IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Dawson Clegg, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING
APPARATUS."
Sealed the 8th July 1859, and dated the 10th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Dawson Clegg
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th January 1859.
I, ROBERT DAWSON CLEGG, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SIGNALLING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of an apparatus in the form of a small box or case of
wood or metal, in which I place plates or sheets of metal containing the necessary
signals required to be transmitted, which plates or sheets. are held in their
places by springs or india-rubber bands. These plates or sheets are made to
slide in grooves, so that having wires attached to the ends they can be pulled
separately to appear before an opening made in the box or case for that
purpose, and then returned to their original position, and by a small bell
attached to the box or case attention is called when any signal is given. The

page_text: signals of the apparatus being made according to the requirements of the
purpose to which they may be applied, such as to railway carriages, public
and private carriages, steam boats, and the like.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Dawson Clegg in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DAWSON CLEGG, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Dawson Clegg, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Dawson Clegg, my executors, 'administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Robert Dawson Clegg, my executors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Dawson Clegg, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 I, the said Robert Dawson Clegg, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The Drawings hereunto annexed show the arrangement or form I prefer in
making these signalling apparatuses in metal or wood, having one plate only,
though four or more may be employed, if required.
1
Fig is the front view of the apparatus, which may be in any other

page_text: desirable form. Bis the front plate of the box or case; A, the opening through
which the signal is shown, and when not in operation shewing a blank surface;
C is the bell to call attention, and G the cord or chain to pull the plate or dial
round to the required signal. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of Fig. 1, D being
the plate or dial, upon the face of which are painted or otherwise marked the
signals, as "right," "left," "stop, right side," stop, left side; E, the pulley or
groove of the box, in which a spring is fixed to the axle; L are the screws,
and nuts which fix the apparatus to the splash-board of a carriage or other
part. Fig. 3 shews the back of the inside plate, upon the front part of which
are the signals; H is a pin or stud so fixed as to keep the plate or dial always
in tension; E, a box, on the rim of which is a pulley or groove for the cord
or chain to work in; e, e, e, shew the spring. Fig. 4 show the plate or dial
with signals thereon. Fig. 5 is a plate to be fixed inside the vehicle or other
place to agree with the signals on the apparatus; K, a groove, in which a
slide with the handle J is made to move to the required signals. This slide may
be made so that it will remain stationary when drawn down to any of the
required signals. Fig. 6 is a sectional view Fig. 5; L is a small pulley for
the cord or chain attached to the slide to work in connection with the
apparatus attached to a wire or cord. The bell on the apparatus may be made
in any of the ordinary manners to strike one or more times when attention is
required to be called.
Having now described my signal apparatus, I wish it to be understood that
the apparatuses may be varied in form, having for their object the com-
munication of signals to a distance.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Dawson Clegg, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
ROBT. DAWSON CLEGG. (L.S.)