AN IMPROVED - SIGNALLING APPARATUS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Roscoe, of No. 52, Brindley Street, Harrow Road,
in the County of Middlesex, Engine Driver, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED -
SIGNALLING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 31st July 1877, and dated the 6th February 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Roscoe at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th February 1877.
ROBERT ROSCOE, of No. 52, Brindley Street, Harrow Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engine Driver. AN IMPROVED SIGNALLING APPARATUS."
"
"
This Invention has for its object improvements in that portion of signalling
apparatus which conducts the motion of the hand lever or other actuating apparatus
to the semaphore arm of the signal, whereby any irregularities in the length of the
actuating wire or chain occasioned by the variations of the temperature of the
atmosphere or other causes are obviated, and consists of a toothed or serrated bar
attached to the semaphore wire or chain, the teeth of which toothed or serrated bar
takes a hook, pawl, or catch upon a rod or bar connected with the hand lever or other
actuating apparatus, and when the hand lever is drawn over so as to lower the
semaphore arm to "safety" the tooth pawl or catch drops into one of the said teeth,
and when this lever is pushed back the tooth, pawl, or catch is taken out of the
tooth, and the serrated bar being so released allows the semaphore to return to
"danger;" the tooth, pawl, or catch when in the tooth of the serrated bar and
acting thereon is kept in its position by two lugs or pins passing under two inclined
moveable bars, and when the lever is pushed back the above-mentioned two lugs
or pins pass over the upper sides of the said inclined moveable bars, whereby the
tooth, pawl, or catch is effectually drawn out of the tooth of the serrated bar so as
to liberate the same.
It is evident that if the actuating wire or chain of the semaphore arm has con
tracted, the tooth, pawl, or catch takes into a tooth farther off from the semaphore
arm, and if the said wire or chain has expanded, the said tooth, pawl, or catch takes
into a tooth nearer to the same, and thereby differences in the length of the said
actuating wire or chain are compensated.
This apparatus may be used either in a horizontal or vertical position.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Robert Roscoe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
August 1877.
ROBERT ROSCOE, of No.
Middlesex, Engine Driver.
This Invention has for its object improvements in that portion of signalling
apparatus which conducts the motion of the band lever or other actuating apparatus
to the semaphore arm of the signal, whereby any irregularities in the length of the
actuating wire or chain occasioned by the variations of the temperature of the
atmosphere or other causes are obviated, and consists of a toothed or serrated bar
attached to the semaphore wire or chain, into the teeth of which toothed or serrated
bar takes a hook, pawl, or catch upon a rod or bar connected with the hand lever
or other actuating apparatus, and when the hand lever is drawn over so as to lower
the semaphore arm to safety the hook, pawl, or catch drops into one of the said
teeth, and when the lever is pushed back the hook, pawl, or catch is by the lugs or
pins on each side of the hook or catch riding on the upper sides of two inclined
moveable bars taken out of the tooth, and the serrated bar being so released allows
the semaphore to return instantly to danger. The hook, pawl, or catch when in
the tooth of the serrated bar and acting thereon is kept in its position in the said
tooth by two lugs or pins passing under the under sides of the said two inclined
moveable bars, and when the lever is pushed back the above-mentioned two lugs or
pins pass over the upper sides of the said inclined moveable bars, whereby the hook,
pawl, or catch is effectually drawn out of the tooth of the serrated bar so as to
liberate the same serrated bar.
52, Brindley Street, Harrow Road, in the County of
"AN IMPROVED SIGNALLING APPARATUS."
It is evident that if the actuating wire or chain of the semaphore arm has con-
tracted, the hook, pawl, or catch takes into a tooth farther off from the semaphore
arm, and if the said wire or chain has expanded, the said hook, pawl, or catch takes
into a tooth nearer to the same, and thereby differences in the length of the said
actuating wire or chain are compensated.
The apparatus may be used either in a horizontal or vertical position.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will now proceed with
the aid of the accompanying Drawings to describe the same more particularly, and
also the manner in which the same may be performed or carried into effect.
Fig. I. is an elevation; Fig. 2, a plan view; and Fig. 3, a section of the apparatus.
The latter Figure (Fig. 3) also shewing the manner in which the apparatus may be
attached to the semaphore arm of a railway signal.
