IMPROVEMENTS IN GIVING SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bernard Cowvan, of Fenchurch Street, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GIVING
SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 28th December 1858, and dated the 11th October 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bernard Cowvan
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th October 1853.
I, BERNARD COWVAN, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GIVING SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS" to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to arrange apparatus for communi-
cating signals by sound to the driver of a coming or following train in
cases where a train on a railway is stopped from any cause. For this
purpose bells or sounding instruments are placed at suitable distances
apart on a railway, and proper wires or connections and pulls applied
in such inauner that in case of a train stopping by the breakage of any
part of the locomotive, or otherwise, the guard or other person may
readily be able to pull and put in action the bell or sounding apparatus,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bernard Cowvan in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th April 1854.
-
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
BERNARD COWVAN, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, 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 me, the said Bernard Cowvan, Her
special licence that I, the said Bernard Cowvan, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Bernard Cowvan,
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 GIVING SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Bernard Cowvan, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Bernard Cowvan, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
The object of this Invention is to arrange apparatus for communi-
cating signals by sound to the driver of a coming or following train in

page_text: cases where a train on a railway is stopped from any cause. For this
purpose bells or sounding instruments are placed at suitable distances
apart on a railway, and proper wires or connections and pulls applied
in such manner that in case of a train stopping by the breakage of any
part of the locomotive, or otherwise, the guard or other person may
readily be able to pull and put in action the bell or sounding apparatus,
and thus give notice by sound at stations and intermediate places
behind and before the disabled train.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, shows in elevation part of a line of railway with apparatus
arranged according to Invention.
my
a, a, are two posts or uprights
having each a bell mounted thereon, or it might be any other form of
sounding instrument which will sound on being actuated or struck, and.
these bells, as they are on the same wire, are alternated in their
positions in order that they may balance each other, and therefore
require the least effort to put them in motion. c, is a wire, which
may be of any desired length, say, from station to station, if that
distance is not very great. The wire c, is kept stretched by means of
weights d, d, which balance each other; they will consequently require
only a moderate effort to put them in motion. e, c, are semaphore
posts, with arms f, f, and these arms are put in motion by the move-
ment of the wire c, which is connected to the crank g, and the other
end of the crank is attached by a wire or rod to the crank on the axis
of the semaphore arm; hence, whenever the wire c, is moved, and the
bells sounded, the semaphore arms will be put in motion. The sema-
phore arms on the succeeding posts are arranged to balance each other,
so as to require as little effort as may be to put them in motion. The
semaphore arms are forked or made double at their lower ends in order,
when down, to cover the lamp h, as will readily be understood by
reference to Figure 2, where the semaphore apparatus is shown on a
larger scale. i, i, are levers, the axes of which are carried by short
uprights or posts j, j, by means of which not only may the sounding

page_text: apparatus be put in motion, but also the semaphore apparatus, all
along a line of railway. The semaphore posts may be placed at any
desired distance apart, depending on whether the line of railway is
straight or curved, and the distance which they can be seen from cach
other; but with respect to the lever handles i, i, these should be within
a few hundred yards of each other, say every quarter of a mile, and
the bell or sounding apparatus about a half a mile apart, but these
distances may be varied. It will be evident that by arranging appa-
ratus in the manner above described along a line of railway that if a
train of carriages from any cause be stopped at any point of the line,
the sounding apparatus, and also the semaphore apparatus, might be
almost immediately put in action, and thus give warning both forward
and backward of the stoppage of the train. Ordinarily the semaphore
apparatus would be at rest, whether pointing as shown, or down, as
might be preferred, and at night the lamp would either ordinarily be
uncovered and shown, or the reverse, as preferred. But when from
accident a train is stopped, and the sounding apparatus is put in
motion, the semaphore apparatus would be put in motion, by which
the engineer and guards of trains coming in either direction would
have full notice of the stoppage of a train, and would use such care
and diligence as would prevent the moving trains running into the
stationary train. The apparatus above described is, I believe, the best
and most simple form in which my Invention can be carried into
practice; at the same time the apparatus may be varied in form and
detail. I do not, therefore, confine myself to the precise arrangement of
parts above described, and I have at Figures 3, and 4, shown an
elevation and plan of apparatus which, though in substance and effect
the same as what I have described above, differs in some of the details,
and principally in using a series of endless wires on pulleys k, acted on
by lever handles i, in like manner to those above described. In this
arrangement the sounding apparatus and the semaphore apparatus are
similarly arranged to what have before been described.
I would state that it is not essential to my Invention that a sema-
phore apparatus should be used therewith, as the sounding apparatus
may alone be used.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no
claim to any of the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the
details; but what I claim is, the combination of apparatus for giving
signals on railways.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bernard Cowvan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
FRED HARRIS.
B. COWVAN. (L.S.)