AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUSES FOR RINGING BELLS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sweet Willway, of the City and County of
Bristol, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT
OF APPARATUSES FOR RINGING BELLS."
Sealed the 5th November 1858, and dated the 6th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sweet Willway
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th May 1858.
I, JOHN SWEET WILLWAY, of the City and County of Bristol, Gas Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ARRANGE-
MENT OF APPARATUSES FOR RINGING BELLS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in causing a piston or rod to act upon a spring or
band, either directly or through any wire or other connection, in the manner
hereafter explained, from one end of which spring or band a bell is suspended.
The
The other end of the spring or band is fixed in any convenient manner.
piston or rod is acted upon by a cylinder or vulcanized rubber, or other like
suitable material, in which air is forced or withdrawn through a pipe or
tube, one end of which is connected to the cylinder, and the other end to any
apparatus suitable for compressing in or exhausting air from the pipe. Instead
of a cylinder any other apparatus which can be expanded or compressed by the
driving in or exhausting of air, in order to obtain motion to impart a stroke
to the piston or rod, may be employed. Thus a bell may be rung at any

page_text: distance from the point or apartment where the operator may be. I am aware
that the conveying of signals and the ringing of bells by power acquired by the
compressing or exhausting of air is not new, and therefore all I desire to
secure is, the causing of a piston to act upon the spring or band from which a
bell is suspended, either directly or through any wire or other connection, in
the manner herein-before described; or the causing of the piston to pull a
wire or other connection fixed to the bell itself.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
the said John Sweet Willway in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SWEET WILLWAY, of the City and County of Bristol, Gas Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Sweet Willway, Her special licence that I, the said John Sweet
Willway, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Sweet Willway, 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 ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUSES FOR RINGING BELLS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Sweet Willway, 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 John Sweet Willway, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-

page_text: My Invention consists in causing a piston or rod to act upon a spring or
band, either directly or through any wire or other connection in the manner
hereafter explained, from one end of which spring or band a bell is suspended.
The other end of the spring or band is fixed in any convenient manner. The
piston or rod is acted upon by a cylinder of vulcanized india-rubber, or other
like suitable material, in which air is forced or withdrawn through a pipe or
tube, one end of which is connected to the cylinder, and the other end to any
apparatus suitable for compressing in or exhausting air from the pipe.
Instead of a cylinder any other apparatus which can be expanded or com-
pressed by the driving in or exhausting of air, in order to obtain motion to
impart a stroke to the piston or rod, may be employed.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is an external view of an
arrangement of apparatuses which I prefer to employ for ringing bells according
to my Invention, and Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same.
The same
letters refer to like parts in both Figures.
A is a case, which is firmly fixed to a wall or partition B, as shewn, or it
may be placed on a stand or support in any other required position. The
case A is closed by the plate C, and secured by screws passing through lugs
a, a, the washer 6 making the connection perfectly air-tight; through the
centre of the plate C a rod or spindle D passes, and is connected to a piston
or plunger E, and this piston is joined by means of a cylinder k, k, of vulcanized
india-rubber, or other suitable material, to a flange c formed on the plate C;
d is a hole in the plate C for the admission and exit of air to and from the
space enclosed by the vulcanized india-rubber; F is a spring placed at the
back of the piston, which operates as hereafter explained; G is a rod passing
through lugs formed on the plate C and case A, on the end of which rod a
band or spring H is placed and kept there by the button e. This band or
spring H passes through a link or eye f on the end of the spindle D, and has
the bell I attached to the lower end of it; K is a nozzle in the case A, to
which a tube L is attached, and supposing this tube to be of any required
length, as indicated by the dotted lines, the opposite end is passed over the
nozzle M formed in a case N, which is inserted in a wall, as shown in the
Drawing, provided the apparatus is being employed for communicating sound
from room to room or between distant places; O is a plate or cover secured
to the case N, as in the former part of the description, by means of screws
passing through lugs having a washer g to keep the parts air-tight; W is a
hole in the plate O for the admission and exit of air; P is the piston, to
which a rod Q is fixed, which rod passes through the centre of the plate O;
1 is the cylinder of vulcanized india-rubber or other material joined to the

page_text: piston P and flange in on the plate O; S is an ornamental face plate, which is
held in position by the plate h; i is a tube, which acts as a guide to the rod Q,
holds in position the plate h, and is screwed into the plate O; U is a handle
or pull screwed on to the end of the rod Q, and T is a spring placed round
the rod Q, as shown. To use the apparatus, pull the handle U, and thus by
means of the piston P cause the vulcanized india-rubber cylinder to collapse.
Air will thus be drawn through the tube L into the case N, forming a partial
vacuum in the case A. The piston E is thus made to recede, and the cylinder k
to distend itself by the pressure of air entering the holè d. The piston E
carries with it the rod or spindle D, and thus communicates motion to the
band or spring H, and rings the bell I. On releasing the handle U, the springs
F and T return the parts to their former positions.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim the con-
veying of signals and the ringing of bells by power acquired by the compressing
or exhausting of air, nor do I confine myself to the precise details described,
as apparatuses may be constructed according to my Invention in various
modified forms; but what I claim is,―
First, the causing of a piston to act upon a spring or band from which a
bell is suspended, either directly or through any wire or other connection, or
what is essentially the same, the causing of the piston to pull a wire or other
connection fixed to the bell itself, by the means and in the manner herein-
before described.
And, secondly, the combination of a collapsing and expanding chamber of
vulcanized india-rubber, or other suitable material, and of a rod attached to
a moving part of the chamber, with a movable bell as a means of ringing the
said bell.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sweet Willway, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
WILLWAY. (..)
'S NC