IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY APPARATUS FOR THE PREVEN- TION OF ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS BY WORKING SIGNALS OR ALARMS IN ORDER TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF THE GUARD OR DRIVER OF THE THAIN
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents,, with his Petition, on the 14th
November 1865. A communication from abroad. by Pierre François,
Roche, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY APPARATUS FOR THE PREVEN-
TION OF ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS BY WORKING SIGNALS OR ALARMS IN ORDER TO
ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF THE GUARD OR DRIVER OF THE THAIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of the steam whistle of loco-
motives as a method of signalling to the engineers during the progress of the
train at any point along the line. This method of signalling will be found
especially useful in foggy weather, when it is found necessary to replace the
ordinary visible signals by audible signals, and also as a substitute for the
ordinary fog signals, which are not always sure in their action; it will also be
found useful in curves, where the visible signals cannot be seen at a sufficient
distance.
The Invention also consists in an arrangement of mechanism for operating
by means of a single cord visible signals at a distance, and also for working
an apparatus (hereafter described) to be placed upon the line of rails, which
apparatus acts upon a lever adapted to the locomotive, and by raising it will
open the steam whistle of the engine by means of a system of jointed levers
or rods, which will vary in arrangement according to the class of engine to

page_text: which they are applied, as will be well understood by any practical engineer.
The whistle will by this means be brought into action and communicate
a signal to the engine driver. This apparatus will also be found useful for
regulating the running of trains which follow one another too closely. For
this purpose a number of them may be placed at certain distances along the
line.
The apparatus for working visible signals (the ordinary disc signal for
instance) consists of a horizontal slotted lever mounted on and turning with the
shaft of the signal disc. In the slotted lever works an upright weighted lever,
the upper extremity of which is jointed to a sliding rod having attached to its
ends the cord for working the apparatus, this cord being weighted at each
end, and passing over tension pullies and near one of its ends round a drum,
to the upper end of which is adapted a hand lever for working the cord back-
wards or forwards, and thereby turning the disc shaft to the extent required,
and which is regulated by stops. This cord may also be made to operate the
apparatus which serves to sound the steam whistle, and which consists of a
rocking weighted lever connected with the cord. When the whistle is re-
quired to be sounded this lever is pulled by the cord into a vertical position,
and presents a bowle connected with it to the lever of the approaching
locomotive.