IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS
Year: 1884

page_text: I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the county of Middlesex,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS (a communication from Leopold Sellner of Austria
Officer in the Royal Marines) to be as follows:-
"
The object of this invention is to provide improved apparatus for signalling by
night in a reliable and simple manner.
A combination of white or colored electric lights is employed and gives signals
according to a code of signals representing numbers, letters or words or whole
sentences.
These combinations are quite ready in the apparatus and become visible when a
lever is operated.
The apparatus is composed of three parts.
I A generator of electricity.
II A Distributor for the electric current with the table of signals.
III Optical or semaphore devices.
The generator of electricity may be of any suitable kind say a primary battery
an accumulator or a Dynamo-engine provided the necessary electro motive force
generated by such apparatus be sufficient.
The generator has to furnish a sufficiently constant current.
The consumption of energy is variable according to the number of lamps in
action and is equal zero before and after signaling and between two signals.
Automatic rheostats are therefore employed.
The apparatus may comprise eight lamps or lights but in that case not more
than four are to be made use of simultaneously.
The rheostats are in that case equal to the work or consumption of energy of
four lamps.
In the state of rest of the signals the current passes through the rheostats.
On a hard India-rubber-plate or slide which is guided by a button are fixed two
pieces insulated from one another and have each two contact springs,

page_text: Every slide may have double the number of said pieces as lamps are in action
for the respective signal.
The contact springs are in contact with the pieces which are fixed on the bard
India-rubber-plates and are connected by a single insulated wire on one side with
the positive pole of the generator on the other side with the negative one.
Therefore by the movement of only one slide any combination of lamps desired
for a signal may be obtained. The surplus of current passes through the rheostats.
A suitable code of signals is used.
The optical or semaphore devices may be arranged as follows :—
Electric lamps or lights are placed in acquidistant lanterns.
Every lamp has its separate conducting line the return line however is common
to all the lamps or lights.
The whole apparatus may be placed in the rigging of a vessel on a signal post or
in any suitable position.
Incandescent lights are thus used for night-signals. The chief advantage of the
apparatus is the possibility of producing every combination of lamps by the
movement of only one slide without danger to the lamps and without the trouble
of changing the elements before during or after the signal and the working of the
apparatus is very sim`le.

page_text: Every lamp has its separate conducting line, the return line however is common
to all the lamps or lights.
The whole apparatus may be placed in the rigging of a vessel, on a signal post
or in any suitable position.
Incandescent lights are thus used for night signals.
The chief advantage of the apparatus is a possibility of producing every com-
bination of lamps by the movement of only one slide without danger to the lamps
and without the trouble of changing the elements before during or after the signals
and the working of the apparatus is very simple.
This invention is not limited to any particular construction of the lamps or the
lanterns nor do is it limited to any particular form of the generator of electricity, as
all these elements may be varied without departing from the substance of this
invention which relates only to the distribution of the current and the apparatus
therefore which I will call the transmitter.
Figure 1 is a diagram of the general arrangement of the apparatus.
Figure 1 is a diagram of the electric connections.
Figure 2. is a diagrammatical elevation of part of one stationary partition of the
transmitter. Figure 4 is the corresponding part of the slide. Figure 3 is a
transverse section through part of the transmitter shewing the slide in the two
positions it is capable of assuming.
Figures 5 and 6 are front views of a complete partition and the corresponding
slide respectively.
The transmitter consists of a series of moveable slides S and stationary
partitions P located opposite and in close proximity to the slides S.
The partitions P are made of hard india rubber, ebonite or other suitable
insulating material and each of them carries metal contact pieces 13 11° (Figures 2
and 5) the number and relative position of which is determined by the particular
signal for which the individual partition is designed.
In practice the partitions P are placed in parallel planes one behind the other;
in order to more clearly show the connections they are shewn in the diagram
Figure 1 as being placed in one plane, and instead of having the contact pieces
marked by the same letters arranged in a horizontal line as is shown in Figure 5
and as is the case in practice, they are shown as arranged in vertical lines for
convenience of illustration.
From this diagram Figure 1 it will be seen that the wires a³ a branching off
from the positive main conductor I are connected with the contact blocks 1³ 15
respectively-The contact blocks * are connected through wires a' with rheostats R
the other terminals of which are connected with the negative main conductor II
The contact blocks are connected through wires a with lamps L the other
terminals of which are connected with the negative main conductor.
Opposite to the partitions P and in close proximity to the same are arranged the
slides S made of ebonite or other insulating material and capable of being moved
up and down in guides by means of a button or handle. The face of the slide S
opposite to the corresponding partition P is provided with metallic ribs as
shewn in Figures 3, 4 and 6 and secured to the ribs are the contact springs f¹ƒ
whereas the contact springs f³ f' are secured to the metallic ribs The ribs 1' 1*
are insulated from each other.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-
When at rest the contact springs flf of all slides S bear against the contact
blocke 78 % of the partitions ℗ belonging to them the slides then being down and
E

