IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bagot, of Dublin, Ireland, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bagot at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th.
November 1874.
I, JOHN BAGOT, of Dublin, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of
my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention has for its object the sounding of a danger or other
signal in connection with the locomotive engine of a railway train, so as
to allow the signal men at shunting points or railway stations to warn
an approaching train, and consists of an arm or catch which is hinged or
mounted on a bracket or box secured to the permanent way, and of
sufficient length that when raised into a vertical position it will be.
struck by a spring lever or other contrivance pendent from a steam
:

page_text: whistle, horn, or other alarm, mounted on any convenient part of the
approaching engine, the effect being to cause the said lever or other
contrivance to be moved, and thereby sound the whistle or other alarm.
The arm or catch may be fixed at any required distance from shunting
points or signal stations, and is raised or depressed by means of a chain,
cord, or other contrivance leading therefrom, and operated cither by
hand or by an automatic device in connection with the ordinary signals.
By this Invention, in cases of dense fog, signals may be given to an
approaching train corresponding to those indicated by the semaphores; or
in case of accident or break down the guard of any train carrying a
portable indicator with a spare set of these appliances can fix the latter
at any required distance from the scene of the casualty, and thereby
warn another following train.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bagot in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, John Bagot,
of Dublin, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
38th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Bagot, Her special license, that I, the
said John Bagot, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Bagot, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and all times thereafter during 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 RAILWAY SIGNALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Bagot, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,.

page_text: 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 John Bagot, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object enabling the signal mon at
shunting points or railway stations to warn or signal "caution" or
"danger" to the driver of an approaching train, by the sounding of an
audible signal in connection with the locomotive engine of such train,
and consists in the employment of an arm or catch, which is hinged or
mounted on a bracket or box secured to the permanent way, and is made
of sufficient length that when raised into a vertical position it will, as the
train passes, come in contact with a spring lever or other contrivance
pendent from a steam whistle, horn, or other alarum, fitted on any
convenient part of the engine, and cause the said lever or other
contrivance to be moved, and thereby sound the whistle or other
alarum.
The arm or catch may be fixed at any required distance from shunting
points, or signal stations, or gates at level crossings, and is raised or
depressed by means of a chain, cord, or other contrivance leading
therefrom, and operated either by hand or by an automatic device in
connection with the ordinary signals or with the gates.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in
all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings shews in longitudinal section a portion of a
line of railway, and in elevation a portion of the framing of a locomotive
engine with my Invention applied thereto; Figure 2 is a similar view
drawn to a reduced scale of a portion of a line of railway and a loco.
motive engine; and Figure 3 is an end sectional elevation corresponding
to Figure 2.

page_text: a'is the arm or catch which is hinged or mounted on a bracket or
box b, secured by spikes, screws, or similar means to the sleeper c, and
is connected by means of a chain or cord d with the levers in the signal
man's box, in such a manner that it may be operated either by hand
independently of the ordinary signals, or by an automatic device in
connection with the same, so that the position of the arm or catch may
be changed simultaneously with the ordinary signals; e is a rod or lever
'which is mounted on a centre f carried by the framing g of the engine,
so as to be capable of making a partial rotation on such centre when it
comes into contact with the arm or catch a, but which rod or lever is
maintained normally in a vertical position by means of a spring h
attached to the framing g. The centre ƒ also forms the axis of a steam
cock i, through which when the cock is turned into the position shewn
by dotted lines in Figure 1 steam is supplied from the boiler by moans
of a pipe to a steam whistle 2 carried on the framing, whereby such
whistle is sounded. The cock i works in concert with the rod or lever e,
so that when the rod or lever is acted upon by the arm or catch a, an
audible signal will be given to the engine driver in charge of the train.
One of the arms or catches a is placed at any suitable distance from each
shunting point or signal station, and may be raised to indicate "caution"
or "danger," or lowered as required either simultaneously with the
changing of the ordinary signals or otherwise as before mentioned.
When the arm or catch a is in its elevated position it forms an
obstruction to the rod or lever e carried by the engine as the train
passes, which lever is thus turned into the position shewn by dotted
lines in Figure 1, by which means the cock i is opened and the whistle
sounded. When on the contrary the arm or catch a is in its horizontal
position the rod or lover e passes freely without being acted upon by the
same and no signal is given.

page_text: may fix the latter at any required distance from the scene of the casualty,
and thereby warn a following train.
The apparatus may also be arranged in connection with gates at level
crossings in such a manner that the arm or catch will be automatically
elovated by the act of opening the gate, and depressed by the closing of
the same, the arm or catch being situate at a sufficient distance from the
gate to enable the driver to stop the train before reaching such gate if
required.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the application and
use to and with a line of railway of a moveable arm or catch, for
operating automatically a whistle, bell, or other alarum, carried by a
passing train, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described
and as illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bagot, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Third day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
5 Witness,
S. MCMAHON,
28, William St.,
Dublin,
3rd May 1875.
JOHN BAGOT.
28, William St.,
Dublin,
(L.S.)
3rd May 1875.