NEW OR IMPROVED INDICATING APPARATUS FOR THE PROTECTION OF RAILWAY PAS- D Dansen ARTED ARTRATE" PRO
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leicester William Glen Rowe, of No. 8, Henrietta
Street, Brunswick Square, and Adolphe Baab, of No. 167, Hampstead
Road, both in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "NEW OR
IMPROVED INDICATING APPARATUS FOR THE PROTECTION OF RAILWAY PAS-
D Dansen
ARTED ARTRATE"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Leicester William Glen
Rowe and Adolphe Baab at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 18th February 1865.
We, LEICESTER WILLIAM GLEN ROWE, of No. 8, Henrietta Street, Bruns-
wick Square, and ADOLPHE BAAB, of No. 167, Hampstead Road, both in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"NEW OR IMPROVED INDICATING APPARATUS FOR THE PROTECTION OF RAILWAY
PASSENGERS, BUILDINGS, ROOMS, SAFES. AND OTHER OBJECTS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in an apparatus worked by an electric current so
arranged and connected with one or more localities or objects to be protected,
that, upon such localities or objects being broken into or otherwise moved or
tampered with, or upon any person at such localities moving a handle, an alarum
will be rung and an indication given by means of a number, letter, or cypher,
of the precise locality that has been broken into, or where a person has moved
such handle. For this purpose I firstly connect an apparatus, which I term the
"communicator," to the locality to be protected; this apparatus consists of a

page_text: "
simple clock movement actuated by a spring or weight, which movement is,
under ordinary circumstances, kept at a stand-still by means of a pawl and
ratchet wheel. On the same axis with the pawl is a lever, which is so con-
nected by means of wires or levers with the doors, windows, or other objects
to be protected that upon these being moved the pawl is raised out of the
ratchet wheel and the clockwork is put in motion. This clockwork is con-
nected by means of a revolving current breaker" and an insulated wire to
a galvanic battery, so that upon its being put in motion a series of electric
currents are successively passed through the wire. At the locality where the
indications are to be made this wire is formed into a coil round an electro-
magnet, which when a current is passing attracts an armature connected
to a lever which actuates the escapement of another clockwork having a
pointer and dial with divisions on its circumference bearing figures, letters,
or cyphers corresponding with those of the localities to be protected, so
that at cach current passing through the coil the pointer of the dial
is made to travel from one division to another. The teeth of the before-
mentioned ratchet wheel of the "communicator" at the locality to be pro-
tected are made of such dimensions that the time which elapses from
the raising of the pawl out of one tooth to its falling into the next
will allow of a number of currents being passed through the wire cor-
responding with the particular number of that locality, so that the pointer
upon the dial at the locality where the indications are made will be moved a
corresponding number of divisions, and will consequently eventually stand
still at the division bearing the number of the locality which has been broken
into; thus, it will be evident that if there are a number of such " commu-
nicators" at the various localities to be protected, and the teeth of the ratchet
wheels of these communicators are respectively made of such different
dimensions as to allow of a different number of currents to be passed cor-
responding with the respective numbers of the localitics, then, according as
the one locality or the other is broken into, the pointer on the dial will be
made to indicate the particular number of such locality at the same time
that the armature of the electro-magnet actuates an alarum. Where this
apparatus is arranged to be actuated directly by persons at the localities where
the "communicators" are fixed, such as in the compartments of railway
carriages, the before-mentioned lever actuating the pawl of the ratchet wheel
is moved directly by such persons by means of a handle or other contrivance
connected thereto in any suitable manner.
Where a greater range of numbers is required than could be indicated
upon the circumference of one dial, then the pointer of one dial is made to

