CERTAIN IMPROVED METHOD OR METHODS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Louis
LE PAIGE, of 22, Change Alley, formerly of 72, Lombard Street, in the City
of London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-three, in the sixth year of IIer reigu, did give
and grant unto me, the said Louis Le Paige, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Louis Le Paige, my, exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Louis Le Paige, my exors, adñiors, should at any time.
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVED METHOD OR
METHODS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said Louis Le Paige, shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Louis Le Paige, do bereby declare, the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly de-
scribed and ascertained by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thercon :-
My Invention may be generally described as consisting of certain arrange-
ments in the construction of railroads and locomotives so as to obviate
accidents, such as the locomotive getting off the rails, or any derangement or
fracture of its parts, one train running into another, or any accident occurring
to any of the carriages or waggons composing the train. The same letters
refer to similar parts in cach Figure in all the Sheets.
Sheet A, Figures 1 and 2, exhibit a plan and side view of a portion of a
railroad as constructed for my Invention, and of a railroad carriage, part in
section, with my safety apparatus attached. a, a, a, a, denotes the boundaries
of a ditch or trench dug parallel to the rails throughout the entire length of
the railroad. It may be about one foot one inch deep, and one foot eleven
inches wide in ordinary soil, but it may be more or less as the ground is more
or less soft. A section of the ditch is shewn at a, a, in Figure 2, Sheet B,
where is also shewn the manner in which it will be necessary to serve the
sleepers of the rails when they are transverse, and rise too near the surface to
admit of the trench being dug. They are sawn off at b, b, and another sub-
sleeper is bolted below the bottom, and lower than the ditch. In new lines
of road the sleepers can be adapted so as to admit of the ditch being formed
between the rails by lowering the sleepers below the ditch, and raising the
rail chair. It is necessary the usual precautions of drainage should be adopted,
and that there should be a ledge of earth, so as to prevent stones, &c., from
falling in.
Figure 3, Sheet B, shews the manner in which the crossings must be made.
The rails here must be loose, so as to be removed on the passing of a train,
by men stationed, if requisite. The part of my apparatus which I use with or
in the ditch as above described is exhibited in an enlarged scale in Figure 2,
Sheet C. a, a, as in the other Figures, shews the outline of the trench or
ditch. d is a section of the bar which suspends the instrument. c, e, e, e, are
four arms which move on the bar d as a centre. Their extremities are furnished
with a sort of grappling ƒ, f, f, f, like the fluke of an anchor, about seven
inches long, but which must be varied to the circumstances. They are shewn
as when in action or forced in the side of the ditch by the springs 9, 9, 9, 9.
The same instrument is exhibited closed in side view and plan in Figures

page_text: 1 and 2, Sheet A, where is also shewn the manner in which it is suspended
from the carriage by the rod d with two joints h, h. It is fixed to the carriage
by a bracket i.
I will now proceed to describe the manner in which the said apparatus is
brought into action by any of the accidents herein-before detailed, which
produce any alteration in the relative distances of the locomotive and any of
the carriages forming the train, which alteration brings the machine in action,
in the following manner:-The rod k, as in Figure 1 and 2, Sheet A, has a
T-head, which serves the purpose of a tye or binding link l, to keep the bars
Sheet C, e, e, e, e, together. Now it is evident, that the rod k being pushed
in an opposite direction to the arrow, it will force the T-head out of the eyes
m, m, which will relieve the arms, and allow the springs 9, 9, 9, 9, to forco
the grappling on their extremities into the sides of the ditch, as before de-
scribed. But this action on the rod is produced by any accident causing an
alteration of distances, as above stated, for the rod k passes into a socket o,
attached to the carriage by the bracket n. From the next succeeding carriage
another rod p, suspended in a similar manner, enters the socket o. It does not
touch the extremity of the rod k, but leaves stifficient space for the buffers of
the respective carriages to work; but when they are forced together violently,
as in an accident, the rod P, striking against the rod k as a ramrod, forces it
back, and relieves the instrument, as before described, which stops the motion
of the carriage. The instrument on the locomotive or last carriage is brought
in action in a similar way by a fence plate q, as shewn in Figure 1, Sheet C,
and Figures 1, 2, and 4, Sheet B. This plate extends across the carriage and
into the trench, so that anything either striking or meeting the train before
or behind would bring the apparatus in action in the same manner by a rod
as before described.
With reference to the dimensions of the parts of the instrument, I do not
claim any particular size, except such as are consistent with strength. The
size and shape of the grappling f, f:-This must be made of such a size or
surface as may gradually and not too suddenly stop the carriages. There may
be more than one on each arm of the instrument, if necessary.
Figure 1, Sheet C, exhibit generally the position of the instrument on the
carriages of a train. There may, however, be one carriage peculiarly adapted
to receive the grappling instrument coupled with every three carriages.
In Figure 1, Sbeet B, I exhibit, as fixed to a locomotive, the manner in
which, by the occurrence of any accident, one carriage may be disengaged
from the other. The rod r, r, by its action on the lever of the hooks, disen-
gages the drag chain. This is of service when the last waggon of a train may

page_text: be run into by a succeeding one, as it allows the proceeding one to go on;
and in other cases, in Figure 2, Sheet A, a method is shewn by which the
drag chain may be disengaged by hand. The lever t being drawn back brings
the pin w out of the eye v of the drag chain.
With regard to the ditch or trench mechanism of my Invention, herein
described,,I do not claim any peculiar dimensions or exact proportions as
essential; but I claim the forming a ditch throughout the line of road for
promoting the safety of locomotion, as herein described.
I claim the use of a grappling instrument brought into action by the
occurrence of accidents, as herein described.
I claim the modes herein exhibited of disengaging the one carriage from
the other.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Le Paige, have hercunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.