IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARDS, AND ENGINE DRIVERS ON RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles William Collins at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th February 1872.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM COLLINS, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS,
GUARDS, AND ENGINE DRIVERS ON RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
:-
The object of this Invention is to afford the means of signalling at
different parts of the train by simple and economical arrangements and
combinations of apparatus which require no couplings at the ends of the
carriages, nor fitting or adjusting by the porters or workmen of the
line, and work equally well when the carriages are turned from end
to end.
The nature of the said Invention will be understood by the following
description thereof, reference being had to the figures and letters on the
accompanying two Sheets of outline Drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2
are side and top views, and Figs. 3 and 4 end views of the upper part of
a railway carriage provided with one arrangement of my improved

page_text: apparatus; Fig. 5 an end view of another arrangement of apparatus;
and Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are detached views of various parts.
In both arrangements I employ at both ends of each carriage a two-
armed lever marked a in all the Figures, and use similar levers on the
guard's van and the tender or engine, the levers being fixed to shafts b
working in bearings formed in brackets c fixed to the ends of the
carriages.
The ends of the levers are in the forms of long flat surfaces d nearly
central with the vertical centre of the carriage, so that when the train
is made up the surfaces at one end face the surfaces of the next carriage,
and so on throughout the entire train, the surfaces of the carriage at
one end of the train corresponding with the surfaces on the tender or
engine and the surfaces of the carriages at the other end of the train,
or at any intermediate position corresponding with the surfaces on the
guard's van.
To the shafts are fixed levers e, f, connected together by rods g,
having chains passing over pulleys h, so that both levers a move simul-
taneously in the same or in opposite directions, and when one pair of
levers a are turned they give motion to the levers a on the adjacent
carriages, and so on throughout the entire train, including the guard's
van, tender, or engine, so that a gong, alarum, or other ordinary con-
trivance shall give a signal to the guard, and cause a whistle to be
opened to give a signal to the engine driver.
For working these levers e, f, and a there are cords or chains i cither
inside or outside the carriages, but the cords or chains of one carriage
are perfectly independent of those on the adjoining carriages, and these
cords or chains either move the levers direct or release catches to allow
springs to do so, and when a cord or chain is pulled a signal board j,
Figs. 3 and 4, or a lamp projects outwards to indicate the carriage to
which the attention of the guard is required, and when all is set right
the guard and driver, by means of long levers, assisted if necessary by
a screw or gearing, return the levers e, f, and a to their original
positions.
When for short trains it may be capable to work the levers e, f, and
a by the strength of the hand the surfaces of the levers a are only
sufficiently out of the vertical centre to enable them to correspond with
each other, as shewn in Figs. 9 and 10, but when springs are to be used

page_text: the surfaces are formed as in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, in order to
allow them a certain movement before they come in contact.
To the levers e, f, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, are connected one end of strong
springs k, the other ends of which are fastened to the brackets c or to
the ends of the carriages, and these springs when no signals are required
arc in vertical positions, the levers e, f, being also held vertical by
spring catches, but when a passenger pulls a cord or chain the spring
catches are overcome, and the levers e, f, are moved until the surfaces
of the levers a come in contact, and then the ends of the springs con-
nected to the levers have moved a sufficient arc of the circle to enable
them to exert their power, and give further movement to the levers a,
which in their turn give movements to the levers on the adjacent
carriages, and so on from one carriage to the other for any length of
train.
In the arrangement shewn in Fig. 5 the passenger has simply to raise
the catch n from a notch in the lever e, and then a slight spring o pulls
the lever sideways, as seen in Fig. 8, to allow the strong spring k
to exert its power, and bring the adjacent levers into positions for
their springs k to act even if the slight springs should be on opposite
sides.
When the levers a are to move in the same directions the rods and
chains are connected to the lever e at the top and to the leverf at the
bottom, as seen in Figs. 3 and 4, but when the levers are to move in
reverse directions the rods and chains are connected at both ends to the
tops of the levers, and instead of rods and chains for connecting the
levers, rods and cranks may be employed, and also when the levers are
to move in the same direction, and there are no lamps or ventilators in
the centres of the carriages, the levers of each carriage may be
connected by a shaft extending from one end of the carriage to the
other.
When desired instead of the cords or chains to be used as pulls by
the passengers rods having handles may be used either with or without
screws or gearing to obtain power, and instead of the strong springs k
and spring catches 1, n, direct or lever weights may be used, and also
instead of having the springs acting in opposite directions, as in Figs. 3
and 4, they may pull in the same direction by altering the form of the
lever f

page_text: In another arrangement instead of forming the long surfaces on two-
armed levers I form them on sliding bars, motion being given to the
bars and surfaces by similar means to those before described for the
levers, and in all cases the long surfaces enable motion to be given to
them at all the varying distances the carriages are apart.