IMPROVEMENTS IN' THE MEANS OF GIVING SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Wickens, of No. 4, Tokenhouse Yard, Bank,
in the City of London, Solicitor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN'
THE MEANS OF GIVING SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Wickens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
July 1854.
I, HENRY WICKENS, of No. 4, Tokenhouse Yard, Bank, in the City of
London, Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF GIVING SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in the use of wires, wire ropes, cords, or other
suitable materials, but I prefer Newall's wire strand or cord for the purpose,
carried along the carriages of the railway train (with convenient couplings
or connections between the carriages for attaching and disconnecting them
quickly, such as leather straps with swivels), so as to form a line which I call
the line of communication, in such manner that such line, when coupled or
otherwise connected throughout, may be moved easily backwards and forwards
over wheels or pulleys, or by other convenient means, and such line being
also connected at each end or other part or parts with the rod of a piston,

page_text: working in a cylinder of dimensions according to the pressure required, to
which cylinder a whistle or other suitable instrument is connected. A person
wishing to give a signal, by pulling the line of communication will draw the
piston in the cylinder, fixed at the other end or part of the train, and thereby
force the air in such cylinder through the whistle or instrument connected
therewith, and so give the signal by its sound. A spring or springs of metal
or india-rubber sufficiently strong. to draw the piston and line of communi-
cation back again when the person ceases to pull, should be conveniently
attached or connected with the piston or piston rod for that purpose; or a
bellows of convenient shape and material, such, for instance, as is used to
inflate Macintosh air beds, having the whistle or other instrument connected,
as before mentioned, may be employed, with a spring or springs to bring it
back again, as before mentioned, instead of the piston and cylinder. Commu-
nications by signal may also thus be made from any of the carriages of the
train by a person therein pulling a wire, cord, or other suitable material passing
from the carriage and properly connected for the purpose with the line of
communication; or a whistle or other instrument at the other end or part of
the train may be sounded by air forced through it through a pipe or tube of
gutta percha, metal, or other proper material, carried along the carriages of the
train (with suitable couplings or connections between the carriages to maintain
the line of communication through the pipe or tube, such as union joints), by
means of a piston and cylinder, or a bellows worked by the person wishing to
make the communication to the other end or part by signal; if sufficient air be
not readily admitted through the whistle or other instrument, there should be
a valve at the end of the cylinder or bellows for the purpose; and there should
also be an aperture at the other end of the cylinder to prevent a partial vacuum
behind the piston when the piston is drawn by the pull to give the signal.
These improvements are also applicable for giving signals on board ship, or in
buildings, or from one part or place to another. My said improvements also
consist in the use of one or more signals, such as a circle or other figure, of
white, red, or other colour for the day, and a signal lamp at night, fixed on a
dise or frame at the head or tail of the railway train, or both; and such disc or
frame, by means of bands, wheels, pulleys, or other convenient contrivance
connected with the axles or wheels, or other convenient part of the engine or
carriage, made to revolve when the train is in motion, and the speed of the
motion of the train and its direction, vizt, whether coming or going, will be
indicated by the comparative rapidity of its revolutions and its course, viz*,
whether the signal is revolving from left to right or from right to left of the
person watching it; and the same results may also be effected at night, by a

