CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALS, OR IN THE METHOD OF GIVING SIGNALS, WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO THE WORKING ON RAILWAYS, AND WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO MARATIME PURPOSES, AND FOR CERTAIN OTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
FORSYTH, late of Salford, Lancashire, but now of Glasgow, in the Kingdom
of Scotland, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of October, in the ninth year of Her
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
forty-five, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Forsyth, Her especial licence, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Forsyth, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Forsyth, my exors,
admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and
Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALS, OR IN THE METHOD OF GIVING SIGNALS, WHICH ARE
APPLICABLE TO THE WORKING ON RAILWAYS, AND WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO
MARATIME PURPOSES, AND FOR CERTAIN OTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING OF
RAILWAYS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Thomas Forsyth, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Forsyth, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention of Cer-
tain Improvements in Signals, or in the Method of giving Signals, which are
applicable to the Working of Railways, and which are applicable to Maratime
Purposes, and for certain other Improvements in the Working of Railways,
to consist,―
Firstly, in the arrangement of certain lamps, and apparatus for working in
connection with them, by which means signals can be given with more cer-
tainty as to what is really meant to be expressed by them, and therefore
effecting more safety than appertains to that description of signal-giving
apparatus generally used.
Secondly, in constructing and arranging certain parts of railway engines,
carriages, and waggons, so that being less liable to derangement and better
adapted to the purposes for which they are used, I ensure a greater amount
of safety to railway travellers, and can be worked with more certainty and
economy than those generally used upon railways.
Thirdly, in constructing and arranging a certain apparatus, which has been
named a "portable crossing," and which it is intended shall be used upon
railways for the purpose of rendering unnecessary, in nearly all cases of
railway obstruction, that extremely dangerous practice called running on the
wrong line of road. And the manner in which each part of the said improve-
ments are to be performed or carried into effect will be seen by reference
to the annexed Drawings and the following description thereof. The same
letters or figures of reference are used for the same parts on the various views
and sections represented in the said Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
In describing my Inventions I shall first refer to signals, then to engines,
carriages, and waggons, and afterwards to the portable crossing.
In Drawing Sheet 1 are represented the front elevations of several railway
engines, each being distinguished from the others by a diagram of lighted
lamps arranged in some particular fashion, which arrangements admit of very
extensive variations beyond any of those exhibited in the Drawing, and the
object aimed at in using these lighted lamps is solely and simply to distin-
guish, notify, or express any particular train, or each and every train which

page_text: In Drawing Sheet 2 are represented different views of the diagramić
station signal apparatus, which, although not being absolutely necessary
where the distinguished lights just described are used, does, if used in con-
junction with those lights, make the signal code more simple and comprehen-
sive than where it is not used.
a, a, a, a, a, are lamps placed in sockets prepared to receive them upon
the pole b, and they being all provided each with a "blinker" or shutter c;
to cover or secure each glass which thereby is to be darkened or made to
appear illuminated, as required, for making the signals to be given.
In Sheet 3, Figure 1 is a representation of the manner in which the distin-
guishing lights upon the trains and the diagramic station signals are suited
to each other. The train is marked by two lights placed one above
the other, and in this example, it being intended to stop the train dat
the station e, there are exhibited upon the pole b two lights in a precisely
similar manner to those carried upon the train d, and thereby the engine
driver and guards are informed that they with that particular train are
required to stop. When it is intended to stop the train Figure 2 (Drawing
Sheet 3), distinguished by its triangle of lights, a similar triangle of lights
will be shown upon the pole b, Figure 1; and when the train Figure 3
(Drawing Sheet 3), distinguished by three lights fixed as shewn in the
Figure, other lights arranged in a precisely similar manner to them will be
shewn upon the pole b; Figure 1; and so on are similar signals to be given
at the stations to those carried by the various traius, extending through any
range which may be needed, according to the extent or variety of trains upon
any particular railway where the signals are used. Although I recommend
common white lights to be used in preference to those showing as coloured,
by being reflected through stained glass, I do not confine myself to the use
of white lights only, but shall use in some instances such other colours of
light as may be required by the circumstances of some particular case; nor
do I confine myself to the particular arrangement of signal apparatus shown
on the Drawing (Sheet 2), or to the fashion of lights carried by the engines,
as shewn on the Drawing (Sheet 1), all of which may be many ways varied
in their application, so as to answer the specific end I have in view.
What I here claim as my Invention is, the giving and receiving of signals
made by numbers of lights, arranged so as to be the same in figure and number-
upon the train to be signalled to and upon the station signal apparatus; and
what I consider as being the advantage which this system possesses over all
other methods previously used is, that the engine drivers have, where it is
used; no longer to recollect, as they formerly had, intricate and multifarious

