IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING, CLOSING, AND SECURING THE DOORWAYS OF RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Peter Burton at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th January
1873.
I, PETER BURTON, of Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR OPENING, CLOSING, AND SECURING THE DOORWAYS OF RAILWAY
TRAINS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide means for opening and
closing the doorways of railway carriages, so that passengers may have
access thereto or exit therefrom only when the train is at rest, and this
is accomplished by the guard, driver, or other attendant of the train, from
the break van or engine, whereby passengers are prevented from leaving
a train before it has stopped at the platform of a station, or from
entering same after the train has commenced to move from the station.
.
My Invention essentially consists in opening and closing the door-
ways of railway carriages by the use of sliding panels or sliding doors,

page_text: which are all throughout the train opened or closed by the guard, driver,
or other attendant in the train at one and the same time, and for this
purpose the panels or sliding doors are caused to slide along the face of
the carriage instead of hanging them by hinges as heretofore.
A convenient method of carrying the Invention into effect is as
follows: I screw or otherwise attach the panels or doors to an iron
rod, similar in shape for example to a railway metal inverted; the said
rod runs from end to end of the carriage on grooved wheels or rollers
attached to the framework of the carriage, the upper ends of the panels
or doors being guided in a groove or otherwise under the eaves of the
carriage roof. The rods are connected together between the carriages in
such manner that provision is allowed for a variation of distance
between the carriages, for example an extending screw may be used
with spring or otherwise to allow for the buffers being drawn apart or
closed up owing to the movement of the locomotive, or from other
causes.
When a train stops at a station the guard thereof, whether he be at
the back or front of the train, can open all the doors from his break by
communicating motion to the rod aforesaid connecting the panels or
doors, motion being communicated to the rod by a chain, wire, rope, or.
other appliance extending from the bar aforesaid, round a pulley, or by
other equivalent means, and in this way the panels or doors are all
drawn or opened, so that passengers can freely leave the train; on
the signal for the train to start being given a reverse motion is com-
municated to the rod either from one or other of the break vans or the
engine, and the doorways are all closed simultaneously and secured, so
that they cannot be opened by passengers until arriving at the next
station, or when the guard or other attendant desires, or if desired the
movement may be produced by returning the chain or rope over a pulley
to the van from which they had been operated.
By my Invention there is no delay in starting a train owing to the
guard or porters having to walk along the platform to close the doors of
each carriage, because as before described, this is effected simultaneously,
consequently less number of porters are required at each station than
at present, and economy is in other ways obtained, for example the
doors do not require locks.

page_text: In some cases it may be found advisable to provide a curtain or other
shield inside the panel or door, which may if desired be drawn, to
prevent draught, or for other purpose.
The door of the break van or vans may be left free of the arrange-
ment described, and be opened and closed by the guard himself if
desired.