CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, of Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, and Matthew Slade Hooper,.
of Sydenham, in the County of Kent, for the Invention of
Sealed the 15th March 1854, and dated the 16th September 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Baldwin Fulford
Weatherdon and Matthew Slade Hooper at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 16th Sep-
tember 1853.
WC, BALDWIN FULFORD WEATHERDON, of Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, and MATTHEW SLADE HOOPER, of Sydenham, in
the County of Kent, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS
follows, that is to say:
Our Invention consists in the construction and arrangement of
certain contrivances for more effectually signalling the passage or
transit of trains and the time elapsed thereafter, and preventing the
accidents hitherto consequent upon the inattention or negligence of the
men employed; that is to say, in order to obviate the necessity of pro-

page_text: viding men to look after and work the signals of the present construc-
tion, it is our intention to provide other signal posts to be erected at
convenient distances along the line, and each of such signal posts to be
brought into direct communication with the rail at such points as may
be conveniently acted upon by the train in its pasage or transit. To
effect which object we adjust, in connection with the rail and signal
arm, suitable mechanical contrivances for lifting or raising the said arm
from a vertical to a horizontal position, as is now customarily done by
the man in attendance; also other mechanical contrivances by which
the said arm, after having been thus raised, is partially detained, so that
it may return to its former position, gradually occupying in its descent
such a time as should be allowed to elapse before the passage of the
following train. And in order that the ascent or gradual descent of
the said arm may produce a signal by night as well as by day we fix
upon the said arm bull's eyes of suitable colours, as at present in use
for signals, and upon the signal post a lamp or light in such a position
that the bull's eyes may be brought alternately in front of it, according
to the ascending or descending motion of the arm, which is effected by
one and the same operation as by day.
We do not confine ourselves to the precise details herein-before
mentioned, but we claim,-
Firstly, the mode or modes of constructing railway signals in such a
manner that the movement of the arms which signal by day may also
signál by night, by bringing in front of the lamp or light bull's eyes or
colored glasses as aforesaid.
Secondly, the employment of mechanism for giving motion to and
causing the gradual descent of the arm in conjunction with the employ-
ment of the bull's eyes or colored glasses, as herein-before described and
set forth, by which means the trouble and responsibility at present
devolving upon the signal men are greatly diminished, and if the
apparatus be rendered self-acting may be totally avoided.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon and Matthew
Slade Hooper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th March
1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
BALDWIN FULFORD WEATHERDON, of Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, and MATTHEW SLADE HOOPER, of Sydenham, in the County
of Kent, send greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon
& Matthew Slade Hooper, Her special licence that we, the said Baldwin
Fulford Weatherdon & Matthew Slade Hooper, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Baldwin Fulford
Weatherdon & Matthew Slade Hooper, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Baldwin Fulford
Weatherdon & Matthew Slade Hooper, by an instrument in writing
under our 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 Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon
for & in behalf of myself and the said Matthew Slade Hooper,
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, that is to say:

page_text: Our said Invention consists in the construction and arrangement of
certain mechanical contrivances for more effectually signalling the
passage or transit of trains, and the time elapsed after each such
passage or transit, and prevent the accidents hitherto consequent
upon the inattention or negligence of the men employed in signalling;
that is to say, in order to obviate the necessity of providing men to
look after and work the signals of the present construction it is our
intention to construct a self-acting mechanism for effecting railway
signals, or to render self-acting the mechanism at present employed
for the said purpose; to accomplish which object we cause a suitable
number of signal posts to be erected at convenient distances along the
line, and we adjust in connection with each signal post and with the
rail certain mechanical contrivances for lifting or raising the said arm
from a vertical to a horizontal position, as is now customarily done by
the man in attendance; also, if judged convenient, other mechanical
contrivances by which the said arm, after having been thus raised,
is partially detained, so that it may return to its former position,
gradually occupying in its descent such a time as should be allowed
to elapse before the passage of the following train. And in order that
the ascent or gradual descent of the said arm may effect a signal by
night as well as by day, we fix upon the said arm glasses or bull's eyes
of suitable colors, as at present in use for signals, and upon the signal
post a lamp or light in such a position that the bull's eyes may be
brought alternately in front of it, according to the ascending or descend-
ing motion of the arm, which is effected by one and the same operation
as by day.
But in order that the nature of this our said Invention may be
more fully understood, and more readily carried into effect, we now
proceed to describe them by the aid of the accompanying Drawings,
reference being had to the letters and figures thereon marked; that is
to say, the annexed Drawings represent at Fig. 1, a front elevation
of our improved self-acting railway signal-post with the arms extended;
Fig. 2, a corresponding view of the same with the arms down, the
upper casing being removed for the purpose of showing the arrange-
ment of the different colored glasses in connection with the arms and

