IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS IN RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Groves Teal at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd August
1865
I, JOHN GROVES TEAL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Draper, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS IN RAILWAY TRAINS," to
be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to establish a system of communication
between passengers and guards in railway trains, superior to existing ones.
For this purpose under the 100fs of the carnages I place a shaft extending
from end to end of the same, the shaft of cach carriage being coupled or not,
as may be desired. On each shaft 1 key one or more handles, as may be
requisite, close to the partitions or to the end of the carriage. Metal plates
are secured to the said partitions or ends of the carriages provided with
recesses of the same shape, and slightly larger than the handles. To one of
the outer ends of the carriage I affix a bracket, the boss of which sustains the
shaft, and has its outer end screwed to receive an "alarm" in the shape of a
mipple (on to which a percussion cap may be put) encased and in communi-
cation with a powder chamber. Between the afore-named bracket and the
end of the carriage I key a right-angled guide on the shaft, one end of which
works in a groove or race cut in the end of the carriage. This guide supports
and lifts a semaphore signal having the shaft for its fulcrum, and working
loosely upon the same. The outer end of the semaphore I prefer to make

page_text: diamond-shape, having coloured or stained glass in its centre Upon the other
end of the carriage I affix a cap containing a spring to support the shaft
when the shafts of each carriage are detached, or when coupled a boss having
an internal shoulder for the spring to press against may be substituted. In
this latter case, that is, when the shafts throughout the train are connected I
use a ball-joint for that purpose, in consequence of the varying heights of the
carriages; and also a slide tube connector to allow for buffing, as well as an
additional right-angled bracket at the connection operating upon a projection
on the adjoining shaft, when moved by the shaft on to which it is secured,
thus showing the carriage from which the alarm is given. By this system
one semaphore, one lamp, and one cap signal act for a whole train.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-One of the handles (which by
preference I hang vertically) being raised to a horizontal position, and con-
sequently raising the semaphore by means of the right-angled bracket, the
spring before named causes the handle to pass into the recess formed for it by
pressure against the shaft, imparting to the latter a horizontal motion, which
causes the other end to impinge upon the percussion cap, and consequently
discharge the powder. I consequently have a double signal, so that in the
event of the guard not observing the semaphore when elevated the discharge
of powder may alarm him. The signal can only be restored to its former
position by pressure from without upon the guide bracket, so that it cannot be
tampered with by the passengers, and thus the guard is enabled at once to
perceive on what carriage or carriages the signals are given. For night work
I place a plain lamp on the 100f of the carriage, so as to be opposite the
semaphore when the latter is vertical. The semaphore being raised the coloured
or stained glass in the same is reflected upon by the lamp, and thus warning
is given, the cap and powder signal being likewise retained.