IMPROVED MEANS OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS AND GUARD UPON RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Horridge, of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OF COMMUNICATING
BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS AND GUARD UPON RAILWAY TRAINS."
Scaled the 31st May 1870, and dated the 6th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Horridge at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th April 1870.
I, THOMAS HORRIDGE, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS AND GUARD UPON RAILWAY TRAINS,"
to be as follows:--
The object of this Invention is to enable the passengers in a railway
train to communicate with the guard, and vice versa, in case of accidents,
assault, or otherwise, by means of a series of speaking tubes, and at
the same time to indicate infallibly to the guard the particular com-
partment of any carriage from which the communication proceeds.

page_text: Each carriage is fitted with a longitudinal tube made of brass or other
suitable metal or material, the spaces between the carriages being con-
nected by means of flexible tubes attached by screw joints, the tubes
being carried through the ends of the carriages, and also through the
partitions by glass washers or insulators to prevent the absorption of
the sound by the woodwork of the carriages. These tubes are provided
with branch pipes, one in each compartment, terminating in a mouth-
piece at a convenient position for use, and the guard's van is also fitted
with a like tube so that the passengers in any compartment can thus
communicate with him, and it has been found by experiment that when
the speaking tubes are carried through the ends and partitions of the
carriages in glass insulators, as above described, the passengers and
guard can speak to each other and be heard distinctly notwithstanding
the noise caused by the train.
In order to indicate visibly to the guard the precise compartment
from which the communication proceeds, and also to confine the sound
to the parties who are communicating, cach mouthpiece is provided with
an air-tight stopper, and the sound is only heard in the guard's van
(where the mouth-piece is always open), and in that compartment where
the stopper has been withdrawn. The stopper is fitted with two slides
having notches which embrace the ends of a bolt or catch; the with-
drawal of the stopper releases these bolts and allows a spring to throw
up a disc or signal on the top of the compartment, and although a
person may replace the stopper yet the bolts and signal can only be
put back into acting position by opening a door at the back of the
compartment of which the guard alone has the key.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Horridge in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 5th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS 30
HORRIDGE, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and 3

page_text: grant unto me, the said Thomas Horridge, Her special license, that
I, the said Thomas Horridge, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Horridge, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS AND GUARD UPON RAILWAY TRAINS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Horridge,
my exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Horridge, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to enable the passengers in a railway
train to communicate with the guard, and vice versa, in case of
accidents, assaults, or otherwise, by means of a series of speaking tubes,
and at the same time to indicate infallibly to the guard the particular
compartment of any carriage from which the communication proceeds.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for “Improved
Means of Communicating between the Passengers and Guard upon
Railway Trains," I will now proceed to describe the same more in
detail, and in order that the same may be more clearly understood I have
hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, similar letters
of reference being marked upon corresponding parts.
In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 represents a section of a railway
carriage and guard's van fitted with my improved arrangement, and
Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken transversely through the carriage.
Each carriage is fitted with a longitudinal tube a, a, made of brass or
other suitable metal or material, the spaces between the carriages being
connected by means of flexible tubes b, b, attached by screw joints c, c,
the tubes being carried through the ends of the carriages and also

page_text: through the partitions by glass and india-rubber washers or insulators d, d,
to prevent the absorption of the sound by the woodwork of the carriages.
These tubes are provided with branch pipes e, c, one in cach com-
partment, terminating in a mouth-piece f, f, at a convenient position.
for use, see also detached enlarged views, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and C, and the
guard's van is also fitted with a like tube, so that the passengers in any
compartment can thus communicate with him, and it has been found
by experiment that when the speaking tubes are carried through the
ends and partitions of the carriages in glass insulators as above described
the passengers and guard can speak to each other and be heard distinctly
notwithstanding the noise caused by the train.
A movable whistle may be placed in the mouth-piece in the guard's
van, so that by blowing into the tube the passenger can call the guard's
attention previously to making a communication.
In order to indicate visibly to the guard the precise compartment
from which the communication proceeds, and also to confine the sound
to the parties who are communicating, each mouth-piece is provided with
an air-tight stopper 9, 9, see Figs. 3 and 4, and the sound is only heard
in the guard's van (where the mouth piece is always open) and in that
compartment where the stopper has been withdrawn. The stopper is
fitted with two slides h, h, Fig. 3, having notches which embrace the
ends of a bolt or catch i, i, the withdrawel of the stopper releases these
bolts and allows a spring to throw up a disc or signal k, k, Fig. 1, on
the top of the compartment, and although a person may replace the
stopper, yet the bolts and signal can only be put back into acting.
position by opening a door at the back of the compartment of which the
guard alone has the key.
In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 the stopper is provided with a knife or cutter I, I,
which when the former is withdrawn severs a cord or wire m, m, releasing
a catch n, n, (see detached view Fig. 7) and allowing a spring to throw
up the semaphore k, k. Instead of the semaphore or signal at the top
of the carriage a disc o, o, Fig. 8, may be placed at the side of cach
compartment, as shown at Fig. 2, and the withdrawal of the stopper
may be caused to release a catch and allow the disc to fall down, as
shown at the right hand side of Fig. 2.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention,
together with the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I
wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention the improved

page_text: means and apparatus for communicating between the passengers and
guard of a railway train (whether in motion or otherwise) as herein-
before described and represented by the Drawings annexed, or any
mere modification or imitation thereof, constructed and operating in
substantially the same or a similar manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Horridge, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Third day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
THOMAS HORRIDGE. (L.S.)
Witnessed by
JOHN HUGHES,
Clerk to George Davies, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
4, St. Ann's Square,
Manchester.