Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Indicating Names of Stations in Moving Vehicles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 5th July, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 5th Apr., 1895-Accepted, 11th May, 18.5
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Indicating Names
of Stations in Moving Vehicles.
We, GEORGE WASHINGTON ROBERTSON, Engineer, of 4 St. Helen's Place in
the City of London, WILLIAM SAMUEL PAGE, Gentleman, of The Gales,
Woodford Bridge, Essex, and CHARLES EDWARD VERNON, Engineer, of
Victoria Docks in the County of Essex, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
The invention relates to improvements upon that class of apparatus for operating
station indicators in moving vehicles described in Specifications Nos. 1 and 13166
of 1893 and consists in means for securing an exact operation of the apparatus
combined with smoother or quieter working and for enabling the in licating cards
to be readily and quickly adjusted when required independently of the normal
operating mechanism.
In carrying the present invention into effect we adopt a somewhat similar
arrangement of apparatus to that described in Specification No. 1 of 1893 for
communicating motion from the prime motion lever to the vertical rod or rods at
the end of the carriage and we communicate motion from said vertical rods to the
indicators by means of apparatus somewhat similar to that described in Speci-
fication No. 13166 of 1893 but we adopt the following modifications; instead of
employing a lost motion cam lever as described in Specification No. 1. of 1893 we
employ a straight slotted lever to which motion is given in a similar manner to that
described in said Specification for giving motion to the lost motion cam lever; we
also connect the outer ends of the centering rods to checking apparatus so arranged
as to prevent any sudden reaction of the springs acting on the centering rods; this
checking apparatus may consist of a cylinder at the outer end of each centering rod
and a piston on the latter, or operated thereby, fitting such cylinder; the cylinder
is open at one end and is fitted with a valve which admits air between its head
and the piston as the latter is travelling towards the open end of the cylinder
and closes as the piston travels in the reverse direction, the escape taking place
around the piston and piston-red, or the checking apparatus may be connected
to other part of the operating mechanism, and other suitable description of
checking apparatus may be employed.
Also instead of causing the pawls to act on the ratchet wheel as they travel
in their forward motion, we cause them to act thereon on their return motion for
which purpose we form them with hooked noses acting to pull instead of push
against the teeth of the ratchet wheel and we cause the tails of the pawls to be
acted upon by a cam so as to keep their noses normally clear of the ratchet wheel,
and also clear of the same as they descend from such normal position but which
shall permit the pawls to approach the periphery of the ratchet wheel as they rise
above their normal position so that after having risen to their extreme position
they shall in descending fall into gear with one of the teeth and shall pull the
ratchet wheel round the required distance, after which the cam will remove them
from contact with the ratchet wheel.
We also give an excess or lost motion to the pawls so that they shall rise above
the tooth of the ratchet wheel with which they are to gear but so that they shall
not travel as far as the next tooth, then in descending the acting pawl will slip into
gear with the proper tooth.

page_text: By the apparatus above referred to modified as herein described the indicator
does not receive motion by the direct action of the first motion lever but by
the reaction of one or other of the springs on the centering rods and the action
of such springs is rendered slow and smooth by means of checking apparatus as
above referred to, so that whether the carriage is running at either a high or low
rate of speed the apparatus shall always be worked by the same force and at the
same speed by which we avoid communicating shock to and consequent over-
running of an injury to the apparatus.
The horizontal shaft on the carriage top operating the indicators is continued
to the end of the carriage opposite to that from which it receives motion and
is there geared with a horizontal shaft extendingacross the end of the carriage
and formed at each end to receive a key or handle. Thus as the ratchet wheel
is normally free from the driving pawls the indicators can be readily adjusted when
required to the desired indicating cards by rotating said horizontal shaft which can
be effected from either side of the carriage.
