Carriages, Vans, or other Vehicles or Rolling Stock Requiring such Lights.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 30th June, 1887
Complete Left, 31st Mar., 1888
Complete Accepted, 11th May, 1888
Carriages, Vans, or other Vehicles or Rolling Stock Requiring
such Lights.
I, THOMAS WILLIAM HELLIWELL of Brighouse, Yorkshire, Civil Engineer do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has reference to the method of and means for raising and lowering
the gas or other lights, as aforesaid, used in railway or other carriages or vebicies,
when the Train enters and emerges from the tunnel; and also for reducing the gas
lights to a minimum, and partially raising them again, when entering and leaving a
Station, or for raising or lowering or otherwise controlling the said lights at any
desired point; the object of such invention being to prevent the waste of gas or other
illuminant, when it is not required for lighting purposes, and thereby considerably
reduce the cost.
In order to carry out my invention for raising and lowering gas or other lights in
railway carriages, I prefer that a receptacle containing the gas or other lighting
material, shall be fixed under or upon each carriage, the gas therefrom being conveyed
to each compartment by means of a pipe, passing up one end or other suitable part
of the carriage. A valve is fixed to this pipe at any suitable height thereon, and a
lever or wheel is secured to the spindle of the said valve. To the opposite ends of the
said lever or to opposite sides of the wheel, are connected two rods, passing through
guides secured to the end of the carriage, the lower ends of these rods being slightly
curved, or they may be provided with friction runners, or wheels. When one of these
rods is raised or forced upwards, it operates the lever and opens the valve, allowing
the required quantity of gas or other lighting material, to pass to the several com-
partments forming the carriage, but, when the other rod is forced upwards, the position
of the lever is reversed, and the valve closed to the required extent, so that only the

page_text: desired quantity of gas is admitted to the burners. The extents to which the valve
may be operated to give the desired light, are previously determined, and pins or
suitable stops so placed in a quadrant or bracket, that the lever on being operated
so as to open or close the valve, comes against the said pins or stops and thus
prevents the further opening or closing of the said valve.
In order to raise or force these rods upwards so as to raise and lower the gas
lights automatically when entering and emerging from a tunnel, I place on a sleeper,
or upon the ground, or in any other suitable position at the entrance of the tunnel,
a piece of metal or other suitable material forming an inclined plane, which is placed
in such a position between the rails, or in any other suitable position, so that the
lower ends of the required rods may come in contact therewith.
When the carriago passes over this inclined plane, the curved end of the rod, or
the friction runner attached thereto, comes against the bottom of the incline which
moves the said rod, thereby operating the lever and opening the valve, so that the
desired quantity of light is immediately given on entering the tunnel. At the opposite
end of the tunnel is another inclined plane so placed, that the required rod may come
in contact therewith, which rod, as it rises up the incline, reverses the position of the
lever and partially closes the valve, so that only a sufficient quantity of gas is admitted
to the burners as may be required or desired.
.Compensation springs may be employed so that when the carriages are weighted and
the lower ends of the rods are on a lower level than has been provided for, the said
springs will allow the rods to rise a little higher when moved by the inclined plane,
and so prevent breakage of the parts.
When stopping at a station, or other position where desired, the lights can be lowered
to a minimum, as there is then no danger of them being put out by the motion of the
carriage, or such lights may be extinguished.
In order to reduce the supply of gas when entering a station, and to increase it
when leaving the station, I place similar inclined planes at any desired position at the
station, to work in a similar manner as already described upon a second set of rods
connected to a lever mounted on the spindle of a second valve placed on a branch
supply pipe, a little above the first named valve. The quantity of gas required to pass
through the second valve having been previously determined, stops or pius are placed
in a quadrant or bracket, such pins or stops preventing the lever from turning the
valve more than is required. A third valve, operated in the same way and by similar
means can be employed, if desired, to regulate the supply of ga to the burners to
any extent.
The rods and lever may be placed in any suitable position upon the carriage, that
position and arrangement which requires no alteration of the parts when the carriage
happens to be turned around, being the most suitable.
The rods may be suitably jointed, so that the lower ends thereof can be lifted out
of the way, when not in use, by any suitable arrangement.
Another device for opening and closing the valves by the Guard or Driver from the
end or any part of the train, may be used either separately or in conjunction with
the arrangement above described. This 1 accomplish by placing suitable weighted
levers of any required shape, or levers provided with springs, on each end of the
carriage, and so arranged, that, when the levers on one of the carriages composing
the Train are operated by the Guard or Engine Driver, they act upon the levers upon
the remaining carriages to the same extent as those operated by the Guard or Driver,
and one or both levers on each carriage being connected to or acting upon the levers
connected to the valve or valves, the supply of gas therethrough is regulated to any
desired extent. By this means the whole of the lights in each carriage are under the
control of the Guard or Driver, and the arrangement on each carriage works inde-
pendently and is not connected to the adjoining carriages or vehicles.
When electricity is used instead of gas, the action of the inclined planes, or the
weighted levers upon the rods would be the same as before described, but instead of
the lever operating a valve, it would operate a switch, whereby the circuit would be
completed or broken, as the case may be.

