IMPROVED MEANS OF INDICATING WHETHER THE DOORS OF RAILWAY OR OTHER CARRIAGES ARE SECURELY FASTENED OR SIMPLY CLOSED,
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Gedge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1868. - A communication from abroad by Victor
Décombes, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son,
of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MEANS OF INDICATING WHETHER THE DOORS OF RAILWAY OR OTHER
CARRIAGES ARE SECURELY FASTENED OR SIMPLY CLOSED," a communication
to me from abroad by Victor Décombes, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, France, to be as follows:-
the
The system adopted on railways and for public vehicles of providing
for the fastening of the carriage doors does not afford every security. to
passengers. On railways, notwithstanding their careful supervision,
the officials cannot always in the hurried traffic of the station assure
themselves that the carriage doors are fastened. In choosing a place,

page_text: travellers often open several carriage doors previously fastened by the
officials, and afterwards simply push them to. The officials often
perceive at the last moment, and when the train is already in motion,
that one of the handles is improperly turned, and expose themselves
to great danger in running after the train, the many carriages of which
render this part of their duty very difficult to perform, however careful
they may
be.
A frequent cause of the opening of a door during the journey arises
from the passenger not knowing on what side. he will have to get out
on arrival at an important station having several platforms; the natural
tendency is to get out on the side by which he entered, and if he then
perceives he is in error in opening that door he probably pushes it to
without fastening it, and as the porters cannot always visit the doors on
the side furthest from the platform the door opens during the journey.
An official placed between the lines of rail does not easily perceive this
attempt of the passenger, and in this case the travellers entering at that
station are ignorant of the dangerous state in which their predecessors
have left the door, and they, and more especially their children, are
exposed to accident.
In order to obviate these defects and prevent accidents it is proposed
by this Invention to let the passenger within the carriage know at a
glance whether the doors on both sides are properly secured or not.
This indication will have the additional advantage of securing railway
companies against the breakage of doors by their flying open in the
journey and striking against obstacles.
It is proposed to indicate the position of the handle on the outside by
the words "open," or "closed," or fastened " placed within the
carriage. A fixed plate with, say, a red ground, will have inscribed
upon it the word "open," and will be visible so long as the door is not
completely fastened. A moveable plate with, say, a blue ground, fixed
on the spindle of the handle and hidden within the panel of the door
comes over the fixed plate when the handle is turned from the exterior
to fasten the door. This blue plate will bear an inscription to the effect
that the door is fastened.
The handles on the outside being greatly masked and easily con- 8
founded with the brass fittings running along the carriages, it is further

page_text: proposed to make these door handles more distinctive and their position
more easily apparent to the official. The top or knob of the handle
when it is placed in a vertical position (that is to say, open) will shew
some very striking colour set in a groove on both its side edges.