IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR PRODUCING SOUND SIGNALS UPON RAILWAYS, ESPECIALLY DURING FOGS AND DARK WEATHER
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James William Price, of Abergavenny, in the
County of Monmouth, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR PRODUCING SOUND SIGNALS UPON RAILWAYS,
ESPECIALLY DURING FOGS AND DARK WEATHER."
Sealed the 21st August 1874, and dated the 28th February 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James William Price:
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th February 1874.
I, JAMES WILLIAM PRICE, of Abergavenny, in the County of Mon--
mouth, Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR PRODUCING SOUND SIGNALS UPON
RAILWAYS, ESPECIALLY DURING FOGS AND DARK WEATHER," to be as follows:-
:-
The object of this Invention is to combine with the ordinary danger
signal appliances an electrical communication to a gong or bell at a
distance from such signal, the gong or bell being caused to sound.

page_text: through the wheels of an approaching train bearing upon a stud or
lever, which is arranged to complete the clectric circuit as the train is
travelling.
In carrying my Invention into effect I attach to the hand lever
of the danger signal an appliance, which when the lever is moved
to danger position puts two armatures of one pole of an electric
battery into connection, the wire for which is carried to any distant
post upon the line in advance of the danger signal itself, and so that its
free end which has a stud or bolt upon it passing in a vertical direction
through a hole on the rail can be depressed by the wheels of a passing
train. The wire of the other pole of the battery is in connection with
the striking or ringing mechanism of a gong or bell fitted upon the
end post, and its wire is continued to a point beneath or at the side of
the rail so that its end can be borne upon by the end of the bolt to
complete the circuit. Thus a series of sounds can be produced during
the passage of a train by a make-and-break system through the inter-
mittent action of the wheels upon the bolt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James William Price in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WILLIAM PRICE, of Abergavenny, in the County of Monmouth, Iron-
monger, send greeting.
4
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James William Price,
Her special licence that I, the said James William Price, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James William Price, 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

page_text: 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 AND APPLIANCES FOR PRO-
DUCING SOUND SIGNALS UPON RAILWAYS, ESPECIALLY DURING FOGS AND DARK
WEATHER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
William Price, my executors 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 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 James William Price, 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 thercof, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to combine with the ordinary danger
signal appliances an electrical communication to a gong or bell at a
distance from such signal; the gong or bell being caused to sound
through the wheels of an approaching train bearing upon a stud or
lever which is arranged to complete the electric circuit as the train is
travelling.
.
In carrying my Invention into effect I attach to the hand lever
of the danger signal an appliance, which when the lever is moved
to danger position puts two armatures of one pole of an electric
battery into connection, the wire for which is carried to any. .distant
post upon the line in advance of the danger signal itself, and so that
its free end which has a stud or bolt upon it passing in a vertical
direction through a hole in the rail can be depressed by the wheels
of a passing train. The wire of the other pole of the battery is in
connection with the striking or ringing mechanism of a gong or bell
fitted upon the end post, and its wire is continued to a point beneath
or, at the side of the rail so that its end can be borne upon by the
end of the bolt to complete the circuit. Thus a series of sounds can.
be produced during the passage of a train by a make-and-break system.
through the intermittent action of the wheels upon the bolt.
:

page_text: '
The manner of carrying my Invention into effect will be clearly
understood by the annexed Sheet of Drawings, in which in Figure 1
a is the hand lever of the semaphore 6 or other signal; c, d, are
armatures of an electric battery e which are thus put into contact,
the wire of this being led to a distant post, say g, on the side of
the line, and down to a gong i at about the level or height of
position occupied by the driver, fireman, guards, and passengers of a
train. The gong i has also another wire ; attached, and this leads
to an armature k, Figure 2, the free end of which bears against a
shoulder of a bolt or stem m, Figures 2 and 3, passing through
a hole in the rail h, and with the end p kept projecting above the
level by a spring q, so that after being depressed by wheels of a
passing train it shall rise again and be in position for the next
following train. is a second armature of the bolt or stem m whose
free end is kept clear while the bolt projects. The wire 8 of this
armature leads to carth at t, or back to the battery a, as desired, so
that when the two armatures k, r, are in contact, and the switch or
signal lever a over to danger position, an electric circuit is open
which causes a ringing or sounding of the gong or bell i each timo
the bolt m is depressed by the wheels of a passing train. At other
times the electric contact is broken by the break of touch of the
armatures k, r, or by the non-contact of the armatures or pieces c, d,
as the case may be, the bolt offering no impediment to the passage
of a train at ordinary times when the signal "all right” is on.