Appliances for Automatically Giving an Alarm when the Doors of Railway and other Carriages are Insecurely Fastened.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 6th May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 6th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 31st Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Appliances for Automatically Giving an Alarm when the Doors of
Railway and other Carriages are Insecurely Fastened.
We, CHARLES ROPER, FRANK EDGAR ROPER, and WILLIAM CHARLES
ROPER, all of Street, in the County of Somerset, Mechanical Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to appliances for attachment to the door frames of railway
and other carriages, and has for its object the prevention of accidents by children
and other persons falling from the carriages while in motion in consequence of the
doors being improperly fastened, the automatic action of the appliances giving
immediate alarm if a door is open or only partially closed.
Our invention consists in providing a bell or other alarm, which is fixed on the
carriage in any convenient position, and connecting the mechanism therefrom,
(consisting of rods, levers, and clutches,) to a cranked bar, which is adjusted near
the axle of the carriage, and on the axle an eccentric finger is fastened, so that as
the axle revolves, the finger engages the crank bar and actuates the alarm; to
prevent the constant ringing of the alarm while the carriage is in motion, a lug is
attached to the part of the rod or lever which is opposite the catch of the door,
and held in position by a spring; when the door is properly fastened, the catch
will engage with the lug, and either lift or turn it, and thus remove the cranked
bar out of reach of the eccentric finger on the axle, and permit the wheel to revolve
without actuating the alarm.
The appliances being provided as described, it is manifest that the opening of the
door will release the lug and rods, and the cranked bar assume its position near the
axle, and that it will only actuate the alarm when the carriage begins to move, but
when the doors are properly fastened, the bar will be again withdrawn from contact
with the eccentric finger; but if the door is only partially fastened, the axle will
operate the bar and ring the alarm, continuing to do so until the lug on the rod is
lifted or turned by the door being securely fastened, and thus the conductor
or person in charge of the carriage will have due notice if a door is left open
or only partially closed, or if it be improperly opened while the carriage is in
motion.
Dated 5th day of May 1893
J. G. WESTLAKE,
2, John Street, Bristol, Applicants' Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Appliances for Automatically Giving an Alarm when the Doors of
Railway and other Carriages are Insecurely Fastened.
We, CHARLES ROPER, FRANK EDGAR ROPER, and WILLIAM CHARLES
ROPER, all of Street, in the County of Somerset, Mechanical Engineers do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Our invention relates to appliances for attachment to the door frames of railway

page_text: and other carriages, which form connections from alarm bells and the like to pro-
jecting lugs or eccentric cams on the axles of the carriage wheels, and has for its
object the prevention of accidents caused by children and other persons falling
from carriages while in motion in consequence of the doors being imperfectly
fastened; the automatic action of the appliances giving an immediate alarm
if a door is left open, imperfectly closed, or opened while the carriage is in
motion.
Our invention consists in providing bells, gongs, or other alarms to be fixed
on the carriages, either inside or outside as may be preferred, and connecting the
hammers of these bells by any convenient mechanism, such as levers, cranks, rods,
and the like, to fingers suspended near the axles of the carriage, on which axles,
cams or other eccentrics are fixed, and at each revolution of the wheel the bell is
rung by the contact of the fingers with the eccentrics, unless the fingers are with-
drawn from the reach of the eccentrics, which is done every time the doors are
properly fastened, the latches of the doors actuating the connecting rods and
throwing the fingers out of gear.
Our invention will be more fully described in connection with the accompanying
drawing, which is a sectional elevation of an ordinary railway carriage, to which
our appliances are attached, showing methods by which the bells are actuated by
the cams and released therefrom when the doors are perfectly closed.
A are gongs fixed in the roof of the carriage, with ordinary striking appliances a,
B B2, B are rods which connect the hammers to the under part of the carriage ;
C', C², C' are movable sleeves, adjusted to the right position and fixed on the rods
to be depressed by the latches D1, D2 D3 when fully fastened by the handles d' d' d³;
E is a crank lever, the finger of which is held in close proximity to the axle by a
strong spring s, G is a cam fixed on the axle H, and at each revolution of the
wheel it comes in contact with the finger E, unless it is forced out of position, as
shown in the drawing, by the depression of the rod B', and the appliances will be
disconnected, F is a second lever or finger, hung on the same spindle, and
controlled by the springs attached by connecting rods and cranks I to the rod B³,
the latch D is shown open, and when in the position shown, the cam G at each
revolution will actuate the lever or finger F and the bell in or on the carriage will
be rung and continue to be rung as long as the carriage is in motion and the door
unfastened. Another mode of attaching the fingers to be operated by the cams is
shown by the lug K suspended from a spindle above the wheel, also controlled by
a springs, this lug is connected by a rod to a crank lever L, and the proper
fastening of the latch D³ (as shown) removes the lug from. the reach of the
cam on opening the door the spring will force the lug down, so that if the
wheel revolves before the door is properly closed, the bell will be rung at each
revolution.
Instead of the actual motion being imparted to the gong hammer by the rods
and levers as described, electrical appliances may be used, the wires connecting
the striking apparatus of the gong to the fingers instead of the rods, the circuit
heing broken or the fingers removed from reach of the cams by the proper fastening
of the latch, and restored when the door is opened, so that the wheel cannot revolve
without ringing the bell.
The cams on the axles are made sufficiently wide to act on any required number
uf fingers or catch pieces that may be placed to come in contact with them, and
push pieces on the outside of each compartment may be attached, to be actuated by
the rods or levers when the bell is ringing, so that the guard or porters may readily
discover which door is insecurely fastened.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
The arrangement of gongs or other alarms on railway and other carriages with
connections to any convenient part of the wheels in such a manner that as the

page_text: wheels revolve, the alarms will be set in action and so continue until the connection
is broken by the secure fastening of the latches of the doors, substantially as and
the purposes herein set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 5th day of February 1894.
J. G. WESTLAKE.
2, John Street, Bristol, Applicants' Agent.