IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR PROTECTING PROPERTY FROM FIRE AND THIEVES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Atkins Rudling at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th January 1866..
I WILLIAM ATKINS RUDLING, of 50, Canton Street, Poplar, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR PROTECTING PROPERTY FROM
FIRE AND THIEVES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to protect buildings of all kinds from the
ravages of fire and the depredations of thieves by means of electrical
communication by insulated copper wires carried under the street in cast-
iron pipes, and conveyed to a suitable office or station, in which is an
alarm bell to call attention and an indicating dial to point out whether
it be thieves or fire from which the building is in danger.
My Invention is applicable to buildings of all kinds, both public and
private, and also to ships. To describe the apparatus for detecting the
forcible entry of thieves to a safe or strong room :-The safe is to be.set
on solid masonry and secured to it by holding down bolts, the heads of
which are made fast in the masonry by running lead round them and
caulking it afterwards, or by cotter holes forged in the bolts with cotters
to suit; in either case the nuts are to be inside the safe. From the
-masonry a chilled cast-iron pipe of small bore and large outside measure-
ment conducts to the main in the street, to which it is joined by an

page_text: ordinary flange or by any other suitable means. Through this pipe pass
the wires connecting the house with the station aforesaid. Either in
the safe or by means of a piece cut out from the bottom of the safe is
placed in the masonry a galvanic battery, which on the safe being violated
is brought into action in the following manner:-The commutator,
which I will now describe, is attached to the floor of the safe by
screws. Two pieces of brass tube of suitable length are attached to
two flat pieces of brass to form a flange to secure them to a piece of
ebonite so that their centres shall be in the same straight line and in
the same horizontal plane, and their innermost ends about " apart. One
of these tubes is closed at one end by a brass cover, the other end having
a cover with a hole in it about 1" in diameter; this hole is concentric
with the bore of the tube; the other tube has covers at both ends with a
hole in each of suitable size, the smallest being about " and the largest
about "; these holes are also concentric with the bore of the tube; into
the tube first described is placed a brass pin, the head of which is turned
so as to move freely in the tube; the body of the pin is reduced so as to
receive round it a spiral spring of brass; a shank is turned on the other
side of the head to move freely through the hole in the cover; in the other
tube is placed a similar pin and spring, except that it has a shank at either
"end, one to slide through the "hole, the other through the "hole.
The small or " ends of these pins are placed end to end, and each is
tipped with platinum. One of these tubes is in connection with the
battery aforesaid, the other with the line wire leading to the station, but
so long as the ends which are tipped with platinum are apart the circuit
is not complète owing to the insulation of the ebonite. Attached to the
door of the safe and projecting from it at right angles to its vertical plane
is a piece of brass tapering in form, say inch; on 'shutting the door of
the safe the point of this piece of brass is first brought to bear upon the
projecting shank " in diameter, and as the door advances toward closing
the wider part successively presses on the shank, forcing the head of the
pin against the spring, and the 'small projecting 'end against the other
projecting end or shank, thereby 'completing the 'circuit to 'the station.
On opening the door of the safe the spring forces the pins into their
normal position, thus again separating the platinum ends or shanks'; 'the
current ceases to flow, and an electro-magnet which has been holding the
detent of the train of wheelwork of the 'alarm is de-magnetised; the catch
is liberated, the alarm bell rings, and the indicating 'dial points that
"thieves are in the house." By slightly modifying 'the arrangement a

