VEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING ALARM SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Simpson, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention of
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING ALARM SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS"
Sealed the 22nd August 1854, and dated the 30th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Simpson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
March 1854.
I, WILLIAM SIMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Agricul-
tural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING ALARM SIGNALS ON RAIL-
WAYS" to be as follows:-
At intervals of a mile or more along the entire line of railway I propose to
lay down, outside the rails, lengths of about twenty-five feet of jointed iron bars,
and to each side of every engine I attach a hanging roller. The roller on the
one side as the engine passes depresses a spring-bound bar, connected by a tie
rod with the jointed bar on the opposite side, by which the latter is raised con-
siderably above the level of the rail. To this jointed bar is attached a pendulum
movement inaintained by the weight of the bar, by which it is prevented from
falling to its original position until a certain period of time, say fifteen minutes,
has elapsed. An engine driver following too closely on the track of his pre-
decessor will be thus warned. The pendant roller at the side of the engine
will strike on the raised bar, which has not had time to resume its position, and
being in connection with a powerful gong or alarum on the engine will cause

page_text: the hammer to strike blows in rapid succession. The number of blows may be
made to indicate the number of minutes or seconds the preceding train is in
advance. A modification of the above-described apparatus may be employed
to announce the approach of a train to a station,. and a signal returned from
the station, should there be any obstruction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Simpson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1854..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SIMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Agricultural Implement
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Simpson, Her special licence that I, the said William Simpson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Simpson, 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 APPARATUS FOR
COMMUNICATING ALARM SIGNALS ON RAILWAYS;"
upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Simpson, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 William Simpson, 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 state-
ment, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My Invention consists of certain improvements in apparatus to be laid along
the lines of railway, in connection with alarm signals at the stations or on the.
engine of a train, for the purpose of warning the officials
drivers of engines of the immediate, proximity, of a train.
at stations or the

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE, DRAWINGS.
Sheet A, Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of the apparatus, to be fixed
a few inches on the outside of one line of the rails.
Figure 2, a plan of same.
Figure 3, an elevation of the. apparatus to be laid the same distance
on the outside of the corresponding line of the pair of rails.
Figure 4, a plan of same. .
Sheet B, Figure 5, an elevation of the alarm apparatus to be placed on the
"
engine..
Figure 6, section of same.
Figure 7; plan of same.
Figure 8, elevation on a small scale, shewing its position on the
engine.
Figure 9, elevation of a portion of the apparatus to be employed on
signalling from a station.
. Figure 10, a plan of same.
A
Figures 11 and 12, front and side elevations, and winch handle
gear, by means of which this part of the apparatus is worked.
'I will now proceed to describe the manner in which this apparatus is to be
mployed:-At intervals of any desired distance along the entire line of a
ailway I place, a few inches on the outside of one of each pair of rails, the
pparatus shewn in Figure 1, consisting of a series of iron rods (a) jointed or
inned together, and of any necessary length, (say, twenty-five feet,) supported
y proper carriers secured to the sleepers in manner seen at (6, 6); the ends of
he rods (a) pass through staples (c), and terminate in friction rollers.
trong spring. (d) is secured to a blocking piece, and attached at (e) to the
ron rods, maintaining them in the position shewn. This portion of the appa-
atus is connected by the transverse rod (9), Figures. 2 and 4, with a similar
rrangement of rods, shewn in Figure 3, to be placed at the same distance on
he outside of the corresponding rail of the pair. The apparatus shewn in
Figure 3 has no spring in the centre, but instead thereof is furnished with an
rm or lever (g¹), having a friction roller bearing the centre of the rods, as at
h). To the other end of this rod (9) is secured the linked rod or chain (j),
onnected to a bell when the apparatus is used near a station, and at the
pposite end of the apparatus, as seen at (i), Figures 3 and 4, is placed an
rdinary pendulum clock movement fixed in a case to protect it from the
veather, and, if desired, sunk in a chamber in proximity to the line or at any
onvenient distance from it. Figures 5, 16, and. 7; Sheet B, shew elevation,

