IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VEHICLES OF RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN MEANS OR APPLIANCES FOR SIGNALLING IN SUCH VEHICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: .
LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in 'the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VEHICLES OF RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN
MEANS OR APPLIANCES FOR SIGNALLING IN SUCH VEHICLES."-A communi-.
cation from abroad by Mathieu Auguste Rikli, of Paris, in the
Republic of France, Merchant.
Scaled the 6th July 1875, and dated the 14th May 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th May 1875.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VEHICLES OF RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS,
AND IN MEANS OR APPLIANCES FOR SIGNALLING IN SUCH VEHICLES," a commu-
nication to me from abroad by Mathieu Auguste Rikli, of Paris, in
the Republic of France, Merchant, to be as follows:―
This Invention relates to railway carriages, travelling post offices,
luggage vans, sleeping cars, goods vans, and vehicles generally employed

page_text: on railways, as also to tramway cars, and consists chiefly in arranging
an open lateral corridor passage of communication or gallery at one side
of each vehicle, the floor of such lateral passage being arranged by
preference nearly on a level with the floor inside the vehicle. This
lateral passage of communication is covered by the roof of the 5
carriage, and its outer edge or limit on the longitudinal side should not
be at a greater distance from the rail in proximity to it than the other
outer longitudinal edge or limit of the carriage from the other rail, the
equilibrium being maintained by loading the bottom of the lateral
passage in a manner suitable to the construction of the carriage.
1
In summer the outer side is closed by a protecting barrier or frame
having sliding doors or doors opening inwards towards the gallery and
turning upon hinges; these doors should be placed exactly opposite the
doors leading into the compartments, and which may be either hinged
or sliding, as desired. Doors are also provided at the opposite side of 1
the vehicle to that at which the gallery is situate, in order to enable
passengers to alight or afford access to the vehicle with equal facility,
whether the platform is on the right or on the left-hand side.
In winter the frame closing the outer side of the gallery and the doors
fitted therein may be carried up to the roof of the carriage by means of 2
folding shutters or similar contrivances, and doors may be provided at
.each end of the gallery. These shutters are provided with windows so
that the lateral passage, which resembles an open verandah in summer,
may be converted in winter into a closed vestibule, which would be
sufficiently lighted by the winter windows and doors. For the winter 2
service the brake van and at least one carriage in a train should be
provided with such a closed gallery in order to protect the attendant
from inclement weather whilst admitting of his maintaining a surveillance
over the whole length of the passage of communication of the train.
These lamps are situate at the place where the partition of two com- 3
partments meets the longitudinal partition of the carriage which is on
the side of the gallery, so that a single lamp serves to light not only the
two compartments but also the gallery.
It is also proposed to dispense with the electric signals or alarm bells,
and in general with the signals requiring to be connected from one 3
carriage to another, and to adopt the following simple means of
signalling in the train.
.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, hearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the 38th
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give 1
and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special
license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 1
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 THE VEHICLES OF RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS, AND IN MEANS
OR APPLIANCES FOR SIGNALLING IN SUCH VEHICLES," a communication to me.2
from abroad by Mathieu Auguste Rikli, of Paris, in the Republic of
France, Merchant, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said.
John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the 2
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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say :-
The said Invention relates to railway carriages, mail vans, sleeping &
cars, goods vans, and vehicles generally employed on railways, as also to

page_text: tramway cars, and consists chiefly in arranging an open lateral corridor
passage of communication or gallery at one side of each vehicle, the
floor of such lateral passage being nearly on a level with the floor inside
the vehicle.
And in order that the 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.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings represent transverse
vertical sections of railway carriages constructed in accordance with this
Invention; and Figures 3 and 4 are horizontal sections of the same
corresponding respectively to Figures 1 and 2; Figure 5 is a general
plan shewing a number of the vehicles connected together. The
remaining Figures illustrate details which will be herein-after referred to.
A is the lateral passage of communication which is covered by
roof B of the carriage, the outer edge or limit of this passage on the
longitudinal side should not be at a greater distance from the rail in
proximity to it than the other outer longitudinal edge or limit of the
carriage from the other rail, the equilibrium being maintained by loading
the bottom of the lateral passage in a manner suitable to the con-
struction of the carriage.
In the summer season the outer side of this lateral passage is closed
by a protecting barrier or frame C extending up to a portion only of the
height of the vehicle, as shewn in Figure 1, in which frame are fitted.
small sliding doors c, (Figure 3). These sliding doors may be replaced by
doors opening inwards towards the passage and turning upon liinges, in
any case they should be placed exactly opposite the doors d of the
compartments D properly so called; the doors last mentioned, which
may be either hinged or sliding, separate the said compartments from
the passage A and open outwards upon it. Doors p are also arranged in
the side y of the carriage, that is to say, on the side which is unprovided
with a passage in order to enable the passengers to alight as from the
carriages at present in use with equal facility, whether the station is on
the right or on the left-hand side.
In winter the protecting barrier or frame C closing the outer side of

