MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS "
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Clay at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 9th November 1882.
RICHARD CLAY of Bread Street Hill in the City of London Printer
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS
"J
"
IMPROVE-
This invention consists of improvements in apparatus for signalling.the drivers
and others in charge of railway trains the said apparatus being of the kind whereby
signals are caused to be exhibited on the engines by the agency of the signalmen
part of the said apparatus being carried on the engines and part being set on the
permanent way.
My improvements in the said apparatus are as follows:-
That part of the apparatus which is carried by each engine consists of a signal
disc in front of which is a shield mounted on the upper end of a vertical rod
working in suitable guides the lower end of which rod rests on one end of a lever
mounted at the side of the engine the other or free end of which lever carries an
autifriction roller and is of sufficient weight to counterbalance the said rod which
is thus normally held in its raised position.
That part of the apparatus which is set on the permanent way consists of inclines
or inclined bars or plates the upper edges of which are inclined or curved
which inclines or bars or plates are arranged in the path of motion of the anti-
friction rollers carried by the levers mounted on the engines the free ends of
which levers when the engines pass the said inclines are thereby raised and the
rods carrying the shields are thus lowered and the signal discs exposed. The said
inclines are set at those points of the line where the drivers are required to observe
the different distant and home signals and between the distant and home inclines
of each signalling station levers are mounted which support wires or rods the wire
or set of rods supported by the levers at each signal station being connected at one
end to a lever in the signal man's box at that station and at the other end to a
weight. The levers supporting the wires or rods are so arranged relatively to the
said inclines that when the said levers are in one position (herein after termed the
acting position) the wire or set of rods carried by them is or are on a level with
the highest part of the home and distant inclines and in the path of motion of the
antifriction rollers carried by the levers on the engines and the levers supporting
...
11

page_text: the wire or rods are capable of being turned on their centres so as to remove the
wires or rods carried by them from the path of motion of the said antifriction
rollers. The position of the said wires or rods when the levers supporting them
are so turned is hereinafter termed the non acting position.
The action and method of using the improved apparatus hereinbefore described
is as follows:-As each engine passes each distant and home incline the signalling
apparatus carried by it is actuated the shield being only momentarily with drawn
from the signalling disc (during the passage of the engine past the several inclines)
when the line is clear but when it is required to give a danger signal to a passing
train the signalman at the station where the signal is to be given pulls his signal
lever into the position necessary to bring the wire or rods herein before described
into the acting position. When the said wire or rods is or are in this position the
lever on the engine after passing over the distant incline and being raised thereby
is kept in its raised position by the said wire or rods and the signalling disc is
exhibited (indicating danger) during the whole of the time occupied by the train
in passing from the distant to the home incline during which time the driver
brings his train to rest. When it is required to give the "line clear" signal to a
driver who has stopped his train in obedience to a danger signal the signalman
puts back his signal lever the wire or rods supported by the levers on the
permanent way are then by the action of the weight herein before referred to
pulled into the non acting position and the lever carried by the engine is thus
allowed to fall and the shield is raised in front of the signalling disc on the engine.
Where desired as at crossings the wires or rods may be carried underground.
The-signalling apparatus on the engine-may be connected to a gong so that each
time the shield is actuated the gong is struck.
My Invention consists further of the apparatus hereinafter described.
...I mount on the engine a camera obsoura and on the permanent way at those
-parts of-the-line where it is required that signals be given to the drivers and in
the focus of the lens of the camera obscura carried by the engine I arrange boards
or bars painted white or with some light colour the light reflected from which
passes through the lens of the camera obscura and..is thrown onto the--screen
thereof which is in a position where it can be readily observed by the driver. By
this means the driver is informed when he is passing the said parts of the line. In
order to give a danger signal to the driver I mount levers carrying rods of some
dark colour in proximity to the board or bar hereinbefore described which levers
are connected to the signal levers and are capable of being moved by the said
signal levers so as to bring the rods carried by them between the said lens and the
face of the board or bar (which position I term the acting position) or of being
moved clear of the said board or bar (which position I torm the non acting
position). When the said rods are in the acting position their image is thrown
onto the screen of the camera obscura and appears as a dark line crossing the
reflection of the white painted boards or bars and danger is thus indicated to the
driver.
The said boards or bars may if desired be protected from dirt or snow by a
suitable covering or roof and in order that the signals may be properly received at
night or in the dark a lamp is carried by the engine the light from which lamp
falls on the said boards or bars or the said boards may be illuminated by light
'from the furnace of the engine and if desired the light from the said lamp or from
the furnace may be concentrated on the boards or bars by a lens and reflector
Instead of arranging rods in proximity to the boards or bars as hereinbefore
described the said boards or bars may be painted white on one side and white with
a dark stripe or stripes on another side and be mounted on pivots and so connected
with the signal levers that by working the said levers one side or the other of the
said boards or bars may be turned towards the lens the white side indicating line
clear and the striped side indicating danger.
Instead of merely giving two signals (danger and line clear) by means of the

page_text: arrangements of apparatus hereinbefore described the signalman may.convey other
signals to the driver by means of a suitable code thus the driver may be signalled
to advance cautiously by placing the wire or rods or the boards or bars hereinbefore
described in the acting and non acting positions twice in succession.
Both the arrangements of signalling apparatus herein before described are
capable of use either in conjunction with or in substitution for the ordinary
semaphores