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Chamberlin, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway signals,
and consists in an arrangement of apparatus to place fog or detonating
signals on a railway rail by means of a wire or cord and a hand lever
or wheel at some distance from the point where the signal is to be
applied.
A number of fog signals is contained in a box or hopper and 'the
wire or cord from a distance acts on an instrument which pushes the
bottom signal out of the box or hopper on to the rail. When the
wire or cord is released a weight previously raised moves the instrument
with the fog signal forward and places the signal on the rail. When
the wire or cord is pulled back it takes with it the instrument
with the fog signal, and the fog signal (whether exploded or otherwise).
is dropped into a receiver. In this way all the signals in the box
or hopper are used. When they are expended or nearly expended an
attendant replaces the unexploded signals in the box or hopper to be
reused.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect. I will proceed to describe the Drawings

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view partly in section of the apparatus. a, a, is
a box or hopper to receive the fog signals b, one of which is shown
separately by Figures 2; c is a slide capable of being moved horizontally
in guides, there are openings at the lower part of the hopper, one on
either side, through which the slide c passes. When the fog signals
are in the box or hopper a, one above the other, their stems 61 project
out through a slot a' in the side, as seen in Figure 3, which is a section
of the box or hopper. The fore part of the slide c is provided with a
moveable jaw c¹and a latch c³, both connected with the slide by the :
pin c. When the slide advances to the trunk or hopper the jaw c³ is
closed and presents a socket like cavity to receive the stem of the
undermost fog signal. The stem enters the socket, lifting the latch c³,
and as soon as the stem has entered the end of the latch drops into the
hole 6x in the fog signal, which thus becomes securely held by the
slide. The fog signal cannot escape from the box or hopper until its.
stem has entered the socket in the slide, the door a' keeping it in,
but when the slide has advanced so far that the latch c³ is raised an
incline upon it comes against a roller on the small lever d and depressès
it, it then acts on another small lever e which serves as a bolt to the
door a³, it depresses the bolt, and the door opens and allows the signal
to pass. The forward motion of the slide c is caused by the weighted
lever f, which presses on the back of the slide. As soon as the slide
is set free the leverf moves it forward and causes it to take a fog signal
from the box or hopper in the manner already explained. The slide
carries the fog signal forward until it rests on the rail as it is shown in
Figure 4 which represents in plan the fore part of the slide c, and its
position at this time in respect to the rail. If a train should pass whilst
the fog signal is upon the rail, it is exploded and the required indication
is given that the train is to stop or slacken its speed. When the line
is clear and the fog signal is not required the slide c is drawn back by
the wire or cord leading to the signal station at a distance where the
cord is operated upon by means of a hand wheel or lever. The weighted
lever fis at the same time brought into a position to push the slide again
forward as soon as the wire or cord is allowed to become slack. In
connection with the hand wheel or lever there is a counter with an
index which shows upon a dial how many fog signals remain in the
box or hopper; when the box or hopper is filled this index is put back

page_text: "
to its starting point. When the slide o is drawn back to take the
fog signal off the rail the pin c¹* on the moving jaw c¹ comes against
the incline h, and the jaw is in this way caused to open and release the
fog signal, which then falls into a receiver i; this receiver is emptied
from time to time, and the unexploded signals replaced in the box or
hopper a. As soon as the jaw c³is past the incline 'it closes again
with its own weight; the incline h does not operate at the forward
motion of the slide; the pin c¹ then comes against it on the under side
and the incline is lifted turning on a pin which carries it; c' is a
pawl on the slide-c taking into the rack k as the slide moves back, so as
to prevent the return of the slide until it has been drawn back so far as
to ensure its taking a fresh signal when it next comes forward. The
pawl runs off at the end of the rack, and as the slide moves forward its·
back rests on the teeth of the rack and it is in operation.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is, the combination of a box or hopper containing fog signals
with apparatus which takes these signals in succession from such box
or hopper, and places them on the, rail, and which when a signal is no
longer required removes it from the rail, and returns ready to repeat the
operation.
'
..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Chamberlin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of June, in' the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.