I- PROVEMENTS IN SIGNAL APPARATUS TO BE USED IN RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAINS."ATION
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Armstrong Haswell, of the Borough of
Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Engineer, and George Brown,
of the City of York, Carriage Builder, for the Invention of "I-
PROVEMENTS IN SIGNAL APPARATUS TO BE USED IN RAILWAY PASSENGER
TRAINS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Armstrong
Haswell and George Brown at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd March 1868.
We, JOHN ARMSTRONG HASWELL, of the Borough of Gateshead, in
the County of Durham, Engineer, and GEORGE BROWN, of the City of
York, Carriage Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNAL APPARATUS TO BE USED IN RAILWAY
PASSENGER TRAINS," to be follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to an apparatus to be worked by the action of
the cord which establishes a communication between the guard or
conductor, passengers, and engine driver of railway passenger trains,

page_text: and consists of an apparatus for exhibiting to the guard or conductor
of a railway passenger train the particular compartment of a carriage
containing the passenger that has by means of the cord communication
called the attention of the guard, conductor or driver, to a real or
imaginery danger to the train or to the passengers it contains whilst it
is in motion.
According to our Invention we propose to place at the side of the top
of the door of each compartment of the of the carriage a small pulley for
carrying the communicating cord, placed in an iron frame and supported
in it by a small spiral spring and a spindle through the said spiral
spring working in connection with a signal arm attached to the side of
the door of each compartment.
The action of the apparatus is that when a passenger pulls the
communicating cord the pressure on the pulley will compress the spring
and the arm signal will be released and will project at right angles to
the side of the carriage, exhibiting itself distinctly, and clearly indicating
the compartment containing the passenger that has pulled the
communicating cord, and will remain in such condition until released
by the person or persons responsible for the proper working of the
train.
This Invention will be applicable to all railways on which passenger
trains are run where a communication exists between the guard or
conductor and the engine driver by means of a cord.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Armstrong Haswell and George Brown in the
Great Patent Office on the 2nd September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
ARMSTRONG HASWELL, of the Borough of Gateshead, in the County of
Durham, Engineer, and GEORGE BROWN, of the City of York, Carriage
Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Armstrong Haswell and George
Brown, Her special license that we, the said John Armstrong Haswell
and George Brown, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Armstrong Haswell and George Brown,
our executors, administrators, or 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 SIGNAL APPARATUS TO BE USED IN RAILWAY PASSENGER
TRAINS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Armstrong Haswell and George Brown, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said John Armstrong Haswell and
George Brown, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our said Invention relates to an apparatus to be worked by the
action of the cord which establishes a communication between the
guard or conductor, passengers, and engine driver of railway passenger
trains, and consists of a peculiar apparatus for exhibiting to the guard
or conductor of a railway passenger train the particular compartment
of a carriage containing the passenger who has by means of the cord
communication called the attention of the guard, conductor, or driver
to a real or imaginary danger to the train or to the passengers it
contains whilst it is in motion.
In carrying out our said Invention we propose to place on the body
of each carriage at the side of the top of the doorway or entrance of

page_text: each compartment a pulley for carrying the communicating cord placed
in a frame and supported in it by a helical spring and a spindle passing
through the said spring, the whole working in connection with a
semaphore signal arm attached to the side of the doorway of each
compartment.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When a passenger pulls
the communicating cord downwards the pressure on the pulley will
compress the spring and the semaphore or arm signal will be released
and will project at right angles to the side of the carriage, exhibiting
itself distinctly, and clearly indicating the compartment containing the
passenger who has pulled the communicating cord, and will remain in
such condition until released by the person or persons responsible for
the proper working of the train.
This Invention is obviously applicable to all railways on which
passenger trains are run where a communication exists between the
guard or conductor and the engine driver by means of a cord. Each
side of the carriage is fitted with the cord, but only one side is
in gear at once. For convenience of attaching and detaching carriages
at junctions and stations, each carriage has its own cords, which
are joined by hooks with pointed openings, which books when the
ends are joined cannot possibly shake open. One end of the cord
is attached to the engine whistle by means of a helical spring,
and the other to an adjusting wheel in the guard's van. This wheel,
to which the cord is attached, gives out the cord when the train
is extended, on going round curves, and starting from stations,
and takes up the slack cord. To this wheel is also fitted a ratchet
wheel and a weight on pulleys, by which the cord is kept in an
uniform state of tension. The weight can be adjusted so as to
balance the friction on any length of train, a cross bar is fixed on
the rim of the coil wheel by a thumbscrew, and kept on ordinary
trains at about a quarter the circumference from the top. When
the cord is pulled, either by the engine driver or by a passenger,
the cross bar is brought to the top and strikes the suspended lever
of a bell which operates by clockwork. The guard and driver can
exchange signals with facility, which may be varied at pleasure in so
far as the number and length of sounds of the whistle or strokes of
the bell are concerned.

