IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR EFFECTING COM- MUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS OF RAILWAY TRAINS."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Perkins, of Arlington Lodge, Herne Hill
Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR EFFECTING COM-
MUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS OF RAILWAY TRAINS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Perkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th February 1875.
I, WILLIAM PERKINS, of Arlington Lodge, Herne Hill Road, Brixton,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR EFFECTING
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS OF RAILWAY TRAINS," to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to effect communication between the
passengers and guard or driver of a railway train without having
recourse to any couplings between the carriages, vans, or engines.
This I accomplish by the employment of fog signals or other similar

page_text: or analogous articles capable of being exploded or detonated by per-
cussion, crushing, or friction. I fix these signals to the bottom or
other part of the railway carriage, van, tender, or engine in such a
manner that they may be carried under the wheels by means of a arm
put in motion from within the carriage, or from the outside of one;
or the signals may be moved into such a position as to be exploded
by a cam or by friction upon the wheels or axles, or by being affixed
to the wheels or axles and striking against an arm or cam to be thrown
down at the will of the passenger, guard, or driver.
This mode of communication may also be employed by the guard and
driver for communicating with each other.
What I claim as my special Invention is, the means of effecting
communication between guards and passengers, or between drivers and
guards by the employment of fog signals or other similar or analogous
articles put into position for exploding by mechanical appliances,
whereby I overcome all the present difficulties attendant upon the
making couplings every time a train is broken up or made up, each
carriage having independent means of communication.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Perkins in the Great Seal Patent Office :
on the 13th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PERKINS, of Arlington Lodge, Herne Hill Road, Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Perkins, Her
special licence that I, the said William Perkins, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Perkins, 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

page_text: 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 "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR EFFECTING
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS OF RAILWAY TRAINS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Perkins, 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 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 William Perkins, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 effect communication between the
passengers and guard of a railway train without having recourse to any
couplings between the carriages, vans, or engines. This I accomplish
by the employment of fog signals or other similar or analogous articles
capable of being exploded or detonated by percussion, crushing, or
friction. I fix these signals to the bottom or other part of the railway
carriage, van, tender, or engine in such a manner that they may be
carried under the wheels by means of an arm put in motion from
within the carriage, or from the outside of one; or the signals may be
moved into such a position as to be exploded by a cam or by friction
upon the wheels or axles, or by being affixed to the wheels or axles
and striking against an arm or cam to be thrown down at the will of
the passenger, guard, or driver.
This mode of communication may also be employed by the guard or
driver for communicating with each other.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings represents several modes by
which my Invention may be carried into practice.
Figure 1 shows a railway guard's or attendant's van or truck partly
in section with my Invention in due form fitted thereto.
a is the
under or main frame, and b, the body; c is a lever centered upon a
stud d, so that through a pull of the chain e upon the short arm ƒ

page_text: the lever can be drawn down from the position shown in dotted lines
where it is held temporarily by a clip spring g to the position shown
in full lines. The end of the lever c is previously fitted with a fog or
other detonating signal which is, by the pull down action, put directly
under the tread of the wheel h and upon the rail to cause the 5
detonator to explode, and so establish a signal. I fit a handle ; on
the inner panel of the van or truck for the accommodation of the
attendant to act upon the chain, which handle may have a lift motion
or a partial rotary motion for the purpose. The opposite end of the
van or truck, which generally serves as a passenger compartment, is 1
similarly fitted to enable a passenger to have the same command over
the signalling apparatus as the attendant, the chain of the passenger
compartment being connected to the chain of the guard's compartment,
or to the same signal apparatus, as desired.
I propose fitting each end of the vehicle and each side thereof with
my apparatus, and arrange the levers c on opposite corners to move
in opposite directions to meet the changes in the direction of travel of
the vehicle, so that whichever way the vehicle may be travelling my
apparatus is at all times ready to act.
I fit my apparatus so that the levers c, c, pass down between the
horn plates and the wheels; they are therefore clear of footboards,
station platforms, semaphore or other levers or supports, and work
quite independently of the same.
The chains of my apparatus may in some cases be used with other
carriage contained or passenger signals, and in the same Figure (Figure 1)
I show the chain e connected to the floor cord, such as that for com-
municating between passenger and guard or driver in use upon the
Chatham and Dover Railway. By this means a double system of
communication can be established as between passengers and attendants
should occasion require it. I prefer however to employ my system.
alone, each carriage or vehicle having a distinct set of apparatus, and
the signals of such a character that the discharge shall be sufficiently
loud for the driver at one end and the guard at the other to hear them.
If more than one detonator be fitted for each direction of travel of the
vehicle, the passenger having only to pull up the ring k, one of which
is fitted under the forepart of each seat, and upon the floor to cause
my apparatus to act. The apparatus which has been acted upon

page_text: :
remains in the downward position and exposed to the view of the
attendant, who thereupon knows the particular carriage from which
the signal came, the slack.cord or chain within the compartment also
indicating in which compartment assistance is required. Previous to
restarting the train the guard fits another detonator in the fork or end
of the lever c that has been acted upon and throws the lever up until
it has become engaged in its spring clip 9, which act will draw the
slack cord or chain taut again, and in position for signalling again.
I have stated that all the levers c, c, of that particular carriage
are acted upon or released, but only two, or it may be one only,
gets exploded, because the other two, or the other one, as the case
may be, are behind the axles of the wheels, and the signals are not
therefore put under the wheels so as to cause them to explode but rather
drag after the wheels.
I have shown the levers as held up by spring clips, but other
appliances can be used for the purpose, as desired.
Figures 2 and 3 represent a portion of a carriage under frame with
transverse shafts or half shafts fitted underneath each shaft or half
shaft, having a crank arm ƒ set in opposite directions for the signal
levers c, c, to be acted upon in a similar manner to that before
explained.
Figures 4 and 5 show the chains e, or they may be cords, attached
to separate rollers m round which the cords are wound in opposite
directions for the purpose before explained.
Figure 6 represent my levers c, c, with weighted ends n, the pull up
of which by the cord causes the signal to be put under or against the
wheel with sufficient force to cause an explosion by percussion. The
same can be effected by any of my apparatus before referred to.
Figure 7 shows a spring bolt or catch p for holding up a lever c,
the bolt being inclosed in a box q fastened to the under frame of the
carriage. The lever in this case simply rests upon the catch or bolt p,
and by a pull upon the chain or cord e from within a compartment
the bell crank m causes the catch to release the lever c, which then falls
into position for placing the detonator. Any number of these catches
or bolts can be fitted as in Figures 8 and 9, and their cords may be
arranged to act from any part of a vehicle.

page_text: In some cases the levers can be arranged for their ends to pass up
through apertures in the carriage flooring for the fitting of the signals
thereto, which apertures may be provided with flaps or covers to close
up the openings after the signals are fitted.
The foregoing description with the annexed Drawings will enable
any one to understand my Invention as fitted according to those
examples; but I do not confine myself exclusively to them, as by
slight modifications or other arrangements of the parts I can equally
well carry my Invention into practice.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
as my special Invention is, the means of effecting communication
between guards and passengers, or between drivers and guards, by
the employment of fog signals or other similar or analogous articles
put into position for exploding by mechanical appliances, as set forth,
and substantially as shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Perkins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of August One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-five.