An Improved System of Signal Communication between the Passengers and Guard in Railway Trains.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 4th May, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved System of Signal Communication between the
Passengers and Guard in Railway Trains.
We, CHARLES RIGBY 347, Tongmoor Road, Tong, Bolton, Jeweller, and
JOHN BENTLEY, 5, Valletts Buildings, Bolton, Clerk, both in the County of
Lancashire, 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 an improved system of electrical communication between
the passengers and guard in railway trains, and has for its object to dispense
with the need of joining the wires of one carriage with the wires of its neighbours
when making up a train, as obtains (so far as we are aware) with all the systems of
electrical communication between passengers and guard hitherto employed, and in
which the omission to so connect up any of the said wires, or by reason of their
subsequent separation, has rendered the entire circuit inoperative, and consequently
the system unreliable and useless.
According to our invention each carriage or coach carries its own main lead and
return wires, the former being in electrical communication with the buffer rods upon
one side of the vehicle, while the latter is in like manner connected to the buffer
rods at the opposite side, each line being provided with suitable switches or
cut outs, and in each compartment of each carriage one or more suitable push
buttons or switches would be provided in electrical communication with both line
wires by the means of which the circuit may be closed in any compartment.
The guard's van or compartment would be provided with a suitable primary or
secondary battery and a bell, gong or other sonorous signal, capable of being
operated electrically, and these would be connected up in the usual way with the
line wires in electrical contact with the buffer arms on both sides of the coach
in the manner previously described, suitable switches or cut outs being also
provided upon such van, or carriage of which the guard's compartment may form
a part.
By this arrangement we are enabled to make use of the present prevailing system
of coupling up the coaches or carriages of a train with all the buffers in close
connection and pressing against each other, with their springs more or less in
tension, which provides that such intimate connection between the buffer heads
constitutes electrical contact sufficient to carry the current from carriage to carriage
for the whole length of the train which may be closed at any part thereof by
operating the press button or switch in any compartment.
In order that our said invention and the manner of its operation may be fully
understood we have appended a sheet of drawings in which :-
Fig. 1 is an under surface view of a railway carriage from which the wheels anl
axles have been removed and to which our invention has been applied.
Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same or a similar carriage.
Fig. 3 is a diagram of a portion of a train illustrating the arrangement of the
switches according to our invention.
Referring to the drawings A is the bottom frame of the carriage, B are the
vertical partitions in such carriage, C, C, are the rods of the buffers upon one side
while D, D, are the rods of those upon the opposite side, the compartments shewn E
and E represent the guard's and passengers' compartments respectively.
In carrying our invention into effect we connect to and along upon the inner or

page_text: under surface or other part of the sides of the frame A, two line wires F and F
either or both of which would be provided at each end with any form of two way
switch or cut out G most adaptable for the purpose, and by which the wires F
and F may be switched in and out of electrical connection with the buffer arms C
and D. A suitable primary or secondary battery H would be located in the
guard's van (when this is a coach distinct by itself) or in the guard's compartment E
when this forms part of the passenger carriage as shewn, the said van or compart-
ment being provided with a suitable bell J or other sonorous signal capable of being
operated electrically. Each passenger compartment E' (irrespective of their
number) of each carriage would be provided with one or more push buttons K or
any suitable electrical equivalent therefor by which the electric circuit may be
closed by a passenger, when signal communication with the guard is desired.
As before stated the principle feature of our invention is the utilization of the
contact between the buffer heads for continuing the lead of the current from one
carriage to the next along the whole length of the train so that the current
generated by or stored in the battery H in the guard's van or the guard's
compartment may serve for the whole train, regardless of their number or the
position in the train in which the same may be placed. The circuit would be
arranged as follows:-
One lead from the battery H (say the primary wire) would be connected
electrically to one of the wires For F¹ (say F¹) and from F¹ suitable branch wires I
would be led in any convenient manner or direction to one of the contact plates
of each of the pushes or the like K, and from the opposite plates of these would
lead wires M which may be either connected to the wire F, from which a wire N
may lead to the bell J, connected by a wire O to the battery H as shewn in the
diagram Fig. 3, or the said wires M may lead to a wire P connected to the bell .S,
from which a wire R may lead to and be connected to the wire F to which may
also be connected a wire S, leading to the negative pole of the battery H as at
Fig. 2, as in either method the circuit would be closed and the signal J sounded by
pressing either of the buttons or their equivalents K. Suitable indicators operated
by the passing current may be provided outside each compartment E' that the
guard may know from which the signal eminated.
As is well known, the buffers of railway carriages are not always operated by
the same form of spring, some being arranged to be operated by a coiled spring
contained in the buffer box, while others have long arms extending towards the
centre of the carriage operated by a plate spring, or by a series of rubber blocks
placed along the said arms. By the exercise of any of the well known means for
insulating the buffer arms from each other (when necessary) our invention is equally
applicable to and with either system, but for the purposes of illustration we have
chosen in the accompanying drawings to show the buffer arms extending along the
coach, and having on the end of each an insulating block T, to prevent short
circuiting by the spring V, but such blocks T would not be necessary unless the
buffer-arms-cross-springs were in electrical contact with each other.
It will thus be understood that if the arms of the switches G be placed in
the positions shewn in the first and second carriages of the diagram Fig. 3, the
current would by reason of the contact of the heads of the buffers C, be
conveyed from the wire F¹ of one carriage to the next along the whole length
of the train, and that the current would in the same manner return from carriage
to carriage through the wires F, when either of the push buttons or the like K in
any compartment of either carriage where operated.
In consequence of the frame of railway engines being metallic, the buffer arms
of the engine at either end are always in electrical connection with each other, and
it follows that when these were brought in contact with the buffers C of the
carriage or guard's van in coupling up, that the engine would form an
electrical connection between the wires F and F and so close the circuit and keep
the bell J continually ringing, and to obviate this is the use and purpose of the
switches or cut cuts G.

page_text: In the diagram Fig. 3 we have presumed that the carriage or van at the right
band side is the one to be coupled to the engine, in which case the arms of the
switches G at that end of the coach would be placed in the position shewn, thereby
cutting off electrical connection between the wires F and F with the buffers at
that end of the coach, which for clearness of illustration are referred to as C
and D¹. It will thus be seen that the current from the battery H at the opposite
end of the train cannot be carried towards the engine farther than the press
In like manner should
button nearest thereto, which in Fig. 3 is referred to as K'.
the guard's van or the coach with the guard's compartment E (containing the
battery and signal) be placed next the engine, the switches G upon that end of the
said van or coach would be cut out in like manner.
We anticipate that the constant friction between the buffer heads of one vehicle
and the next will keep the parts in contact sufficiently clean to ensure electrical
conductivity, but in order to obviate possible oxidation between these, we may
face the buffer heads with aluminium, platinum or other material not liable to
oxidation.
We are aware that it has hitherto been proposed to arrange electrical signal
communication between passengers and the guard in railway trains, therefore we do
not broadly claim the use of an electric current for this purpose, except as forming
a portion of the combination of parts constituting the system according to our
invention, but
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 :-
In an improved system of electrical signalling between passengers and guard
upon railway trains, the employment of an electric generator or storage battery,
sonorous signal, and suitable press buttons or switches and indicators in combination
with the utilization of the buffers and their arms as a means for conveying the said
current from carriage to carriage along the whole length of the train, with suitable
switches or cut outs for breaking the circuit between any one coach or van and the
next, or the engine of the train, substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and shewn.
Dated this 26th day of March 1895.
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
1, Broad Street Buildings, Liverpool Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicants.