IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENABLING GUARDS AND ENGINE DRIVERS OF RAILWAY TRAINE TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Richardson, of Mecklenburgh Square, in
the County of Middlesex, and Edwin Daniel Chattaway, of Bromley, in
the same County, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR ENABLING GUARDS AND ENGINE DRIVERS OF RAILWAY TRAINE
TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER."
Sealed the 11th June 1861, and dated the 12th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Richardson and
Edwin Daniel Chattaway at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 12th December 1860.
We, GEORGE RICHARDSON, of Mecklenburgh Square, in the County of
Middlesex, and EDWIN DANIEL CHATTAWAY, of Bromley, in the same County,
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENABLING GUARDS AND ENGINE DRIVERS OF RAILWAY
TRAINS TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, first, in an improved method of adjusting the weight
for taking up the slack of the signal cord chain, or other flexible medium
which connects the wheel in the guard's van with the gong, whistle, or other
alarum signal in the engine or tender. The wheel is constructed with a
grooved nave, around which the cord of the adjusting weight is bound by
means of a handle fitted loosely upon a wrought-iron pin passing through the

page_text: centre of the wheels. There is a small projecting hook or pin in the handle
to which the adjusting cord is attached, when required, by a loop or otherwise.
The handle is retained in any required position, and made available for turning
the wheel by means of a spring catch fixed to it, which works in notches cut
in the grooved edge of the nave.
The second part of this Invention relates to a peculiar construction or
arrangement of the gong or alarum apparatus. For this purpose, two rods
working in the same line are connected with spiral or other springs. To one
of these rods is attached a moveable catch, and to the other a stud or pin,
which is clutched by the catch. When the rods are drawn back by the guard
by means of the communicating cord, the pin is released from the catch so
soon as the springs are well compressed; the striking rod is then forced sharply
against the bell or gong by the recoil of the spring, and the catch rod is also
forced back to its normal position, and again clutches the pin of the striking
rod whenever the communicating cord is slackened by the guard. By a slight
modification this apparatus may be made to sound a steam whistle on the
engine instead of a bell or gong.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Richardson-and-Edwin-Daniel-Chattaway in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
RICHARDSON, of Mecklenburgh Square, in the County of Middlesex, and
EDWIN DANIEL CHATTAWAY, of Bromley, in the same County, Engineers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
George Richardson and Edwin Daniel Chattaway, Her special license that
we, the said George Richardson and Edwin Daniel Chattaway, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Richardson
and Edwin Daniel Chattaway, our executors, administrators, or 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 Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-

page_text: MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENABLING GUARDS AND ENGINE DRIVERS OF RAILWAY
TRAINS TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Richardson and Edwin Daniel Chattaway,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Richardson and Edwin
Daniel Chattaway, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
Our said Invention relates to a peculiar combination and arrangement of
apparatus for enabling the guard of a railway train to communicate with the
engine driver; and consists, firstly, of an improved mode of adjusting the
weight for taking up the slack of the signal cord, chain, or other flexible
medium, which serves to connect the wheel or drum in the guard's van with
the gong, whistle, or other alarum signal on the engine or tender; secondly,
of a peculiar construction and arrangement of the gong or alarum apparatus.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we shall now.
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose we shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of our Drawings represents a side elevation, and Figure- 2' a
corresponding vertical section, of one arrangement of apparatus for taking up
the slack of the signal cord; Figure 3 represents a modified form of appa-
ratus; and Figure 4 is a side elevation of a striking gong. constructed
according to our Invention.
In Figures 1 and 2, the wheel or drum A is supported on a fixed stud or
pin B, secured to the side of the guard's van, and it has fitted on to or formed
in one piece with the nave or 'boss, a small grooved pulley C. In front of
this pulley is fitted, so as to turn loosely upon the outer end of the stud B, a.
winch handle D, provided with a spring pall or detent E, taking into notches
in the periphery of the pulley C, and also provided with a pin or eye F, to.
which the end of the compensating cord G is attached, the other end of the

page_text: cord being passed over the guide pulley H, and carries a counterweight I;
J is the usual signalling cord, which is wound round the wheel or drum A,
and extends along the train to an alarum apparatus on the engine or tender.
On turning the handle D in the direction of the arrow, the compensating cord
will be wound one or more times round the pulley C, which is grooved to
receive it, and on bringing the spring pall E into one of the notches in the
pulley, the handle will be coupled therewith,, and the tendency of the cord G
and weight I when the apparatus is released, will be to turn the wheel A. in
the direction of the arrow, and so take up any slack in the signalling cord J.
When the train is broken up at a terminus, or one or more carriages are to
be detached at any intermediate station, the signalling cord J is wound up
wholly or partially, as the case may be, by turning the wheel A. In Figure 3
a vulcanized india-rubber spring C is substituted for the compensating cord. and
weight; one end of this spring is secured to a barrel on the nave or boss of
the wheel A, whilst the other end is hooked to an adjusting lever handle D.
provided with a detent, which takes into the notches in the quadrant K. It
is obvious that on winding the spring round the barrel in the proper direc-
tion, it will tend by its recoil to turn the wheel A, and so keep the signal
cord J at a proper tension. When the cord J is to be wound up, the spring
is unhooked from its lever D, and the wheel A-is-then-rotated-in-any-conve
nient manner so as to wind up the signal cord. The handle D serves to
regulate the tension of the spring. The gong represented in Figure 4 is
mounted upon a plate L, which is dropped into a frame-or holding grooves
on the side of the tender or engine; M is the bell or gong which is struck by
the end of the rod N, when the cord J is pulled. This rod is fitted in the
Jugs or supports a, a, and is surrounded by a helical spring b, which causes it
to strike the gong when released. The opposite end of the rod N has an eye
or pin formed in or attached to it, into or on to which the hook O engages,
as shown in the Drawing. This hook is hinged by a pin joint to the end of
the spindle P, also sliding in lugs or supports c, c, and acted upon by a
spring d. The rear end of this spindle is connected to the signal cord J.
e is an incline made on the under side of the hook, so that as the hook is drawn
back by pulling the cord J, it will rise gradually out of the eye in the rod N,
and ultimately release that rod, whereupon the spring b will instantly force it
forward, and cause it to strike the gong. The cord J being again released,
allows the spindle P to slide forward under the action of its spring, when the
hook again engages itself with the eye in the rod N, and is held so engaged
by the action of the right-angled projection f formed on the hook, which pro-
jection is pressed against the side of the support c by the spring d, and so

page_text: prevents the hook from rising or becoming accidentally detached from the
rod N.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, we would observe in conclusion, that what we consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the general construction, arrangement
and combination of apparatus for transmitting signals between the guard and
the engine driver of a railway train, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Richardson, on behalf of myself
and the said Edwin Daniel Chattaway, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.
GEORGE RICHARDSON. (L.S.)