page_text: I prefer the inclined planes to be made in the shape of a triangle, so that the
rods would not be broken if the carriage were shunted back over the said inclined
planes.
Instead of the inclined plane being a fixture, upon the ground, it may be placed in
the form of a hinged spring on the end of the rod, and the said rod moved by the
incline coming against a fixed stop block, placed in the same position as the incline
would otherwise be fixed.
•
By the means and methods above described, each railway carriage carries its own
separate supply of gas which is automatically and independently regulated and con-
trolled, so as to raise or lower the lights in the compartment of the carriage when and
where required.

page_text: Improvements in the Method of and Means for Raising and Lowering
or otherwise Controlling as Desired the Gas, Electric, or other
similar and Suitable Lights Employed for Illuminating Railway
Carriages, Vans, or other Vehicles or Rolling Stock Requiring
1 THOMAS WILLIAM HELLIWELL of Brighouse, Yorkshire, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention has reference to the method of and means for raising and lowering
the gas or other lights as aforesaid, used in railway or other carriages or vehicles,
when the train enters and emerges from the tunnel, and also for reducing the gas
lights to a minimum, and partially raising them again, when entering and leaving a
station, or for raising or lowering or otherwise controlling the said lights at any
desired point; the object of such invention being to prevent the waste of gas or other
illuminant, when it is not required for lighting purposes, thereby considerably
reducing the cost thereof.
In order to carry out my invention for raising and lowering gas or other lights in
railway carriages, I prefer that a receptacle containing the gas or other lighting media
shall be fixed under or upon each carriage, the gas therefrom being conveyed to each
compartment by means of a feed pipe, passing up one end or other suitable part of the
carriage. A valve is fixed to this feed pipe at any suitable height thereon, and a lever
or wheel is secured to the spindle of the said valve. To the opposite ends of the said
lever or to opposite sides of the wheel are connected two rods, passing through guides
secured to the end of the carriage, the lower ends of these rods being slightly curved,
or they may be provided with friction runners or wheels. When ono of these rods is
raised or forced upwards, it operates the lever and opens the valve, allowing the
required quantity of gas or other lighting medium to pass to the several compartments
forming the carriage, but, when the other rod is forced upwards, the position of the
lever is reversed, and the valve closed to the required extent, so that only the desired
quantity of gas is admitted to the burners. The extents to which the valve may be
operated to give the required light are previously determined, and pins or suitable
stops so placed in a quadrant or bracket, that the lever on being operated so as to
open or close the valve, comes against the said pins or stops and thus prevents the
further opening or closing of the said valve.
In order to raise or force these rods upwards so as to raise and lower the gas lights
automatically when entering and emerging from a tunnel, I place on a sleeper, or upon
the ground, or in any other suitable position at the entrance of the tunnel, or other
place, an inclined plane, so that the lower ends of the vertical rods may come in
contact therewith.

