IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING. LETTER BAGS AND PARCELS TO AND FROM RAILWAY TRAINS WHILST IN MOTION
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Denton Abel at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st January
1865. A communication from abroad by Charles Louis Ferdinand
Varailhon-Lafilolie, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,. Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING. LETTER
BAGS AND PARCELS TO AND FROM RAILWAY TRAINS WHILST IN MOTION," to be as
follows:-
This apparatus consists of a cylindrical or otherwise formed receptacle
divided vertically into two halves, each half being hinged to one of two rods
projecting horizontally from a swivelling post fixed at the side of the line.
This receptacle, when in operation, is suspended at such a height and projects
such a distance over the line that the tops of the carriages of the postal train
pass a short distance beneath it; and, when not in operation, the post is
turned into such a position that the receptacle does not project over the line.
The points of suspension of the two halves of the receptacle are in such
positions relative to their centres of gravity that, unless the two parts are
held together, they swing on their hinges so as to open out at bottom, and
they will thus let the bag or parcel contained in them fall on to the railway
carriage passing beneath, and this opening out is still further accelerated by
the action of a spring attached to the post and made to press upon the top of
one half of the receptacle. To keep the receptacle closed when the mail bag
or parcel is contained therein, and to effect the rapid opening of the same by

page_text: the postal train, the two halves are so connected together by a rod hinged to
the bottom of one part and to the top of the other part, that one part cannot
open out unless the other does, and consequently by causing a pawl or catch
attached to the post to spring into a notch formed in the end surface of the
one part, so as to prevent it from swinging open, both parts are held in a
closed position. The said pawl or catch is provided with a tail projecting
downwards to such an extent and in such a position that a stud or pin pro-
jecting from the top of the railway carriage which is to receive the mail bag
in passing, strikes against such tail, and, by thereby liberating the catch from
the notch in the receptacle, causes both parts of the latter to swing open, so
as to let the mail bag or parcel contained therein fall upon the top of the
carriage, which is surrounded by a railing for catching such bag or parcel,
and from which such parcels are removed in any convenient manner by the
officials. In order to facilitate the falling out of the mail bag on the opening
of the receptacle, each half of the latter has inside it an inclined plane, upon
which the bag or parcel rests, and down which it slides readily as soon as the
receptacle is opened. The opening of the receptacle may be still further
facilitated by causing the stud on the railway carriage, after opening the catch,
to strike against a finger projecting from the part of the receptacle which
opens in the direction of the motion of the train, so as to push such part open
if it should, from some cause or other, not swing open quick enough. If it
be required that the apparatus shall act when the train is moving in either
direction, a second catch, also fixed to the post taking into a notch on the
other part of the receptacle and operating in the reverse direction to that of
the other catch, may be employed.
In applying this apparatus to the delivery of the mail bags or parcels from
the postal train while in motion to the staitions, the before-described receptacle
is suspended in the manner described from a swivelling post attached to tho
train, so that on the latter approaching a station at which the bag or parcel
contained in the receptacle is to be delivered, the post is turned so that the
receptacle overhangs the side of the way, and a projecting pin or stud being
there fixed in such a manner as to strike against the tail of the catch as it
passes, the receptacle is thereby caused to open, and the bag or parcel falls
from the same upon an inclined plane, from which it slides into a box placed
to receive it.