IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE NAMES OF STATIONS TO PASSENGERS IN RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexis Paul Hodgson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th January 1883.
ALEXIS PAUL HODGSON of Hugh Street Pimlico in the County of Middlesex
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE NAMES OF STATIONS TO
PASSENGERS IN RAILWAY TRAINS
This Invention consists in an indicator to be placed in each compartment of a
railway carriage in order to notify travellers of the approach of the train to a
station at which it is about to stop. The apparatus is automatic in its action, that
is to say it operates without the intervention of the guard or other official and it is
of universal application to main lines, branch lines and junctions with other railway
systems and is applicable both for the up and down lines.
Referring to the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention it will be
seen that the apparatus comprises as many dials or portions of dials as there are
lines in the railway system and a pivoted rod c carrying a pointer at its upper end
which moves over the dial and whose lower end projects below the carriage and
carries a friction roller which by coming against contact surfaces b fixed between
the rails causes the pointer to move over the dial. The contact surfaces are
respectively situated one near each station and at different distances from the rail
so as to cause the pointer to be moved to a proportionate extent over the dial.
The contact surface at the terminus or starting point of the train determines the
initial position of the pointer and from it the positions of the other contacts at the
intermediate stations are calculated. These contacts must be high enough for the
roller to meet them in the extreme positions of the lever without however being so
high as to be in the way of the axles or other parts of the under-framing of the
carriage. The ends of the contact surfaces are bevelled or inclined to the
longitudinal axis of the line in order to avoid sudden shock on the roller striking
against them.
Supposing the available space between the rails to be forty inches and each
succeeding contact surface to be two thirds of an inch more distant from the near
ide rail than the preceding one, sixty stations on a single system of railway can
be indicated on the dial. The contact surface at the starting terminus will be
nearest to the rail while the one at the arrival terminus will be the most remoto

page_text: I will first describe the application of the invention in the case of a single line of
railway. Let A, B, C, D, &c up to M represent the names of the various stations
A and M being the two termini. The naines of the stations will be inscribed on
an appropriate register and correspond to numbers arranged in regular sequence
placed opposite thereto in tabular form, which numbers indicate the number of
units of distance of the contact surfaces from the near side rail a. The contact
surfaces being fixed in position the vehicle provided with its lever (see figure 2)
will be run along the line whereby the different positions corresponding to the
different stations will be ascertained once for all, whereby the dial bearing the
names permanently inscribed thereon, may be set out and constructed with great
accuracy.
In the case of a branch line joining the main line between say the fifth and sixth
stations, the stations A' B' C D' &c thereon would be numbered 6. 7. 8. 9. &c in,
sequence to those on the main line, and the positions of the contact surfaces would
be regulated accordingly. A second table would be inscribed on the dial with the 1
names of the stations A' B¹ C¹ D' &c, as shown in Figure 2. In this case the
pointer c will, it is true, point to two stations at once, but this will not cause any
confusion in practice since, after the train has passed the point of junction of the
branch with the main line, there should be no passengers for stations on the main
line beyond that point, left in the train, and should a passenger for, say station F,
N° 6, have accidentally omitted to alight at the junction or got into the wrong
train at the terminus, he would not proceed beyond the station B³, N° 6, corre-
sponding to station F. The same remarks apply to a double as well as to a single
branch.
In the case of a junction with one or more other systems of railway, each of the
latter would be considered for the purposes of this Invention as a branch line.
In the case of junction stations for several distinct and independent railways,
the system for a single line would be applicable to each of them.
Should there be more than 60 stations between the termini, the contact surfaces
would be placed at distances increasing only, say half an inch, successively from
the rail, and the ratio of the two arms of the lever would be proportionately
modified in order to give the pointer c a greater range. Or the names of the most
important stations may be inscribed in the compartments of the dial, and the
minor ones be intercalated between them in smaller letters, or better still the
original spacing of the contact surfaces may be retained and additional ones be
placed outside the rail.
The contact surfaces should be three times the length of the platforms, and an
alarm e is provided to warn passengers of the approach to a station.
The working of the apparatus is most simple. The pointer c on the train nearing
each station is shifted by the corresponding contact b, sounds the bell, and stops
upon the name of the station. When the train has left the station, the pointer is
returned to its normal position by a counterweight f
It is not necessary that the lever c should be within the carriage. It may be
outside the ends as shown in Figure 3, and be cranked and pass through an
aperture g in the end frame h of the carriage, this aperture which is in any case
small, being closed by a sliding shutter i carried by the lever to prevent draught.
For 50 stations for instance and 150 stations and branches comprised in a single
system of railway, the dial may be about 1 yard long by half a yard in height and
be placed 3 feet above the seat just below the netting for luggage, and it may be
protected by a glazed frame as shown at Figure 6.
The contact surfaces b will be preferably constructed of cast iron and be fixed to
the sleepers within the rails.
Telegraph wire or cable k (Figure 4) tightly strained on cast iron standards
fixed at suitable distances apart on the sleepers, may be employed for actuating the
pointer. In this case the friction roller on the lever would be of greater diameter
in order to always ensure contact with the wire, and the latter would be placed at
suitably varying heights from the ground for the different stations.

page_text: In a carriage containing four separate compartments, the intermediate indicators
would be actuated by the levers at the ends, so that two or even one lever would
suffice for each carriage. As shown in Figure 5, three levers c may be used for
four compartments, the middle one being forked carrying two pointers.
The Indicator of this Invention possesses numerous advantages. It is not liable
to get out of order and once the dials and contact surfaces are placed in position,
no further attention is required, even if the carriage be transferred to a line of the
same system different to that on which it ordinarily travels. It indicates to the
traveller the station at which he should change carriages or alight. The motion of
the pointer is invariable whether the train be light or heavy, slow or express, and
once established in use on a system of railway, it may easily be adapted for use on
any other system in working connection therewith by means of a register in which
are entered the numbers of the stations and the corresponding contact surfaces.