AN IMPROVED DISC & LANTERN SIGNAL WITH DOUBLE REPEATERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jozé Luis, of the British & Foreign Office for
Patents, No. 1, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
DISC & LANTERN SIGNAL WITH DOUBLE REPEATERS."-A communication
from abroad by Jules Rousseau, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 13th March 1860, and dated the 17th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jozé Luis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
September 1859.
I, JOZE LUIS, of the British & Foreign Office for Patents, No. 1, Welbeck
Street, Cavendish Square, London, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED DISC &
LANTERN SIGNAL WITH DOUBLE REPEATERS," & that it has been communicated
to me from abroad by Jules Rousseau, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to
be as follows
The object of the present Invention is the production of a signal on which,
from its construction, perfect reliance can be placed; it is combined with double
repeaters for the purpose of showing those in charge, if the signal has acted
properly.
The apparatus is constructed of, 1st, an endless wire stretched on two
movable pullies, and used for transmitting movement to the disc; 2nd, of

page_text: a disc working in two directions at the beginning of the movement given to
the wire; for example, the disc is to be closed (that is to present its edge to
the engineer as signal to stop); the wire above mentioned is then moved
about 40 inches, but as soon as it has gone 4 inches, more or less, the disc is
closed; the same takes place when it is opened. The movement is com-
municated to the mast or pole (on which the signal disc & lantern are
supported) by means of a movable pulley, having eight small pegs on its face
working a detent, which communicates the movement to the pole. 3rd, a
mechanical repeater working in an opposite sense to the disc, that is to say,
the disc works at the beginning of the movement given by the wire and the
repeater; at the end of the movement the repeater is a double of the signal,
and is governed by the wires alternately, and reproduces the movements of the
large disc only when its movement is completed; 4th, an electrical repeater
combined with the former, so that they may serve as a check on each other.
The electrical repeater indicates not only the situation of the disc, but also
if the red glass of the lantern is in its proper position, and if the lantern itself
be alight. It is composed of a pile of a dozen elements placed near the signal
pole; a conducting wire is established from the pile to the working lever,
where it puts in movement a bell; the wire is so arranged that should the disc
not act, or the red glass of the signal lantern break, or the lamp go out, the
electric current is interrupted, and the bell gives notice of its non-action; the
first is put in movement by the frame of the red glass, and as the frame is
itself put in movement by the mast, the interruption indicates clearly the
position of the signal. The current is broken if the red glass breaks, the
current being established by a piece of copper placed on the glass itself, so
that if the glass breaks the copper falls. If the lamp of the lantern goes out,
an interruption of the current is occasioned as when alight; a thermometer
containing quicksilver placed in the lantern establishes the current, the heat of
the flame causing the quicksilver to rise a certain height, so as to touch the two
separated ends of the conducting wire, and thus establishing the current, but
when the lamp is out the quicksilver falls, and the current is again interrupted.
The endless wire used for communicating motion to the signal mast is worked
by means of a lever fixed to the working pulley; the lever is furnished with a
bolt, by which means several turns can be given to the pulley, but this is only
required when the disc is worked at a greater distance than 5000 feet.
Teeth are adapted in the groove of the pulley, so that the chain which connects
the two ends of the wire must move with the pulley.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jozé Luis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JozÉ Luis,
of the British and Foreign Office for Patents, No. 1, Welbeck Street,
Cavendish Square, London, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jozé Luis, Her special licence that I, the said Jozé Luis, my
executors, administrators, and' assigns, or such others as I, the said Jozé
Luis, 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 "AN IMPROVED DISC AND LANTERN
SIGNAL WITH DOUBLE REPEATERS," a communication from abroad by Jules Rousseau,
of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Jozé Luis, 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 samo
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 Jozé Luis, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
The object of the present Invention is the production of a signal on which,
from its construction, perfect reliance can be placed, and so combined with
double repeaters that those in charge may at once see if it has acted properly.
The signal disc is worked by hand at a distance which varies according as the
points to be guarded present a greater or less difficultys to stopping the train.
When proceeding at moderate speed, a distance of about 750 yards would bo
sufficient, but when the engines work at the rate of 50 miles an hour, the disc
should be placed at a distance of at least 900 yards. Most discs are placed at

