IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Luis Marie de Bejar y O'Lawlor, of Madrid, in the
Kingdom of Spain, Telegraphic Engineer, and Nicholas Antonio
Calvo, of London, Great Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Luis Marie de Bejar y
.
O'Lawlor and Nicholas Antonio Calvo at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 8th June 1875.
We, LUIS MARIE DE BEJAR Y O'LAWLOR, of Madrid, in the Kingdom.
of Spain, Telegraphic Engineer, and NICHOLAS ANTONIO CALVO, of
London, Great Britain, Gentlemen, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention has for object the prevention of collisions on railways,
and relates to a system of electric communication so arranged that the
positions of the trains approaching or following one another, shall if
they approach within a certain distance, be indicated each to the other
!

page_text: automatically, and if desired, the danger signals may be set, and the
position of the train at any time indicated from station to station. In
order to effect this we fix on the telegraph posts apparatuses which are
in electric communication with metallic plates fixed near the rails at
optional distances apart.
These apparatuses are self-acting commutators formed by an electro-
magnet, which attracts a soft iron armature connected to a lever having
a click or pawl which takes into a pinion, the revolution of which
transmits a similar movement to a disc made of an insulating substance
with projections upon it, which cause two springs to make and break
contact in such manner as to produce in the disc four movements, the
result being that the apparatus may be either in a normal position, in
preparation, or giving a signal or alarm.
On the locomotive, in the guard's van, or other suitable part of the
train, an apparatus is placed consisting of an electric battery, an :
electric telegraph instrument, and a box with strong sides containing a
coloured liquid. This apparatus is connected by wires with rollers
attached to the lower part of the locomotive or other carriage carrying
them, and which rollers come in contact with the metallic plates fixed
near the rails as the train passes them. When a signal or alarm is to
be given the electric current effects the displacement of some of the
liquid in the above-mentioned box into a transparent vessel which is
visible to the driver, guard, or other person in attendance.
When a train is set in motion, an electric current is passed from the
battery in the train by way of one of the before-mentioned metallic
plates to the self-acting commutator apparatuses next in front and
behind it, so as to place them in what we call a state of preparation, and
they remain so, so long as the train remains in the space between them.
When the train reaches the commutator apparatus in front it closes that
behind it and opens the next one in front. No signal is given in the
apparatus in the train unless another train is on the same line, either.
before or behind. If the second train passes one of the commutator
apparatuses which has been prepared by the first, an electric communica-
tion is established between the apparatuses in the two trains, and signals
given to the drivers or guards by the coloured liquids in the manner
above described.

page_text: By this system of electric communication the trains themselves give
the signals of danger, mark their passage past the stations, and indicate
the distances they may be from the said stations:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Luis Marie de Bejar y O'Lawlor and Nicholas
Antonio Calvo in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th December
1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we LUIS
MARIE DE BEJAR Y O'LAWLOR, of Madrid, in the Kingdom of Spain;
Telegraphic Engineer, and NICHOLAS ANTONIO CALVO, of London, Great
Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, 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 us, the said Luis Marie de Bejar y O'Lawlor and Nicholas Antonio
Calvo, Her special license that we, the said Luis Marie de Bejar y
O'Lawlor and Nicholas Antonio Calvo, our executors, administrators, and*
assigns, or such others, as wc, the said Luis Marie de Bejar y O’Lawlor
and Nicholas Antonio Calvo, our 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 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 “IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Luis Marie de Bejar y.
O'Lawlor and Nicholas Antonio Calvo, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or
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 we, the said Luis Marie de Bejar y O'Lawlor

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particulary described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to. the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
Our Invention has for object the prevention of collisions on railways,
and relates to a system of electric communication so arranged that the
positions of the trains approaching or following one another, shall if
they approach within a certain distance, be indicated each to the other
automatically, the required danger signals given, and the position of the
train at any time indicated from station to station.
In the Drawings Figs. 1, 2, and 3 represent three various plans for
arranging conducting wires in relation to the rails and telegraph lines.
In Fig. 1, R, R, represent the rails; A, B, a length of electric conducting
wire supported on special insulators, a, a, shewn more fully and to actual
size in Figs. 4, 4ª, and 4", to be hereafter described, and placed outside
the rails as shewn, or along the middle space between them if preferred.
This wire A, B, starts from a station and terminates at B; A', B', A², B
are other similar lengths of conducting wires, the lengths of such wires
being variable at will; the insulators a, a, are fixed on small posts, prefer-
ably at distances apart not exceeding about 40 yards; C, D, C¹, D¹, C², D³,
are short conducting wires, each about 8 yards long, connected under-
ground by branch wires, Cb, C¹ b¹, C³ b³, &c., with the insulated wire,
E, F, which may be either a special wire, or the general telegraphic
line wire.
Fig. 2 represents the same as Fig. 1, with the exception that instead
of the short conducting wires C, D, C¹, D', &c., posts D, D', with insu-
lated plates similar to those hereafter described in relation to Figs. 4, 4*,
& 4°, are employed. These plates are connected by branch wires Dō,
D6', &c., to the telegraph line E, F, as described in reference to the
short conductors C, D, &c.
Fig. 3 represents another arrangement. In this case, A, B, A', B',
A, B, &c., are posts with plates, as hereafter described in relation to
Figs. 4, 4, and 4, and the dotted line, A, A., represents underground
conductors, which establish communication between A, B, A¹, B¹, A², B³,
&c. The distances between A, B, A', B¹, &c. may be about 10 yards.
Fig. 4 represents the insulator. G is a wooden post projecting out of
the ground about 2 feet. On it is mounted the insulator in the following