page_text: the roof of the carriage (as shown in Figure 2), by means of folding
shutters, and doors may be placed at each end of each passage. These
shutters, as also the winter doors, are provided with windows so that the
lateral passage A, which resembles an open verandah in summer, may be
converted in winter into a closed vestibule which would be sufficiently E
lighted by the winter windows and doors. For the winter service at
least one carriage in a train should be provided with a closed passage of
this description in order that the guard of the passage or of the train
may remain therein without being too much exposed to the inclement
weather, as from a glazed gallery closed in this manner he would be able 1
to exercise a surveillance over the whole length of the passage of com-
munication of the train. The brakes-men could be provided for in a
similar manner.
The lamps & are situate,at the place where the partition of two com-
partments meets the longitudinal partition of the carriage, which is on 1
the side of the passage A, so that a single lampserves to light not only
the two compartments but also the passage.
The communicating passage A also admits of the use of the following
simple, certain, and independent system of signalling in substitution for
the whole of the arrangements of electric signals or alarm bells, and in 2
general for the systems of signals requiring to be connected from one
carriage to another.
On the partitions separating the compartments from cach other there
are provided slides, by means of which pieces or panes of red or green
glass may be moved with facility to the passage of the carriage and a
brought over two sides of each lamp, whereby the attention of the
guard of the passage will be immediately called to the corresponding
compartment.
Red flags may also be employed by the side of the glasses at that part
of the slides, which extends over the passage, such flags when moved out §
being opened or displayed by means of a spring. This spring would
prevent any person, except the guard, both by day and night, from with-
drawing the said signal. A single apparatus would serve for two com-
partments. Moreover by means of this signal the guard or his
substitutes, who always remain in or walk up and down the passage of
the train, would be enabled to see if and in what particular compartment
their services were required.

page_text: The lateral passage is placed more advantageously on one side only,
for if applied on both sides too much space would be taken from the
interior of the carriage. To this passage may also be readily adapted
steps or stairs which may be removable or covered with moveable iron
plates, that is to say, plates turning on hinges on the side of the end
passage A¹ or in the lateral passage A in order to admit of these carriages
being used on lines having low platforms adapted for carriages of the
ordinary system. The steps or stairs may also be constructed so as to
admit of persons ascending not only in one direction or the other of the
lateral passage ▲ or the end passage A¹, but also in two directions at a
time, as shewn in the various diagrams, Figures, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10; or
in lieu of employing the steps before mentioned wooden steps may be
used in the stations with low platforms, or the passages of the carriages
may be provided with folding steps or stairs. It is however preferred
to raise the platforms at all the stations, as thereby steps may be entirely
dispensed with.
.
The pecular features of this system consist in the use of the gallery
arranged for the summer and winter service along one side of each
carriage, and serving as an external passage of communication from the
last carriage to the tender of the locomotive, as shewn in Figure 5, in
the continual surveillance over the train by the whole of the officials of
the train, or by a single guard, which this passage of communication
renders practicable, as also in employing the simple contrivance of the
sliding glasses and flags for signalling, in addition to which the opening
of the doors leading from the compartments into the passage may be
utilized as a further means of signalling.
Among the advantages of this system may be enumerated the
following:-The guard is enabled by walking along the passage of com-
munication formed by the connection of the carriages to check or collect
the tickets during the journey, and exercise a general surveillance
everywhere without risk or danger. This facility in the service admits
of the staff of the train being reduced; it should also be observed that as
the guard is safely placed in the gallery it is simply required in order to
check or collect the tickets to open the windows of the doors and not
the doors themselves of the compartments, whereby a saving of heat and
consequently of fuel in winter is effected.
Facility is afforded for travellers leaving their compartments even
when the train is running at the highest speed for the purpose of pro-

page_text: ceeding to the sleeping car, the luggage van, or the restaurant, or in
order to advise the guard of the sickness of a traveller, or in urgent
cases, such for example as the occurrence of a fire in one of the carriages
or the breaking of an axle, to inform the driver directly thereof, whilst
in less pressing cases the traveller can seek assistance without the t
necessity for stopping the train.
A double signal may be given, as before mentioned, videlicet,
by opening the doors of the compartment communicating externally
with the passage, and by moving the slide of the signal with the flags
and colored glasses.
By carrying on each train, especially in express trains, a small
portable pump, the same may be fetched and used on the road, that is to
say, in the event of a fire occurring it may be extinguished immediately
without the necessity for stopping the train.
By connecting at any station a cooking carriage constructed with a 1
lateral passage to the restaurant carriage of a train having a similar
passage, facility will be afforded for dining or taking any needful
refreshment at table during the journey, consequently the time occupied
in the journey on the lines will be reduced since the stoppages for
refreshment may be dispensed with.
2
By providing in each compartment two sets of beds F, F', (the beds F
being placed above the beds F¹, as shewn in Figure 2,) áccommodation
may be obtained for from eight to sixteen persons sleeping in a carriage of
four compartments. These beds should be light and admit of being taken
down. This system of carriages with the lateral passage is compatible 2
with the continuance of the system of compartments with the advantages
of which it combines the advantages of what is known as the American
system.
The whole of the costly electric signals are dispensed with, as also the
coupling of the signals from carriage to carriage.
3
In the case of war this system of carriage offers various advantages for
the conveyance of the wounded; for example, the medical attendants and
nurses are enabled during the journey to pass from one compartment to
another, and as there is room for from two to four wounded in a com-
partment, eight to sixteen wounded may be conveyed in a carriage of 8
four compartments. It is not necessary as formerly to place a large
number of wounded in one carriage, but in a carriage of the same size as.

page_text: many wounded may be tended in separate compartments, which arrange-
ment would have the effect of reducing the ravages of hospital fever
during the journey.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
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 In-
vention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the combination with vehicles for railways and tramways, of
a side gallery or passage of communication arranged, as herein set forth,
in conjunction or not with the means of signalling in a train, all
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of
November One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.