page_text: indicate, say, up to 100 by one revolution, and the arbor of the pointer
carrying a stud is made at each revolution to act upon a star wheel, which
imparts motion to a second small dial situated behind the first-named one,
and having numbers, say, from 100 to 1,000 upon its circumference; a hole
is formed in the large dial before which the numbers of the small dial pass
as it revolves, so that when the pointer of the large dial has passed over all
the 100 divisions of the latter the small dial will be moved one division so as
to shew the number 100 through the hole in the large dial, and so on.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Leicester William Glen Rowe and Adolphe Baab in the
Great Seal Patent Office, on the 16th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME we, LEICESTER
WILLIAM GLEN ROWE, of No. 8, Henrietta Street, Brunswick Square, and
ADOLPHE BAAB, of No. 167, Hampstead Road, both in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Leicester William Glen Rowe and Adolphe Baab, Her special licence that
we, the said Leicester William Glen Rowe and Adolphe Baab, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Leicester William
Glen Rowe, and Adolphe Baab, our executors administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no
no others, from time to time and at all
times thercafler 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 "NEW RO
IMPROVED INDICATING APPARATUS FOR THE PROTECTION OF RAILWAY PASSENGERS,
BUILDINGS, ROOMS. SAFES, AND OTHER OBJECTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Leicester William Glen Rowe and Adolphe Baab,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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 Seat Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
i

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Leicester William Glen Rowe and
Adolphe Baab, 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, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in an apparatus worked by an electric current, so
arranged and connected with one or more localities or objects, that upon such
localities or objects being broken into or otherwise moved or tampered with,
or upon any person at such localities moving a handle, an alarum will be rung
and an indication given, by means of a number, letter, or cypher, of the precise
locality that has been broken into, or where a person has moved such handle.
For this purpose we firstly connect an apparatus, which we term the "com-
municator," to the locality to be protected; this apparatus consists of a simple
clock movement actuated by a spring or weight, which movement is, under
ordinary circumstances, kept at a stand-still by means of a pawl and ratchet
wheel. On the same axis with the pawl is a lever, which is so connected by
means of wires or levers with the doors, windows, or other objects to be protected
that upon these being moved the pawl is raised out of the ratchet wheel and
the clockwork is put in motion. This clockwork is connected by means of a
revolving "current breaker" and an insulated wire to a galvanic battery, so
that upon its being put in motion a series of electric currents are successively
passed through the wire. At the locality where the indications are to be
made this wire is formed into a coil round one or more electro-magnets, which
when a current is passing attracts an armature connected to a lever which
actuates the escapement of another clockwork having a pointer and dial with
divisions on its circumference bearing figures, letters, or cyphers corresponding
with those of the localities to be protected, so that at each current passing
through the coil the pointer of the dial is made to travel from one division to
another. The teeth of the before-mentioned ratchet wheel of the "com-
municator" at the locality to be protected are made of such dimensions
that the time which elapses from the raising of the pawl out of one tooth to
its falling into the next will allow of a number of currents being passed
through the wire corresponding with the particular number of that locality,
so that the pointer upon the dial at the locality where the indications are
made will be moved a corresponding number of divisions, and will conse-
quently eventually stand still at the division bearing the number of the locality
which has been broken into; thus it will be evident that if there are a
number of such "communicators" at the various localities to be protected, and

page_text: the teeth of the ratchet wheels of these communicators are respectively made
of such different dimensions as to allow of a different number of currents to
be passed corresponding with the respective numbers of the localities, then,
according as the one locality or the other is broken into, the pointer on the
dial will be made to indicate the particular number of such locality at the
same time that the armature of the electro-magnet actuates an alarum.
Where the apparatus is arranged to be actuated directly by persons at the
localities where the communicators are fixed, such as the compartments of
railway carriages, the before-mentioned lever actuating the pawl of the ratchet
wheel is moved directly by such persons by means of a handle or other con-
trivance connected thereto in any suitable manner.
When a greater range of numbers is required than could be indicated upon
the circumference of one dial, then the pointer of one dial is made to indicate
up to, say, 100 by one revolution, and the arbor of the pointer carrying a stud
is made at each revolution to act upon a star wheel, which imparts motion to
a second small dial situated behind the first-named one, and having numbers,
say, from 100 to 1,000 upon its circumference; a hole is formed in the large
dial before which the numbers of the small dial pass as it revolves, so that
when the pointer of the large dial has passed over all the 100 divisions of the
latter the small dial will be moved one division so as to show the number 100
through the hole in the large dial, and so on, or a second small pointer may be
employed, actuated in a manner to be hereafter described.
On the accompanying Drawing is shown the construction of our improved
apparatus. Figures 1, 2, and 3 show respectively a back, side, and front
view of the communicator, part of the casing being broken away in Figure 3
to show the current breaker; and Figures 4 to 8 show the construction of the
indicator. Figure 4 shows a back view of the mechanism; Figure 5
shows a side elevation of the same; Figure 6 shows the mechanism at the
back of the dial for actuating the small pointer; Figure 7 shows a plan of
the electro-magnet and escapement; and Figure 8 shows a front view of the
dial and case. Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts in each of
the Figures.
The communicator, Figures 1 to 3, consists of a simple clock movement,
which is set in motion by a spiral spring in the barrel A, and which motion is
communicated through the wheels B, C, D, and their respective pinions to the
current breaker E, which as it revolves successively makes and breaks metallic
contact with the spring F according as the latter rests upon the projecting
metal cogs or upon the surface of vulcanite or other insulating material
situated between them and colored black. The spring F is insulated from the

