IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS BY ELECTRICITY
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, of Paddington, in
the County of Middlesex, Telegraph Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS BY ELECTRICITY."
Scaled the 9th January 1874, and dated the 11th July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Ernesto
Spagnoletti at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th July 1873.
I, CHARLES ERNESTO SPAGNOLETTI, of Paddington, in the County of
Middlesex, Telegraph Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS BY
ELECTRICITY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway signals in
which safety and economy are combined by the application of electricity,
by which means the actual signals on the line for the guidance of engine
drivers are worked at any distance. I employ for this electro-magnets
so placed as to form a pair (or pairs) of magnets. Two pairs of the

page_text: electro-magnets are placed opposite each other. On a rocking shaft
bearing on V" on the knife edge principle I fix a sheet of soft iron, so
arranged as to be under the influence of the electro-magnets whichever
set (or sets) may be brought into action as required. On this rocking
shaft I place a tooth wheel or part of a wheel so arranged as to multiply
the are given by the rocking shaft, this toothed wheel works into
another one which is attached to the arm, semaphore, cross bar, disc,
glasses, or whatever may be required to be worked.
The electro-magnets which give the moving power to the signal are
charged by a galvanic battery, connection with which is made either by
a person making contact by an usual instrument for such a purpose, or
by means of a treadle or spring so fixed on a line of railway that
· the passing train can make contact, and thus this system is self-
acting.
The electro-magnets can be worked with direct current or by or by
preference by a local battery by the use of a relay. If this is used I
so arrange the relay that as soon as it is brought into use the required
contacts are made and the local battery is brought into action, and these
contacts are kept on until the signal in going up or coming down breaks
the contact. By this means I secure hightened contact for the local
battery as may be required. Attached to this apparatus and working
also with the action of the electro-magnets I arrange locks, so that
upon a signal being put up or taken down it remains locked in that
position, and it can only be removed or altered by the action of the
opposite magnets which are required to be used to alter the signal.
The treadles I employ may be the ordinary slotted treadles or centre
hinged treadle, or tipping treadle.
The centre hinged treadle I make as follows:-Two long pieces of
iron hinged at each end attached to the baulks, sleeper, or other founda-
tion, the two loose ends coming within a foot or eighteen inches of
each other, this space is filled up with a short piece of iron, flat, on
hinges at each end so that it obtains movement at each end of the
long rods it is attached to. Under this centre piece is placed a strong
spring or lever with a weight attached at the other end of sufficient
weight to keep the treadle up to the level of the crown of the rail, so
that the flange of the wheel depresses the treadle and contact is made
by the rod or lever being brought into position by the cocking up of

page_text: the same at the opposite side to that depressed, it being fixed on a
centre.
The tipping treadle I make thus:-I have a long rod of square iron
journalled at certain intervals for bearings, on this rod are fixed a series
of T pieces; these are shut on to the rod or bar so as to form a con-
tinuous piece of metal on which the flange of the wheels of a train can
run, or instead of using T pieces another rod or an iron plate can be
fixed on to the rod or bar. Under the T pieces or the plate are put at
certain intervals spiral or other springs, or a lever rod or rods with
counterbalance weights, before described, and an electrical contact
maker is attached, and electrical contacts are made by the action of the
treadle to take down the signal at the station in the rear, to put up one
at the station or point required when passing and to ring a bell to the
station in advance; three contacts are therefore required to be made,
which is done by the action of the treadle if treadles are used, or by the
signalman if the signals are required to be worked by men instead of
treadles.
At junctions where two, three, or more lines verge or run into one
track I arrange a system of locking signals by having an apparatus
made so that when you put in a piece of metal with a handle to it, it
can be slid backwards and forwards in a groove or channel, and by this
action it is so arranged that when it is slid forwards the signals are put
to "all right" and when it is slid backwards to "danger," or vice versa
if circumstances require it. Over this groove apparatus I have a sliding
box with an aperture in it so that all the holes into which the piece of
metal is put, with the exception of onc, are covered up and only one
signal can be got at at a time, so that the signals are locked and only
one signal can be taken down together.
I have so arranged the signals that even then they cannot be worked
unless the points are on the proper or required position for a coming
train.
In signal boxes I attach to the ordinary locking frame my Patent
electric tell-tale clock, by which means register may be kept of the time
a signal is in any position up or down during the day or night, and how
long it is in either position. These tell-tale clocks can be placed at
each signal and worked by the movement of the actual
bar, or its equivalent if preferred.
arm,
disc, cross

