Improved Means or Apparatus for Night-signalling at Sea
Year: 1895

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
An Improved Means or Apparatus for Night-signalling at Sea
I GEORGE GORHAM of 12, Aviary Street, Canning Town, London, E, Marine
Officer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows
My invention relates to an improved means or apparatus for night signalling at
sea and consists in the employment of a fiame carrying three superposed lamps
for giving various signals according to the well known code at present in use
This frame is suspended by cords or chains from a yard arm or other convenient
part of a ship and is formed with slots or guides for guiding frames carrying red
and green glasses fitted in front of each lamp The lamp frame is also provided
In order to raise or
with a sliding frame carrying shades in front of each lamp
lower the coloured glasses or the shades in front of the lamps to signal or shut off
the lights I connect their frames or slides by means of cords or chains passing over
pulleys with a series of grooved discs provided with handles and mounted loosely
on a common shaft carried in a box suspended by cords or chains from a cross bar
above one of these discs operating the shades or shutters and the other discs each
The said box is prevented
operating the coloured glasses for each separate lamp
from being raised by cords or chains connected thereto attached below to a part of
the ship The shade or shutter of the middle lamp is twice the length of that of
the top lamp and the shade of the bottom lamp three times the length of the top
one so that each lamp can be shut off or exposed separately according to the
distance the disc operating the said shades is turned
In order to regulate and indicate this distance or movement of the disc I provide
the front of the box with three apertures bebind which is fitted a slide pivoted to
one side of the disc so that as the latter is operated it shuts off a light carried in
the box from one or all the apertures
A similar arrangement of slides is fitted to each of the other discs but these
slides are each fitted with a piece or pieces of glass through which, and an
aperture in front of each slide, the light in the box passes, the pieces of glass
being so coloured that when the handles of the discs are in their lowest position a
white light is indicated and when the handles are raised so as to bring a red glass
opposite the lamps a red light is indicated, and upon further raising the handles to
bring a green glass opposite the lamps, a green light is indicated
As my improvements are capable of some modification without departing from
the principle thereof I do not restrict myself to the precise form or placement of
the parts thereof
Deted the 6th day of May 1805
J B FLEURET,
5 Hatton Garden, London, Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: An Improved Means or Apparatus for Night signalling at Sea
IGFORGE GORHAM of 12 Aviary Street, Canning Town, London, Marine
Officer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement
-
My invention consists in the employment of a frame carrying three superposed
lamps for giving various signals according to the well known code at present in
use at sea
This frame is suspended from a yard arm or other part of a ship and is fitted
with sliding frames carrying red and green glasses in front of each lamp
Another sliding frame also carries shades in front of the lamps
These sliding
fiames are operated by means of cords or chains passing over pullies and connected
to a series of grooved dises provided with handles and mounted loosely on a
common shaft carried in a box suspended by cords or chains from a cross-bar
above, one of these discs operating the shades or shutters and the others the coloured
glasses either to shut off the light or to change its colour The said box is
attached by cords or chains to a part of the ship to prevent its being raised when
working the signals In order to indicate and regulate the movement of the said
discs apertures are provided in the front of the box fitted with slides carry ing
coloured glasses, a lamp in the box indicating the colour of the signal exhibited
through the said glasses
In the accompanying sheet of drawings illustrating my invention similar letters
of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures
Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 a side elevation with the operating disc
box in section and Figure 3 a back elevation also with the disc box in section of
my improved apparatus
a represents the frame carrying the lamps a¹, a 2 and a 3 This frame is
suspended by the cord or chain 6 (see the diagram Fig 4) to the yard arm or
other part of the ship and it may be swivelled at a 4 so that it may be canted in
any direction
cc' are red and green glasses fitted to frames c 2 capable of sliding in slots c 3 in
front of each lamp, as shown in the cross section Figure 5, a pin c 4 being fixed to
the back cross-piece of the frame c 2 to which the operating coids or chains are
attached
dd are two side rods or flames carrying the shades or shutters d d 2, d 3, and
supported by brackets 64 so as to slide therein, the said shades surrounding or
covering the lamps and coloured glasses as seen in Figure 5 e is the box
containing the operating mechanism consisting of the three grooved discs f
provided with handles f¹ for operating the coloured frames and the grooved disc g
having the handle g¹ for operating the slide or shutter frame
These discs are mounted loosely upon the shaft h, and to the handles f¹ are
connected, by means of links f2 the slides, working in guides ¹ and provided with
red and green glasses 12 13 respectively The handle g¹ is also connected to a
solid slide k by a link 92 and in front of a box e, opposite this slide are formed
three apertures e¹, e 2, e 3, whilst in front of these slides is formed
aperture e 4
an
The coloured glass fiames c 2 are operated by the cords I connected at each end
to the pins 4 of the said frames and passing over guide pullies and around the
grooved discs f to which they are also connected The sliding rods d d or frame
of the shutters is similarly connected to the disc g by the cord m, attached at one
end to the loop m' fixed to one of the rods d and sliding in the slot m 2 formed in
the fiame a