page_text: casing G by means of a piece of vulcanite H, and is connected by means of
a wire I to the one pole of a battery J, the other pole of which is connected
by the wire I¹ to the one end of coil a round the electro-magnet b in the
indicator. The other end of the coil a and the casing G of the communicator
are cach in communication with the earth, as shown, thus completing the
circuit, so that when the spring F is in metallic contact with the current
breaker E a current passes from the battery J through the coil a, causing the
electro-magnet b of the indicator to attract the armature c, whilst when the
spring F is upon the vulcanite surface of the current breaker the current is
intercepted and the armature c consequently rises from the electro-magnet b,
by which movements of the armature the clockwork of the indicator is set
in motion. The rotary motion of the current breaker E is regulated by the
fly K actualed by the wheel L. To the front face of the casing G of the
communicator is attached a lever M, the one end of which rests upon a
stop N, and has another lever O pressed upon it by means of the spring P.
The spindle Q of the lever O passes through to the back of the casing,
and there carries a second lever R. This lever has a pawl S, which is
caused by the spring P to fall between the teeth of the ratchet wheel.
T fixed upon the same spindle as the wheel B, as indicated, in which position
any motion of the clockwork and consequently any transmission of currents
is prevented, at the same time also the end of the lever R rests against a
stud U on the wheel D attached to the contact breaker, and thereby likewise
prevents the motion of the latter. The free end of the lever M is connected
by means of wires or levers to the doors, windows, or other objects of the
localities to be protected in such a manner that on these being tampered with
the other end of the lever is raised, and in pressing upwards the lever O draws
the pawl S from between the teeth of the ratchet wheel T,
whereby the clockwork of the communicator is put in motion, and a succession
of electric currents is passed through the coil a of the electro-magnet of the
indicator until the pawl S falls into the next space of the ratchet wheel, and
prevents further motion of the clockwork; thus the pitch of the teeth of the
ratchet wheel determines the number of currents transmitted by the current
breaker E, so that by altering this pitch for every communicator at a different
locality a different number of currents will be transmitted by cach
such indicator when put in motion, and this different number of currents is
made to show upon the indicator, in a manner to be now described, the exact
locality where a communicator has been put in motion.
The indicator, Figures 4 to 8, consists likewise of an ordinary clockwork,
set in motion by the spring barrel d, from which motion is communicated