As a modification the straight slotted lever above referred to or the lost
motion cam lever described in Specification No. 1 of the year 1893 is mounted
loosely on its shaft and we fix the double ratchet wheel and the notched adjusting
wheel on the same shaft. We also fix on said shaft a bevel wheel taking into a
bevel wheel on the lower end of an upright shaft at the end of the carriage the
upper end of which by suitable gearing communicates motion to the horizontal
shaft on the top of the carriage. The ratchet driving pawls are mounted on the
straight slotted lever or lost motion lever and such pawls are arranged in relation to
the ratchet wheel and are operated in like manner to that herein before described.
Dated this 5th day of July 1894.
Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Indicating
Names of Stations in Moving Vehicles.
We, GEORGE WASHINGTON ROBERTSON, Engineer, of 4 St. Helen's Place, in
the City of London, WILLIAM SAMUEL PAGE, Gentleman, of The Gales,
Woodford Bridge, Essex, and CHARLES EDWARD VERNON, Engineer, of Victoria
Docks, in the County of Essex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The invention relates to improvements upon that class of apparatus for operating
station indicators in moving vehicles described in Specifications Nos. 1 and 13166
of 1893, and consists in means for securing an exact operation of the apparatus
combined with smoother or quieter working and for enabling the indicating cards
to be readily and quickly adjusted when required, independently of the normal
operating mechanism.
In carrying the present invention into effect we adopt a somewhat similar arrange-
ment of apparatus to that described in Specification No. 1 of 1893 for communicating
motion from the prime motion lever to the vertical rod or rods at the end of the
carriage, and we communicate motion from said vertical rods to the indicators by
means of apparatus somewhat similar to that described in Specification No. 13166 of
1893, but we adopt the following mcdifications.

page_text: Instead of employing a lost motion cam lever as described in Specification
No. 1 of 1893, we employ a straight slotted lever, to which motion is given in a
similar manner to that described in said Specification for giving motion to the lost
motion cam lever; we also connect the outer ends of the centering rods to
checking apparatus so arranged as to prevent any sudden reaction of the springs
acting on the centering rods; this checking apparatus may consist of a cylinder at
the outer end of each centering rod and a piston on the latter, or operated thereby,
fitting such cylinder; the cylinder is open at one end and is fitted with a valve,
which admits air between its head and the piston as the latter is travelling
towards the open end of the cylinder and closes as the piston travels in the reverse
direction, the escape taking place around the piston and piston rod; or the checking
apparatus may be connected to other part of the operating mechanism, and other
suitable description of checking apparatus may be employed. Also, instead of
causing the pawls to act on the ratchet wheel as they travel in their forward motion,
we cause them to act thereon on their return motion, for which purpose we form
them with booked noses acting to pull instead of push against the teeth of the ratchet
wheel, and we cause the tails of the pawls to be acted upon by a cam so as to keep
their noses normally clear of the ratchet wheel, and also clear of the same as they
descend from such normal position, but which shall permit the pawls to approach
the periphery of the ratchet wheel as they rise above their normal position so that
after having risen to their extreme position, they shall, in descending, fall into gear
with one of the teeth and shall pull the ratchet wheel round the required
distance, after which the cam will remove them from contact with the ratchet wheel.
We also give an excess or loss motion to the pawls so that they shall rise above
the tooth of the ratchet wheel with which they are to gear, but so that they shall
not travel as far as the next tooth, then, in descending, the acting pawl will slip into
gear with the proper tooth.
The horizontal shaft on the carriage top operating the indicators, is continued to
the end of the carriage opposite to that from which it receives motion, and is there
geared with a horizontal shaft extending across the end of the carriage and
formed at each end to receive a key or handle. Thus, as the ratchet wheel is
normally free from the driving pawls, the indicators can be readily adjusted when
required to the desired indicating cards by rotating said horizontal shaft, which can
be effected from either side of the carriage.
