IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS ARISING FROM COLLISIONS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Shaw, of No. 22, New King Street, Hull,
Yorkshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREVENTION OF
ACCIDENTS ARISING FROM COLLISIONS ON RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 16th May 1856, and dated the 17th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Shaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
November 1855.
I, JOSEPH SHAW, of No. 22, New King Street, Hull, Yorkshire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREVENTION
OF ACCIDENTS ARISING FROM COLLISIONS ON RAILWAYS" to be as follows:-
These improvements consist, firstly, in an improved mode of working those
parts of the rails of a line of railway termed "points" (employed for diverting
a train of carriages from one line of rails to another), so as to be able to work
them either by the engine or by the pointsman, for which purpose the points
are placed distinct and separate, each one close to the rails, said points being
operated upon for opening or closing the same by an incline on the engine
coming into contact with a lever or levers connected to said points when

page_text: required to be self-acting; when not so required, then said levers and points
may be worked by the pointsman in the usual way.
Secondly, in rendering available the steam which enters the cylinders of the
engine for actuating the "brakes" of the several carriages composing a railway
train, by allowing the steam, after it leaves said cylinders, to enter another
cylinder in connection with the "brakes."
Thirdly, in the use and employment of metal rods or shafts arranged and
disposed along a line railway, and actuated by cranks or levers affixed to such
said rods, the use of said rods being to enable an approaching train to give an
alarm by an incline on the engine operating upon the cranks which are upon
the aforesaid rods, so as to sound a bell or whistle, and thus give notice to a
train when approaching too near a train in front thereof, and by these means
to render the operation of signalizing self-acting, and prevent accidents arising
from collisions on railways.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the. Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Shaw. in. the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SHAW, of No. 22, New King Street, Hull, Yorkshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Shaw, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Shaw, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Shaw, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREVEN-
TION OF ACCIDENTS ARISING FROM COLLISIONS ON RAILWAYS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Shaw, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: 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 J, the said Joseph Shaw, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements consist, firstly, in rendering available the steam from the
boiler of a locomotive engine, and employing the same in a separate cylinder
for actuating the brakes of the several carriages composing a railway train.
Secondly, in the use and employment of metal rods and shafts arranged and
disposed along a line of railway, and actuated by cranks or levers affixed to
such said rods, the use of said rods and levers or cranks being to enable an
approaching train to give an alarm by an incline on the engine or the tender,
or both, operating upon the levers or cranks which are in connection with the
aforesaid rods, so as to sound. a bell or whistle, and thereby give notice to a
train when approaching too near another train in front thereof, and by these
means to render the operation of signalizing self-acting, and thus prevent
accidents arising from collisions on railways.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now pro-
ceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Drawings annexed
to these Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the framing of a locomotive engine or tender,
shewing the adaptation of a portion of my improvements thereto; Figure 2, a
top plan view of a portion of a double line of railway, shewing the adaptation
thereto of the wires or rods and levers or cranks above mentioned; Figure 3
shews the mode of arranging the cylinder in which steam is employed for
actuating the breaks, and of connecting the piston thereof to certain parts in
connection with the brakes of the several carriages. At each of the foregoing
Figures I employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding parts, in
so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of the said Figures
respectively.
At Figure 1, A, A', are strong wrought-iron rods fixed to one or both sides
of the framing of a locomotive engine, and constituting double inclined planes

page_text: to be employed for actuating certain mechanism placed in the space between a
double line of rails of a permanent line of railway, as at Figure 2, at which
Figure B, B, are wires or rods extending throughout the entire length of
a line of railway, and for the sake of convenience, I dispose and arrange
said wires or rods between the double line of rails, and connect said wires
or rods with the following mechanism; C, C, are short wrought-iron shafts,
the axes whereof work in bearings in castings suitably formed, disposed, and
fixed; these shafts. I arrange and dispose at intervals of, say, 1000 yards,
more or less, one shaft being for the "up" line, and the other for the "down"
line. Upon cach of the aforesaid shafts, I fix levers or cranks 6, 7, 5. The
levers 6 and 7 have antifriction rollers connected to their outer ends, which
are respectively operated upon by the inclines on the engine, tender, carriage,
or van, as herein-after stated. The lever 5 is employed for pulling or sliding
the wires or rods B, B, backwards and forwards; and the incline a, at Fig. 1,
is for pushing down the lever or crank 7, and by this means brings up the
crank or lever No. 6; and the incline A' is for actuating a rod and lever a, a,
connected with a whistle on the engine.
At Figure 3, H is a cylinder fitted with a piston working steam-tight
therein; the above cylinder is securely fixed in an horizontal position to the
under side of that part of the flooring of the engine where the engine driver
stands; I is a lever whose fulcrum is a pin at i, one end of this lever is con-
nected to the piston rod of the above cylinder, and the other end to a rod K,
said rod working in guides suitably placed; M is another rod extending
throughout the entire length of each carriage, to the under framing of which
they are connected in any convenient manner. The ends of each of the afore-
said rods have catches m, m, affixed thereto for actuating the same, and the
brakes connected therewith, in any convenient manner upon pressure being
exerted thereon through the agency of the piston of the cylinder.
MODE OF OPERATING.
Suppose a train to be departing from any station either on the "up" or the
"down" line of rails, when it arrives at the first pair of short shafts, as at A
(Figure 2), the incline a on the engine, coming into contact with the roller on
the vertical lever or crank 7, will raise No. 6, and the train passing onward
raises the lever 6 upon the second and next short shaft, as at B, Figure 2, and
the train continuing its course, the lever 6 of the third and next short shaft, as
at C, Figure 2, will be raised, and at the same time will pull the rod B, and
thus turn down the lever or crank 6 on the first above-mentioned short shaft

