IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING BY ELECTRICITY AND IN APPLIANCES THEREFOR.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugène George Bartholomew, of Frederick
Street, Hampstead Road, in the County of Middlesex, Telegraphic
Engineer, and John Neale, of Stoke-on-Trent, in the County of
Stafford, Telegraph Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SIGNALLING BY ELECTRICITY AND IN APPLIANCES THEREFOR.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugène George
Bartholomew and John Neale at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th March 1874.
We, EUGÈNE GEORGE BARTHOLOMEW, of Frederick Street, Hampstead
Road, in the County of Middlesex, Telegraphic Engineer, and JOHN
NEALE, of Stoke-on-Trent, in the County of Stafford, Telegraph
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING BY ELECTRICITY AND IN APPLIANCES THEREFOR," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates mainly to improvements in the commutator, in
which a throw over or movable lever or handle working against a face

page_text: plate can be caused to operate a disc or block on which contact plates
are fitted, the plates being so arranged that a spring shall be caused to
bear upon the under side of one of them when the disc or block is
moved in one direction, and upon the upper side of the other in the
reverse movement, the spring putting either the line or earth wire into
contact with one or other pole of the battery, according to the direction
in which the block or disc is moved, whereby a needle or other suitable
appliance on the receiving instrument can be actuated for indicating
the desired signal. Another spring completes the circuit with the other
pole of the battery by acting upon separate plates upon the disc or
block.
The disc or block is connected to a push in or a draw out button,
which can be acted upon for lifting or depressing the same, so that
when the contact plates are out of line for touching the first mentioned
spring the disc or block can be lifted or depressed to put this spring
into contact with one or other of two flat horizontal plates, which
project from the disc connected severally with the two contact plates,
and so arranged that the current so sent corresponds in direction with
the last current sent by the movement of the lever or handle, no
movement being imparted to the needle through this arrangement, the
bell only being acted upon.
The last movement of the disc or block to make contact with the
spring is for the purpose of communicating with the bell or other sound
giving instrument. V shaped springs are attached to an insulated base
plate, and their free ends are attached to pins to hold the disc or block
in the desired positions.
We arrange plates upon other portions of the disc or block, which
can be caused to come into contact with a separate spring or other
device for maintaining the continuity of the line circuit.
The arrangement above given is subject to several variations without
departing from the main feature, viz., that of making a double or treble
action apparatus for signalling purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Eugène George Bartholomew and John Neale in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EUGÈNE
GEORGE BARTHOLOMEW, of Frederick Street, Hampstead Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Telegraphic Engineer, and JOHN NEALE, of
Stoke-on-Trent, in the County of Stafford, Telegraph Engineer, send
greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, 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 us, the said Eugène George Bartholomew and John Neale, Her
special licence that we, the said Eugène George Bartholomew and
John Neale, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Eugène George Bartholomew and John Neale, our 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 lawfully might make, use, excrcise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING BY
ELECTRICITY AND IN APPLIANCES THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Eugène George Bartholomew and John Neale,
or one of us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or one of our, 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 we, the "said Eugène George Bartholomew and
John Neale, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to
say:―
This Invention relates mainly to improvements in the commutator, in

page_text: railway purposes, such as signalling between stations, each apparatus or
instrument being complete in itself for showing the state of both up and
down lines of the same section, whether they be clear or blocked.
.
Figure 1 is a front view of the casing, in which the Invention above
referred to is clearly shown. In the back view, Figure 2, and in
side view, Figure 3, a is a handle to be moved in the hollow of the
plate 6 from one side of the plate to the other to direct the operator in
manipulating it in the desired direction, (and has reference to out going
trains only, he being assisted in doing so directly by the indications
upon the plate face, as illustrated by the words "train on," and "clear."
The axle of the handle a carries a disc or plate c, which has two
studs d, d, projecting from it for supporting a block e of some insulating
material, say ebonite, on which segmental ribs f, f, termed contact plateş
are fitted, the ends of the ribs being tapered off on one side at opposite
ends, so that when the block e is moved in either direction the noses of
two hinged springs or tumblers g, g, become acted upon, and caused
to keep bearing against the ribs during the movement of the handle a,
one tumbler g bearing against the left-hand face of its rib, and the other
against the right-hand face of the other rib. The ribs are double in
themselves, and divided by an insulator, the right-hand side of each
being connected metallically, and the left-hand ones in a similar manner.
The tumblers 9, 9, are metallically connected by wires i, i, and
brackets j,j, respectively to line and earth terminals, the line wire leading
to and being in connection with a semaphore arm or indicator at a
distant station, the current moving the arm in to a corresponding position,
thereby indicating whether the line be clear or train on in accordance
with the position of the handle at the sending station with the direction
in which the handle a had been moved on the sending instrument, the
semaphore arm being held in that position by its needle k being drawn
and held towards the pole of an electro-magnet 7 arranged within the
casing of the instrument.
The block e is mounted upon a central rod m, which has a knob n'on
its outer end and within reach of the operator, which knob can be
pushed in, and with it the block e when the lever handle a is on either
side, because at those times the tumblers 9, 9, have, so to speak, passed
the ends of the ribs or contact plates f,f, and the block e is free to be

page_text: www
forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Eugène George Bartholomew,
and John Neale, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this
Eleventh day of September, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four.
E. G. BARTHOLOMEW. (L.S.)
JOHN NEALE.
(L.S.)