IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE SIGNALS BEING MADE BY PASSENGERS IN RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Bewicke Blackburn
at the Office of the Commissioners of. Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th October 1865.
I, ALEXANDER BEWICKE BLACKBURN, of York Buildings, Adelphi, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE SIGNALS BEING MADE BY PASSENGERS
IN RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
Close to every telegraph signal station a small drum about eight inches in
diameter is mounted between the rails on one of the sleepers. About 200
yards further on along the line a moveable arm is also mounted between the
rails on one of the sleepers, and is connected with the drum by a wire.
Underneath each carriage a chain bangs down in a curve like the drag chain
of a stage coach. Any passenger can lower this chain by unhooking a cord
which passes through the compartments. The chain when lowered sweeps
over the drum and causes it to revolve and pull the wire and raise the arm
upright in the path of the train, as the engine passes over the arm it strikes
a lever which opens the whistle.
In order to prevent wanton signalling, the hook and eye which hangs under
the roof of every compartment is enclosed in a sealed envelope, if this is
broken open and the cord let go a passenger inside the carriage cannot draw
it back again and reinstate the hook, and thus the compartment from which
the signal is given can be readily detected. When the guard and driver hear
the whistle they will both look along the carriage windows for a signal from
14

page_text: the passenger, who will find the following code of signals printed on the
envelope. Wave your arm at the window downwards for accident to carriage,
upwards for outrage or illness. The guard and driver must judge whether it
is necessary or not to stop at the telegraph signal station. The guard by
lowering the chain under his own van can also sound the whistle, and then
signal to the driver by his flag or lamp. When the telegraph signal stations
are two miles apart, and the train is going at forty miles an hour, an interval
of three minutes may elapse in an extreme case before the whistle will sound.
This interval is not likely to be practically of greater inconvenience than is
fully counterbalanced by the security afforded by limiting the signals to the
neighbourhood of telegraph signal stations, but should it be thought desirable
to shorten the intervals, drums can be placed at a mile apart or nearer, at a
very moderate cost, which would reduce the interval generally to about one
minute. The great advantage of this system is that it requires no continuous
connection between the carriages of a train, every carriage is entirely
independent of the rest, and therefore no extra time or attention are required
in making up or detaching portions of a train, and the intermixture of horse
boxes, trucks, or carriages of other companies, does not interfere with the
signalling, nor does excessive length of train affect it.
Another material advantage is that there is no delicate work about it and
nothing requiring exact adjustment. The carriage examiners can readily
inspect the cord and chain, and the plate layers can see that the drum and
arms are in working order. As every carriage can be inexpensively fitted up
in this way, and as the mounting of the drum will not interfere with anything
on any line of railway, the system is one that admits of becoming general.

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Bewicke Blackburn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th October 1865.
I, ALEXANDER BEWICKE BLACKBURN, of York Buildings, Adelphi, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE SIGNALS BEING MADE BY PASSENGERS
IN RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
Close to every telegraph signal station a small drum about eight inches in
diameter is mounted between the rails on one of the sleepers. About 200
yards further on along the line a moveable arm is also mounted between the
rails on one of the sleepers, and is connected with the drum by a wire.
Underneath each carriage, a chain, hangs down in a curve, like, the drag chain
of a stage coach. Any passenger can lower-this chain by unhooking a cord
which passes through the compartments. The chain when lowered sweeps
over the drum and causes it to revolve and pull the wire and raise the arm
upright in the path of the train, as the engine passes over the arm it strikes
a lever which opens the whistle.
In order to prevent wanton signalling, the hook and eye which hangs under
the roof of every compartment is enclosed in a sealed envelope, if this is
broken open and the cord let go a passenger inside the carriage cannot draw
it back again and reinstate the hook, and thus the compartment from which
the signal is given can be readily detected. When the guard and driver hear
the whistle they will both look along the carriage windows for a signal from

page_text: the passenger,
who will find the following code of signals printed on the
envelope. Wave your arm at the window downwards for accident to carriage,
upwards for outrage or illness. The guard and driver must judge whether it
is necessary or not to stop at the telegraph signal station. The guard by
lowering the chain under his own van can also sound the whistle, and then
signal to the driver by his flag or lamp. When the telegraph signal stations
are two miles apart, and the train is going at forty miles an hour, an interval
of three minutes may elapse in an extreme case before the whistle will sound.
This interval is not likely to be practically of greater inconvenience than is
fully counterbalanced by the security afforded by limiting the signals to the
neighbourhood of telegraph signal stations, but should it be thought desirable
to shorten the intervals, drums can be placed at a mile apart or nearer, at a
very moderate cost, which would reduce the interval generally to about one
minute. The great advantage of this system is that it requires no continuous
connection between the carriages of a train, every carriage is entirely
independent of the rest, and therefore no extra time or attention are required
in making up or detaching portions of a train, and the intermixture of horse
boxes, trucks, or carriages of other companies, does not interfere with the
signalling, nor does excessive length of train affect it.
Another material advantage is that there is no delicate work about it and
nothing requiring exact adjustment. The carriage examiners can readily
inspect the cord and chain, and the plate layers can see that the drum and
arms are in working order. As every carriage can be inexpensively fitted up
in this way, and as the mounting of the drum will not interfere with anything
on any line of railway, the system is one that admits of becoming general.