page_text: contact springs f* bear against the contact blocks but the contact springs f³ are
out of contact with the contact blocks so that an electric connection is established
between the positive and negative main conductors through the wires a³ contact
blocks springs f¹f contact blocks wires a and rheostats R, the lamps being
thrown out of circuit or unconnected.
When a slide S is raised the contact springs fb of the same slide off from the
contact blocks upon the partition P belonging to the said slide but before they
have done so the contact springs f³ have reached the contact blocks in order to
prevent sparking. The contact springs f³ and f* do not leave however their contact
blocks and because of the length of the latter.
Thus the rheostats R connected with the contact blocks upon the said
partition Pare thrown out of circuit and the lamps connected with the contact
blocks of this partition are thrown into circuit. The lamps are therefore lighted
and the signal for which the slide and the corresponding partition are designed is
shown.
Thus by simply raising a slide a definite signal may be given by throwing a
number of lamps forming a certain combination into circuit and at the same time
throwing out of circuit the same number of rheostats. Now as the resistance of each
rheostat is equal to that of a lamp the intensity of the current is kept constant.
The number of sets of contact blocks 13 14 15 16 on each partition is equal to the
number of lamps composing the signal for which this partition is designed. It is
obvious that the number of rheostats employed in the apparatus must be equal to
the maximum number of lamps shown at a time and is entirely independent of the
total number of lamps or signals.
Each signal requires a separate slide S and corresponding partition P and there-
fore there must be as many slides as there are different elementary signals in the
signalling code. It is preferable to mark the button or handle of each slide with
the signal for which it is designed. The signal itself consists of a combination of
lamps lighted simultaneously and is defined by the color of the lamps shown or by
their position relatively to each other or by both.
In the accompanying drawings 8 lamps are shown 4 of which, not more than
four are shown at a time and the apparatus is designed for 8 distinct elementary
signals; these numbers however may be varied.
In Figure 5 the partition 8 on the right hand end of the diagrams Figures 1
and 1 is shown as it looks in practice and in Figure 6 the corresponding slide is
shewn; when the latter is raised a signal composed of the 2nd 4th 6th and 8th lamp
from top to bottom is shown. In Figure 2 the arrangement and connections of one
set of contact blocks
is shown separately and in Figure 3 one set of
contact springs of the slide is shown.
In Figure 5 the contact blocks are made in one piece; the same might be the
case with the contact blocks without producing any change in the working of
the apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to.
me by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
1. In electric signalling apparatus a series of stationary partitions or plates each
of which carries one or more sets of contact pieces arranged substantially
as described and shown, which are connected with the main conductors, rheostats
and electric signalling lamps, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown in
Figure 1 and 1 of the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination of the partitions or plates P provided with one or more sets
of contact pieces 1111 arranged and connected substantially as described with
the slides S carrying a corresponding number of sets of contact springs ƒ¹ƒˆ ƒ³ ƒˆ
substantially as and for the purpose described.

page_text: 3. The improved electric signalling apparatus in which by merely actuating one
slide a definite combination of lamps is lighted or shown and so a definite
elementary signal is given without affecting the other parts of the apparatus or
the intensity of current and without necessitating any direct manipulation with
the lamps themselves.
"
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