AN IMPROVEMENT IN SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Tate, of Bermondsey, Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 25th April 1865, and dated the 25th October 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Tate at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
October 1864.
I, JAMES TATE, of Bermondsey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS," to be
as follows:-
Hitherto the distance signals on railways have been worked with one wire
only from the quadrant; now my Invention essentially consists in the employ-
ment of two wires for that purpose, and in the following manner :-I attach
to the lower end of the lever which works in the ordinary quadrant a wire,
which is led to the signal and there united to a chain passing partially round
the pulley or wheel. The other end of this chain is united to a second wire
which is carried back to the quadrant lever. Thus on communicating motion
to the quadrant lever the pulley or wheel at the signal will be set in motion
with much greater steadiness and regularity than has been hitherto attained.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Tate in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
TATE, of Bermondsey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, "for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Tate, Her special licence that I, the said James Tate, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Tate, 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 IMPROVEMENT
IN SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Tate, 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 James Tate, 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,
reference being had to the Drawings. hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Hitherto the distance signals on railways have been worked with one wire
only from the quadrant; now my Invention essentially consists in the employ-
ment of two wires for that purpose, and in the following manner :-Ì attach
to the lower end of the lover which works in the ordinary quadrant a wire,
which is led to the signal and there united to a chain passing partially round
the pulley or wheel. The other end of this chain is united to a second wire,
which is carried back to the quadrant lever. Thus on communicating motion
to the quadrant lever the pulley or wheel at the signal will be set in motion
with much greater steadiness and regularity than has been hitherto attained.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2
a plan of a distance signal constructed according to my Invention; Figure 3
is an end view of the same with the wires removed; Figure 4 is a view on a
larger scale of the pulley or wheel to which the wires communicate motion.
a is the signal post, near the lower end of which a bracket 6 is secured for
carrying and supporting a wheel c; d is a rod connecting the wheel c to a
crank e on the vertical shaft f, and to which the signal arm 9 and the
arms h, h, carrying the colored glasses for night signals are keyed. Thus on
motion being communicated to the wheel c motion is also given to the glasses
and the signal arm; k is the quadrant lever, to the lower end of which I
attach a wire, and carry it to a chain i, which I pass round the pulley or
wheel c, or the wire may itself pass round the wheel, and thence to the quadrant
lever as shown. The lever k has its fulcrum at 7, and is free to move in the
quadrant frame m as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1, and its motion
through the action of the wires i, i, communicates motion to the wheel c.
The position of the lever k is regulated by notches in the quadrant frame,
into which a rod free to slide on the lever falls when opposite a notch, and to
release the lever and alter its position the rod is raised and moved along the
quadrant until it becomes opposite another notch. With the lever in the
position shown by the full lines in Figure 1, the signal will be set at "caution,"
as shown, by throwing the lever to the position shown by the dotted lines 1
the signal will be at "danger," and to the position shown by the dotted lines
at 2 to "all clear." By the arrangement just described I am enabled to
dispense with weights and levers at the signal post, and to work the signals
with much greater ease and accuracy than heretofore. o is a weight attached
to the connecting rod d in order to pull down the crank e, and throw up the
signal arm to "danger" in the event of the wires i, ¹, breaking. The signal
works with equal facility whether the distance from the post to the quadrant
be twenty yards or two miles. Although not shown in the Drawing, two
levers may be fitted to the quadrant, one for working the distance signal on
the up line, and the other for the down line, and although I have described
this
my Invention as applied to the distance signal only, yet the same action
may with advantage be applied to signals generally.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ment in Signalling on Railways" the employment of a wire led from the
quadrant lever, and passed round a pulley at the signal post, and led back to
the quadrant lever, for communicating motion to the pulley, and thence to

page_text: the signals, substantially in manner herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James- Tate have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
EDWP. G. BREWER.
JAMES TATE. (Ls.)