IMPROVEMENTS IN REGULATING OR CONTROLLING RAILWAY AND LIGHTHOUSE SIGNALLING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Dufau, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REGULATING OR
CONTROLLING RAILWAY AND LIGHTHOUSE SIGNALLING."
Sealed the 16th February 1858, and dated the 21st August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Dufau at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st August
1857.
IN
I, JULES DUFAU, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
REGULATING OR CONTROLLING RAILWAY AND LIGHTHOUSE SIGNALLING," to be as
follows:-
My improvements consist in the application of apparatus to indicate by
means of electricity if the signals of the signal posts of railways are turned in
the desired direction, and if the lanterns of these posts are lighted or continue
alight. A battery is established near the hand gear by which the signal posts
A needle
are worked. This battery has in its circuit two electro-magnets.
oscillates between these two electro-magnets according as the current passes
through the one magnet or the other, and thus the position of the signal can
be ascertained. For this purpose the wires are extended to the signal post.
This post carries a contact rod at the break in the circuit; which manoeuvres
with the signal apparatus and establishes the current either of the one electro-
magnet or the other, and thus actuating the indicating needle accordingly.
[Price 8d.]

page_text: In order to indicate if the lantern is lighted the following apparatus is
employed-A small fan wheel is moved by the current produced by the
products of combustion of the lamp. The blades or vanes of this wheel
in revolving meet the extremity of the wire forming a contact point
of the electric circuit, and produces a series of oscillations of the needle. If
the oscillations cease it indicates that the lamp is extinguished. Instead
of the fan wheel mentioned, a small reservoir of mercury may be used,
which, if the lamp is alight, dilates the mercury and causes it to rise and
touch the extremity of the contact wire, and so completes the circuit;
if the lamp is extinguished, the contraction of the mercury breaks the
circuit.
A further improvement consists in the application to the two electro-
magnets of armatures which act on a rod, and by the movement of which the
detent of a train of wheels is acted on so as to stop a ringing apparatus, and
thus give audible indication of the state of the signal apparatus, which is also
visibly indicated at the same time by signal arms or placards fixed on levers
which are manoeuvred by the electro-magnets. According as the current
passes through the one clectro-magnet or the other, it indicates the state
of the line. When the ringing of the bell is stopped by the rod connected to
the armature it gives notice that the lamp is extinguished. The hammer of
the bell, instead of being actuated by a spring and train of wheels, may be
fixed on the armature of the magnet.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jules Dufau in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULES
DUFAU, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jules Dufau, Her special licence that I, the said Jules Dufau,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jules
Dufau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise
and vend, within the United,, Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REGULATING OR CONTROLLING RAILWAY AND LIGHTHOUSE SIGNALLING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jules Dufau, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands, and seals, 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 Jules Dufau, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the two Sheets of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to apparatus for indicating by means of electricity
whether railway, lighthouse, and other signal lights are turned in the proper
direction, and whether the lanterns of such signals are lighted or not.
My Invention is illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed, Sheet 1 of
which represents at Fig. 1 the whole of an apparatus with its lantern; at
Fig. 2, another arrangement of the lantern; at Fig. 3, the arrangement
represented at Fig. 2, drawn to a larger scale; at Fig. 4, a modified arrange-
ment of the apparatus represented at Fig. 1; at Fig. 5, a modified arrangement
of the ringing apparatus; and at Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9, improved apparatus for
indicating whether the light of the disc lamp is lit or extinguished.
Sheet 2 represents at Fig. 1 the warning apparatus, such as it is indicated
in Fig. 4, Sheet 1; at Fig. 2, a side elevation of the disc post with its lantern
and contact apparatus; at Fig. 3, á horizontal section of the post, showing a
plan view of a contact apparatus; at Fig. 4, the front elevation of the disc
post represented at Fig. 2; and at Fig. 5, an arrangement of the pyrometer
or metallic thermometer represented at Fig. 6, Sheet 1. In Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5 similar letters of reference indicate like parts where they recur.
Fig. 1, Sheet 1: a, the two wires of the battery; b and c, electro-magnets;
'd, needle, which is free to oscillate, placed equidistant between the electro-
magnets, it has a small weight attached to its lower part, which tends to keep
it always in the vertical position, and in the plane of the axes of the electro-
magnets b and c; e and f, conducting wires extending from the electro-
magnets to the signal post; g, g, bent lever fixed to the signal post; these
ends cause the current to pass into either the one or the other of the electro-