As a modification the straight slotted lever above referred to, or the lost
motion cam lever described in Specification No. 1 of the year 1893, is mounted
loosely on its shaft and we fix the double ratchet wheel and the notched adjusting
wheel on the same shaft. We also fix on said shaft a bevel wheel taking into a bevel
wheel on the lower end of an upright shaft at the end of the carriage, the
upper end of which, by suitable gearing, communicates motion to the horizontal shaft
on the top of the carriage. The ratchet driving pawls are mounted on the
straight slotted lever or lost motion lever, and such pawls are arranged in relation
to the ratchet wheel and are operated in like manner to that hereinbefore described.
And in order that the said invention may be more clearly understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed, aided by the accompanying drawings, more fully
to describe the same.
Figs. 1 and 2 are opposite end views, Fig. 3 is a partial side view and Fig. 4 is a
partial plan, of a railway carriage fitted with station indicating operating mechanism
constructed according to our invention.
Fig. 5 is an elevation of parts at the top of the carriage seen from the end of the
latter and drawn to a larger scale than the previous figs. and Figs. 6 and 7 are
respectively an elevation and a plan of some of the parts fixed to the undercarriage
seen from the end and drawn to an enlarged scale.
Fig. 8 is an end view of a railway carriage showing a modification, and Figs. 9 and 10
are parts of the latter drawn to an enlarged scale.
Like parts are marked with similar letters of reference in all the figures.
We will first describe the apparatus represented at Figs. 1 to 7.

page_text: a a are a pair of rails, b a railway carriage body and c a cam or incline fixed at
one side of the pair of rails. d is a first motion lever, which is acted upon by the
cam or incline c in the travelling of the carriage past the latter. The lever dis
fixed at the lower end of a shaft d' mounted in bearings fixed to a cross bar and
to the undercarriage. d' is a short lever fixed to the shaft d' and connected by a
connecting rode to a slide f mounted in bearings formed in brackets g and provided
with a stud f', which passes into the straight slot of a lever fixed on a shalt h' and
gives motion to the latter according as it is moved by the first motion lever; the
slide has at its centre an arm or projection f, against which centering rods i i act
on opposite sides thereof; these rods ii are pressed towards the said arm or
projection by springs i, so that after each action of the said parts, the centering
rods will bring the lever h back to its central position. The parts above described,
except the straight slotted lever h, are of a similar character to those shown and
described in the Specifications herein before referred to, but according to our present
invention we connect the outer ends of the centering rods i to suitable checking
apparatus so arranged as to prevent any sudden reaction of the springs ¹; the
checking apparatus represented in the drawings consists of a cylinder j at the
outer end of each centering rod i and a piston on the latter, or operated thereby,
fitting such cylinder; the cylinders are open at one end and they are each fitted
with a valve (not shown) which admits air between its head and the piston as the
latter is travelling towards the open end of the cylinder and closes as the piston
travels in the reverse direction, the escape of the air from the cylinder at such time
taking place around the piston and piston rod. The checking apparatus may be
connected to other part of the operating mechanism and other suitable description
of checking apparatus may be employed.
The
On the shaft is fixed a double armed lever ³, which, by rods k, is connected to
a double armed pawl lever 7 mounted loosely on the shaft m mounted in bearings
along the top of the carriage and giving motion to each indicator by bevel gearing
as shown and described in Specification No. 13166 herein before referred to.
pawl lever is provided with pawls which, instead of acting on the double ratchet
wheel m² fixed in the shaft m as they travel on their forward motion, are caused to
act thereon on their return motion, for which purpose we form them with hooked
noses, see Fig. 5, acting to pull instead of push against the teeth of the ratchet wheel,
and we cause the tails of the pawls to be acted upon by a cam n so as to keep their
noses normally clear of the ratchet wheel m¹ and also clear of the same as they
descend from such normal position, but which shall permit the pawls to approach
the periphery of the ratchet wheel as they rise above their normal position, so
that after having risen to their extreme position, they shall, in descending, fall
into gear with one of the teeth and shall pull the ratchet wheel round the required
distance, after which the cam n will remove them from contact with the ratchet
wheel.