page_text: manner:
-An iron tenon H is screwed into the top of the post and the
porcelain cylinder I is fixed thereon by means of glue and gypsum; J is
an iron cap, the inside of which is cylindrical and carrying teeth or
projections K, K, by preference four in number, which correspond
with vertical grooves L, L, on the exterior of the porcelain cylinder I. A
groove M on the porcelain cylinder is formed at right angles to the
grooves L, L. The cap J is placed on the porcelain cylinder by the
projections K, K, being passed down the grooves L, L, until they arrive
at the groove M, when the cap may be turned about an eighth of a
revolution so as to bring the projections K, K, into the groove M. The
cap may then be securely fixed in place with melted sulphur. The
groove N in the cap J shewn in profile in Fig. 4* is intended to receive
the conducting wire.
Fig. 5 shews one method we employ for establishing electric com-
munication between the train and the conducting wires. O is an iron
plate or bar about 6 yards long, and by preference from 1 to 2 inches
wide, screwed to a wooden lath P of similar width; Q, Q, Q, are, com-
pound levers (seen more clearly at Figs. 5 and 5b), which form parallel
joints. They are jointed at one end to the lath P and at the other to
the bottom S of the locomotive tender or carriage, as shewn. The hook T,
also fixed to the bottom of the locomotive tender or carriage prevents
the plate O with its lath P from falling too low. When the curved part
of the plate O comes in contact with one of the insulator caps already
described the plate and lath are allowed to rise over the cap by the action
of the levers or joints Q, Q, Q, being drawn along so as to graze the cap
of the insulator, and thereby to secure metallic contact, the necessary
electric communication between the plate or bar O and the apparatus in
the train being effected by means of any suitable conductor.
Figs. 6, 6, 6, and 6° shew another method for effecting the same
object. U is a cylinder formed of iron bars. Its axle rests inside a
cylindrical box V filled with tow or other suitable fibrous material, wicks
of such fibre projecting from the box V into the box W containing
water supplied from the tender or other source by means of the leather
pipe X. The tow or other fibrous material in the box V is thus kept
soaked with water, and the heating of the axles of the cylinder is
thereby prevented.' Y is a spring to establish electric communication
between the cylinder U and the apparatus in the train, to be bereafter
described; Z is an iron plate or arm forming part of the box W, and
.

page_text: which terminates in an axle Z' (see Figs. 6º, 6º,) by which the cylinder U
can oscillate freely so as to rise and fall with elevations and depressions
of the conductor; X' is the continuation of the pipe X uniting it to the
tender or other source of water supply. A piece of cloth Z³ is suspended
from a cross bar so as to lay against the cylinder U as it revolves. This
cloth is kept wetted by means of water allowed to pass from the pipe X
through the fibres Z³, which connect the cloth with the said pipe. This
cloth assists in keeping the cylinder and its axles cool whilst being caused
to revolve by contact with the conductor.
Fig. 7 shews another arrangement for maintaining contact between
the conducting wire and the apparatus in the train. It consists of a
metallic arm or plate A in electric communication with the said appa-
ratus, and free to oscillate on an axle B fixed to the bottom of the tender
or carriage. The said plate A is to be made by preference as light as
possible and pressed on to the conducting wire by means of a spring C,
as shewn.
Fig. 8 represents the alarm apparatus carried by the train. c is a
hollow casting, the cavity or chamber therein containing blackened water
or other coloured liquid. The casting c also serves to support the other
parts of the apparatus; d is a brass tube, the lower end of which enters
the liquid in the cavity of the casting c, the top part being closed by a
valve e connected to the rod f, the said valve opening outwards. A glass
tube g is fixed in a seating ħ on the top of the casting c so as to form a
prolongation of the tube d, being held at its upper end by the cross
piece carried by columns ; and j¹; k is a tube leading to the recep-
tacle 7, which by means of a passage m communicates with the liquid
chamber of the casting c, the key n in connection with a plug n¹
admitting of the opening and closing of the said communication at will.
The column may be made hollow and of strong substance, so as to
resist the explosion of a fuse which may be placed in the cylindrical
cavity o communicating with it; p is also a hole through the top of the
casting c into the chamber containing the coloured liquid. Into this
hole a cylindrical plug containing a fuse may be screwed. The explosion
of this fuse produces gases, the expansion of which forces, the coloured
liquid from the chamber into the glass tube g, as will be hereafter more
fully described; q is a piece of wood fixed to the upper part of the
casting c and carrying three conductor terminals r, s, t. The terminals
r, t, carry two copper wires ¹, ', which give electric communication to