page_text: section, and plan of the bell apparatus to be placed on the engine, which being
merely a clock movement provided with a powerful bell and maintaining spring,
need not be more particularly detailed. Figure 8 shews the position of this
apparatus upon the engine, together with the arm and pendant roller (k)
attached. It now remains to shew the manner in which the various parts
operate upon each other. We will assume that a train is travelling on the up
line of a railway. On the right hand side of the engine a pendant roller, similar
to that shewn in Figure 8, projects a few inches, just sufficiently to come in
contact with the raised bar shewn in Figure 1, Sheet A. By this contact it
depresses the bar on this side, which is connected by means of the transverse
rod (g), Figure 2, with the parallel bar, Figure 3, on the opposite side of the
line, causing this latter, which the engine will have passed, to rise; and on
another train following within a certain time, the apparatus seen at Figure 3
comes in contact with the roller hanging from the other side of the engine of
the second train, and attached to the bell apparatus, which raising the arm (k),
sets in motion the clock movement, and thus violently sounds the gong. By
the falling of this arm (k) with the weight of the roller, the strokes, of the
hammer are maintained, and may be regulated to any number, so that each
blow may be made to indicate one minute, and thus the driver will be aware
how many minutes the former train is in advance. The index on the outside
of the case, Figure 5, will also furnish him with any desired signal. The
adjustment of the hammer and bell apparatus, defining the number of blows
to be struck, will also be in accordance with the regulating of the pendulum
movement on the line already alluded to, as belonging to the apparatus shewn
in Figures 3 and 4; for when this bar has been raised by the passage of a
train, in falling it operates as a weight, maintaining the power of the pendulum
movement, and always corresponding with the alarum on the engine. Thus, if
this bar, Figure 3, be at its full height when the train passes, the arm (k),
Figures 5 and 6, will be raised to its full height between the guides (1, 1), and
by its weight in falling the hammer of the bell will strike the number of blows
indicating the number of minutes the previous train has gone on in advance.
The holes (m) in the guides (1, 1,) are to enable the driver, by means of passing
a rod through them, to prevent the apparatus working when it may be required
to run over the line without giving signals, or to regulate the number of signals
that may be absolutely necessary, which will thus be effected by suspending the
arm (k) at its full height, or by preventing its falling the entire distance.
It now remains to describe the working of the apparatus for signalling from
a station to an approaching train. Figures 9 and 10 shew a similar system of
jointed rods and friction rollers, having a lever in the centre on one end of a

page_text: transverse rod, at the other end of which is a crank (p) attached to a length
of link rods or chains (9), terminating in a similar crank and working gear,
shewn in Figure 10%, which is to be placed at the station. A man at the
station can, by means of the winch and toothed wheel apparatus shewn in
Figures 11 and 12, cause the rods to assume the inclined position shewn in
Figure 9, which will prevent the engine driver of the approaching train from
running over them without warning from the bell on his engine. In the same
manner the passage of the engine over these. rods may be made to announce
the approach of the train by ringing a bell at the station.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I wish it to be clearly understood
that I do not confine myself to these precise details, nor do I lay claim to any
novelty in the construction of the pendulum movement, or of the alarum
apparatus to be placed on the engine; but what I claim is, firstly, the
arrangement and combination of the parts constituting the apparatus to be laid
down on the line in connection with the pendulum movement and reciprocating
alarum apparatus on the engine, by means of which the driver may be made
aware of the length of time that a train has gone on in advance, as herein
described and set forth; and, secondly, the method described and shewn in the
Drawings of giving signals from an approaching train to a station, or from a
station to an advancing train; and, thirdly, the application of the pendulum
movement and reciprocating alarum apparatus to the above purpose, in manner
herein fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Simpson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
WILLIAM
(L.S.) SIMPSON.