IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC SIGNALLING APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE LOADING AND DISCHARGING OF SHIPS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William White at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th December 1879.
WILLIAM WHITE, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Brass
Founder and Bell Hanger. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC SIGNALLING APPARATUS
TO BE USED IN THE LOADING AND DISCHARGING OF SHIPS."
This Invention relates to new or improved electric signalling apparatus to be used
in the loading and discharging of ships or vessels for conveying messages or instruc-
tio: from the foreman or person directing the loading or unloading operations to
the engine-man or attendant in charge of the hoisting, hauling, or lifting gear or
apparatus, by means of visible and audible electric signals instead of, as heretofore,
by the confusing method of calling or shouting to the attendants, or by unreliable
or not easily understood mechanical signalling.
And the nature and novelty of the said Invention consist as follows:-The
improved apparatus comprises an electric alarm bell of ordinary construction and
recording arrangement, which is fitted in a wooden box in the engine room or
other convenient situation near the engine man or other attendant, and is connected
by separate insulated wires with an improved construction of communicator or
contact making apparatus to be held in the hand of the person in charge of the
loading operations.
This communicator is preferably made of wood and provided with a wooden or
other non-conducting handle for convenience of holding, and is fitted with a
terminal plate connected by a return insulated wire passing through the handle to
one pole or electrode of a voltaic battery or electro-magnetic machine, a set or
series of metallic make-and-break-contact springs or switches being also fitted on
the communicator, which when pressed make contact and complete the electric
circuit from the battery through the terminal plate and through a wire for each
spring of the set or series, each of which wires leads to a separate electro-magnet in
the recording box, connected in circuit with the electric bell, and the current passes
through one magnet at a time to the bell coil which is connected by a wire to the
other pole or electrode of the battery, causing the bell to ring to draw the attention
of the engine-man, and at the same time the magnet through which the current
passes for the particular message conveyed acts on and attracts a keeper or
armature with which each magnet is provided and holds it up against the action of

page_text: the spring or the weight of a hinged rod fitted to it, and carrying an index pointer,
or semaphone, or other visible signal at the end of the spring or rod which points
to a printed or engraved word or words representing the signal or message desired
to be conveyed by the foreman or other person holding the communicator while the
armature and pointer are raised.
In loading or unloading a vessel by means of winches or similar machinery, for
example, a set of instructions, such as "heave away," "stop," "haul off,"
"slack
out," and other similar usual orders to the attendant working the engine of the
winch, are marked or engraved above or near the indexes or semaphones on a
plate or dial in front of the box beyond the indexes, through which dial plate the
index springs or rods pass to the keepers of the magnets and to the back part of
the box to which the springs are fixed. And in the case in which, say, six different
fornis or kinds of instructions would be required to be conveyed there would be six
electro magnets in the recording box with their keepers or armatures and indexes,
each one corresponding to a particular order to be given and which is marked over
or at the side of its particular index; and the communicator would also be provided
with six separate contact making springs or switches, also each corresponding to
the particular order to be conveyed, with one wire leading from each to its
magnet and index, but all the wires being insulated from each other passing
through the handle to their separate magnet coils and to the bell magnet, a return
wire being also provided from the communicator to the battery or electro-maguctic
machine which actuates the bell, all which wires would be formed into a strand and
covered with a hempen rope or other covering for their protection.
The whole of the insulated wires or the rope might be wound on to a metallic
reel fixed to or near or mounted in a compartment of the recording signal box for
convenience of paying out or drawing in this rope when the foreman holding the
communicator moves some distance away from or towards the signal box, and this
reel, when required, would also be provided with a set of metallic rings fitted on
one side of the reel, insulated from each other and corresponding to the number of
wines from the communicator. Against these rings contact making springs or
switches connected to the wires would bear, and through one of them at a time the
electric current would pass from one contact making spring or switch on the
communicator to the electro magnetic signal and bell, giving the special orders to
the engine-man according to the switch or spring on the hand communicator
touched by the person in charge at a distance in the ship or where the loading or
unloading operations are performed.
Although the keepers or armatures and lever pointers have been described as
raised by the electro-magnets when the circuit is completed to give the signal, and
fall downwards by their own weight, it will be understood that when springs are
used the armatures and index levers might be drawn laterally or upwards to their
normal position by the springs, the magnet drawing back the armature to complete
the circuit against the action of the spring when giving the order. And although
only a few special forms of signals, words, or instructions are mentioned as marked
over each pointer others might be used, or these might be further extended to
embrace simple orders or instructions for other particular cases.