IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY RECORDING APPARATUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charlton James Wollaston, of 8, Park Place,
Marylebone, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY RECORDING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 28th July 1874, and dated the 17th February 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charlton James
Wollaston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th February 1874.
I, CHARLTON JAMES WOLLASTON, of 8, Park Place, Marylebone, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY RECORDING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway recording
apparatus.
At the present time the working of railways is almost universally
controlled by means of electric signals transmitted from place to place,
and in accordance with these signals the semaphore arms are raised and

page_text: lowered, and the railway points are opened and closed. It is very
desirable as a check upon the persons employed that an automatic
registration should be obtained of the electric signals received and sent,
and of the movements of the signal and switch levers so that the
sequence of such signals and movements of levers may afterwards with
certainty be ascertained. For this purpose I provide a sheet of paper
which I cause to travel forward continuously at a uniform speed. Each
electric signal received or sent excites an electro-magnet (one of a series)
and produces a mark on the travelling paper corresponding with such
signal. Each signal and switch lever also when moved completes or
breaks an electric circuit, influences an electro-magnet, and records its
movement upon the same travelling paper. A clock also produces
marks from time to time upon the same travelling strip. Thus from
the inspection of the paper at any time the whole working of the traffic
for any past period of time may be followed, and if anything shall have
gone wrong the person responsible for the error can be discovered
without any room being left for doubt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charlton James Wollaston in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLTON
JAMES WOLLASTON, of 8, Park Place, Marylebone, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charlton James Wollaston,
Her special license that I, the said Charlton James Wollaston, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charlton James Wollaston, my 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY RECORDING
APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charlton
James Wollaston, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, 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
Datont

page_text: Diagram 1 illustrates the general arrangement of the apparatus. On
the right and side of the Figure is the sending key (marked I.) by
which the clectric messages or directions are sent, and it has connected
with it a recording apparatus working under the eye of the operator and
recording the messages or directions which he sends off. On the left
hand side of the Figure is the receiving instrument, giving its indications
by blows upon a bell or gong, and at each blow transmitting a current
to a magnet belonging to the main recording apparatus II., and causing
it to produce a mark upon the paper which is passing continuously
beneath the markers. III. is the signal lever and arm, which when set
to "danger" also transmit a current to another electro-magnet of the
recording apparatus. This signal lever, it will be understood, is only
one of many, and each has a corresponding magnet controlling a marker
producing its indications upon the travelling paper of the recorder II.
IV. is the clock which every half minute, or at other convenient
intervals, closes an electric circuit and excites the time magnet of the
recording apparatus and causes its marker to mark the paper, and so to
record upon it which part of its length was beneath the markers at any
given time. The five minute marks and the hour marks may con-
veniently be distinguished from the others by being of greater lengths.
Diagram 2 explains more fully a convenient arrangement of the gong
or bell receiving instrument. a¹ represents the telegraph line wire;
', one of the terminals of the coil of the bell instrument; 6³, the other
end of the coil; c¹, earth plate; A, the bell; B, striker and striker
lever; C, clectro-magnet coil of bell instrument; D, armature of bell
instrument; E, draw back spring; F, adjusting screw; G, contact
screw; H, contact block; J, connecting wire to recording instrument;
K, recording instrument; L, battery wire; M, battery; N, battery
wire.
It will be readily understood that an electric current being sent from
the transmitting station in Diagram 1 passing along the line wire a¹
through the coil C of the electro-magnet and thence to the earth

page_text: plate C', the armature D will be attracted towards the electro-magnet C
and the striker B brought against the bell A, and so by means of one or
more strokes of the bell a direction for the guidance of the signalman or
pointsman is given. The movement of this striker B brings the contact
screw G in contact with the block H. at the moment of the bell striking.
A wire J connects one end of the electro-magnetic coil of the recording
instrument with the terminal or binding screw of the contact block H,
the other end of the electro-magnet coil being connected with one pole
of the battery M, the other pole of the battery being by means of the
binding screw n¹ connected with the draw back spring E. It will thus
be seen that on each occasion of the bell striking the clectric circuit
becomes complete, the electro-magnet of the recording instrument is
excited, and the marking point of the instrument is brought in contact
with the paper, and thus a record preserved of the signals received for
the guidance of the person employed. A clock at suitable intervals
marks the time upon the same paper.
In ordinary practice it becomes the duty of the signalman or
pointsman upon receiving a direction or message by the bell or gong
to raise or lower the semaphore arm, or open or close the points or
switches. By an arrangement, by preference such as is fully described
in Specification No. 3213, A.D., 1873, I cause the movements of the
signal or switch levers to be indicated upon the same paper, thus
forming a complete record of the times of the receipt of the clectric
direction or messages, and of the order or sequence of movements of
the various parts of the apparatus.
As an additional check I prefer, as already indicated, to combine a
second recording instrument with the sending key. This I do because
the non-receipt of an electric direction or message cannot be taken as
conclusive proof that it was not sent, or rather that the sending key was
not properly manipulated for the purpose of sending it.
The arrangement (see Diagram 1) is as follows:-The lover of the
transmitting key A being pressed down the contact piece B is brought
in contact with the contact piece C, closing the electric circuit of the
battery G allowing of the current to pass from on pole or terminal of
the battery F by the connecting wire E through the transmitting key A
by the connecting wire L to the electro-magnetic coil M of the recording
instrument. The armature N is then attracted towards the electro-

page_text: magnet M, and the marking point O brought in contact with the
paper P on the travelling drum R of the recording instrument. This
paper P should also be marked from time to time by a clock to indicate
the time at which the signals or messages are sent. By the line wire S
the electric signals after having been recorded at the transmitting
station are scarried to the bell or gong and operate as indicate in
Diagram 2.
$6
65
Frequently it will be found advantageous to record on the paper of
the main recorder (marked II. in Diagram 1) the passage past an
observer of the trains together with a description of their nature, say
passenger," goods," and so on. The way in which I do this is as
follows: Diagram 3 is intended to illustrate the train recorder for
recording the description of train passing, and the time at which it
passes. A number of keys, similar in arrangement to pianoforte keys,
are shewn a, b, c, d, e. These keys are marked with the names or
descriptions of the various trains or figures or marks to distinguish
them.
It will be seen by the Drawing that upon the key a being pressed
down that the marking point C is brought in contact with the recording
paper upon the drum D. This drum is driven at an uniform speed by
clockwork, and marked at intervals of time by the clock. Upon the
passing of the train it is the duty of the attendant to push down the
corresponding key, and so a record is kept upon the paper of the keys so
brought into operation, and by means of the automatic time registration
the time of the keys being so operated upon is clearly indicated.
The keys may operate by electro-magnetic agency. Thus I indicate
the passage of the trains as well as the motion of the semaphore arms, or
other similar railway signals, from which the trains receive their orders.
I prefer to employ electro-magnets moving levers carrying marking
points, but other well known telegraph markers may be substituted.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the means for
carrying it into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
separately any of the parts of the apparatus which I have described, but
what I claim are the arrangements, substantially as described, for
registering the receipt of the electric train messages or directions, and
the time at which they are received in combination with the changes
which are made in the position of the semaphore or other railway signals

page_text: in consequence of the receipt of such messages or directions, the whole
being recorded in its proper time and sequence, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charlton James Wollaston, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four.
CHARLTON J. WOLLASTON. (L.S.)