page_text: And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for
that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet
of Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding
parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of our Drawings represents a side elevation of a first-class
passenger railway carriage fitted with our improved semaphore detector
signalling apparatus; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the semaphore
detector at rest drawn to a larger scale; Figure 3 is a corresponding
elevation looking at right angles to Figure 2, and shewing the semaphore
arm in its outward position at right angles to the side of the carriage
so as to indicate the compartment from which the cord has been
pulled.
In these several Figures A represents the carriage body, and B the
communicating cord between the passengers and the guard and engine
driver, which cord is carried on each side of the carriage by passing
over the several fixed pulleys C, C, attached to the carriage close
under the projecting roof thereof, so that the cords may clear the tops
of the carriage doors. Each carriage is provided with a pair of these
cords, and the several cords of the carriages throughout the entire
length of the train are coupled together by spring hooks and eyes
or other convenient coupling at D, D. The semaphore detector signals
which are fitted to both sides of the carriages at the side of the tops
of the doorways or entrances to each compartment, as shewn clearly
in Figure 1, consist each of a slotted bracket E firmly secured to
a wooden packing F attached to the carriage; within the vertical slots
of these brackets slide blocks G carrying each a grooved pulley H
over which the communicating cord B passes. To the lower part of
cach block G is screwed a rod or spindle K, which is surrounded by
a helical spring L of sufficient strength to maintain the block and
pulley in their elevated position, the upper end of such spring bearing
against the block whilst its lower end rests upon the bottom of the
bracket. The rod or spindle K is guided by passing through an
opening in the lower part of the bracket, and carries a spring hinged
detent a which engages with the teeth of the straight rack M when
pulled down and prevents the pulley from resuming its original
position until released by the guard. In Figure 3 we have represented

page_text: the pulley as having been pulled down and detained by the detent and
rack. N is a semaphore arm working horizontally on the vertical
axis O, such arm being connected by a coiled spring b with the
stationary axis O. When not operating the semaphore lies flat against
the side of the carriage, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, it being detained
in that position by a projecting pin c on the lower end of the rod
or spindle K, against which pin bears the lug d on the fulcrum end
of the semaphore. So long as the pin c remains behind the lug d the
semaphore will be held back against the side of the carriage but
immediately the pin c is lowered by the deppression of the sliding block
and pulley H, the semaphore being released flies out under the action
of the spring 6 and assumes a position at right angles to the carriage,
as shown in Figure 3. It will thus be seen that the pulling down-
wards of the communication cord with a view to calling the attention
of the guard or driver produces simultaneously three results, videlicet,
the release of the semaphore arm or detector, which cannot be returned
to its former position by the passengers (thereby indicating the
particular part of the train whence the signal cord was pulled), the
ringing or striking of the guard's bell or gong, and the sounding of the
engine whistle or a gong or bell in close proximity to the engine
driver.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may
be used or carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that
we consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
First. The combination with the communicating cord of a railway
passenger train of a detector or indicator which shall be exhibited
and temporarily locked in its exhibited position by the act of pulling
down the cord when calling the attention of the guard or engine
driver, or both, thereby indicating the particular part of the train from
which the signal has been given.
Second. The peculiar construction, arrangement, and combination of
signal apparatus for effecting intercommunication in railway trains and at
the same time indicating the particular part of the train whence the

page_text: illustrated by our Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Armstrong Haswell, on
behalf of myself and the said George Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN ARMSTRONG HASWELL. (L.s.)