IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR SIGNALLING IN RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Robert Wethered, Major and Paymaster
10th Depôt Battalion, Shorncliffe, in the County of Kent, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR SIGNALLING IN
RAILWAY TRAINS."
Sealed the 27th April 1869, and dated the 24th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Robert
Wethered at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th November 1868.
I, EDWIN ROBERT WETHERED, Major and Paymaster 10th Depôt
Battalion, Shorncliffe, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
SIGNALLING IN RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
signalling in railway trains. Various arrangements have heretofore been
proposed for this purpose, depending frequently on the conveyance of
motion along the train, say by a cord or other connection which when
pulled in a distant carriage causes an alarm bell or whistle to sound on

page_text: the engine, such an apparatus is commonly used to communicate between
the guard and driver, but it cannot be conveniently adapted for the use
of the passengers in consequence of the large amount of power necessary
to transmit the required motion from end to end of a train.
According to my Invention I arrange the apparatus in such manner
that in each carriage power is stored up either in a raised weight or
spring, and this power is held available for giving the signal whenever
required. The connections between the carriages are such that when
the weight or spring is liberated in one carriage it releases the weight or
spring in the next carriage or carriages, and so throughout the train.
The arrangement which I prefer is to mount on each carriage a
longitudinal axis having at each end an arm carrying a weight. When
the apparatus is standing ready for use these arms are raised and are
supported either by a detent or by resting on a stop just over the
centre. Cords or wires pass to the several compartments of the carriage
and when one of these is pulled it withdraws the detent or lifts the
weight just over the centre, as the case may be; the weight then
immediately falls to its lowest position. The connections between the
carriages consist of links easily coupled and uncoupled and passing
from the weighted arm in front of one carriage to the corresponding arm
of the next carriage, or to the detent which retains it, so that the descent
of the weight of one carriage liberates that of the next, and so on
from end to end of the train either way. I make the stops or locking
detents moveable, so that the apparatus may be set to allow the weight
to fall to either side; this admits of the carriages being turned end for
end in arranging and re-arranging the trains. On the engine or tender,
or in the guard's van, apparatus is provided to be acted on by the motion
transmitted from the last carriage and to give a suitable signal. This
signal may be the sounding of a bell or whistle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edwin Robert Wethered in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
ROBERT WETHERED, Major and Paymaster 10th Depôt Battalion,
Shorncliffe, in the County of Kent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edwin Robert Wethered,
Her special licence that I, the said Edwin Robert Wethered, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edwin Robert Wethered, 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 Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING
IN RAILWAY TRAINS," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the
said Edwin Robert Wethered, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Edwin Robert Wethered, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for:
signalling in railway trains.
Various arrangements have heretofore been proposed for this purpose,.
depending frequently on the conveyance of motion along the train, say
by a cord or other connection which when pulled in a distant carriage
causes an alarm bell or whistle to sound on the engine or guard's van;.
such an apparatus is commonly used to communicate between the
guard and driver, but it cannot be conveniently adapted for the use of
the passengers in consequence of the large amount of power necessary
to transmit the required motion from end to end of a train.
According to my Invention I arrange the apparatus in such manner
that in each carriage or in a carriage or carriages intermediate of the
length of the train, power is stored up either in a raised weight or spring,

