IMPROVED MEANS OP COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND ENGINE DRIVER UPON RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Jones, of Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS
OP COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND ENGINE DRIVER
UPON RAILWAY TRAINS."
Sealed the 3rd January 1873, and dated the 6th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Jones at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th November 1872.
I, PETER JONES, of Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, in the County
5 of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MEANS OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND
ENGINE DRIVER UPON RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention is designed to afford passengers in railway trains a
ready means of communicating with the guard and engine driver simul-
taneously in case of emergency, and also to allow the guard and engine
driver to communicate with each other.
On the roof of each carriage a small drum or roller is mounted hori-
zontally on a transverse axis supported in suitable bearings, each drum

page_text: or roller having a hole drilled through it horizontally but at right angles
to its axis. A cord from a bell on the engine connected to a similar bell
in the guard's van runs along the roof of all the carriages, passing
through the hole of each drum or roller, and it will be evident that by
winding up or pulling the cord the guard can sound the engine driver's
bell and vice versa, and by a prearranged code of signals any com-
munication can be made from one to the other.
In order to enable the passengers also to communicate with the guard
and engine driver I fix on the axle of the drum or roller a spur pinion
in gear with a similar wheel on a second axle, and on this latter I key a
drum, round which is coiled a chain or cord, one end thereof being fast
to the drum and the other having a weight attached to it. The chain
or cord being coiled round the pulley a small catch or ratchet is dropped
into the teeth of the spur wheel (or of a ratchet wheel fixed on the same
shaft) and will hold the weight suspended, but upon releasing the catch
the weight will descend, causing the first-named drum or roller to revolve
quickly, and as the cord passes through a hole in the body of this drum
or roller it will wind up the cord in both directions and sound the bell at
each end of the train.
The catch is released by the passenger pulling a cord or pressing a
button or knob provided in cach compartment for that purpose:
It will be evident that if preferred a coiled spring might be substituted
for the chain or cord and weight.
The weight is enclosed in a long vertical box, and the descent of the
weight in this box may be made to throw out a signal of
any desired
form or otherwise to indicate the carriage or compartment from which
the alarm was given. The apparatus can be reset for action by the
guard and engine driver winding in the cord simultaneously at each end
so as to turn the drum or roller in the reverse direction, which will
uncoil the cord therefrom and at the same time wind up the weight or
spring by means of the spur wheel and pinion, or the guard may be
furnished with a key fitted to the squared end of the axle of the drum
or roller, whereby he can wind it back into its original position.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
JONES, of Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Peter Jones, Her special license that I,
the said Peter Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Peter Jones, 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 "IMPROVED MEANS OF COMMUNICATING
BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND ENGINE DRIVER UPON RAILWAY TRAINS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Jones, 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 Peter Jones, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention is designed to afford passengers in railway trains a
ready means of communicating with the guard and engine driver simul-
taneously in case of emergency, and also to allow the guard and engine
driver to communicate with each other.
On the roof of each carriage a small drum or roller is mounted hori-
zontally on a transverse axis supported in suitable bearings, each drum

page_text: or roller having a hole or tube formed through it horizontally, but at
right angles to its axis. Each carriage is provided with a proportionate
length of cord having at each end a spring swivel link, and thus each
portion can be instantly connected, and will thereby form a continuous
signal cord running along the roof of every carriage and passing through
the hole or tube of each drum or pulley, and is connected at each end to
a length coiled several times round a drum, which on being revolved
actuates a bell on the engine and in the guard's van respectively, and it
will be evident that by winding up or pulling the cord the guard can
sound the engine driver's bell and vice versa, and by a pre-arranged
code of signals any communication can be made from one to the
other.
In order to enable the passengers also to communicate with the guard
and engine driver I fix on the axle of the drum or roller, or cast or form
of one piece with it, a smaller drum, round which is coiled a chain or
cord, one end thereof being fast to the drum and the other having a
weight attached to it. The chain or cord being coiled round the pulley
a small catch is pressed into a notch in the flange of the drum or into
the teeth of a ratchet wheel attached thereto, and will hold the weight
suspended, but upon releasing the catch the weight will descend,
causing the first-named drum or roller to revolve quickly, and as the
signal cord passes through a hole in the body of this drum or roller it
will wind up the cord in both directions and sound the bell at cach
end of the train simultaneously, that is, both in the guard's van and
upon the engine.
The catch is released by the passenger pulling a cord similar to an

page_text: or roller in the reverse direction, which will uncoil the cord therefrom
and at the same time wind up the weight or spring, or the guard may be
furnished with a key fitted to the squared end of the axle of the drum or'
roller, whereby he can wind it back into its original position.
Should it be desirable to take up more signal cord the drum or pulley
for the weight cord may be placed on a second axle and the two axles*
be connected by a spur wheel and pinion or friction wheels, so that each
revolution of the weight cord drum may cause two or more revolutions
of the signal cord drum.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that
the same may be clearly understood, I have annexed hereunto a Sheet
of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures
and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof:-
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation and Fig. 2 a front.
view of my improved signal apparatus.
Upon an axle a, a, mounted in suitable bearings b, b, on the top of
each carriage a drum c, c, is keyed (or cast in one piece therewith),
having a second smaller drum d, d, cast with or otherwise attached to it..
The drum c, c, is provided with a tube c*, c*, or has a hole bored
through at right angles to the axis, and the ordinary signal cord e, e,
passes through it and through a guide f, f, on each side of the drum, as
seen clearly in the detached sectional view Fig. 3, and whilst the drum
is in this position the engine driver and guard can communicate with
each other by simply pulling or winding in the cord in either direction.
The drum c, c, is held in this position by means of a catch g, g, which
is pressed by a spring h, h, into a notch in the flange of the said drum.
Round the smaller drum d, d, a cord or chain i, i, is coiled several times,
one end of the said cord being fixed to the drum and the other having
attached to it a weight k, k, enclosed in a long vertical box 1, 1, attached
to the end or other convenient part of the carriage.
It will hence be evident that whenever the catch g, g, is released from
the notch in the flange of the drum c, c, the weight k, l, will.descend,
and by uncoiling the cord or chain i, i, will cause the axis a; a, and the
drums c, c, and d, d, to revolve, and as the signal cord e, e, passes

page_text: through the drum c, c, it will be coiled round it in both directions, as
shown in the detached sectional view Fig. 4, and will thus sound the
signal bells simultaneously both in the guard's van and upon the
engine.
The catch g, g, may be released either by pulling the lever m, m, by i
means of the wire or cord n, n, which passes to the interior of the
carriage or in any other convenient manner.
The cord or chain i, i, may be coiled on to the drum d, d, and the
weight raised to its former position (after a signal has been given) by the
guard turning the axis a, a, by means of a key placed on its squared 1
end, and this will at the same time bring the drum c, c, back into its
original position and the apparatus will be set for action again, or the
same may be effected by the guard and engine driver winding in the
signal cord e, e, simultaneously at each end.
The falling of the weight k, k, may (as before described) be caused to 1
throw out a visible signal of any desired form to indicate to the guard
the particular carriage from which the alarm or signal was given.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I a
claim as my Invention passing the signal cord through a pulley or drum
upon each carriage, and so connecting such pulley or drum with a weight
or spring that upon the release of a catch by a passenger the weight or
spring shall cause the pulley or drum to revolve and wind or coil on the
signal cord in both directions, and thus give the alarm simultaneously at a
both ends of the train, substantially as herein-before more particularly
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Jones, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
PETER JONES. (L.S.)