page_text: On the signal rod or rocking shaft worked by the magnets I fix an
apparatus for electrical communications to which a signal repeater is
fitted in any required place, so that when treadles are used at inter-
mediate boxes where no signalmen are kept the repeater may show the
men on either side or cach side the condition of the signal at this
intermediate place, and thus the working of the signal can always
be seen at the passing of every train by the men, and its working
checked.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ERNESTO SPAGNOLETTI, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex,
Telegraph Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the 2
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti,
Her special licence that I, the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, my 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
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS
BY ELECTRICITY,' upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
"

page_text: 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 Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invetion, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway signals, in
which safety and economy are combined by the application of electricity,
by which means the actual signals on the line for the guidance of engine
drivers are worked at any distance. I employ for this electro-magnets
so placed as to form a pair (or pairs) of magnets. Two pairs of the
electro-magnets are placed opposite each other. On a rocking shaft I
fix a sheet of soft iron, so arranged as to be under the influence of the
electro-magnets, whichever set (or sets) may be brought into action, as
required. On the rocking shaft I place a toothed wheel or part of a
wheel, so arranged as to multiply the are given by the rocking shaft.
This toothed wheel works into another one which is attached to the arm,
semaphore, cross bar, disc, glasses, or whatever may be required to be
worked.
The electro-magnets which give the moving power to the signal are
charged by a galvanic battery, connection with which is made either by
a person making contact by small levers so arranged with a slotted
sliding bar that only one can be worked at a time, and when worked
must be put back before the sliding bar can be moved to work another
handle, and the putting back of the lever or handle affects the signal.
This system can be applied to ordinary signals and points. A second or
third sliding rail, if required, can be used; or by means of a treadle or
spring so fixed on a line of railway that the passing of a train can make
contact, and thus this system is self-acting.
The electro-magnets can be worked with direct currents, or by
preference by a local battery by the use of a relay. If this be used I so
arrange the relay that as soon as it is brought into use the bolt lock is
withdrawn, the required contacts are made, and the local battery is
brought into action, and these contacts are kept on until the signal in
going up or coming down breaks the contact. By this means I secure

page_text: lengthened contact for the local battery, as may be required. Attached
to this apparatus, and working also with the action of the electro-
magnets I arrange locks, so that upon a signal being put up or taken
down it remains locked in that position, and it can only be removed or
altered by the action of the opposite magnets, which are required to be
used to alter the signal. This system can be applied to semaphore posts,
and work the rod attached to the arm.
The treadles I employ may be the ordinary slotted spring treadle, or
centre hinged treadle, or a tipping treadle, or a multiplying lever acted
on by the deflection of the rail.
The centre hinged treadle I make as follows:-Two long pieces of iron
hinged at each end, attached to the baulk, sleeper, or other founda-
tion, the two loose ends coming within a foot or 18 inches of each
other; this space is filled up with a short piece of iron, flat, on hinges at
each end, so that it obtains movement at each end of the long rods it is
attached to. Under this centre piece is placed a strong spring or lever
with a weight attached at the other end of sufficient weight to keep the
treadle up to the level of the crown of the rail, so that the flange of the
wheel depresses the treadle, and contact is made by the rod or lever
being brought into position by the cocking up of the same at the opposite
end to that depressed, it being fixed on a centre.
The tipping treadle I make thus:-I have a long rod of square iron
journalled at certain intervals for bearings. On this rod are fixed a
number of I pieces. These are shut on to the rod or bar so as to
form a continuous piece of metal on which the flange of the wheels of a
train can run; or, instead of using 75 pieces another rod or an iron
plate can be fixed on to the rod or bar. Under the I pieces or
the plate are put at certain intervals certain spiral or other springs or a
lever rod or rods with counterbalance weights, as before described, and
an electrical contact maker is attached, and electrical contacts are made
by the action of the treadle to take down the signal at the station in the
rear, to put up one at the station or point required when passing,
and to ring a bell to the station in advance. Three contacts are therefore
required to be made, which is done by the action of the treadle, and

