A SELF-ACTING RAILWAY SIGNAL
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Worsley at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd November
1861.
I, WILLIAM WORSLEY, of Hovingham, in the County of York, Baronet, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A SELF-ACTING RAILWAY
SIGNAL," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in having a lever crank or crank with a lever working
on a pivot or axle in or on a frame, and so applied as to allow of the lever
being struck and depressed on the passing of a railway carriage, by means of
a side arm projecting from such carriage to a proper distance and at a proper
level to strike and depress such lever as much as needful, the said projecting
arm to be constructed, if needful, with a roller where it would strike the-lever;
or the projecting arm may be constructed with a hinge to work up and down
and strike a pull working in an inclined slip groove attached to the said frame
so as to draw the chain referred to over a curved crank or wheel, and so put
the machinery referred to and herein-after more fully explained into operation.
Modus operandi. The crank with a lever or the lever crank to be so fixed
on the said frame, to which the rest of the machinery is also to be fixed; that
when struck by the said projecting arm it will draw a rod working on an axle
at that part or end of the lever crank which is the lowest from the axle
of such lever crank, the axle of such end being, when not in operation, at
a level considerably below that of the highest part of such lever up to a level
corresponding with the depression of such lever when so struck, the other end

page_text: of the rod to work on an axle in or on the end of another crank working
on an axle, and fixed in or on the said frame; or the two cranks may
be connected on the said two ends and work by one axle, without being so
connected as aforesaid by a rod and two axles, and having the rim which is
farthest from the crank axle in a proper curve outwards with a chain to work
on the axle at the upper end of such curved position of the outer rim of this
crank that it will come up with the crank on the outside rim of such curved
part of the crank when the said lever is depressed; or the chain may work by
the lever crank singly, over a wheel or curved crank working on an axle,
without the intervention of or being in any way connected with any second or
other crank, the chain to be of sufficient length to work over the whole curved
part of the crank and under a pulley roller or slide at a proper level and reach
to such a distance beyond the same as will allow of the chain being in either
case attached to a wire, chain, or other proper signal pull, without coming in
contact with the pulley or slide, the said wire, chain, or other signal pull to be
carried along the railway line on proper pulley rollers or slides to the station
from which the train is supposed to have been despatched or which it last left,
to be there fixed to a bell or other proper instrument for giving notice, so that
such notice may be immediately given by such bell or other proper instrument
at such station every time the carriage with the said projecting arm passes
and strikes the said lever crank, the said lever crank and bell or other instru-
ment to be properly balanced and fitted with one or more spiral or other
springs as may be needful for security or otherwise.
Utility. This system of additional signals would. be. of great utility as being
calculated.to insure regularity in the despatch, speed, and relative place of
trains running on the railway and in affording the station officials a readily
known and certain notification, on a train being despatched or leaving a station,
that the line was clear for a certain distance beyond the next station in advance,
and, thereby lessening the probability of such collisions as are incident to over
haste or delay in despatching trains, irregularity in their rate of running, relative
distance from each other, dependancy.on line signals near to or at distance
from a station, or to the absence of information on the part of drivers or other
officials on the leaving of a train that the line was clear to a certain point
beyond the next station in advance, or to the uncertainty arising from such
irregularity and want of information on the part of drivers and other officials
as to the precise time when trains might. be shunted, too sudden curves,
unfavourable, weather, and exhaustion or mental confusion on the part of
drivers in unlooked-for emergencies during the running of trains between
station and station.

page_text: Example. Assuming that the line was clear, that the signal bell or other
instrument was placed in or near to the station from which a train is to be
despatched, that the lever crank or other instrument, as aforesaid, was fixed
on the proper side of the line one mile in advance of the next station, that the
two stations were ten miles apart, and that the speed of the train was thirty
miles per hour, the signal bell or other instrument would be in operation at
the station from which the train had been despatched two minutes after the
train had passed the second station, and would there indicate other regulations,
being proper ones, and if no accident had occurred, that the line was clear up
to the lever crank or other instrument as aforesaid; the second lever crank or
other instrument as aforesaid would be placed, similarly with the first-named
one, in advance of the third station, and would thus give notice, in like manner
as aforesaid, at the second station in time for the signal man or other official to
hoist the clear or caution signal, as the case might be, to the driver or other
official of the advancing train which is supposed to have been despatched
immediately on the signal having been put in operation at the first station as
aforesaid, and so on along the whole line. It is obvious that the notice bell
or other instrument as aforesaid should be placed just over the station clock,
and be at or near the end of a train when stopping and facing the side of the
end carriage.