page_text: lamp at the back of the disc or frame, sufficiently reflecting its light on a
surface in such way that a part of such reflection may be seen through a hole
or holes made for that purpose of sufficient size through the disc or frame, so
that when the disc or frame is made to revolve, the light so seen through such
hole or holes will indicate the rapidity of the motion of the train and its direc-
tion as aforesaid. The signal light on the front of the disc may be maintained
in an almost perpendicular direction during the revolutions of the disc by
having a fixed toothed wheel in the centre of the disc behind it, the disc being
allowed to revolve independently; and by having also two revolving toothed
wheels placed in a line with such fixed wheel and working into each other,
and fixed on their centres or axles on the back of the disc, so that when the
disc is made to revolve, the wheel next to the fixed one, and working into it,
will be made to revolve round the fixed one, and cause the other or outer one
to revolve in a contrary direction to itself, whereby the signal light, being
properly fixed or attached to the centre or axis of such last-inentioned or outer
wheel, carried through the disc for the purpose, will be kept in an almost
perpendicular position, as before stated. These day and night signals may
also be applied on board steam vessels by suitable connections with the engine
or other machinery to cause their required revolutions.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Wickens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WICKENS, of No. 4, Tokenhouse Yard, Bank, in the City of London, Solicitor,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto the said
Henry Wickens, Her special licence that he, the said Henry Wickens, his
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as he, the said Henry
Wickens, his 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF
GIVING SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER .PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that he, the said Henry Wickens, by an instrument in
writing under his hand and seal, 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 Henry Wickens, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 (that is to say):-
To enable the guard or driver or other person at one end or other part of
a railway train to give and receive signals to and from a person at the other
end or other part of a railway train, I use two cylinders, of metal or other
suitable material, each being open at the bottom to admit air below the piston,
and of dimensions according to the pressure required, each cylinder having a
piston properly packed to work therein in the usual way; and in the top or
cover of each cylinder I have two openings or apertures, in one of which, or in
connection therewith, there is an inlet valve, for the inlet of air above the
piston, and which valve is opened as the piston descends, and closed as the piston
is raised; and in or connected with the other opening or aperture is a pipe or
tube, of metal or other proper material, and which I call the tubo of communi-
cation, which is continued therefrom above, under, or along all the carriages
of the train to that part to which it is intended that the signal shall be given
(such tube having suitable couplings or connections, such as union joints, or
other known convenient contrivances, for attaching and disconnecting the same
between the carriages of the train quickly), so that a line of communication
shall be maintained through such tube from one of such cylinders at one end
or part of the train to the whistle or other instrument connected with the other
similarly constructed cylinder at the other end or part of the train, and imme-
diately above the said other aperture in the top or cover of each cylinder.
Inside the said tube of communication I have another valve, which is an outlet
valve, which is opened by the pressure of air in the cylinder as the piston is
raised, and by such action of the piston the air is forced from the cylinder into
the tube, and the column of air therein is so acted on, that a quantity of air is
forced through the said whistle or other instrument attached to or connected
with the cylinder at the other end or part of the train, and by its sound the
signal is communicated. The piston of each cylinder has a rod working in a

page_text: stuffing box at the top of the cylinder, and from that part of the said tube
a communication which is just above the outlet valve) I have a channel or
communication into the stuffing box, which, when the piston is at rest, is
opposite a slot or aperture which I have in the piston rod, and such piston rod
being hollow from such slot or aperture to the top whereon the whistle or
other instrument is fixed, or with which it is connected, the line of communi-
cation is thereby maintained from the cylinder at the one end or part to the
whistle or other instrument attached to or connected with the cylinder at the
other end or part. The apparatus at each end may be placed in a box, or on a
frame, and each piston conveniently worked by means of a lever handle, with
or without parallel motion and other arrangements as are in known use for
pumps, or by other known convenient means. For the purpose of drawing
the piston back when the person who is using the signal ceases to act, and to
maintain it in its proper position when at rest, I use india-rubber or other
suitable spring or springs, attached at one end to a cross head connected with
the piston rod, and at the other to the frame to which the cylinder is fixed, or
by other convenient means. The action of this part of my Invention may be
thus described: When the power is applied to the lever handle attached to
one of such cylinders, the piston connected therewith is raised, and by the
pressure of air, the inlet valve thereof is closed, and the outlet valve thereof.
opened, and the air is forced from such cylinder into the tube of communi-
cation, and from thence through the said channel into the stuffing box, and
thence through the slot or aperture into and up the hollow piston rod of the
said other cylinder to the whistle or instrument thereon or connected therewith,
and which is thereby sounded.
If it be desired that communications shall be made only in one direction,.it
will only be necessary to have at the end or part from which the communica-
tions are to be made one cylinder open at the bottom for air, and having the
two openings in the top or cover with an inlet valve, and with or without an
outlet valve, and the tube of communication connected and arranged as before
described, and the whistle or other instrument at the other end or part of the
said tube, to which the signal is to be given; the piston in this case may be
worked as before mentioned, but the piston rod should be solid, and there.
should be no channel from the said tube to the stuffing box..
The whistle or other instrument at the other end or part of a train may also
be sounded by means of wire, rope, cord, or other suitable materials carried
along the carriages of the train (with convenient couplings or connections, such
as swivel fastenings or leather straps, for connection and disconnection between
the carriages quickly), so as to form a line of communication throughout, and