page_text: through the wheels e, f, g, h, and their respective pinions to the escapement
wheel. The motion of the latter is governed by the escapement lever j, the
pallets i, j, of which, when a vibrating motion is imparted to it, permit the
escapement wheel i to perform at one time a portion of a revolution equal to
the distance from one tooth to another, whilst when the escapement lever is
stationary it prevents all motion of the clockwork. The escapement lever is
put in motion by the electro-magnet b, the armature c to which is attached to
the other end of the escapement lever j, and which is attracted by the magnet
every time a current is passed through the coil a, and rises up again as
soon as the current ceases, so that every time such a current is passed and
intercepted the escapement wheel i performs two portions of a revolution,
as described. Upon the same spindle with the wheel is a pointer 1.
which can travel round upon the dial m, and which for every movement of
the escapement lever j and consequent movement of the escapement wheel i
passes from one division to another upon the dial. It will be seen therefore
that if, for instance, the pitch of the teeth of the ratchet wheel of the com-
municator at a certain locality be such as to allow of, say, five currents being
passed and broken from the time that the pawl S is raised out of the ratchet
wheel and the communicator is put in motion to the time that the pawl S
falls into the space of the next tooth, the pointer will, by the action of such
currents, be made to travel from division 1 to division 10 on the dial, and will
then remain stationary; if, on the other hand, the pitch of the ratchet wheel
of a communicator at another locality is such as to allow of ten currents
being passed and broken, the pointer will by the action thereof be made to
pass over twenty divisions on the dial, and so on, so that by the varying
number of divisions passed over by the pointer the locality of the particular
communicator by which the currents are passed will be accurately indicated.
If the indicator is connected to a greater number of communicators at different
localities than can be indicated by divisions upon one dial. then either a re-
volving dial, as before described, actuated by a star wheel, or a second pointer n
upon a small dial o, may be made to register the number of currents passed
at every complete revolution of the pointer by moving from one division to
another. The mechanism by which such motion of the pointer n is in the
present case effected is shown at Figures 5 and 6. Upon the spindle k of
the pointer is a spiral cam p, against which the lever q is made to press by
the action of the spring 7. Upon the spindles of the wheel f is placed,
firstly, a boss t with a hollow spindle, fitting tightly upon and revolving with the
spindle s, and, secondly, a pallet wheel u running loose upon the spindle s,
and having also a hollow spindle, upon the end of which the pointer n is

page_text: fixed. To the back of the wheel u is fixed a pin v, against which a spring w
fixed to the boss t presses in such a manner as to tend to move the wheel u in
the direction of the arrow when the spindle s is revolving; such motion of
the wheel u is however prevented by the lever q except when the spindle k
and pointer have performed one revolution and the cam p is in such a posi-
tion that the lever can rise into the notch in the same, when the spring 10 will
throw the wheel u, and with it the pointer n, forward one division, where
it will be retained by the pin x on the boss t, fitting in a groove on the boss
of the wheel u, until by the rotation of the cam p the lever r is again pressed
down against the next pallet of the wheel u.
The connection of the communicator to the locality or object to be protected
may be variously modified; thus, the lever M may either be connected directly
thereto by means of levers or wires, as described, or this may be connected to
the armature of an electro-magnet in a similar manner to the escapement lever
of the indicator, and the conducting wire from a battery to the electro-magnet
may be so connected with the object to be protected that upon this being
tampered with the current is intercepted. The electro-magnet while the
current is passing retains the lever in the position indicated, and when this
current is intercepted the armature and lever are made to move away from the
electro-magnet, and the communicator is put in motion as described.
Again, when the communicators are fixed, say, in the compartments of
railway carriages, a handle may be connected directly to the lever M. so as to
set the communicator in motion by hand, and the passing of a greater number
of currents than is due to the particular communicator may be prevented by
a spring stop V, shown in dotted lines at Figures 2 and 3, liberated by the
motion of the lever R, which when the ratchet wheel T has travelled the dis-
tance of one tooth is made to spring into a space, and thus prevents further
motion independently of the pawl S.
The contrivance for ringing the alarum connected to the indicator is not
shown on the Drawing, as this may be arranged in any well-known manner
by means of a lever receiving motion either directly from the armature of
the electro-magnet or from the escapement wheel or other part of the
mechanism.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, what we claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the construction and employment of indicating apparatus for the
protection of railway passengers, buildings, rooms, safes, and other objects,
consisting of one or more communicators actuated by clockwork, whereby a

page_text: series of electric currents are transmitted from a galvanic battery to one or
more electro-magnets of an indicating apparatus, the motion of the armature to
which electro-magnet is caused to record, by the agency of clockwork and of
a pointer on a dial, the number of currents passed at one time by any one of
the communicators, substantially as herein-before described with reference to
the accompanying Drawing.
Second, the peculiar arrangement of the communicating apparatus herein-
before described, whereby, when several such situated at different localities
are employed, the number of currents passed at one time by each communi-
cating apparatus is made to differ from the number passed by the others so as
to show upon the indicating apparatus, by the number of currents passed, the
exact locality from which the signal was sent.
In witness whereof, we, the said Leicester William Glen Rowe and
Adolphe Baab, have hereunto set our. hands and seals, this Sixteenth
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-five.
LEICESTER WILLIAM GLEN ROWE. (L.S.)
ADOLPH DAAR
Gal