A NEW OR IMPROVED SELF-ACTING INDICATOR OR MACHINE FOR SHEWING, THE TIMES OF TRAINS TO ARRIVE AT AND DEPART FROM RAILWAY STATIONS, POINTS, AND CROSSINGS, FOR THE BETTER PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ambler and Benjamin Jowett, both of
Bradford, in the County of York, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED SELF-ACTING INDICATOR OR MACHINE FOR SHEWING, THE TIMES OF
TRAINS TO ARRIVE AT AND DEPART FROM RAILWAY STATIONS, POINTS, AND
CROSSINGS, FOR THE BETTER PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR
OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 16th December 1870, and dated the 17th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ambler and
Benjamin Jowett at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th June 1870.
We, WILLIAM AMBLER and BENJAMIN JOWETT, both of Bradford, in
the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED SELF-ACTING INDICATOR OR MACHINE FOR SHEWING
THE TIMES OF TRAINS TO ARRIVE AT AND DEPART FROM RAILWAY STATIONS,
POINTS, AND CROSSINGS, FOR THE BETTER PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS, APPLICABLE
ALSO FOR OTHER PURPOSES," (to be as follows) :-
This Invention consists of an ordinary clock dial, plate, or index with
pointers, and in the same dial plate are one or more openings of any

page_text: suitable size and form, behind each of which is mounted either a rotary
disc or cylinder or an endless travelling apron, upon which is painted,
printed, or otherwise delineated at intervals the information to be shewn.
Intermittent motion is given to the said disc, cylinders, or travelling
aprons at suitable intervals of time by gearing from the clockwork
mechanism arranged so that the required information will be presented
at the opening or openings in the dial plate at the proper time or
times.
This Invention will be readily understood by reference to the accom-
panying outline Drawing. Fig. 1 is an ordinary clock dial on a suitable
plate or plain surface, in which are two openings, marked respectively
'due in " and "due out."
66
Behind these openings are a series of cards or tablets linked together,
and forming endless chains (shewn at Fig. 2), which are carried on
cylinders or on rollers B and B'. The two rollers B are connected by
shafts and gearing with the clockwork in such manner as that inter-
mittent motion will be communicated to the cards or tablets at suitable
intervals of time, cylinders or rollers may be used if desirable without
chains of cards or tablets or endless sheets of paper or other flexible
fabric, the information being printed, painted, or otherwise marked
thereon, and more (or less) than two openings and cylinders, cards, or
tablets may be provided according to circumstances. The same clock-
work giving motion to such cylinders, cards, or other surfaces employed
to exhibit the desired information at the opening or openings. This
Invention is applicable to showing the time of the arrival and departure
of steamboats, omnibuses, & other like purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Ambler and Benjamin Jowett in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM 3
AMBLER and BENJAMIN JOWETT, both of Bradford, in the County of
York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third 3

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Ambler and Benjamin Jowett,
Her special licence that we, the said William Ambler and Benjamin
Jowett, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said William Ambler and Benjamin Jowett, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED
SELF-ACTING INDICATOR OR MACHINE FOR SHEWING THE TIMES OF TRIANS TO
ARRIVE AT AND DEPART FROM RAILWAY STATIONS, POINTS, AND CROSSINGS, FOR THE
BETTER PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Ambler and
Benjamin Jowett, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 we, the said William Ambler and Benjamin
Jowett, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement and two accompanying
Sheets of Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists of an ordinary clock dial plate or index with
pointers, and in the same dial plate are one or more openings of any
suitable size and form, behind each of which is mounted either a rotary
disc or cylinder or an endless travelling apron, upon which is painted,
printed, or otherwise delineated at intervals the information to be shewn.
Intermittent motion is given to the said disc, cylinders, or travelling
aprons at suitable intervals of time by gearing from the clockwork
mechanism, arranged so that the required information will be presented
at the opening or openings in the dial plate at the proper time or
times.
This Invention will be readily understood by reference to the accom-
panying two Sheets of Drawings. Fig. 1 is the front elevation, and
Fig. 2 is the sectional elevation of such an indicator or machine, which

page_text: comprises an ordinary clock dial with suitable clockwork to keep correct
time, fixed in a suitable plate or plain surface of wood or other material,
in which plate are also formed two openings marked respectively "due
in" and "due out." Behind these openings are a series of cards or
tablets A linked or connected together, and forming endless chains
which are carried on square cylinders or rollers B and B. The two
cylinders or rollers B are mounted upon pivots carried in brackets fixed
on the back of the plate, and motion is communicated to them by gear
wheels C and C' from a shaft D supported in brackets E affixed to the
frame of the clockwork. This shaft receives rotary motion by bevel
wheels F, upright shaft F¹, and bevel wheels F2 from the shaft G, on
which is a spur wheel G¹ gearing with a pinion G³,
which gears into
another spur wheel G³ fixed on the barrel H, to which is attached a cord
and weight H', suitable to supply the motive power required. On the
shaft G is also a spur wheel G* gearing with another spur wheel G³ fixed
on a shaft I, on which is also a peg wheel or catch wheel J, having four
pegs on each side of the rim, upon which two catches or levers K and K'
operate. These levers hinged at K² are brought into operation by means
of two cams K' and K* fixed on a shaft L, on which shaft is also an
ordinary escapement wheel M, and a spur N in gear by
a train of
wheels N¹, 2, 3, and 4, with the weighted cord barrel P. The pen.
dulum Q operates the catch lever R to effect the escape in the usual
manner, and the cams K³ and K* operate the levers alternately, which
thereby releases the wheel J, allowing it to move so that intermittent
motion will be communicated thereto, and consequently to the cards or
tablets at suitable and regular intervals of time according to the number
of pegs in the said wheel J. Or, instead of chains of cards or tablets,
endless sheets of paper or other flexible fabric may be employed, or the
cylinders alone may be used for this purpose, the information being
printed, painted, or otherwise delineated or marked thereon, and it will
be seen that either more or less than two openings and cylinders with or
without cards or tablets or sheets may be provided according to circum-
stances. Also it will be observed that a disc may be employed either in
conjunction with, or instead of cylinders whereon to print, paint, write,
or otherwise mark the information to be exhibited, and an opening of
suitable form made in the dial plate, as shewn at S in Fig. 1, where it
will be seen that a disc is mounted on the shaft G, behind the plate, and
intermittent motion is given thereto by the clockwork behind the plate.
And it will also be evident that more than one opening may be made in

page_text: the plate, and a disc behind it if desirable for the information on the
said disc to be exhibited at, and such disc or discs may be used either
separately or in conjunction with cylinders and cards or other surfaces
employed to exhibit the desired information at the opening or openings
made in the plate. And it will further be evident that this Invention
may be employed for the purpose of communicating a variety of
information to the public, such for instance as the arrival and departure
of steamboats and omnibusses, and for all kinds of advertizing, and the
exhibition of pictures or dioramic exhibitions, and for other similar
purposes.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and shewn by
Drawings in what manner the same is or may be performed or carried
into practical operation, we would have it distinctly understood that we
do not confine or restrict ourselves to any precise details in the construc-
tion, combination, and arrangement of the mechanism as herein-beforo
described, or to the purposes of its application, but what we claim as of
our Invention is the application or employment of self-acting mechanism
constructed, combined, and arranged in manner and for purposes
substantially as herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Jowett, for and on behalf
of myself and the said William Ambler, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy.
Signed, scaled, and delivered by the
within-named Benjamin Jowett,
in the presence of
Wч. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
BENJAMIN JOWETT. (L.S.)
Halifax & Bradford.