AN IMPROVED MODE OF RINGING FoG BELLS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Stansbury, of the firm of Nourse
& Co., American and General Patent Agents, of No. 17, Cornhill, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF RINGING
FoG BELLS." A communication from Charles G. Page, of Washington,
in the United States of America.
Sealed the 17th August 1855, and dated the 28th February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick
Stansbury at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th February 1855.
I, CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., American
& General Patent Agents, of No. 17, Cornhill, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
RINGING FOG BELLS," a communication from Charles G. Page, of Washington,
in the United States of America, to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the ringing of fog bells by electro-magnetism,
applied by means of clock-work of ordinary construction. The listinguishing
feature of the Invention is the continuous ringing of fog bells, placed in situ-
ations difficult of access, by means of apparatus & mechanism in situations
easy of access, and where said apparatus and mechanism may be always under

page_text: control, the two positions being connected by the means ordinarily employed to
connect electro-magnets and batteries remote from each other.
The hammer which strikes the bell is attached to one arm of a lever, the
other arm of which carries the armature of an electro-magnet. The parts are
so arranged that when the armature is attracted to the magnet the hammer
shall strike the bell, and when the armature ceases to be attracted the
hammer shall fall away from the bell.
By completing or breaking the circuit, of which the electro-magnet forms a
part, the armature is attracted or released at pleasure, and the bell struck at
any desired interval. By means of wires attached to the verge of the escape-
ment of ordinary clock-work the circuit may be alternately completed &
broken at proper intervals as long as the clock-work continues to move &
the battery remains charged.
It is obvious that the clock-work & battery may be at any distance from
the bell and its hammer & magnet. They may be in a safe position on
shore while the bell may be ringing continuously on an exposed & dangerous
reef or shoal at many miles distance. A bell may also be rung at the mast
head or under the bows of a ship by means of a clock & battery in the
cabin.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Frederick Stansbury in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., American and General
Patent Agents, of No. 17, Cornhill, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Frederick Stansbury, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Frederick Stansbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF RINGING FOG BELLS," a communication from Charles
G. Page, of Washington, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, 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 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 Charles Frederick Stansbury, 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; in
which Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the clock arrangement; Figure 2,
a plan of Figure 1; and Figure 3, a pictorial illustration of the application of
this Invention to the ringing of a fog bell on a distant shoal or reef.
The nature of my Invention consists in the employment of electro-magnetic
power for ringing fog bells, under an arrangement and operation of parts sub-
stantially as herein set forth. Numerous devices have been hitherto essayed
and failed for the ringing of fog bells, all of them depending upon the mecha-
nical action of the rise and fall of tides, the motion of waves, or the direct
action of some person to ring them. The constant ringing required day and
night for these bells causes too great an expenditure of power to admit of
clock-work as the source of motion, but by my arrangement a slight clock
movement is all sufficient to cause and regulate the ringing of the largest bells,
the mechanical force required to strike the bell being derived directly from the
electro-magnetic power. This is brought about by the following means :-
A is an electro-magnet, the armature (B) of which is attached to the
short arm of a lever C. Upon the end of the long arm of this lever is a
hammer D, so situated that when this arm of the lever is raised the hammer
strikes the bell E. The system of clock-work F, F, is of common con-
struction, and to be driven by a weight or spring at pleasure. To the verge
G of the escapement are fixed two wires H, H, the free ends of which, as
the verge vibrates to and fro, dip alternately into mercury cups K, K, and
establish and break the electrical circuit in which the electro-magnets A, A,
are included. The battery is not here shown, the wire connections with it
and with the magnets and the cups K, K, being arranged after the usual and
well-known mode of connecting magnets and batteries, with a device for
breaking the electrical circuit. Thus, whenever the wires dip into the mercury
.

page_text: cups the battery connection is established, the electro-magnets are charged, and
the armatures being attracted to them cause the hammers to strike the bells,
and while the clock runs the bells ring. Thus far I have described the appa-
ratus and its operation as if it were all associated together in one framework.
To illustrate my Invention, however, I must suppose that the electro-magnets
and bells are secured to a suitable buoy, raft, or float, or to a tower, or reef, or
any suitable basis in the vicinity of a dangerous shoal or reef, and that the
galvanic battery and clock-work are in any desirable situation on shore, and
that the wire connections of the apparatus are arranged and operate as they are
shewn in the Drawing, with the exception that the wires reach from the tower
or buoy to the clock-work and battery on the shore, as seen in Figure 3. In
this case the wires must be carefully insulated, as they are for submarine wires
for telegraphs, and they may be submerged or not, according to the circum-
stances of the location. The clock is to be carefully attended to keep it wound
up and going, and a spare clock may be necessary in case of repairs, as the
clock must be always going, and the alarm or fog bells ringing constantly day
and night. Upon the same principle I use a fog bell on shipboard. A diffi-
culty arises from the ringing of bells on shipboard in fogs, from the fact that
the bell of one ship interferes with the sound of the bell of another ship, and
the same is true of steam whistles. In both these cases the bells and the
whistles are just in position to fill the car and overpower other sounds; more-
over, it has been thought a waste of steam power to keep the whistle going
continuously during a fog. By my plan of operation all these difficulties are
removed. At a very small expenditure a constant ringing may be kept up
during a fog or in the night, and the bell may be placed in the part of the
ship most remote from the pilot or other sentinel, so that its sound would not
prevent the sounds of other bells from being heard. For instance, a bell may
be fixed under the bows, over the sides, or under the guards outside the wheel
house, or under the stern, or, in the case of sail ships, in the fore or main top,
and the battery and clock-work in the engineer's room, or any suitable place.
The battery should always be ready for action, and it is obvious that even if
the sound of the bell should interfere with other sounds, the motion of the
pendulum and escapement may be so regulated as to give an interval sufli-
cicntly long to distinguish other sounds. The distinguishing feature of this
Invention consists in the continuous ringing of fog bells, placed in situations
difficult of access, by means of apparatus and mechanism in situations easy of
access, or where the apparatus and mechanism are always under control, the
two situations being connected together by the means ordinarily employed to
connect electro-magnets and batteries remote from each other.

page_text: I do not claim the ringing of alarm bells by electro-magnetic power, but I
do claim the application of electro-magnetic power to the ringing of fog bells
substantially in the manner set forth, whether said fog bells be used on ship-
board, or upon or near to reefs, shoals, or places dangerous to navigators, all
for the purposes and substantially in the manner herein above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. W. CAMPBELL,
67, Gracechurch Street.