We also give an excess or lost motion to the pawls l', so that they shall rise above
the tooth of the ratchet wheel with which they are to gear, but so that they shall
not travel as far as the next tooth; then, in descending, the acting pawl. will slip into
gear with the proper tooth.
By the apparatus above referred to modified as herein shown and described, the
indicator does not receive motion by the direct action of the first motion lever d,
but by the reaction of one or other of the springs on the centering rods i, and the
action of such springs is rendered slow and smooth by means of checking apparatus
above described, so that whether the carriage is running at either a high or low rate
of speed, the apparatus shall always be worked by the same force and at the
same speed, by which we avoid communicating shock to and consequent overrunning
of and injury to the apparatus.
A notched adjusting wheel m³ is fixed on the shaft m and a spring dog m³ acts in
connection therewith to secure the correct action of the parts and to hold them
securely in position after each action thereon.
The shaft m is continued to the end of the carriage opposite to that from which

page_text: it receives motion, and is there geared with the upper end of a vertical shaft 0, the
lower end of which is geared with a horizontal shaft p extending across the end of
the carriage and formed at each end to receive a key or handle. Thus, as
the ratchet wheel m¹ is normally free from the driving pawls, the indicators can
be readily adjusted when required to the desired indicating cards by rotating said
horizontal shaft p, which can be effected from either side of the carriage.
We will now describe the modification represented at Figs. 8, 9, 10.
In this case
the straight slotted lever h, or it may be the lost motion cam lever described
in Specification No. 1 of the year 1893, is mounted loosely on its shaft h', and the
double ratchet wheel m¹ and the notched adjusting wheel m² are fixed on the same
shaft h¹. We also fix on said shaft a bevel wheel taking into a bevel wheel ' at
the lower end of a shaft at the end of the carriage, which at its upper end has a
hevel wheel 2 taking into a bevel wheel m¹ fixed on the end of the shaft m. The
ratchet driving pawls are mounted on arms forming part of the straight slotted
lever h, or of the lost motion lever, and such pawls are arranged in relation to
the ratchet wheel m' and are operated in like manner to that above described, except
that the noses of the pawls are downwards and act on the ratchet wheel when rising
instead of when descending, while the tails of said pawls are acted upon by
a cam similar in construction and operation but reversed in position to that
herein before described fitted to the top of the carriage. We would however have
it understood that the arrangement of the ratchet wheel, notched adjusting wheel
and pawls on the same shaft as that carrying the straight slotted lever, is also
applicable when using direct action pawls.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
CLAIMS.
1. The combination with station indicator operating apparatus, of means whereby
the first motion lever acts to move the indicator driving mechanism into position for
action and to compress a spring which by its reaction on a centering rod gives
motion to the indicator, substantially as herein shown and described.
2. The combination with station indicator operating apparatus of the character
herein described driven by the reaction of one of a pair of springs compressed by
the motion of the first motion lever, of checking apparatus acting to prevent the
sudden reaction of such springs, substantially as herein shown and described.
3. In station indicator operating mechanism of the character herein described, the
placing of the pawl and adjusting mechanism on the same shaft as the straight
slotted lever or lost motion cam lever and communicating motion from such shaft to
the indicator operating shaft on the top of the carriage by a vertical shaft at the
end of the carriage and suitable gearing on said shafts, substantially as herein shown
and described.
4. The combination of station indicator operating apparatus of the character
herein described, with a cross shaft at one end of the carriage communicating
by vertical shaft and gearing with the shaft on the top of the carriage, so that by the
application of a key to either end of said cross shaft, the indicators in all the
compartments of the carriage can be adjusted at any time without interfering with
their normal operating mechanism, substantially as herein shown and described.
5. In apparatus for indicating names of stations in moving vehicles, the various
improvements substantially as herein shown and described and for the purpose
stated.
Dated this 5th day of Anril 1895.
HARRIS & MILLS,
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.