A RAILWAY DANGER-SIGNAL WHISTLE
Year: 1858

page_text: LUCIO
700000CL
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Christopher George Cutchey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th August 1858.
I, CHRISTOPHER GEORGE CUTCHEY, of 15, Portland Cottages, Forest Hill,
in the County of Kent, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "A RAILWAY DANGER-SIGNAL WHISTLE," to be as follows,
vizt:
A bar or lever of iron or other metal or substance turning upon a pivot or
moveable joint fixed to the side of the engine or other convenient part thereof,
and kept in a perpendicular position by means of springs or other mechanical
contrivance, one end of such lever or bar passing through and underneath
the standing place of the driver, reaches nearly to the rail, the other end
working in a groove or notch cut out of the handle of an independant whistle
fixed to a pipe running from and communicating with the boiler.
The handle of the whistle consists of a broad plate of iron or other metal,
having a groove or notch cut out of one side to allow the end of the lever or
bar to fall in and so keep the handle in its place, (a spring) or other mechanical
contrivance is attached to the handle of the whistle, having a tendancy to

page_text: pull or push it down, or otherwise open the cock, and so allow the steam to
escape and blow the whistle; also of a rod or bar of iron or other metal to
pass under the rails, fixed in sockets to allow its moving freely, which rod or bar
has a catch or projection at either end (one for each rail) rather higher than
the rails, and is connected by springs and wires or chains to the station (in the
usual way) allowing the catches or projections to be raised or lowered, as
occasion may require.
The action whereof is, upon there being any obstruction or stoppage on the
line or at the station, the rod being liberated the catches are raised, and upon
an engine passing the catch the lever before described, which projects some
inches below, strikes against one of them, and which lever moving on the pivot
or moveable joint, is thrown out of the notch or groove in the handle of the
whistle, which being acted upon by the spring or other mechanical contrivance
opens the cock, thereby letting the steam into and blowing the whistle, and so
gives the alarm to the driver and other attendants of the train of such danger,
stoppage, &c., and the alarm is continued until the driver or other attendant
replaces the handle, when the lever or bar falls into its place again. The
reason of the bar or rod having two catches or projections (one for each rail)
is, the lever on the engine has a motion backwards and forwards 'on the pivot
or moveable joint, and as the engines are frequently worked backwards (i.c.,
tender first) the second catch allows of such, and yet acts the same upon the
whistle as when the engine goes forward.
It also consists of a moveable block or catch, one or more of which is carried
by the guard or other attendant of the train, which catch passing under and
against the rail is fastened to the rail by a screw or vice, which screw or vice
drawing the catch tightly against the rail holds the catch in its place.
This block or catch, therefore, in case of an accident to or stoppage of a train
in transitu is fastened by the guard or other attendant to the line at a con-
venient distance from the place of stoppage, and an approaching train (having
its lever or bar in position, the end of which lever strikes the catch which is
some inches above the rail, and gives the alarm as before described.
It is also applicable in case of repairs to the line, as it allows the workmen
to communicate with approaching trains.
This signal can be used either as an independant auxiliary signal or as a
valuable addition to the present auxiliary signals, by being placed at a con-
venient, distance from them, it calls the driver's attention to such signal more
effectually than the signals at present in use.
And I reserve the right to use the same apparatus cither for all the above

page_text: purposes or for some or for one of them, and by means of one or more levers
or to adapt the same to one or all or some of them; and as the same may be
used in various ways for various purposes on railways, I reserve and claim to
adapt the same to any of such purposes.
And I claim as new or improvements the whole of the apparatus described
and every part thereof as above mentioned.