page_text: tue iuses.
The glass tube g may be illuminated by means of a lamp and
reflector. u is a guide, into which a rocket u¹ may be placed, and vis
another guide containing a fuse vi for firing the rocket ', the fuse ¹
being ignited by the electric current; w is a protecting plate to prevent
5 the explosion of the rocket from injuring the rest of the apparatus.
These various methods of giving alarm may be used together in one
apparatus or separately if preferred. The signal rockets may be made
to indicate the particular class of train they are used in by their being
arranged to throw out various colours, for example, express trains might
) use red lights, goods trains white lights, &c.
Fig. 9 represents the commutator for stations; it consists of a wooden
disc on which are fixed four terminals marked in the Figure respectively
E, P, N, and L. The terminal E goes to earth; P, to the positive pole
of the battery; N, to the negative pole; and L, to the line wire. At p
3 there is a contact maker in connection with the terminal P. The
terminal E is in connection with the centre O; the contact makers
n and n¹ are in connection with the terminal N%; and the contact
maker with the terminal L; p¹ is a contact spring in clectrical com-
munication with the axis O; n³ and are two other contact springs
connected together but insulated from the spring p¹; A represents an
ivory button by which the arrangement of contact springs may be
turned round on the axis O so as to assume either the position shewn
by full lines, or that shewn by dotted lines. In the former position
the negative pole is put in communication with the line through
n¹, n², l, and lª¹, and the positive pole with the earth through p, p², and O.
In the latter position the negative pole goes to earth through n, p¹,
and O, and the positive to the line through p, l³, 1ª, n³, and l.
Fig. 10 is a diagram shewing the manner of arranging the apparatus
in the train. 1 is a local battery, 2 is a battery for the line, both being
enclosed if desired in the same box. The negative pole n of the
battery 2 is in connection with the whole metallic mass of the engine,
and its positive pole p with a commutator 3 of two contacts 4 and 5
and the central one 6. The contact 5 goes to earth; the contact 4 to
the positive pole of the battery 2; and the central one 6 passes to the
terminal of a relay 7 at 8; from hence the current traverses the electro-
magnet of the relay which at 9 puts itself in connection with the
wire 10, which is united to two of the contact plates, as described in
reference to Figs. 5 or 7, or to two of the contact cylinders described

page_text: in reference to Fig. 6. For the sake of illustration these may be repre-
sented by 11 and 12 in the Figure. The battery 1 has its positive pole
attached to the terminal 13 of the relay, and the terminal 14 of the
relay is joined to a wire which carries in its circuit at, say, 15, 16,
and 17, the fuses, or some of them described in reference to Fig. 8.
The end of the wire then passes to the other pole of the battery 1. The
relay is so arranged by dispositions of parts that are well known that
whenever a positive current traverses the wire 10 the relay does not
close the circuit of the battery 1 between the terminals 13 and 14 of
the relay; but if a negative current traverses the said wire 10 then the
circuit is closed and the fuses exploded, or other indicating means put
into action. The battery 2 can likewise give current to a telegraph
instrument in the train, by means of which messages may be sent
from the train to the stations, or from one train to another. This
telegraph instrument must be adapted to work in unison with the
apparatus of alarm, Fig. 8.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-We will premise that the
line is arranged in accordance with the plan shewn in Fig. 1, that
the line is a single one having trains running in both directions, that
each of the trains is supplied with an apparatus similar to that shewn at
Fig. 8 arranged in connection with the batteries, as shewn in Fig. 10,
and that to each train is adapted either two of the sliding bar contact
makers, shewn in Fig. 5, two of the rotating cylindrical contact makers,
shewn in Fig. 6, or two of the pendant contact plates or arms, shewn in
Fig. 7, and that the up trains carry the connexion 4, 0, Fig. 10, closed,
and 5, 0, open, and the down trains the connexion 5, 0, closed, and 4, 0,
open. If, under these circumstances, an up train runs on the line, say,
from left to right in the Figure with one of its electric contact makers
arranged so as to come in contact with the conducting wires A, B,
A', B', &c., such contact maker being in electric communication with the
wire 10 of Fig. 10 no effect is produced on the apparatus, Fig. 8, in the
train (because the various pieces of wire are completely insulated) so
long as the said train is the only one over that particular section of the
conducting wire, or so long as it is not sought to signal to it from one of
the stations; but the moment another or down train going in the
opposite direction runs on to the same section of conducting wire the
arrangement of commutator in the second train has the effect of putting
to earth the battery in the first train. A negative current then passes

