IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TIME TABLES
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; THOMAS
TorHAM, of Ripley, Derbyshire, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
January (One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight), in the eleventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Topham, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Top-
ham, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Topham, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
years therein
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TIME TABLES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas Topham, shall cause &

page_text: particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manne
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in par
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had
will more fully and at large appear...
NOW, KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Topham, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
In the manufacture of railway time tables it has heretofore been usual to
have a separate time table for the trains which run in opposite directions,
and usually termed "the up trains" and the "down trains," and it has been
generally used to have the names of the stations arranged in succession in a
vertical column or line commencing with the name of the terminus station at
one end of a line from which a train starts, the names of the intermediate
stations succeeding in order, and ending with the name of the terminus station
at the other end of the line. And heretofore, in forming the different tables
for the "up" and "down." trains, the times of the trains have been read in
the same direction, usually from top to the bottom of the column or line,
and I mention these facts in order that my Invention may be the more readily
understood; because, according to my improvements in this manufacture, a
single time table serves for both the.." up." and the "down" trains, and-the
times of the trains running in opposite directions are read in opposite directions.
Thus, supposing that the times of down trains. are read in one direction, the
times of the up trains are read in the opposite directions by which improve-
ments in the mechanical construction a new manufacture of railway time
tables will be produced which will give great facility to the user both in
ascertaining what trains depart from and arrive at any one station, but also
a person may be able at once to see what return trains leave a station after
a particular train arrives, and thus ascertain at what time he will be able to
return; 'in fact, by such mode of constructing railway time tables every depart-
ing train and every arriving train at any station may at once, be ascertained
without the trouble of consulting separate tables.
The following railway time table, given as an example, will render the subject
more alone.

page_text: rt
It will be seen that in this time table that the times of the down trains run
in a direction from the top to the bottom of the column, and are to be so
read, whilst the times of the up trains run in the opposite direction, that is,
from bottom to top of the column. Hence, by following the horizontal line
opposite any station, the times of the whole of the trains departing from and
arriving at that station will at once be seen; and in order to facilitate the
eye, the colors of the figures of the opposite columns are different. In the
case shown, red and black are used; but other colors may be employed, or
other convenient means of distinguishing the down line from the up line may
be resorted to, such as having the columns of different colors in place of the
figures, or by using different forms of figures in the two opposite columns.
This distinction, by color or by shape of the figures, is not, however, absolutely
necessary, but it is a great aid to the person using such time tables. In
most cases I prefer to have the times of the down trains and of the up trains-
on alternate columns or linos, as is shown by the example table given, thus
corresponding with the directions of the down trains and up trains; but this
is not essential so long as the times are arranged to be read in opposite.
directions and on the same surface; for, in place thereof, the columns contain-
ing the times of several down trains may succeed each other, and then columns
containing the times of the up trains may succeed each other; and although I
prefer that the tables should be arranged with the names of places or stations
in a vertical column, as shown, and heretofore commonly practised, and the
times arranged in horizontal lines at right angles thereto, that arrangement
may be varied so long as the times of the trains are arranged to be read in
opposite directions.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it undor-
stood that what I claim is, the new manufacture of railway time tables herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Topham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of July,. in
the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid Thomas Topham came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled, the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord.One,
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight...

page_text: EXAMPLE: Take the 7.55 Black Down Train from Leicester to Melton,
arrival 8.40; the next Red Up Train column on the right hand gives
you 10.30 by which to return. If too soon, any subsequent Red Up
Train.