MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Wise at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 5th June 1883.
WILLIAM WISE of 18 Kingsdown Parade in the City of Bristol.
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS."
15
'IMPROVE-
My Invention is for the prevention of railway accidents that are so often caused
by the engine driver not being able to see the now existing signals that are in
present use-through a dense fog-thick weather-or the neglect on the part of
the engine driver in not noticing the signal is against him-it is also a safe guard
against colour blinduess on the part of the driver.
My invention consists in improved means for sounding the whistle on the engine
or actuating other alarm apparatus by means of a projection or arm by the side
of the line of railway, such projection or arm being raised into position when
required.
Many attempts have been made to signal to railway trains by such means but
without practical result as when a train is in rapid movement the arm or instrument
by the side of the line is struck with such violence as to risk the derangement of
the mechanism.
Now I avoid this difficulty by causing the contact to take place with a light
stick of wood (or it may be other material) carried upon the engine and which
being broken by the blow liberates mechanism to open the whistle or gives the
alarm I also provide that in the act of closing the whistle or silencing the alarm
the apparatus shall be reset and the place of the broken stick supplied by another
taken from a magazine in which a sufficient supply of spare sticks is carried.
I fix to the engine guard or in other suitable place an iron frame that shall have
fixed on it a revolving frame carrying a number of round rods made of wood or
some other suitable material so arranged that they are made to fall one by one to
a short distance from the line of rails-the ends of the rods are held in their place
by the above mentioned revolving frame. On the spindle that passes through the
revolving frame will be placed a double lever-one arm of which will press against
one of the rods by the action of a balance weight or spring the other arm will be
connected by suitable levers to the whistle on the spindle, outside of the revolving
frame will be placed a double lever one arm of which will be connected by
suitable levers within easy reach of the engine driver this lever I will call A the

page_text: other arm will have two actions to perform one of which will be to cause the
revolving frame to make a quarter of a revolution-and the other action will be to
hold the revolving frame in its place by means of a lever or catch and eccentric.
I employ also an iron shoe (fixed to a sleeper) with flanges at each end through
which an iron spindle will pass carrying a lever that is keyed thereon which I
will call the "striker "-also on the same spindle but on the outside of the flange
will be keyed two levers one of which will be connected by means of a wire to
the signal box or to the existing signal wire-the other lever will be balanced by
a weight.
The mode of working the signal is as follows. Should the signal-man wish to
stop an approaching train he slacks out the wire that is attached to the lever
which causes the "striker" to rise to a vertical position by reason of the balanced
lever
Upon the approach of an engine the striker will come in contact with one of the
wooden rods that is held in the revolving frame and will be immediately broken
in two pieces thereby setting free the lever that was pressing against it by the
action of the balance-weight thereby causing the whistle to blow.
The engine
driver will now pull the lever already described as A by so doing he will throw
out of gear the lever or catch that prevents the revolving frame from turning
when the "striker comes in contact with the wooden rods-he will now push
back the same lever which will cause the revolving frame to bring in position
another wooden rod so that by simply pulling the lever forward and then pushing
it back to its original position he shuts off the whistle and resets the signal it will
therefore be seen that the whistle cannot be stopped without resetting the signal.
"