page_text: magnets b and c; for this purpose the wires e and have a break at e¹ and f¹.
h, signal post, seen in plan, and on a larger scale in elevation; i, conducting
wire, conducting the current from the lantern j; k, small fan wheel placed
above the chimney of the lamp, and moved by the current of hot gases
produced by combustion; 1, spring held in the metal pallets of fan wheel k;
this spring is a continuation of the wire i. m, disc, shown in dotted lines,
fixed to the signal post h.
Supposing the parts arranged, as represented at Fig. 1, it will be readily
understood that by causing the signal post h to turn in either direction one
circuit is closed and the other opened by means of lever g, g, that is to say, this
same current passes into one or other of the electro-magnets b or c, and that
magnet into which the current passes attracts the needle d, and by this means
the position of the signal post is made known. It will be known when the
lantern is alight by the continual oscillations of the needle d either to the one
side or to the other. These oscillations are produced by the alternate shutting
off and opening of the current effected by means of the rotation of wheel k,
which as it turns, each of its pallets touch the spring 1, Figs. 2 and 3.
Instead of the fan wheel k the following apparatus, represented at Figs. 2
and 3, Sheet 1, may be employed;-n, reservoir of mercury placed above the
chimney of the lamp; o, glass tubes placed in the vertical branch of reservoir n;
p, wire placed in the tube o above the surface of mercury. When the lantern
is lighted, and all the parts ready to act, the mercury expands, and reaching
the wire p it completes the circuit, and passes the current into the one or the
other of the electro-magnets b or c. If, on the contrary, the lantern is
extinguished, the level of the mercury falls below the wire p; the current
being thus interrupted the needle d resumes its vertical position.
Fig. 4, Sheet 1; q and r, armatures of the electro-magnets b and c; s, rod
moving up and down, guided by slide bars, it is put in motion by the action of
armatures q and 7, which press on small brackets s¹, s¹, carried by the rod s;
t, spring which tends always to raise the rod s; u and v, levers furnished with
placards u¹ and v¹, indicating the state of the line. Each of these levers is
moved by one of the armatures q or 7. and y, apertures through which the
placards u¹ and v¹ are seen; z, ringing apparatus, having a maintaining power
and a train or clock movement, it is furnished with a placard z¹.
Supposing all the parts to be arranged as represented at Fig. 4, by one of
the movements of the signal post the current passes into one or other of the
electro-magnets b or c, which attracts the corresponding armature. This
armature works the corresponding lever u or v, and so causes the corresponding
placard u or v¹ to indicate the state of the line by appearing at the hole or y

page_text: Now, if the current should cease by reason of the extinction of the lamp, or if
the signal post is not sufficiently turned, or if the current is destroyed from any
other cause, the rod s not being held by either armature will rise by the action
of the spring t and discharge the ringing apparatus, which, being put in action,
will raise its placard z¹.
Fig. 5 shows the application of an ordinary electric ringing apparatus, which
may be substituted for the one herein-before mentioned; a', commutator
causing the current to pass continually into the electro-magnets; b', armature;
c', hammer; d', bell. When the rod s rises by reason of the interruption of
the principal current, it allows the two parts of the commutator to approach
each other, and re-establish the current in the circuit of the ringing apparatus,
which current had been interrupted by the lowering of the rod.
I have invented another apparatus for indicating whether the lamp is alight
or not, which can be applied with equal facility; it consists of two pairs
of plates (a metallic thermometer), formed of a plate made of copper, and
another made of iron, which are brazed or soldered together.
These pairs
of plates are placed above the flame and form a part of the circuit. When the
flame burns suitably the plates expand; but as copper expands more than iron
the plates are twisted, and in their twisting motion they press against a con-
ducting part which interrupts the current. A horizontal section of a lantern
furnished with this arrangement is represented at Fig. 6, Sheet 1. a, body of
the lantern case; b, exterior glass; c, jet, wick, or lamp; d,first pair, composed of
a plate of copper and a plate of iron brazed or soldered together; one extremity
of the first pair is insulated, and connected by a coupling piece to the extremity
of e; the second pair composed of a plate of copper and a plate of iron brazed
or soldered together. This second pair is fixed at one extremity to a coupling
piece and insulated, and at the other to the exterior sides of the apparatus.
f, insulating bracket, or piece of ivory or other material, which connects the
extremities of the same pairs; h, wooden box placed behind the lantern,
it serves to fix one extremity of the pair e; i, lid held by a screw; i, screw
fastened with a nut on a solid part joined to the box; k, first conducting wire
communicating with the battery. When the wick or jet is lighted it causes
the pairs to expand, and the copper expanding more than the iron it bends or
deflects the part d at its free end; the deflection is increased by the bending
of the pair fixed to its two extremities, so that if all the parts are suitably
arranged the plate e touches plate d, which comes in contact with the screw
and shuts off the current.
The apparatus represented at Figs. 7, 8, and 9, Sheet 1, are horizontal
sections of lanterns furnished with metallic thermometers for indicating the