page_text: clamping the stem of the handle between them, and concealed in the
thickness of the partition between the carriages. The rods are
continued to the two sides of the carriage, where they serve to support
discs e, e, which are then folded close against the sides of the carriage,
as shewn in Figure 3, but when in consequence of the removal of the
handle the rods are able to spring as they cease to support the discs
which then descend by their own weight down stems which carry them,
and the stems being made spiral the discs rotate through a quarter
circle in descending, and then stand out from the sides of the carriage, as
is shown in Figure 4 so indicating the carriage in which the apparatus
has been used; or semaphores which may fall outwards by their own
weight or by means of a spring may be used. The handle c and the
opening in which it is contained are shown to a larger scale in Figures 5
and 6. Figure 5 shows the handle in position for use, and Figure 6.
shows it after use. By pulling one of the cords b, by means of its
handle c, it will be seen that the rod a of the same carriage will be
drawn back a distance in the direction from the front towards the rear
of the train. If the next carriage is not a carriage in which power is*
stored up according to my Invention, then the rod a of the first carriage
is simply coupled with the corresponding rod of the next carriage by
means of the chain and hook couplings a'. The form of the hook
which I prefer to use to prevent the possibility of the couplings
becoming accidentally unhooked is shewn in perspective view at:
Figure 7; it has a head or end with two broad projections upon it which
can only pass through the links of the chain lengthways of the link,
and the projections are placed at right angles the one to the other. The
carriages where power is stored may be guards' vans, and the necessary
apparatus may then be mounted against an interior partition, but when
it is desired that passenger carriages should be provided with power
storing apparatus it may be applied externally at the end of the carriage.
This apparatus, as I prefer to construct it, consists of a lever f, turning
on a centre at f, and carrying a weight ft. 9 is a chain attached to
the lever and passing around pulleys to the rod a, underneath the
carriage in which the apparatus is fitted in such manner that when the
weighted lever falls it draws back the rod. h is a detent lever which
supports the weighted lever f, when raised this detent lever is connected
by suitable levers and links, as the Drawing clearly shows, with two
rods i passing to the ends of the carriage ending in eyes to receive the
coupling chain a¹ of the carriage behind so as to connect the rod i of

page_text: the one carriage with the longitudinal rod a of the other. Two rods i
are provided so that the carriage may work either end foremost without
interfering with the action of the apparatus, but it is only the rod i
which for the time being is towards the tail of the train which is
operative. It will now be evident that when either of the handles c
are pulled as already described the detent lever h will be lifted in the
power storing carriage next in advance of the carriage in which the
pull is given, and immediately the weighted lever f will descend,
producing mechanically another pull, which operates in the same way
as the first pull given by hand. If there is another power storing
carriage in front its weighted lever is thus liberated, and the rod a of
the carriage next to the engine or tender is coupled with a distinctive
alarm whistle on the engine or bell or other indicator which when pulled
back it causes to sound.
Figure 8 is a section of a train in which the arrangement is slightly
modified, a cord k being passed from end to end of each carriage just
beneath the roof; this cord may be altogether exposed or partially
enclosed in tubes, which may be the curtain rods. The cord is pulled by
the passengers when it is desired to give a signal; it is led down at the
ends of the carriages, and attached to the coupling chains a¹, in place of
to the rods a. The method of action, however, remains substantially as
already described. In the power storing carriage a loop of the cord k
may be taken down and led around a sheave on the lever f. The
method of indicating the carriage from which the signal is given may in
this case be by apparatus such as is shown in the Figure 9 and 10 which
are opposite end views of a carriage. As will be seen the cord k in passing
down the end of the carriage is caused at ¹ to deviate from a direct
course between its guide pulleys by a connection with a retaining
hook m which holds up a semaphore arm, then when the cord k is
pulled and strained tight between the guide pulleys the hook is thrown
into such a position as to liberate the semaphore arm and allow it to
fall into the position indicated by dotted lines in Figure 9; or a disc or
semaphore may be thrown out at the outside of the compartment on being
liberated by the pull of the rope. The space left for the passenger to
grasp the rope may be covered with a label or lid which being torn or
removed will indicate that the rope has been used. After the apparatus
has been used the guard replaces the weighted levers and other parts.
I have described the apparatus as arranged to communicate forwards

page_text: to the front of the train, but it is obvious that if desired a similar
arrangement may be adopted for communicating with a guard's van
at the back of the train.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the exact details described; but what I claim is,
the arranging apparatus for signalling in railway trains by means of
cords or similar instruments in such manner that the person signalling
may not have to exert the force necessary to act on the bell or other
indicator through the whole length of the train, but may by his act
liberate a raised weight or similar store of power at a convenient
distance from him which carries on the signal substantially as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Robert Wethered, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
E. R. WETHERED. (L.S.)
Major & Paymaster
10th Depot Battº.