page_text: codes of signals, the forgetting of any one of which would most likely cause
an accident; but all they requre to know regarding signals is, what number
and figure of lights is their own engine carrying, and that when they see a
similar number and figure of lights they are to understand thereby that the
train which they are working is desired to stop at the station where the
similar signal is given from. The above arrangements are there explained
as referring to trains upon railways. I intend also to use them for the working
of steamboat traffic upon such rivers as the Thames or the Mersey, and
consider that the one explanation accompanied by these additional remarks
is quite sufficient for both purposes, referring to engines, carriages, and
waggons.
In Drawing Sheet 4, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an engine, a tender,
and a carriage, furnished with my improved casings to the wheels, the utility
of which is to prevent currents of wind from having contact with the revolving
surfaces of the wheels, and thereby will be diminished in amount the resistance
or retardation which such currents of wind would present to railway trains
to considerably less than will be opposed to prevent the progress of railway
trains where such wheel casings are not used, and therefore the trains will,
with the wind guards, (wheel casings,) be enabled to acquire a higher
velocity with an equal expenditure of power, or an equal velocity with a smaller
expenditure of power, as compared to when they are not used.
Figure 2 (Drawing Sheet 4) is a section of a pair of railway wheels
encased with my wind guards, which may be made of wood, iron, or other
substance, and of any shape or size required for the particular wheels which
they are to envelope.
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, (Drawing Sheet 4,) are different views and
arrangements of an apparatus to be attached to engines, carriages, or waggons,
for the purpose of preventing recoil of the spring buffers when they are
actuated by any considerable amount of force, which may be caused by the
collision of trains, or the like. I consider that the recoil or second action of
spring buffers has in many instances had more serious effects upon passengers
in cases of railway accidents, than the primary or first action of them (the
springs); and although I must admit that it would be better to prevent
railway accidents altogether than to mediate between them and their effects,"
yet I hold that if we can diminish the amount of bad consequences arising
from them, it is an improvement in the working of railways. Referring to
the Drawing (Sheet 4), f is the spring buffer, and g the framing of engine,
carriage, or waggon. h is a small tumbler or catch working upon a hinge i
and furnished with a weight j. It will be seen that in the spring buffer f