A, A, are the sides of the framing of the apparatus made of cast or wrought iron
joined together at the top by the bolts B, B, and on the lower side by the brackets
C, C, C, C, bolted to a bed D of wood, iron, stone, or other suitable material; or if
the apparatus is used in an upright position the frame A may be bolted by the
brackets C, C, C, C, to the signal post itself. Through the sides of the framing
there is a slot in which work the ends of the pin connecting the rod G from the
signal lever with the catch rod F, and the slot thus forms a parallel motion.
Between the sides A, A, of the framing, and resting on the bed D, is a guide plate d
in which slides a toothed or serrated bar E which is connected or attached at one
end to the semaphore wire or chain, and at the other end with a tension weight X.
Another tension weight Y may be attached to the signal wire, as shewn in Figs. I.
and III.
The bed of the guide plate & may be furnished with friction roller or (which I
prefer) friction pieces, so that the toothed or serrated bar E may slide freely along over
it. Into the teeth of this toothed or serrated bar takes a hook, pawl, or catch upon
a bar F connected by a pin f with a connecting rod G attached to the signal lever.
On the inner side of the framing A, A, there are fixed inclined planes inclined (one
of which H is seen in Fig. III.), and upon the upper side of which inclined plane the
lugs or pins on each side of the hook, pawl. or catch rest when the semaphore signal 5

page_text: is at danger, and the hook, pawl, or catch is thereby kept out of the teeth of the
toothed or serrated plate. As soon however as the semaphore arm is to be lowered
to safety, the lever on being pulled over draws back the bar F, and the hook, pawl,
or catch is by the lugs or pins thereon riding down the inclined plane H guided
into a tooth of the toothed or serrated bar E. Two inclined moveable bars I, I, are
attached at one end to the inner sides of the framing A, A, by the pin i, and at
their other ends through slots in the framing to a strap or stirrup k passing across
the fraining from exterior of one side of the framing A to the exterior of the other
side of the said framing. These inclined bars servo a double purpose. When the
semaphore arm is being lowered to safety by the signal lever being pulled over,
the lugs or pins on each side of the hook, pawl, or catch pass under the said inclined
moveable bars, and the hook, pawl, or catch is thereby kept in the tooth of the
toothed or serrated bar until the semaphore arm is lowered to its position; but
when the signal man desires to restore the semaphore arm to danger, as soon as he
begins to push over the lever the lugs or pins on the hook, pawl, or catch slide over
the upper sides of the moveable bars, and the hook is thereby forced out of the tooth
of the toothed or serrated plate, which being thus liberated allows the weight on
the signal post to restore the semaphore instantly to "danger."
It is obvious that the use of the above described apparatus prevents the happening
of any injurious effect from the contraction or expansion of the actuating wire or
chain of the semaphore arm, for if the wire or chain has expanded, the hook, pawl,
or catch engages in a tooth of the toothed or serrated bar further from the signal
lever, and if the wire or chains has contracted, the said hook, pawl, or catch engages
in a tooth nearer to the signal lever; but in either case the signal lever acts
efficiently on the semaphore arm.
It will also be evident that the use of the inclined moveable bars insures the
efficient working of the apparatus by keeping the hook, pawl, or catch firmly in the
tooth of the serrated bar while the semaphore arm is being acted on to lower it to
safety, and also by instantly forcing out or freeing the said hook, pawl, or catch
from the serrated bar when the semaphore arm is to be restored to danger.
I have now described the apparatus when it is intended to act in a horizontal
position, but if it be desired to use it in a vertical position, the only alteration necessary
in the working parts of the apparatus is the attaching to the moveable inclined bars
a bell-crank lever and weight so as to keep them pressed against the bed of the
apparatus.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same may be performed or carried into
effect, I would remark that I am aware that apparatus for the compensating of the
inequalities which arise from the contraction and expansion of the wires and chains
in signal apparatus have been used before the date of my Patent, and that Letters
Patent have been granted to John Ledbrook and James Henry Mills (No. 487/174)
for "An Apparatus for the Self-adjusting of all Kinds of Railway Signal and other
Wires," I therefore do not make any claim in general to such compensating or self-
adjusting apparatus; but what I do claim as the Invention to be secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the apparatus herein-before
described and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which the inclined
moveable bars I, I, or any mere modification thereof or equivalent therefor are
used in combination with the other parts of the apparatus, in the manner herein-
before described and shewn in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Roscoe, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
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