page_text: commutator can be attached to every door or window in the building.
Traps consisting of spring boards laid on india-rubber cloth and nicely
concealed can be made to break contact when trodden on; string or wires
can at night be stretched across the pathways, which on being kicked
against and broken shall break the circuit and ring the alarm bell as
before. These two last methods are especially applicable to warehouses
of all kinds.
I will now proceed to describe three methods of constructing calorime-
ters; the first is by employing strips of steel and brass, or iron and brass,
or any metals whose rates of expansion are dissimilar; the strips are laid
one on the other and rivetted together at one end, the other end being
free to move by expansion lengthwise; the strip whose expansion is
greatest is made on being unduly heated to separate two springs and thus
break the electrical circuit; the bell at the station is rung by this means,
and a dial in all respects similar to the one used for fire, but not the same
one, exhibits the same kind of signal as for thieves.
The second method is by means of a glass tube of suitable length con-
taining quicksilver, which is to be attached to a rectangular piece of wood
or ebonite (for support, and the whole fixed by a slight bracket to the
wall); resting upon the mercury in the tube is a float of iron or brass
similar to a piston with a rod of the same metal attached at a suitable
distance from the lower piston or disc, and fixed on the same rod is another
disc of the same size and of the same metal; the object of this second disc
is to keep the rod vertical in the tube; the top end of the float rod is
bent at right angles to its length, and has a small hole drilled in it to
which an adjusting screw is fitted; fixed to a brass stud in the piece of
wood or ebonite is a spring of brass of suitable width and reaching over
the centre of the tube; under the above spring is a stud of brass reaching
to the spring; within of an inch or so this stud is tipped with platinum
as is also the spring; on the mercury becoming unduly heated the float
rises, and the adjusting screw engaging with the projecting end of the
spring lifts it from off the stud aforesaid, interrupts the circuit, and releases
the alarm bell..
The third kind of calorimeter consists of a fusible wire which shall melt
as low as 140° if required. The wire to be composed of an alloy of lead,
tin, bismuth, and cadmium, may vary in proportions according to the
degree of heat at which it is determined to give an alarm of fire; on the
heat rising unduly the wire melts, the circuit being broken the bell rings,
and the dial points that fire is raging in the house.

page_text: .
I will now describe the construction of the indicating dial. In the dial
plate are two rectangular openings side by side, each about 1 inch by ";"
each opening is provided with a shutter little more than twice the area.
of the opening; each shutter is painted in two colors, red and green, the
upper half in both being red when in its normal position; each shutter
exhibits its green half, but on either of the circuits being broken the
corresponding shutter exhibits its red half; this change is thus effected
behind the dial plate:-One to each shutter are vertical guide bars moving
freely, in which there is a small slide attached to the shutter; the shutter:
is placed by a pin projecting through the front of the dial plate in its
highest position, and is retained there by a slight catch kept in its place
by the agency of an electro-magnet beneath; this catch is free when
released by the magnet to move sideways from under the pin in the shutter,
when the shutter being unsupported falls by its own weight to the bottom
of the vertical slide aforesaid, and exhibits in front of the dial its red half,
which is the danger signal, the current being interrupted at the same
instant in the bell magnet releases its detent, and the train of wheelwork
instantly runs down, striking on the bell as it does so. It will be seen
that my Invention operates by breaking the circuit, not by making it, thus
avoiding the trouble and necessity of testing the apparatus, for it is plain
if the contact be broken in the continuous circuit an alarm must be given
at the station, or should the battery become weak and inoperative, the
magnet ceasing to act would instantly give an alarm. A small galva-
nometer might be attached to each signal to indicate the force of the
current; this, however, is almost superfluous, seeing every precaution will
be taken to maintain efficiency in the batteries. The mercurial calori-
meter can be used in combination with the fusible wire, the two being
placed at different heights, thereby affording greater security. The
metallic calorimeter is more especially applicable to ships, and may be
used in connection with the fusible wire.
In order to be able to lay additional wires at any time without disturbing
the pipes in the street, I arrange the main cast-iron pipes to terminate at
intervals (say of 100 yards or more) in a box or chamber of cubical form,
to which a suitable cover is fitted by nuts and bolts; in each one of these
.boxes or chambers are two spindles at right angles to the length of the
tube; each spindle has fixed upon it two pulleys or sheaves, one is fixed
so that a wire, rope, or chain which passes over it to the pulley in the next
.box shall be in the centre line of the top of the tube; a portable windlass
is connected with the other pulley which is spiked to receive a chain from

page_text: the windlass; all that is necessary in placing an additional wire is to
remove two of the manhole doors or covers and connect the insulated wire
by means of a clamp or swivel with the endless wire or chain passing over
the pulleys in the tube, when by turning the windlass the wire will be
carried on to that manhole where the windlass is stationed. The same
process can be repeated as often as desired. The manholes can be sealed
with an official stamp.