page_text: there are notches or recesses k prepared to receive the catch h, which, when
the bufferf is impelled by force so that the notch & advances under it (the
catch) being forced down by the weight j, enters the notch k, and so.
obstructs the buffer's return to its original position, and to where it would go
when the impelling force was exhausted, if the catch h and notch k did not
prevent it from doing so. This prevention of the recoil of spring buffers on.
railway engines, carriages, and waggons, may be effected many different ways
in addition to those shewn upon the Drawing (Sheet 4), but I do not confine.
myself to any particular method of doing it, accomplishing the object in any.
way is what I consider the improvement upon the ordinary plans of spring
buffers for railway engines, carriages, or waggons.
In Drawing Sheet 5 are different views of a railway carriage or waggon, -
which is constructed so as to be better adapted to the requirements of a road.
over which it may have to travel, than is the sort of carriage generally used.
In Figure 1 (Drawing Sheet 5), B is what is known by mechanics as an.
universal joint, namely, a globular ball and socket fitted one to the other,.
and which in this application admits of the axles on which wheels are placed.
converging towards the centre of a curve round which the carriage is travel-
ling, and which admits also of any one wheel altering its level according to
the inequality of the road, without affecting the levels of any of the other.
wheels, which are not qualifications of any railway carriage now in use,
except in such cases as where the axles are so badly fitted to the bearings.
or bushes which receive their ends as to admit of playing or moving in any.
direction to the extent allowed by the bad fitting, but this bad and dangerous.
condition of the working parts is not in any way essential in my carriage with.
the universal joint in the framing, to which is fastened the bushes for receiving
the ends of the axles. There are other descriptions of joints in addition to the.
"ball and socket," which are well understood by mechanics as being included.
in the name of universal joints, but as I do not wish to be mistaken in my.
precise meaning of the term "universal" as here used, I mean joints, or a.
joint, which though being properly and well fitted together will allow the.
several axles of a railway train all to converge to one common centre, and.
also which will allow any one of the series of wheels upon the axles of a.
train to alter its comparative level with height or distance from any or all of
the wheels in the series.
Sheet 8, Figure 1, represents a section taken horizontally through a loco-
motive engine, shewing my improved fire box; it will be seen that three sides of.
the box m, m, m, are made of many curved plates instead of straight or single:
curved ones; the lower part of the tube-plate n-may also be made curved, but.

page_text: I have represented it as straight. The manner of staying the fire box to
the outer case p, p, p, p, is the same in my box as in common ones, except
that I have different lengths of stays, that no unusual inconvenience may
arise from the deposit of mud, &c., in the water spaces. I purpose increasing
the number of mud holes q, q, so as to have one at every concavity of the
water side of the many-curved, plate. It will be obvious that these many-
curved plates give an increased. amount of heating surface as compared
with the fire box now in use. Figure 2 is a vertical section of a loco-
motive engine, shewing my improved fire box with a flat roof. Figure 3 is
a horizontal section of a circular fire box to which my improvement is applied.
Figure 4 is an elevation of Figure 3, shewing my curved plates as applied
to the arched roof of a circular fire box. The same letters of reference in the
three last Figures apply to the same parts as in Figure 1.
What I claim as my Inventions in the improvements of railway engines,
carriages, and waggons, are:-The application of wind guards to the wheels,
the application of catches or of other convenient means to spring buffers, so
as to prevent their recoil when necessary, the application of an universal
joint or of universal joints (the meaning of the term "universal" to be taken as
I have previously explained) for the purpose of allowing the axles to converge
to one common centre, and also for allowing any one wheel to change its
level, independent of the levels of the other wheels of the series, without there
being necessity for any imperfect fitting in or upon the working parts of the
machinery, and the application of many-curved plates for the sides, roof, &c.
of the fire box of railway locomotive engines, for the purpose of increasing
the area of heating surface in them.
Drawings Sheet 6 and 7 are different views of the "portable crossing,"
one variety of which is made by fastening two strong flat ropes on to a piece
of broad cloth, so as to become when laid upon the ground a temporary rope
tramway, over which a train may pass from one permanent line of rails to
the other permanent line of rails. In cases where one line of rails is
obstructed, the trains will be enabled to pass the obstruction and to proceed.
on their journey on the right line of rails by the aid of this "portable
crossing," another variety of which may be made of chain (see Drawing
Sheet 7) laid upon timber, or in different methods, which will suggest them-
selves to parties conversant with railway working, and all sorts of them may
be fastend to the. permanent line of rails by bolts or keys, in such simple
manner as to render detailed descriptions quite unnecessary, because an
inspection of the Drawings (Sheets 6 and 7) will be sufficient for the purpose
of explanation. I therefore need only further observe, that these "1
"portable

page_text: crossings" may either be carried one with every train, or be always kept in
readiness on the road, say, one or two to be in charge of every squad of plate
layers on a railway, so as to be always at hand when required.
And I claim as my Invention the application of "portable crossings" to
be used upon railways, for the purpose of rendering unnecessary that practice
known by railway men as travelling on the wrong line of road.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Forsyth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.