page_text: so arranged that the same may be moved backwards and forwards over wheels
or pulleys, or by other convenient means, and such line being connected at
each end or other part or parts with the rod of a piston working through a
stuffing box in a cylinder, and such cylinder being open at the bottom, and
having an aperture and inlet valve, as before described; and also another
aperture, as before described, in which the whistle or other instrument is to be
fixed, so that a person wishing to give a signal may, by pulling or drawing the
line of communication, by means of a hand wheel or other contrivance, draw
the piston in the cylinder at the other end or part, and thereby force the air
from the cylinder through the whistle or other instrument, and give the signal
by its sound. A spring or springs of india-rubber or metal, sufficiently strong
to draw the piston and line of communication back again when the person
ceases to pull or draw such line, should be conveniently attached or connected
with the piston or piston rod for that purpose; and signals may also be given
by a person in the carriage of the train to the guard or driver, or other person
at either end of the train, by means of a cord, wire, or other suitable material
passing from such carriage to and properly connected for the purpose with tho
line of communication. I also use bellows, such as are used for inflating air-
tight articles, and other bellows and similar instruments instead of cylinders
and pistons, for the purposes herein described. The above-mentioned improve-
ments may be used for giving signals in buildings, or on board ships, or from
one place to another.
By my said Invention signals may also be given by a figure or figures,
design or designs, of white, red, or other colour for the day, and a signal lamp
or lamps at night, fixed on or attached to a disc or frame at the head or tail of
a railway train, or both; and such disc or frame being made to revolve by
means of spur wheels, or by pullies or riggers, and straps or bands of suitable
material, properly connected with the axle tree or other convenient part of the
engine, tender, or carriage, so as to impart a rotary motion to the disc or frame,
so that when the train is in motion, its direction, viz, whether going or coming,
will be indicated by the revolutions of the disc being from right to left, or left
to right, as the case may be; and the same results may also be effected at night,
by a lamp or lamps placed at the back of the disc or frame, sufficiently reflecting
its or their light, in such a way that a part of such reflection may be seen
through a hole or holes in the disc or frame, and the disc or frame being made
to revolve by the arrangements above described, the signal light or lights
attached to the disc or frame may be maintained in an almost vertical position
during the revolutions of the disc, by having a spur wheel fixed on the
stationary axle of the disc, the disc revolving on the axle, and by having two

page_text: revolving spur wheels placed in a line with such spur wheel, and working into
one another, and the same being fixed and working on their own axles or
centres at the back of the disc or frame; and the same effect may also be
produced by two rigger wheels or pullies, the one being fixed round the axle
of the disc or frame, and the other round the axle on which the signal lamp is
fixed, and the band or strap to give the rotary motion being crossed, these
day and night signals may also be used for giving signals on board steam or
sailing vessels by suitable connections with the engine or other machinery,
or by manual labour. The mechanical details of the several improvements
herein-before described may be necessarily varied to suit convenience.
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not claim as my Invention any
of the parts herein mentioned or described taken separately; but I claim the
improvements in the means of giving signals, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Wickens, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
H. WICKENS. (L.B.)