page_text: Such being the nature and object of my said invention, I will now proceed to
describe the same moro fully, and for that purpose make reference to the accom-
panying sheets of Drawings illustrative thereof, wherein Fig. 1 is geometrical view of
one end of a railway carriage having my improvements applied thereto, which consist
of two vertical rods a and b connected to the short horizontal lover having its
fulcrum at d, which is the spindle of the inlet valve e, attached to the gas feed pipe f
for feeding gas or other illuminant to the various compartments of the carriage, as will
be well understood. The vertical rods a and bare kept steady in their up and down
movements by the guide brackets g; and to the bottom of the said rods are antifriction
bowls h. The adjustable inclined planes i are made secure to the railway sleepers so
that as the antifriction bowls ride up the said inclined planes, the vertical rod a is
raised and the valve e opened thereby; if, therefore, one of the inclined planes is
placed at the entrance of either a tunnel or station, gas would be admitted to the
pipes and the lights turned on; and if an incline plane is placed at the outlet of a
tunnel or at a given point on leaving a station or other place, the other vertical rod b
would be raised, causing the lever c to oscillate in the reverse direction, so as to
diminish the supply of gas but not to extinguish it, as it is obvious that a sinall light
must always be left burning. In order that the lever c may not be moved past a
given point when turning on the gas, a stop piece is made to project from the
quadrant j, and another stop! piece k also projects from the said quadrant, to prevent
the lever c oscillating too far, as it is necessary that a small light should remain
burning.
Compensation springs may be employed in connection with the vertical rods a
and b, so that when the carriages are weighted and the bottoms of the rods are on a
lower level than has been provided for, the said compensation springs will allow the
rods to yield and rise a little higher when moved by the inclined plane so as to
prevent breakage of the parts, and this is shewn at 7 and in enlarged section at Fig. 2,
where the bottom part of the rod a or bis made with collars m and n placed in the
enlarged tube o containing spiral spring p. This spring is strong enough to keep the
collar m against the underside of the top part of the tube o, which is the position it
occupies in its extended state but if by weight or other causes, the antifriction bowls
are in a lower position than has been provided for, the spiral spring will yield, and
the breakage of the parts will be prevented. The inclined planes i are hinged at q;
they are also provided with adjusting screws, for the purpose of adjusting the height
of the said inclined planes, so that the size of the lights in carriages can be regulated
as required, but the inclined planes may be connected by rods or other devices to the
signal boxes in order that the signalman may work the inclined planes, when any
alteration in the lights is required, and this will be found advantageous in many
instances, as by working the inclined planes from the signal boxes, the lights may be
turned on at full, or half full, or entirely shut off which is done by lowering the
inclined planes out of reach of the bottom end of the vertical rods; or when dark, the
inclined planes on the whole of the route may be sufficiently elevated to give a
continuously full light, but in the morning the inclined planes may be lowered so as to
shut off the supply of gas at the descretion of the operator.
In cases where no gas is required the supply pipe may be provided with a valve
placed in any convenient position for the purpose of entirely shutting off the supply
of gas, whether the vertical rods are operated or not; and if necessary the vertical
rods may be jointed and hung up beyond the reach of the inclines.
If my improved gas light controlling mechanism be applied to railway carriages
where no alteration is required for a given season, certain parts of the apparatus just
described may be compounded as illustrated in Fig. 3, where it will be seen that I
employ four vertical rods, the first two, a and b, with their inclined planes, being
employed to turn the light on and off at full when entering or leaving a tunnel; the
second pair of vertical rods 1 and 2, with their inclined planes, being employed to
reduce the lights, as required, when entering a railway station, other inclined planes
In this case
being, of course, placed at a position outside the station to raise the gas.
it will be obvious that the inclined planes to regulate the lights when entering a

page_text: tunnel or station may be fixed and permanent, or they may be under the control of
the signalman, the object in this case being to give a definite light in every tunnel
and a definite light in every station.
In order, if necessary, to reduce the burning of gas to a minimum, I employ means
for shutting off the supply of gas of any given compartment or carriage and the
mechanism for performing this is shewn in Fig. 4, where the feed pipe is provided
with valves 4, which can be opened and closed by the horizontal rod 5 placed over
the top of the railway carriage. This rod is connected to the centre of the lever 3 so
that as the rods 1 and 2 are raised and lowered, the said rod 5 is made to partially
revolve or oscillate in doing which a lever arm 6 fixed thereon, shewn moro fully in
Figs. 5 and 6, the former of which is end view and the latter plan view thereof,
where it will be seen that the end of the lever arm 6 is slotted and receives the
cranked arm of the valve rod in the valve 4, consequently as the vertical rods 1 and 2
are raised, the gas in any carriage or compartment may be turned on or off at
pleasure or other mechanical equivalents may be employed for operating the
valves.
Although in this specification I have referred to inclined wedges or surfaces placed
on the ground for operating the gas supply taps, it must be understood that wedges
or inclined planes may be fixed in any other convenient position for operating
mechanism in connection with taps and valves, or the valves may be so placed that an
advancing train may come in contact with any suitably placed rod and so operate the
said valves for the purpose of opening or closing them.
When electricity is used instead of gas for lighting railway carriages, the action of
the inclined planes or the vertical rods would be the same as before described, but
instead of the levers e operating a valve it would have to operate a switch whereby
the electric circuit would be completed or broken, as the case may be.
By the employment of automatic apparatus as herein described, for regulating and
controlling the supply of gas to railway carriages and other rolling stock, gas or
electricity can be supplied whenever required, and turned off, or partially turned off,
consequently the waste of gas is absolutely reduced to the lowest point.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
Firstly In connection with railway carriages and other rolling stock, the
combination therewith of inclined surfaces and intermediate parts for operating gas
supply valves by the motion of the carriage, in manner and for purposes substantially
as herein shown and described.
-
Secondly In railway carriages and other rolling stock, the combination therewith
of apparatus substantially as herein shewn and described whereby an advancing
carriage raises and lowers or otherwise controls gas, electric, and other lights.
Dated this 28th day of March 1888.
TASKER & CROSSLEY,
Halifax, Agents.