page_text: more can be made if required (if treadles are used), or the deflection of
the rail by the weight of the engine can be used to work a piston with a
multiplying bar or lever, and a treadle may thus be dispensed with; or
signals can be made by the signalman, if signals are required to be
worked by men instead of treadles, in which case I use a row of small
levers with a slide rail in front of the levers with a slot in it, so that
only one lever can be pulled down, and that one the one opposite to the
slot, and the sliding bar cannot be moved for any other lever to be
pulled down till the lever which has been pulled down is first put
back. This locking system may be applied to ordinary signal and point
levers.
cr
At junctions where two or three or more lines verge or run into one
track, I arrange a system of locking signals by having an apparatus
made so that when you put in a piece of metal with a handle to it it can
be slid backwards and forwards in a groove or channel, and by this
action it is so arranged that when it is slid forward the signals are put to
"all right," and when it is slid backwards to "danger" (or vice versa, if
circumstances require it). Over this groove apparatus I have a sliding
box with an aperture in it, so that all the holes into which the piece of
metal is put, with the exception of one, are covered up, and only one signal
can be got at at a time, so that the signals are locked, and only one signal
can be worked at a time, and no two signals can be taken down together.
I have so arranged the signals that even then they cannot be worked
unless the points are in the proper or required position for a coming
train, or the point lever can be made to put the signal up to danger.
In signal boxes I attach to the ordinary locking frame my patent
electric tell-tale clock, by which means register can be kept of the time
a signal is in any position up or down during the day or night, and how
long it is in either position. These tell-tale clocks can be placed at each
signal, and worked by the movement of the actual arm, disc, cross bar,
or its equivalent, if preferred.
On the signal rod or rocking shaft worked by the magnets I fix an
apparatus for electrical connections, to which a signal repeater is fitted
in any required place, so that when treadles are used at intermediate
boxes where no signalmen are kept the repeater may show the men on
either or each side the condition of the signal at this intermediate place,.

page_text: and thus the working of the signal can always be seen at the passing of
every train by the men, and its working checked.
In the signal lamps I place a light repeater or tell-tale to advise the
signalmen if the lamp is in or out, so that the most perfect arrangement
may be thus secured. This light repeater I form of a tube of glass bent
like a U, with the bulb at the top containing quicksilver or quicksilver
and spirit. At the ends I place a terminal screw with a small piece of
metal running into the tube, so that when the lamp is alight the quick-
silver expands by heat and touches the piece of metal and makes
electrical contact, and shows an indication on an instrument in the
signalman's box "lamp in," and when the lamp goes out the quicksilver
falls by contraction, and severs itself from the piece of metal, and the
severance, by breaking contact signals to the man in the signal box
lamp out." If quicksilver and spirits combined are used the result is
just reversed, the quicksilver making contact when the lamp is burning
badly or out.
"
For calling the attention of drivers of engines to the signals or to ordinary
signals I place on the engine of a train a bell and battery, and also attach
to the engine a spring. On the line of railway between the metals I
place a piece of metal so that the engine passing over it the spring of the
engine is brought into contact with the piece of metal, and this secures
electric connection, and rings the bell on the engine until the driver
stops it. These pieces of metal can be placed and arranged at any
convenient distance from a signal, so that the driver may have his
attention called to the fact that he is within a certain distance of a
signal, and thus in thick or bad weather the chance of his passing it
unobserved is overcome. This bell may, if preferred, be so arranged.
that it will only ring when the signal is at danger. This can be
mechanically arranged only, if thought desirable, so that the whistle of
the engine can be blown to give the similar notice.