page_text: and place it in proper position for being again similarly operated upon by
another train procceding in the same direction as the former one. And in like
manner as the first train proceeds, the raising of the lever 6 at D, Figure 2,
puts down the lever 6 on the second short shaft, and so on throughout the
entire length of the line of rails; the intention for thus operating upon every
third lever being always to keep two levers up, which the train last passed on
the line, so that supposing another train to be travelling in the same direction,
it could never approach nearer to the foremost train than the distance between
A and B, or B and C, without giving notice to the engine driver on the last
train; the incline A¹ of which coming into contact with the lever or crank 6,
actuates the rod a, a, and sounds a whistle on the engine, thereby signalizing
to the engine driver of this train that thero is another train in front of his, and
within a thousand yards thereof, or such other distance as the aforesaid short
shafts may be placed asunder on the line, and by these means avoiding collision
of the trains.
In adapting my said improvements to a double line of rails, it will be neces-
sary to arrange the levers 6, 7, 5, for the "down" line in an opposite direction
to those for the "up" line, as exhibited at Figure 2.
I now proceed to describe my improved mode of operating upon the several
brakes for arresting or retarding the progress of the train as follows:-When it
is desired to stop the train, the engine driver shuts off the steam to the engine,
and opens a valve or cock, and admits steam from the boiler into the cylinder H,
exhibited at Figure 3; the elastic force of the steam acting upon the piston
forces it outwards, and thus imparts motion to the lever I, and rods and brakes
connected therewith. The brakes are disengaged by allowing the steam to
escape from the brake cylinder in any convenient manner.
By the use of the above Invention, the signals at present employed on rail-
ways may be dispensed with by connecting such of the shafts C, C, as are
nearest to a station with the usual signal wire, by pulling which in the usual
way the crank or lever 6 will be raised, and cause the whistle on the engine
to be sounded.
My Invention is equally applicable to a single line of rails as to a double
linc.
I would remark that, in order to guard as far as practicable against the
possibility of collision, I have provided an arrangement, exhibited at Figure 4,
for the following reasons and purpose:-It will be seen upon reflection that
should two trains be proceeding either in the same or in opposite directions,
and one of them comes up to one of the cranks or levers while No. 6 crank

page_text: or lever is elevated, the two trains might then. be operating upon the wires or
rods B, at the same time, that is, supposing the foremost train to be acting
upon No. 3 shaft, and the hindermost train to be acting upon No. 1 shaft;
and should this be the case, the two trains would then be pulling the aforesaid
wires or rods in contrary directions, and thereby break them; to obviate this,
I employ the following arrangement :-
Figure 4 shews a length of one of the wires or rods B. A is a lever
working horizontally; B', the fulcrum of said lever; C is a pulley, over which
a chain (connected with the aforesaid wires or rods) passes, and travels on the
said lever as at B' to the end e, through which there is a hole for said chain to
pass downwards; to this chain I attach a weight at F; the other part of the
wires or rods B are connected to the lever A, so that in the event of two trains
pulling the wires or rods in contrary directions, as before stated, by the above
contrivance, one train will move the lever and parts connected therewith, and
the other train pulling up the weight will pass in safety. I would observe that
the said weight should be sufficiently heavy to remain stationary when only one
train is operating upon the lever. With reference to the cranks or levers
before described, and marked- Nos. 5, 6, 7, respectively, I would remark that
No. 5 is fixed on the shaft, No. 7 only acts on the shaft at one point, and has
a weight attached to the bottom part thereof for the purpose of returning this
said crank or lever to its original upright position after it has been operated
on by the incline on the engine tender, carriage, or van, as before stated.
No. 6 crank or lever may be worked in two ways; first, by keying it fast upon
the shaft, and second, by having it loose on said shaft, and operating upon it by
a fork fixed on the shaft for that purpose..
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of
"improvements in the prevention of accidents arising from collisions on rail-
ways, together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that what I claim as
my Invention is,
Firstly, the mode above described, and represented at Figure 1, of operating
upon the brakes of the several carriages by the elastic force of the steam from
the boiler.
Secondly, the use and employment of levers or cranks mounted upon short
shafts and wires or rods, disposed throughout the entire length of the line
of railway, as above described, and represented at Figure 2 of the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Thirdly, and lastly, the use of the double inclined planes affixed to the loco-

page_text: motive engine or tender, for raising and lowering the levers or cranks 6, 7, 5,
in the manner and for the purposes above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Shaw, have hereunto set my_
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JOSEPH BLAKELEY,
Air Street, Sculcoates, Hull.
JOSEPH SHAW. (L.B.)