IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE DELIVERY OF BAGS OR PARCELS FROM RAILWAY TRAINS IN MOTION.
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Dicker, of Hendon, in the County of Middle-
sex, Supervisor of Mail Bag Apparatus, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE DELIVERY OF BAGS OR PARCELS FROM RAILWAY
TRAINS IN MOTION."..
Sealed the 31st October 1862, and dated the 15th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Dicker at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th May
1862.
I, JOHN DICKER, of Hendon, in the County of Middlesex, Supervisor of
Mail Bag Apparatus, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE DELIVERY OF BAGS OR PARCELS FROM'
RAILWAY TRAINS IN MOTION," to be as follows:-
To the near side of the railway carriage is attached one or more projecting
arms, from which the bag or parcel to be delivered is suspended by a spring
catch. When the bag or parcel has been delivered, these arms are drawn up
against the side of the carriage by means of a counterbalance weight inside;
at the side of the railway is erected an upright receiving standard and frame-
work, furnished with diverging lines to disengage the bag or parcel from the
projecting arm. As soon as the bag or parcel leaves the projecting arm, it is

page_text: received upon a circular inclined platform, which conducts it down behind the
standard clear of the rails. Any number of bags or parcels can in this way be
delivered at the station from railway trains in rapid motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Dicker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DICKER, of Hendon, in the County of Middlesex, Supervisor of Mail Bag
Apparatus, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Dicker, Her special licence that I, the said John Dicker, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Dicker, 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 APPARATUS FOR
THE DELIVERY OF BAGS OR PARCELS FROM RAILWAY TRAINS IN MOTION," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Dicker, 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 John Dicker, 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 state-
ment thereof, that is to say:-
To the near side of the railway carriage is attached one or more projecting
arms, from which the bag or parcel to be delivered is suspended. When the
bag or parcels have been delivered, these projecting. arms are drawn up close

page_text: against the side of the carriage by means of a counterbalance weight inside:
At the corresponding side of the railway there is erected an upright receiving
standard and framework, furnished with diverging lines, to disengage the bag
or parcel from the projecting arm. As soon as the bag or parcel leaves the
projecting arm it is received upon an inclined platform, which conducts it down
behind the standard clear of the rails. Any required number of bags or parcels
can in this way. be delivered at a station from railway trains while in
motion.
And in order that the manner of performing my said Invention may be more
clearly understood, reference is had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
the following description thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1 is a plan view; Figure 2, a front end elevation; and Figure 3, a
back view of the apparatus. The same letters refer to similar parts in each
of these Figures.
R, C, is a railway carriage; 2, 3, the rails; A, A, are arms (technically
called traductors) placed one on each side of the carriage door, and kept in a
horizontal position by the weight of the bag B and parcel P; D, D, is an
upright standard or framed partition padded on the inside, to which is jointed
the receiving net N; L, L, are two lines diverging from the point E to the
two sides of the apparatus; N2 is a continuation of the netting conducting to
the incline I and enclosure K. As the railway carriage passes the receiving
station, the lines L, L, catch against the suspenders of the bag and parcel and
detach them from the arms A; the bags falling into the netting are carried by
their momentum down the incline I into the enclosed space K. In this way
any number of parcels can be delivered in succession from a railway train
while at full speed. The whole of them will be collected within the enclosure
K, from whence they are afterwards taken by the door k³. As it is essential
to prevent the collapsing of the receiving net N, it is held down by a self-acting
catch. After the parcels have been delivered the net N is folded up out of
the way against the framed partition D, D, joints being provided at n³, n³, for
that purpose.
Mail bags have heretofore been delivered singly from railway carriages in
motion by the apparatus designed and perfected by myself, consisting of a
traductor affixed to the side of the railway carriage and a receiving net placed
at the side of the railway.
I therefore desire it to be understood that what I claim as constituting my
present improvements in apparatus for the delivery of bags or parcels from
railway trains in motion, is the arrangement, substantially as herein-before

page_text: described and shewn in the accompanying Drawings, whereby any required
number of bags or parcels may be delivered in succession into the same
receiving net from railway trains in motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dicker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
W. BADDELEY,
Patent Agent,
18, Angell Terrace,
Islington.
JOHN DICKER. (L.S.)