page_text: The box e is suspended by cords or chains n, n (Fig 4) from a cross bar n', the
said cords n passing through guides or loops n fixed to the frame a The lower
part of the box is connected by two cords oo to the deck or other part of
the ship
In the position of the parts shown in the drawings the three lamps are exposed
thus indicating three white lights one above another, but should it be required to
indicate, say a red light, from the top lamp the lever f of the corresponding
grooved disc is raised to half its stroke until the red glass 2 of its connected
slide is opposite the corresponding opening e4 in front of the box e This
operation causes the cord attached to the said disc f to raise the top frame c 2
until the red glass c thereof is opposite the lamp a¹ thus indicating a red light
Similarly a green is to be indicated by the lamp a¹ the handle f' is still further
raised as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, thus raising the slide and with it the
green glass 3 in position opposite its adjacent opening c 4 and indicating that the
green glass e of the frame c 2 has been raised opposite the lamp a¹ so as to show
a green light, a lamp p in the box e showing the different colours through the
aperture e 4 The lights may be changed again by lowering the handle to its
half or full stroke, and the same arrangement applies to changing the lights of the
other lamps a 2 and a 3 by operating the other giooved discs When required to
shut off any one or all of the lamps the handle o raised until the slide is opposite
the aperture e 3 in the box e This raises the frame ciriying the shutters until the
lower one d 3 is opposite the lamp a thus shutting off its light
For shutting off the light of the lamp a 2 the handle g¹ is further 1aised bringing
the lide k opposite the second aperture e 2 and indicating that the shutter d 2 has
been raised in front of the second lamp a 2, and similarly the lamp a¹ is shut off by
still further raising the handle g¹ until the slide k shuts off the light from the top
aperture e¹
One or all of the lights may again be uncovered or disclosed by pushing down
the handle g¹ partially or wholly, the shutters being so proportioned in length as
to cover first the lower light then each of the upper ones and to keep them all
covered together, or to uncover first the top light then each of the lower ones or
the whole together as required
In using the signals the white light represents the "ball' the red the "pennant,'
and the green the "flag" of distant signals, and the three lights represent one
letter or sign
When one letter has been signalled and answered the whole of it is
shaded by raising the shutters so as to cover each lamp
The coloured glasses are then shifted so as to form the next signal letter and the
shutters are lowered so that each light of the said signal may be distinctly seen
When this has been answered by a white it is again covered by the shutters and
the glasses changed for the next letter and so on for each letter or sign
When the full signal has been made one white light is shown to signify that it is
a complete signal
.
It is evident that where electric lights are used on board a vessel they may be
substituted for the oil lamps herein described
I also propose to fix a pulley at the bottom of the frame a for the purpose of
hoisting an additional light to be used only as a national signal
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion I declare that what I claim is
1 In apparatus for night signalling at sea the combination of a frame carrying
three superposed lamps or lights of frames provided with red and green glasses and
operated so as to slide up and down in front of each light or lamp by means of
cords or chains passing over pullies and attached to grooved discs mounted loosely
on a shaft carried in a suspended box and operated by handles or levers attached
thereto, substantially as described and for the purposes specified
2 In apparatus such as above claimed the combination with the three superposed
lamps or lights and sliding coloured glass frames of three shades or shutters

page_text: operated so as to slide up and down in front of the lamps or lights and coloured
glasses by means of a cord or chain passing over a pulley and attached to the
frame or slide bars carrying the said shades or shutters and to a grooved pulley
mounted loosely on a shaft carried in a suspended box and operated by a handle
or lever attached thereto substantially as described and for the purposes
specified
3 In apparatus for night signalling at sea the method of indicating the correct
positions of the coloured glasses c with respect to the lamps or lights a¹, a 2, a 3
consisting of the coloured glass slides in combination with the apertures e 4 in
the box e and operated by the handles f¹ and links ƒ2 substantially as described
and for the purposes specified
4 In apparatus for night signalling at sea the improved means for indicating
the correct positions of the shades or shutters d' d2 d3 with respect to the
lamps a' a 2 a 3 consisting of the slide k in combination with the apertures e¹e 2 e 3
formed in the box e and operated by the handle g¹ and link 9 2 substantially as
described and for the purposes specified
6 The improved apparatus for night signalling at sea substantially as described
and shown in the drawings
Dated this 6th day of February 1896
JB FLEURET,
5 Hatton Garden, London, Agent for the Applicant