IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSEE SIGNALS, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR APPLYING OR PLACING THEM AND FOG SIGNALS ON THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS FROM THE VAN OF A TRAIN IN MOTION
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Reuben Riley, of Hull, in the County of York,
Railway Guard, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSEE SIGNALS,
AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR APPLYING OR PLACING THEM AND FOG
SIGNALS ON THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS FROM THE VAN OF A TRAIN IN
MOTION."
Sealed the 24th January 1862, and dated the 29th July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Reuben Riley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th July
1861.
I, REUBEN RILEY, of Hull, in the County of York, Railway Guard, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSEE
SIGNALS, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR APPLYING OR PLACING THEM AND FOG
SIGNALS ON THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS FROM THE VAN OP A TRAIN IN MOTION," to be
as follows:-
The fusee signals consist of cotton or other combustible substance saturated
in spirits of wine, turpentine, naptha, or other inflammable spirits, and are
attached to the ordinary fog signals. The means or apparatus for applying
them to the rails consists of a portable tube, placed or passed through an
opening or hole in the floor behind the wheels of the van of a train, which tube
extends nearly to the surface of the rails; the fog signal is attached to a rod
by a leaden lip or tongue, and the fusee ignited; then the rod with the signal

page_text: is passed down the tube, and the signal smartly pressed on to the rail by the
guard or attendant, the spring clips holding it thereon as usual, and the rod is
separated therefrom by the movement of the van.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Reuben Riley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REUBEN
RILEY, of Hull, in the County of York, Railway Guard, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Reuben Riley, Her special license that I, the said Reuben Riley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Reuben
Riley, 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 FUSEE SIGNALS
AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR APPLYING OR PLACING THEM AND FOG SIGNALS ON
THE RAILS OF RAILWAYS FROM THE VAN OF A TRAIN IN MOTION," upon the con-
dition, amongst others, that I, the said Reuben Riley, my executors or adminis
trators, 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 said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
sanie 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 Reuben Riley, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
The fusee signals consist of cotton or other combustible substance saturated
in spirits of wine, turpentine, naptha, or other inflammable spirits, and are
attached to the ordinary fog signals. The means or apparatus for applying
them to the rails consists of a portable tube placed or passed through an open-
ing or hole in the floor behind the wheels of the van of a train, which tube

page_text: extends nearly to the surface of the rails; the fog signal is attached to a rod by
a leaden lip or tongue, and the fusee ignited; then the rod with the signal is
passed down the tube, and the signal smartly pressed on to the rail by the
guard or attendant, the spring clips holding it thereon as usual, and the rod is
separated therefrom by the movement of the van.
:
This Invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and the various figures and letters marked thereon; the
same letters referring to the same parts of the apparatus in the different figures
or views..
Figs. 1 and 2 are full size elevations of a fusee signal attached to a fog
signal, and Fig. 3 is a plan of the same.
1
A is the fusee signal, which is made of cotton, lamp wick, or cotton fabric
of cylindrical or tubular form, and stuffed with cotton, leaving a central hole
for the pike B to enter, which pike is formed of a strip of tin plate, and soldered
to the fog signal C, the end b being pointed so that it can be pressed into the
fusee to hold it on the pike; D is a leaden lip or tongue soldered to the fog
signal, for attaching it to the apparatus hereafter described, for laying it on the
rails; and E are the spring clips for holding it on the rails when laid, as usual.
Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the apparatus with the signals attached and in
the position of laying the same on the rails; Fig. 5 is a cross section, and
Fig. 6 is a detail of the same. F is the portable tube, which has a flange G
projecting outward, to rest on the floor of the van, and by which it may be
attached with screws thereto; H is a flange projecting inwardly to prevent the
moveable parts of the apparatus from descending too low; and I are ribs or rods
fixed within the tube, with a cross bar J attached by nuts to the top ends; K
is a moveable rod, with a handle L at its top end, which passes through a hole
in the cross bar J, and at or near the bottom end of which are guide bars M,
which clip on the ribs I and guide the rod K in the tube; the said rod is
screwed, so that the guide bars M can be adjusted on the rod by the nuts N
and O; P is a shoe or loop fixed on the bottom end of the rod K, to which the
signal is attached by means of a leaden lip D.
The manner of applying the signals to the rails is as follows:-The rod K
is withdrawn above the top of the tube, and the signals attached to the shoe P,
the fusee being first saturated in spirits of wine, turpentine, naptha, or other
inflammable spirits, and lighted; the rod is then pressed down the tube, when
the springs E on the fog signal clip the rail R, and hold thereon, and as the
van moves forward the leaden lip is separated from the shoe, leaving the
signals fixed to the rail, at the same time a spiral spring S causes the rod to
rebound. These fusee signals can be made to burn any desirable length of

page_text: time, as may be required, so that the driver of an approaching train will know
to draw up or stop his train 'on' seeing one burning. Such fusee signals may
also be laid on the rails by hand.
Having thus described the nature of this my said Invention, and the means
or manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not
confine or restrict myself to the precise details as herein set forth, either of the
composition of the fusee signals, or the combination and arrangement of appa-
ratus for laying the same and fog signals on the rails; but what I claim as of
my Invention, and which I believe to be new within the realm, is,
Firstly, the use of fusee signals, in manner and for purposes substantially as
explained.
-
Secondly, the means or apparatus for laying them and fog signals on the
rails of railways, as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, or any modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Reuben Riley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this. Twenty-seventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Reuben Riley, in
the presence of
JOHN WATSON.
REUBEN RILEY. (L.S.)