page_text: are the clectro-magnets worked by local battery; b, armature or plate of
iron acted on by a, a; c, c, locks locking signal arm up and down;
d, d, relay coil acting on c, c, which when withdrawn releases e; e, e,
the bolt pins on the arm; f, f, relay detents, which are knocked off by
motion of arm moving up or down; G, toothed quadrant, worked by
arm attached to 6; H, pinion on which arm I works; j and k, glasses
for night signals; 1, 1, contact points for working signal repeater,
"
1, 1,
showing signal
" on or signal "off;" m, m, a second relay released by
the blow from c, and putting on to coil; d, d, the local battery tem-
porarily, which works a, a; X, case.
Fig. 5, Sheet 1, shows a semaphore signal, with the apparatus of Figs.
Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 adapted to the working of this signal by acting on the
rod attached to the arm instead of direct. I, signal arm; G, quadrant;
N, locking pins of quadrant, instead of c in arms.
Fig. 6, Sheet 1, represents a tell-tale or repeater worked by the signal.
The top half shows whether the lamp is "in" or "out." The bottom
half the position of the signal. A bell may be added if required.
Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet 2, is a contact maker by deflection of rail; Fig. 1
shows a sectional view of the contact maker; Fig. 2, elevation. a is a
lever bar; 6 is a rail, the deflection of which by the weight of a train.
presses on the head of lever a, which is multiplied at the end by the
fulcrum not being in the centre; c is a helical spring which restores the
lever to its position; & is a contact piece; e, e, springs from wires com
pleting circuit; f, cover or cap.
Figs. 3, 4, and 5, Sheet 2, represent a tip treadle, Fig. 3 being plan,
Fig. 4 transverse elevation, and Fig. 5 longitudinal elevation. a, a, bar'
of iron; b, journals; c, contact maker; d, d, pieces of iron T shaped shoes ;
e, e, railway metal. The passing of a train over d, d, trips it up, and makes
contact at c, rocking on the journals 6; fis a spring restoring shoes & to
normal position.
Fig. 6, Sheet 2, shews the alarum to driver to give notice to him of
his approaching a signal. a is an electrical bell; b, battery; c, wire;
d, flexible spring; e, rail; f, piece of bent metal with earth connections,
sothat on an engine passing either way the spring comes in contact with

page_text: the earth, and electrical contact is made, which sets the bell ringing
which has to be stopped by the driver. Notice of his approach to a signl
is thus given.
I may here observe that a mechanical system working without
electricity might be used, if thought desirable. This system would
consist of a stop placed between the rails, against which a piece of iron
on a lever hinge fixed on engine strikes, and by means of a rope or chain
fixed to said piece of iron sounds a whistle on the engine. Springs are
fixed to take off the effect of blow, and restore piece of iron to its position
after the engine has passed over the stop.
Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet 3, show lamp repeater or tell-tale. a is a tube of
glass of a shape shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. At each end is placed
a metal connection or a terminal screw. This tube is filled with
mercury or mercury and spirits, and placed in the lamp, as shewn in the
Drawing, protected by a partition perforated round the bulb so that it
may become heated. When the lamp is lighted the mercury rises and
forms contact with the metal wire in the end of the tube, and when the
lamp is extinguished or burns badly the contact is severed by the fall of
the mercury. If mercury and spirits combined are used, which I prefer,
when the lamp is burning the spirit expands and drives the mercury
from the metal wire, and when the lamp goes out or burns badly the
spirit contracts and the mercury rises and forms contact with the metal
wire, which communicates to the signalman and indicates " lamp out"
on indicating instrument (shown in Sheet 1, Fig. 6). An electrical bell
may also be attached to ring when the signal " lamp out" is sent.
Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet 4, represent locking apparatus for contact makers.
a, levers; b, locks; c, ratchet; d, frame; e, stop spring or handle;
f, stops; G, spring; H, contact spring ; i, i, contact spring also, so that
on the movement of the lever either side of H and i are brought into
contact, and G is severed from H, and the required current is trans-
mitted to work the signal; K, shifting bar for locking handles. By this
no two handles can be moved at the same time, and the one used must
be put back before the bar can be slid or moved for another to be
worked.
.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed
or put in practice, I hereby declare that I claim the Invention of

page_text: 66
Improvements in Working Railway Signals by Electricity," as regards
the various combinations and arrangements for such purpose, as herein-
before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of January in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
10
T. MORGAN,
Secretary,
C. E. SPAGNOLETTI. (L.S.)
Inventors' Patent Right Asso., Limited,
21, Cockspur Street,
S.W.