page_text: 1100 yards and more from the working lever. A disc includes both day and
night signals; the day signal is a circular plate of iron, about three feet in
diameter, fixed to an iron pole about 13 feet high; this plate is painted red on
one side, and in black and white quarters on the other. The iron pole on
making a quarter revolution presents the face of the plate to the train.
Perpendicular to the road the red face of the plate gives the signal to the
engine driver to stop. Parallel to the road, or presenting its face to the driver,
the plate signals to proceed. The side of the plate painted black and white
has no signification. The night signal is a white lantern for advancing, and a
red one for stopping the train. The essential requisite of the disc is to assure
the safety of the trains, and if the exact working of all the parts could be
assured, that is to say, if the signal post makes exactly one quarter revolution,
if the lantern does not become extinguished, and if the red glass does not break,
there would only remain to control the agent charged with the working of the
disc, and the safety of the trains would be assured. But however perfect the
disc may be, it is liable to disarrangement from the light going out, or the hail
breaking the red glass, and it is therefore necessary, in order to assure the
safety of the trains, to look to something else than the working of the disc,
which cannot be perfect.
It is evident that if the man employed to work the disc could be informed
of its condition, he could prevent accident in case the disc should not act by
signalling with his hand or otherwise; but it cannot be expected that the
signalman should never commit an error, especially as he has often various
other duties to perform, and thus the safety of trains cannot be assured when
it depends on the signalman alone; besides, the signalman alone not be the
only person responsible, there being other agents who are responsible for
the disc.
In order that the security of the trains be assured, it is necessary that all the
responsible agents should be at once enabled to inform themselves as to the
exact condition of every essential part of the disc. To effect this purpose, I
employ an electrical repeater, further combined with a mechanical one, as
electrical communication is subject to uncertainty from clouds, earth currents,
&c. The object of the electrical repeater, in whatever way it may be applied,
is to indicate the position and condition of the disc, the light, and the red
glass; whilst the mechanical repeater is intended to catch the eye not only of
the signalman, but of all the responsible agents. A simple and easy manner
of working the apparatus is necessary to the security of trains, and this is
obtained by depriving the disc of all those mechanisms which are incom-
prehensible to signalmen, and liable to many disarrangements. We will now

page_text: explain the details of this system of disc, which combines a regularity of
working with perfect security.
The iron wire as used at present for transmitting motion to the disc has the
inconvenience of dilating from heat and contracting by cold, and these are
very great disadvantages in certain systems of discs; I have, however, over-
come these difficulties, after repeated experiments, in the following manner :-
By making an endless wire pass over two pullies the tension on the wire is
equal on all parts when the pullies are at rest; so by increasing the tension on
the conducting wire by means of one of the pullies the other pulley would be
put in movement; this arrangement experience has shown me, never fails, it
never being requisite either to lengthen or shorten the wire; thus it is an
endless wire stretched over two loose pullies by which I work my disk.
Motion is communicated to the wire by means of a hand lever fixed to the
working pulley, see Fig. F. This lever is furnished with a bolt, which allows
of several revolutions being imparted to the wheel, but this bolt would only be
required when the disc is worked at a greater distance than 1500 yards. The
grooves of the working pulley are furnished with teeth, so that the wire or
chain may not slip. The working pulley which we use is about 24 inches in
diameter; with a larger diameter the disc appears difficult to work. The
movement is communicated to the signal mast by means of a loose pulley
furnished with eight stops, see A, Fig. 1, and these communicate the move-
ment to a detent which moves the disc, see Fig. 1; this arrangement is so
established that on the wire moving from 4 to 6 inches either one way or the
other the disc has worked; a half revolution of the lever, it must be remarked,
gives to the wire a movement of about 40 inches. The lamp we employ is
lighted by alcohol, which as it does not freeze, gives a brilliant light, and
allows of easy cleansing, is much more advantageous than oil. The lantern is
fixed on a post 8 inches by 8 inches, and to this post all the parts of the signal
can be adjusted. The lantern is thus subjected to no shocks of any kind by
the working, and the glasses are little exposed to be broken; the light is also
less likely to be extinguished. The red night signal is produced by a glass
which is placed before the lantern by a movement of rotation so gentle that
from this the breakage is impossible, see P, Fig. 2. A ladder is fastened against
the post of the disc, and is used when the lantern is placed, or the red glass
wants cleaning, or when the disc requires painting. The friction rollers are
mounted so that the wire falling from the grooves of the rollers cannot be
caught or squeezed, see Q, Fig. 6. They can be dismounted for cleaning, &c.,
without the aid of any instrument. But as other causes may happen which
may break the glass or extinguish the lantern, we obviate these inconveniences

