AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONLING THE DRIVERS, FIREMEN, AND GUARDS OF RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Dale Banister, of Denmark Hill, in the
County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, and William Stroudley, of Dyke
Road, Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Locomotive Engineer, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Dale
Banister and William Stroudley at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th December 1874.
WC, FREDERICK DALE BANISTER, of Denmark Hill, in the County of
Surrey, Civil Engineer, and WILLIAM STROUDLEY, of Dyke Road,
Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Locomotive Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR
METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SIGNALLING THE DRIVERS, FIREMEN, AND GUARDS OF
RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a signal that will at once
draw the attention of the drive, fireman, and guards when the usual
-

page_text: visual danger signal is obscured by fog, smoke, or other causes, or when
the attention of these men is called away by some other duty.
Our improved mode or method of conveying a signal to the driver of
a train is based on the fact that a driver can feel the smallest obstruction
placed on the rails. by the jolt, however slight, imparted to his engine,
and therefore we, the Inventors, propose to substitute for audible fog
signals, and as auxiliary to the usual visual danger signals, what may be
termed "tactile" signals, or signals that can be felt. These signals
consist of a thin plate or plates of steel, iron, or other metal, or their
equivalents, which are placed on the rails and removed again, by an
extension or modification of the same mechanism which works the
ordinary visual signals. The plate or plates once adjusted unlike the
detonator needs not to be replaced by fresh ones after the passing of a
train, but will serve as a standing signal of danger so long as required.
It is obvious that various contrivances may be employed for
mechanically bringing the thin plate or plates over the rail and removing
them therefrom; for example, a bell crank may be used worked by a
connecting rod from the signal lever.
The custom of employing men to place detonating signals upon the
rails is attended with great danger, owing to the liability such men incur
of being killed by passing trains, and many fatal accidents occur annually
from this cause. This Invention entirely obviates the necessity for the
dangerous practice above referred to, whilst it also dispenses with the
use of detonating signals.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 25
filed by the said Frederick Dale Banister and William Stroudley
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
DALE BANISTER, of Denmark Hill, in the County of Surrey, Civil
Engineer, and WILLIAM STROUDLEY, of Dyke Road, Brighton, in the 30
County of Sussex, Locomotive Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Lotters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Frederick Dale Banister
and William Stroudley, Her special license that we, the said Frederick
Dale Banister and Willian Stroudley, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick Dale Banister and
William Stroudley, 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SIGNALLING THE
DRIVERS, FIREMEN, AND GUARDS OF RAILWAY TRAINS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Frederick Dale Banister and William
Stroudley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, 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 we, the said Frederick Dale Banister and
William Stroudley, do hereby declare the nature of the 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,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our said Invention has for its object the providing a signal that will
at once draw the attention of the driver, fireman, and guards when the
usual visual danger signal is obscured by fog, smoke, or other causes, or
when the attention of these men' is called away by some other duty.
Our improved mode or method of conveying a signal to the driver of
a train is based on the fact that a driver can feel the smallest obstruction
placed on the rails by the jolt, however slight, imparted to his engine,
and therefore we propose to substitute for audible fog signals, and as
auxiliary to the usual visual danger signals, what may be termed
"tactile" signals, or signals that can be felt. These signals consist of a
thin plate or plates of steel, iron, or other metal, or their equivalent,

page_text: which are placed on the rails and removed again by an extension or
modification of the same mechanism which works the ordinary visual
signals. The plate or plates once adjusted unlike the detonator need not
to be replaced by fresh ones after the passing of a train, but will serve as
a standing signal of danger so long as required.
It is obvious that various contrivances may be employed for
mechanically bringing the thin plate or plates over the rail and removing
them therefrom; as an example of one arrangement a bell crank may
be used worked by a connecting rod from the signal lever.
The custom of employing men to place detonating signals upon the
rails is attended with great danger owing to the liability such men incur
of being killed by passing trains, and many fatal accidents occur
annually from this cause. This Invention entirely obviates the necessity
for the dangerous practice above referred to, whilst it also dispenses with
the use of detonating signals.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood wo
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, the same letters of reference indicating
corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of our Drawings is a side elevation (drawn to a scale of about
one-fourth the real size) of our "tactile" signal, applied to one of the
rails of the permanent way of a railway, and represents one of various
arrangements which may be employed for applying and working the
same; Figure 2 is a plan corresponding to Figure 1 showing one
arrangement whereby the said "tactile" signal can be readily placed over
and withdrawn from off the surface of the rail by an extension of the
usual mechanism employed in working the ordinary visual signals; and
Figure 3 is an elevation of the inner side of the rail with the "tactile "
signal and parts in connection therewith applied thereto.
A is the ordinary double-headed rail, and B is a metal shoe or bracket
which is secured to the rail by wedges a, a, or otherwise, as found most
convenient, the said bracket being made to project a sufficient distance
from the outer side of the rail to form a convenient guide to the thin
steel or other plates C, C; these plates which constitute the signal slide
in shallow grooves or channels made to receive them in the surface of

page_text: the said bracket, and are held down in their places by the cross pieces
B', B', which may either be cast in one with the bracket or be mado
loose and secured by bolts, or screws, or otherwise.
The ends of the sliding plates C next to the rail may be bent, as shown
in Figure 1, in order to ensure their properly fitting the surface of the
rail, whilst the outer or opposite ends of such plates are secured by bolts,
screws, or otherwise, to a conveniently shaped connecting rod D (Figures
1 and 2) which is jointed to one arm of a bell-crank lever E working on
a fixed centre F and connected by means of the rod G with the usual or
other mechanism employed in working the visual signals.
Although we have shown two plates C, C, worked simultaneously
from the same mechanism a single sliding plate or any other number of
plates may be employed at any given locality if preferred. The Drawings
show the position of the plates when the signal is set to "danger," that
is to say, with their ends projecting over the surface of the rail; but on
taking off the danger signal the said plates O will be drawn back clear
of the rail, and will assume the position indicated by the dotted lines in
Figure 1.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that we do not
confine or restrict ourselves to the precise arrangement of mechanism
illustrated by the Drawings for actuating the sliding plate or plates C,
as it is obvious that various contrivances may be employed for that
purpose, whether in connection or not with the mechanism which
actuates the visual signals; but what we consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The system or mode of conveying a signal of danger to those
in charge of a train in motion by causing by the aid of convenient
mechanism one or more thin metallic plates or other slight obstructions
to project over the top of the rail, thereby imparting a perceptible jolt
to the engine and other vehicles composing the train as the wheels pass
over the said obstructions, substantially as herein-before described.
Second. Combining or coupling the mechanism which actuates the
sliding plate or plates C with the mechanism employed in working the
visual signals, for the purpose specified.

page_text: Third. The construction, arrangement, and mode of operating what
we have herein designated as "tactile" signals, substantially as and for
the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by our Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Dale Banister, for myself
and on behalf of the said William Stroudley, have hereunto set 5
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
FRED. D. BANISTER, (L.S.)
for myself & on behalf of
William Stroudley.