AN IMPROVED MEANS OR METHOD OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN PARTS OF A RAILWAY TRAIN
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Michael Fitzgerald at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th November 1853.
I, MICHAEL FITZGERALD, of Sorrel Island, in the County of Clare,
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED MEANS OR METHOD OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN
PARTS OF A RAILWAY TRAIN" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, in the first place, in the adaptation and
application to each carriage of a railway train of an air-tight tube, so
formed and constructed at the ends as to be capable of being united
with the tube of the carriage, before and behind it, in such a manner
as to constitute, in combination with a bellows or other contrivance and
a whistle reed or other sounding instrument, a means of communication
between the driver and guard, or between different parts of a railway

page_text: train; and my Invention consists, in the second place, in the adapta-
tion of such tube to be used as a kind of speaking trumpet or other
mode of communication from one part of the train to another. Along
the top of each carriage or vehicle composing the train I fix a tube
of metal or other suitable material. This tube may be attached to
other parts of a carriage than the top, and may project at each end
thereof for a few inches. These tubes may be protected in any con-
venient manner.
When the various carriages are connected into a
train, these fixed tubes are jointed together by means of flexible
coupling tubes of suitable elasticity and length, composed of any suitable
flexible material or combination of materials. The mode of junction
between the fixed and removeable flexible connecting portions of the
whole tube may be varied, but the required connection may be formed
by constructing the two ends of each fixed tube and uniting them with
the flexible tube in the following manner. One end should be formed
with a conical taper, capable of detachment, and suitable for insertion
into a short conical tubular joint attached to the flexible tube, one of
the said tubular cones being either lined or surrounded with some
elastic material to act as an elastic washer, in such a manner as to
accomodate the junction to any slight difference in the fit of the
various joints. When the said conical taper is inserted it can be con-
nected by straps, elastic rings, hooks, or other means to the flexible
tube, so as to insure an adequate joint. The other end of the fixed
tube should be connected to the other end of the flexible tube, but as
only one end of each flexible tube would, in most cases, require to be
disconnected with the carriages, this joint could be of a less delicate
nature. When the carriages are detached the flexible tube would
depend from the fixed tube and be protected by any suitable receptacle
or contrivance. An air tight tube being thus established along the
whole length of a train, particular sounds; or the means of causing
them, may be thereby transmitted from one end to the other, or from
any intermediate part to one end, by any suitable means or method of
communication. A whistle pipe or reed of any construction may be
attached to the tube at or near the engine, and be made to sound by
means of a bellows or other contrivance under the control of the guard,

page_text: or in some cases by the breath or voice of the guard himself. Various
signals or information could be communicated by this means. Any
suitable mode of communication from the carriages into the main tube
might be adopted.