page_text: through the relays in both trains, closing the circuits of their respective
local batteries, and exploding the fuses. The explosion of the fuse in
connection with the chamber containing the coloured liquid has the
effect of forcing the said liquid up the tube d into the glass tube g, the
valve e preventing its return to the chamber until the said valve is raised
by the rod f. The tube k allows of the escape of air from the glass
tube g, or of any excess of liquid into the receptacle i, whence it may be
returned into the chamber by the passage m, as before described. The
coloured liquid in the glass indicates by its presence there that something
is wrong. The explosion of the fuse in the tube ¹, or the discharge of
the rocket, effects the same object. The two trains being stopped can
by means of the wire A, B, &c., enter into electrical communication
with each other.
The other contact maker carried by the train is adapted to come in
contact with the short conducting wires C, D, C³, D³, &c., Fig. 1, or with
the insulated caps D, D¹, &c., of Figs. 2 and 3, as the case may be. As the
train passes them these wires or insulated caps being in connection with
the telegraph wire E, F, and the said contact maker on the train con-
nected to the wire 10 of Fig. 10, as already described (the station com-
mutator, Fig. 9, being set as shewn in dotted lines), if a positive
current is sent along the wire E, F, for the purposes of ordinary
telegraphing from station to station no signal will pass to the train.
But if (the station commutator, Fig. 9, being set as shewn in full lines)
a negative current be sent along the wire E, F, for the purpose of sig-
nalling to the trains, then when the train passes over the wire C, D, &c.,
or insulated cap D, &c., the said current traverses the branch wire C 6,
&c., to the contact maker on the train, thence by the wire 10, Fig. 10,
to the relay, closing the circuit of the local battery, and exploding the
fuses in the apparatus, Fig. 8, as before described.
When it is required to signal from a train to a station it is only
necessary to bring the train to a stand with its contact maker resting on
one of the wires C, D, or insulated caps D.
It will be found convenient to have two apparatuses of alarm in each
train, one for signals from stations, and the other for those from other
trains; and it is obvious that a separate relay must be used for each.
When employing the contact maker, shewn in Fig. 5, and it is desired
to maintain constant communication between the sections of the con-

page_text: ducting wire A, B, &c., and the train the said contact maker should be
made of sufficient length, or two or more of them may be connected
together, so as to make sufficient length to cover the space between any
two insulator plates, so that the said contact maker shall always be in
contact with one at least of such plates.
When the line is double, the up trains travelling on one line and the
down trains on the other, all the trains of even number that come out of
the termini are to have their commutators set to the line battery, as
described in respect of the first of the trains above referred to. All the
trains of odd numbers are to have their commutators set to earth, as
described in respect of the second of the trains above referred to, by.
which means, whenever more than one train enters on the same section
of conducting wire, they are mutually advised of the danger.
By these arrangements a guard can easily signal to other trains, and
so prevent their approach by simply connecting the conducting wire to
earth, and the passengers may by similar means make the signal for
stopping the train.
Instead of placing at intervals the means of communicating with the
stations a special continuous wire may be placed near the rail, and the
contact maker on the train kept in constant contact with it, whereby
constant communication can be kept up with either of the stations
between which the train may be running."
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is, to, or may be performed, we would have it
understood that what we claim as our Invention is,-
First. The general arrangement and combination of parts composing
the automatic signalling apparatus, constructed and applied substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated in the Drawings.
Second. The employment of a series of insulated conducting wires
and insulated contact plates arranged and applied to the permanent
way, as herein-before described and illustrated in the several Figures 1,
2, 3, and 4 of the Drawings, and for the purposes set forth.
Third. The apparatus applied to the train arranged, combined, and
operated as herein-before described and illustrated in Figure 10 of the
Drawings, and for the purposes set forth,

page_text: Fourth. The alarm apparatus, arranged, constructed, and operated as
rein-before described and illustrated in Figure 8 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Luis Marie de Bejar y O'Lawlor,
on behalf of myself and the said Nicholas Antonio Calvo, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
LUIS MARIE DE BEGAR Y O'LAWLOR. (L.S.)
Patentec.