page_text: immediate and instantaneous extinction of the signal lights. In these three
Figures similar letters of reference indicate like parts where they recur.
T, metallic thermometer formed, like that herein-before described, of two
plates; V, glass of chimney of the light; L, lantern; b, b¹, screws fastened
with nuts on the extremities of the pairs T; they serve to effect contact.
A, bobbin of an electro-magnet traversed by the current; D, armature
attracted by the electro-magnet A; it pushes thermometer T back in order
to establish the current. R, opposing spring pushing back the electro-magnet
D, and returning it to its place when the current no longer passes into the
magnet A; H (Figs. 7 and 9), diaphagm moved by armature D, which, when
the lantern is alight, is placed on the flamc, and prevents the thermometer
from being too much heated.
Supposing the lamp to be alight, the thermometer will expand and pro-
duce contact at C and C¹ and magnetize A, which will attract D, which, in
the arrangement shown at Fig. 9, will conduct the disc H above the flame, and
in the arrangement shown at Fig. 8, will push the thermometer back out of the
flame, but in both arrangements maintaining the circuit, so that the rods being
but slightly heated, the circuit will, nevertheless, be established, and the ringing
apparatus at the station will act; but as soon as the light is extinguished, the
rods T being but slightly heated, the contact will be immediately interrupted,
when the indication of the extinction of the light will be immediately trans-
mitted by reason of the rupture of the current, while in the first apparatus,
shown at Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 6, Sheet 1, and Fig. 5, Sheet 2, some seconds are
required for the transmission of this indication, viz., all the time necessary for
the suitable cooling of the metal.
In Fig. 7 will be seen slight modifications of the two apparatus represented
at Figs. 8 and 9, Sheet 1. H is the diaphragm, which is placed above the
light when the armature F is attracted by the current which is established by
the lighting of the lamp; G is a moveable thermometer, which communicates
its heat by contact with the first thermometer T; it shuts off the circuit.
This apparatus is more sensitive than that represented at Figs. 8 and 9.
In Fig. 1, Sheet 2, will be seen the apparatus represented at Fig. 4, Sheet 1,
with the arrangement of wires of the ringing apparatus and of the battery.
A, battery; B, wires extending between the battery and the, indicating appa-
ratus; C and C', electro-magnets; D, E, D', E', armatures furnished with
their opposing springs and stops; F, indicating placard; G, point of rotation,
of the levers carrying the placard; H, H, indicating apparatus of the placards;
I, rod for working the levers of the placards; 1, 1, working cams; K, K,
contact points breaking and making the circuit by the rising or lowering of the

page_text: rod I; these contact points are simply springs. L, electro-magnet of the
ringing apparatus; L', bell with its hammer; R, conducting wire.
Figs. 2 and 4, Sheet 2; A, signal post or armature, supported by a wooden
post; B, rod of the signal post; D, D, contact cams fixed to the signal post,
establishing contact when the post is in certain positions; this, by ascending
inclined planes E which approach two springs F, establishing the contact.
G, contact established by the lantern when it is lowered during the day;
H, contact established by the lantern when it is raised during the night.
These contact points are always two springs, which tend to separate from each
other by their own elasticity, and which are held close together by pressure.
P, working levers and pullies on which the signal man acts; m, m³, V, T,
arrangement of the conducting wires.
Fig. 5, Sheet 2, represents another simplified arrangement of thermometer.
A and B, metallic thermometer; C and D, first contact; G, second contact,
whereon the expanded extremity of thermometer A abuts.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention, to be secured by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the two different apparatus, herein-before described, for indicating
that the signal disc is turned in the proper direction for the safety of any train
then stopping at the station or other purpose, such apparatus being represented
at Figure 1, Sheet 1, with an oscillating or trembling needle, and at Figures
4 and 5, Sheet 1, with a ringing apparatus and written indicator.
Secondly, the apparatus serving to indicate whether the disc lantern is
lighted or not, composed, first, of a small fan wheel, Fig. 1, Sheet 1; secondly,
of a reservoir of mercury; and thirdly, of a metallic thermometer, shown
at Figure 6, Sheet 1, and of the various modifications represented at Figures
7, 8, and 9, Sheet 1, and Fig. 5, Sheet 2.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Dufau, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
J. DUFAU. (L.S.)