IMPROVE- MENTS IN SIGNALLING ON RAILWAY TRAINS, AND IN SECURING THE DOORS AND WINDOWS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Wilson, at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th July
1864.
I, THOMAS WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SIGNALLING ON RAILWAY TRAINS, AND IN SECURING THE DOORS AND
WINDOWS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
On either side of each of the carriages of the railway train is a horizontal
rod, the said rod being situated, when not in use, near the roof of the carriage
or so high as to allow of the carriage doors opening under it. The said hori
zontal rod is connected at each of its ends with a short bar turning on a joint
on the end of the carriage.
The system or frame of bars described, constitutes a long crank turning on
centres on the ends of the carriage; when the crank is raised to its highest
position by turning on its centres the part of it running horizontally along the
side of the carriage permits the doors of the carriage to be opened under it as
herein-before explained; when the crank is lowered to its lowest position the
said horizontal part of it crosses each door at about the middle of the upper or
window half of the door, and both prevents the opening of the door and the escape
of any one through the upper or window part of the door. The frame of bars
described is provided at the ends of the carriage with fastenings, one of which
holds the frame of bars in its raised position. The other fastening fixes the

page_text: frame after it has been lowered to its lowest position. By means of handles
or levers in each compartment of the carriage the first described fastening can
be unfastened by any occupant of the carriage and the frame let down, imme-
diately it falls it is fastened down and cannot be raised by any one inside the
carriage. The falling of the frame described takes place simultaneously in the
frames on both sides of the carriage, but for simplicity of description I have
only described the construction and action of a frame on one side of the
carriage. The falling of the frames of any carriage acts as a signal to all the
passengers in that carriage, who are immediately informed thereby that some
occupant of one compartment of the carriage wishes to attract the attention of
the guard and to secure some person in the carriage. Instead of making the
frames of bars described descend to the middle of the door they may descend
only sufficiently far to prevent the opening of the doors. Or, instead of con-
tinuous bars descending in vertical or nearly vertical lines on either side of the
carriage, so as to secure the doors as herein-before described, the doors may
be secured by a series of bolts acted upon simultaneously and made to bolt
all the doors of the carriage and prevent any person leaving it until the
arrival of the guard. In this case I attach the bolts to the body of the
carriage near the edges or jambs of the doors and connect the said bolts with
levers and springs in such a manner that on the pulling of either of the handles
inside the carriage, the bolts are liberated and are forced by their springs into
staples or recesses in the doors and to secure the said doors. Or the bolts
may be projected on the outside of the doors without entering staples or
recesses and thereby prevent the opening of the doors.
The several arrangements described may be applied to each compartment
of the carriages separately. When separate frames of rods are provided for
each compartment, the fall of any frame may be made to ring a bell or give
other signal in the interior of each of the compartments of the carriage, or the
levers or handles may be made to operate on the said bells or signals without
the frames of rods described. The motion of the levers or handles is trans-
mitted to the bells or signals by means of cranks and connecting rods. In
order more effectually to attract the guard's attention on the falling of the
frames, I fix a firework similar to the fire work commonly called a serpent to
the carriage, and cause the falling of the frames to ignite the said firework
either by striking a percussion cap connected with it, or by means of a com-
position igniting by friction or percussion. The said firework when ignited
throws out a shower of sparks on either side of the carriage making a loud
hissing noise, with explosions at intervals, and attracts the guard's atten-
tion, either by day or by night, and both sides of the carriage. The handles.

page_text: by which the frames are made to fall may also communicate with the guard's
van so as to ignite there a firework of the kind described, as well as that on
the carriage from which the signal is given.
Either part of my Invention may be used singly, that is, the frame of
bars or bolts may be used without the firework, or the firework may be used
without the frame of bars or bolts.