page_text: by means of repeaters. The repeaters are two in number, as above mentioned,
and are for the purpose of repeating faithfully the situation of all the essential
parts of the disc; one is mechanical and the other electrical.
The mechanical repeater represented, Fig. 4, is the double of the principal
signal; it may be of various dimensions, and is governed by two threads of the
wire alternately, and reproduces the movements of the principal disc, and it
is so arranged that it moves only at the latter part of the movement of the
wire; whereas the large disc works when the wire has moved from 4 to 6
inches, see Fig. 4, showing arrangement for the movement B. The result of
this arrangement is, that if the wire is too stretched this repeater would cease
to work long before the large signal. This repeater, therefore, obliges the
signalman always to keep his wire at a tension more than sufficient. It is
placed in such a position as to be in view of all the responsible agents. At
night it ought to be lighted up by a lantern.
The electrical repeater completes the former by indicating not only the
situation of the disc, but also of the glass and light of the lantern. It is
composed of a pile of ten elements placed near the signal. A wire is brought
from the pile up to the working lever, where it puts in movement a bell
alarm; the wire has three interruptions, the first is for the mast signal, the
second for the red glass, and the third for the light of the lantern, see H, C, E,
Figs. 2, 3, 5. The first electrical interruption is put in movement by the frame
of the red glass, see Figs. 2, 3, and as the frame is itself put in motion by
the signal mast, in indicates clearly the position of the mast signal. An
interruption of the electrical current takes place when the disc is open
(parallel to the road), and the current is re-established when the disc is shut
(or perpendicular to the road). A second interruption takes place if the red
glass breaks, as the conducting wire is cut; a piece of copper fixed on the red
glass completes the current, so that if the glass breaks the copper falls, and an
interruption of the electrical current takes place. The third interruption
occurs when the lamp of the lantern goes out, as when alight a thermometer
containing quicksilver placed in the lantern, see E, Fig. 5, establishes the
current; the heat of the flame causes the quicksilver to rise to a certain
height, so as to touch the two separated ends of the conducting wire, which
are placed in an empty bowl in the upper part of the tube containing the
quicksilver. The tube containing the quicksilver is in near proximity to the
flame, the heat of which causes the quicksilver to rise till it touches the ends
of the wire, and so establishes the connection; but when the light goes out the
quicksilver falls, and the current is interrupted. This apparatus is of such great
simplicity that the lantern can be furnished with it at a very trifling expense.

page_text: The bell alarm moved by the electrical current is simply an electro-magnet
acting as long as the current continues. This bell is placed so as to be heard
by the man in charge of the disc. A magnetic needle indicating the exact
position of the disc, might also be placed in the station master's room. From
the above arrangement if the disc does not act, or if during the night the red
glass breaks, or the lamp goes out, the current is interrupted, and the magnet
no longer acts. At the same time no inconvenience is felt from the irre-
gularity of the electric current, as the mechanical repeater acts as check.
Fig. 1 shows the mode of connecting the mast of the disc to the lantern post.
Fig. 2, front elevation; a represents the wire leading to the bell alarm and to
the earth; b, wire of the pile. Fig. 3, side elevation. The electrical inter-
ruption H is covered by a box, which shelters it against rain and snow.
During the day the wire x, y, ends at o; when the glass breaks the copper
plate falls, and the electrical current is interrupted. Fig. 4 represents the
mechanical repeater. This repeater may vary in size, and can be placed as
well before as behind the working lever. Fig. 5 represents the lantern, with
the electrical interruption. Fig. 6 shows the working lever and tooth-grooved
pulley by which the wire is worked. A chain is fastened to the ends of the
wire, where the latter would otherwise pass over the pulley F, Fig. 6, or
A, Fig. 1. Fig. 7 represents the arrangement of pulley supports for the wire.
Fig. 8 is a sectional view of Fig. 2. When the piece H is at H', the electric
current is established.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same
or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be clearly understood that
what I claim is,-
1st, the endless wire stretched over two loose pullies, as applied to commu-
nicate motion to the disc.
2nd, the disc working in two directions at the commencement of the
movement given to the wire; for example, when the disc is to be shut the
wire is made to move 3 feet, but as soon as it has moved 4 inches, more or
less, the disc is shut; it is the same when it is opened. To obtain this we
make use of the arrangement A, Fig. 1.
3rd, the mechanical repeater working in an opposite direction to the disc,
that is to say, the disc works from the commencement of the movement given
to the wire, and the repeater only at the end of the movement, as shown,
B, Fig. 4.
4th, the combination of the mechanical with the electrical repeater, so as to
be a mutual check on each other.

page_text: 5th, the electrical interruption produced by the breaking of the glass by the
arrangement shown, C, Figs. 2 & 3.
6th, the electrical interruption produced by the contraction by cold or
dilation by heat of the flame of the lantern on mercury, or its equivalent, as
shown, E, Fig. 5.
Also we claim as regards principle, 1st, the working lever and pulley or
wheel, as shown, F, Fig. 6. 2nd, the supports for the wire conveying the
movement to the mechanical repeater, as shown, Q, Fig. 8. 3rd, the system
for communicating movement to the disc, as shown, A, Fig. 1. 4th, the
frame or support of the red glass (P, Figs. 2 & 3). 5th, the electrical inter-
ruption applied to the red glass, C, Figs. 2 & 3.
terruption applied to the lantern, E, Fig. 5. 7th, the electrical interruption
applied to the disc, H, H', Fig. 8. 8th, the arrangement of the conducting
wires of the electrical repeaters. 9th, the supports of the friction rollers on
which the wire moves, as shown, q, Fig. 7.
6th, the electrical in-
In witness whereof, I, the said Jozé Luis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.