page_text: the mode of working them; Fig. 3, a side elevation, showing the
position of the signal posts in connection with the rail; and at Figs. 4,
5, 6, and 7, enlarged views of the several working parts separately shown.
In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar corre-
sponding parts.
A, A, signal posts; B, B, case enclosing the arms; C, C, signal
arms turning on a common axis or shaft D, D; E, E, metallic
frame for holding the colored glasses in the signal arm, and giving
strength to the bearing upon which it works; F, F, fixed lamp
furnished with white lens or plane glass at the back and front to give
a signal on both sides of the post; G, G, colored glasses, red and blue,
respectively moving upon the signal arms over the face of the fixed
lamp or lens, and in connection therewith, indicating by night the
position of the said arms, and giving signals corresponding to those by
day, in place of the ordinary night siguals produced by a revolving
lamp, which could not with equal simplicity be adapted to our self-
acting apparatus, indicating the time clapsed after the passage or
transit of a train; H, H, vertical rods connecting the signal arms
with the rail through the intervention of the self-acting mechanism, as
shown; I, I, transverse section of one of the rails taken through the
centre of the apparatus, as seen by the dotted lines in Figs. 5, 6, and 7;
K, K, sleeper; L, L, chair securing the rail and motion bar upon a
fixed bed in such manner that the apparatus may be readily fixed upon
or removed from the road without interfering with the permanent way;
M, M, motion-bar, situated longitudinally with the rail, so as to be
instantly acted on by the passage of a train, and transmit the requisite
movement to the working parts of the apparatus; the said bar should
be made of such length that no wheel may pass entirely over it before
the succeeding wheel has reached the opposite extremity, until every
carriage has gone over; N, N, carriage wheel, the flange of which
actuates the said motion bar M, M; 0, 0, bell-crank lever for
receiving and multiplying the motion of the said bar; P, P, shaft or
axis on which it works; Q, Q, plummer-block standard; R, R, coupling
rod; S, S, weighted lever for raising the signal arm; T, T, friction
roller or pulley fitted into the curved end of the weighted lever S, S, in

page_text: manner shown; U, U, bearing upon which the said lever acts; V, V,
counterpoising weight' or weights for restoring the said motion bar
and intermediate working parts to. their former position, after each
train has past in readiness for the next occasion; W, W, quadrant
lever connected by slotted link movement Y, Y, to the vertical rods
aforesaid; Z, Z, small pinion taking into the said toothed quadrant;
a, a, escapement wheel, mounted loosely on the shaft of the pinion in
such manner as to revolve therewith in one direction only, and conse-
quently receive its motion when the said pinion is is actuated by the
descent of the signal arm, but remain stationary while the said signal
arms, ascends; b, b, escapement; c, c, short pendulum; d, d, box
enclosing the machinery; e, e, door communicating therewith.
On the passage of every train. the flanges of the wheels, introducing
themselves between the, rail and the motion bar, bring into play the
weighted lever, which by a uniform action elevates the signal arm,
and maintains it in a horizontal position till the train has passed. This
action ceasing after the passage of the train, the weight of the signal
arm gives the same a descending motion, which is retarded by the
action of the pendulum and ratchet wheel, or other mechanical con-
trivances, so as to extend over five or ten minutes, or any period
through which the signal, may be conveniently prolonged, the said
signal arm indicating the time elapsed from the passage of each train
by the various positions it assumes in its descent, and at night by the
corresponding changes of the light produced by the colored mediums.
Having now fully described the nature of this our said Invention,
and the mode in which the same is to be performed, we would have it
clearly understood that we do not by any means confine ourselves to the
précise details herein-before given, as the same might be varied without
departing from the general principle of these our said improvements.
But that which we do claim as new, and of our said Invention, is, the
general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus, as
above set forth and described, by which the passage of a train, engine,
or carriage, is made to actuate simultaneously the day and night signals
by one and the same operation, indicating the time elapsed from the
transit by means of the escapement or other retarding mechanism,

page_text: which is entirely self-acting; the movements of the signal being being
uniform for all trains, and thus protecting the apparatus from the
shocks or concussions that would otherwise be produced by those going
at great velocities.
In witness whereof, I, the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
& fifty-four.
BALDWIN FULFORD WEATHERDON.
(L.S.)